Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Only then did she allow herself to wonder if Damien would really turn up at Ray’s tonight. And only then did she allow herself to admit that she was hoping beyond hope that he would.
For someone so used to an audience, Damien felt like he wanted to run and hide from all the sets of eyes following him around Ray’s. It was a small club, one he hadn’t visited since he was a teenager, and although it was buzzy and the music was incredible, it was clear that people recognized him. He felt deeply self-conscious. All he wanted was to find Crystal and dance with her.
He’d been dreaming all day about holding her in his arms again. The thought had made him hot, excited, and distracted. As soon as he dropped her at home after their hike, he’d longed to smell the scent of her skin again. She had looked so hot in her hiking gear, her face shining in the sunshine and her shorts accentuating those lean dancer’s legs. He wanted to be close to her—even if he didn’t know what he wanted beyond that. Talking about more serious things with Crystal today had reminded him how he cherished their friendship. No one else knew him like she did. He didn’t take that lightly. It was a precious thing, one he had to respect and treat with care.
But he also wanted her in every possible way. He wanted to kiss her, touch her, make love to her. And so the two ideas churned and swirled inside him all afternoon until he was overcome by the terrible mix of desire and caution and had gone for a swim to cool off.
Ray’s was heaving with vibrant energy and there was still no sign of Crystal. The dim lighting created an intimate atmosphere and he strained to find her familiar features in the crowd. The rhythmic sounds of salsa music and animated chatter filled the air. Behind the bar, the staff moved swiftly, serving drinks, though most of the serious dancers stuck to soft drinks and water. He asked the bartender for bottled water and pretended he couldn’t hear the two people next to him whisper his name.
He took a swig of water and glanced around the busy room again. Where was Crystal?
Was it possible that she’d forgotten their plan to meet here? Or had something held her up? For a flash he panicked at the thought that something might have happened to her. And then just as quickly, his heart almost stopped as he spotted her.
She was dancing in a flame-red dress, moving sensuously. She was the hottest woman in the room. And there was her partner, dipping and twirling her. Damien swallowed. The guy was a Latino stud doing things with his hips that Damien hadn’t known were physically possible. A wave of jealousy washed over him. It was an emotion he wasn’t used to experiencing and it jarred him. He needed to get a grip. This was Crystal. Crystal!
The song finished and Damien walked over, affecting a casual stride although inside he was dying to pry this dude away from Crystal’s hips.
As he approached, he heard them speaking Spanish to each other, and inwardly Damien cursed his rudimentary understanding of the language. But as soon as Crystal spotted him, she waved and ended her conversation. She hugged Damien hello and the guy took a step back and disappeared into the crowd.
Crystal looked incredible. He had to tell her. “You look… out of this world.”
She blushed a little and looked down at her dress. “It’s a fun one to dance in,” she said. “You look pretty handsome yourself.”
Damien, who never thought much about his appearance, had spent an embarrassingly long time choosing which white T-shirt he should wear with black jeans. He shrugged, mortified to feel that he was blushing too. This was so silly. He’d known Crystal forever and here he was acting like a goofy teenager. They stared at one another for a moment and he knew then that Crystal was feeling this new tension between them, too.
He was searching for the right words to tell her what was in his heart when she slipped a hand into his and said, “Let’s dance.”
She led him out into the middle of the floor, her sparkling heels clicking on the wood. A new track started and the music pulsed through his veins, the beat syncopated in a way that made it impossible to stay still. Their feet moved effortlessly across the floor, perfectly in time with the music. Crystal was a force of nature—confident, fluid, her body responding to the beat like it had a language of its own. Years of playing on stage, the pulse of the crowd, had taught him how to feel the rhythm in his bones. He knew how to move, but he didn’t have a patch on her style.