Not after all these years of sacrifice. Now that she was finally at the pinnacle of her career—or close to it—she couldn’t afford to slide back down the face of the mountain. Because who would she be without ballet?
Probably someone like her mother, who had no passions of her own. Her mother had lived through her father’s success. She hadn’t done anything with her considerable intellect, and she was miserable. Her mother’s misery filled her parents’ house, and Laura could barely stand to be there. Half the time, she thought that the will to become a professional dancer had come from the sheer desire not to be at home.
And, despite the disparaging words from his ex-wife, Charlie was the kind of man that women threw away dreams for. Against that dark thought, Laura squared her shoulders and approached him as though he wasn’t a walking live wire, ready to shock her carefully constructed life to death if she let him touch her.
“You look gorgeous.” Such a cheap line that worked when it came from Charlie, with his pretty eyes and roguish smirk.
“I know.” He gave her a full-on smile at that.
“Of course, you do.” He opened the car door, and his hand went to her lower back.
She startled, but he didn’t move his hand away. And she swore she could hear a sizzling burn from the touch of his hand through her filmy sun dress. It was God-awful hot this time of year, but the humid air wasn’t the only reason she was sweating a half hour after getting out of the shower.
She took her seat, half to get away from his touch, half because she didn’t want him to stop touching her. He must have just arrived because the interior of the car was still cool from air conditioning. Still, she wanted to fan herself to get the flush to leave her skin. One little caress and he had her heart beating as though she’d just rehearsed a solo piece for an hour. He got in and started the car again.
He looked over at her for a second when she reached toward the air vents to capture some of the cool air. Even that had a tinge of heat. She’d underestimated his appeal from the start, thinking he would be good for a fun night on the beach. A wedding fling. She hadn’t realized that he was dangerous to her peace of mind.
“Are you hot?” He didn’t keep the amusement out of his voice.
The problem with a guy like Charlie was that he snuck up on sexy. He was like a chili pepper that didn’t hit the taste buds right away, but turned into a five-alarm emergency after thirty seconds of slurping up whatever it was in.
“It’s 95 degrees and a hundred percent humidity.” She glared at him, angry that he could see how disheveled she felt around him. He made her feel as though someone had ransacked her insides. “What do you think?”
“Aren’t you used to that, growing up here?”
“I never spent much time outside as a kid.”
“That’s a shame.”
She shrugged. “I was busy dancing.”
“You sound sad when you say that.” Irritation had her digging her fingernails into her palm, a habit she’d picked up to deal with jerky dance partners to prevent herself from yelling at them and risking one dropping her on her ass at the first opportunity.
“I’m not sad. It’s the truth.”
He moved his right hand to the top of the wheel, sort of creating a shield between him and her. She should like the fact that she’d put him on the defensive, but it disappointed her. Part of her wanted him to probe and find out more about her. She wanted to know more about him. Sure, they were getting an annulment as soon as possible, but she should know something about the man she’d married other than the fact that she was going to regret not consummating the marriage.
“Where did you grow up?”
“Just outside of Chicago.” His body loosened, encouraging her to ask for more.
“Not quite as hot there.” She looked down at her hands, not sure what she should say next. She didn’t really know anything about this man, and she was curious as to why she’d done something so terribly impulsive with him. “What’s your family like?”
He shifted his hands on the steering wheel again, and his body was more open to her. “Really normal.”
She snorted. “What’s that like?”
“Your family seems pretty normal to me.”
“You haven’t met my parents then?”
“No, just Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez.”
“The Delgados are nothing like the Hernandezes.”
“Really, how so?”
She paused, not quite ready to open up. “I asked you about your family. Tell me about normal.”
“When I was growing up, my dad ran a newspaper, which is now a media conglomerate. All my brothers work for him.”
“But not you?” Charlie’s brow furrowed, and Laura wanted to run her finger across his forehead, smoothing the creases. She wanted to soothe him, but didn’t know how. It wasn’t often that she didn’t know how to fix something.
“I didn’t exactly meet my father’s expectations.”
“They were demanding?”
“Yes.” He sighed and moved his hand as though he was about to touch her, but stopped and put his hand back on the wheel. They were close to the restaurant now; traffic had been mostly quiet. Laura had this feeling of time slipping away, as though she was about to lose an opportunity to really get to know this man.
“My parents didn’t expect much.” She said it, hoping maybe that if she showed him a bit of herself, that he would do the same. It didn’t make any sense—this prying—but she had to know more about this man who filled her with delicious feelings, even though any involvement with him would be deeply inconvenient.
“But look at what you’ve achieved.”
“It’s not really important.”
“More important than what I do.”
“Maybe.”
They both went silent, but she felt bad about him thinking that his work wasn’t important. As a dancer, she often felt like something pretty and frivolous. A luxury, not a necessity. With previous boyfriends—few and far between as they had been—she’d felt like a trophy. Guys liked to say they were banging a ballerina, but they didn’t so much like the long evenings alone. Every relationship she’d ever tried to start had stalled when the guys realized that ballet was her true love.
And she didn’t dare date other dancers. The competition and vanity didn’t make for anything healthy.
Sitting in the car with Charlie, talking about their families, felt kind of nice. Normal. She’d never even thought she’d get married and have kids when she was done dancing professionally. But the thought of it often made her feel as though she was facing down a prison sentence.
Normal for Laura felt like a punishment. From the few words Charlie had said on the subject of his normal childhood, they didn’t see things so differently.
Chapter 4
Charlie wasn’t sure where this date had gone off the rails. Maybe it was when she walked out of her front door, looking stricken by the sight of him. Her fear had thrown him. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid. Maybe it had been a mistake insisting that she go out to dinner with him before signing off on an annulment. She did look gorgeous, but she’d winced when he told her so. She seemed to be the only woman he’d met in the last few years who vexed him completely.
He had trouble forming whole sentences around her. His palms were sweaty, and not getting a hard-on when touching her lower back had been a