Bidding War (21 page)

"I shall bestir myself from my slumber."

Several minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of a building. I was completely lost, but I didn't know my way around Chicago, so of course I was lost. Moira paid the driver, and we stepped out of the cab. She took my arm and drew me towards the building.

We had to climb a set of stairs. Halfway up the stairs I could hear the music. I stopped dead and pulled her to face me. I said quietly, "You brought me to a milonga. How did you know I could tango?"

"I didn't. I thought I would have to teach you how to walk. I wanted the close embrace, and I didn't care if you could dance or not. I thought we'd stay for an hour. I think we're going to be getting home very late."

I thought about this. "If you asked to stay overnight-"

"Not this time, Pamela. I don't want to get that forward with you yet, and I couldn't stand to share a hotel room and not get that forward."

"You don't want me?"

"I do. Very much so. But not yet."

I smiled. "I'm not very good."

"I'll teach you."

I grinned. "I meant at tango."

"I'll teach you that, too."

She led the way up the rest of the stairs. I looked around while she paid our admittance to the dance studio.

The dance floor was of moderate size. There were a dozen couples dancing and probably thirty or forty people not dancing. I didn't see any women dancing with other women.
Moira finished paying for us and took my hand, leading me into the dance hall.

"Will we be an oddity?"

"No."

She took my pashmina from my shoulders and hung it up for me but kept her light bolero jacket on.
"Did you need time to get in the mood?"

"No, Moira."

She smiled and led me to the dance floor. I stepped into her arms and pressed myself against her, my left hand on her shoulder, my right hand clasping her left. I tipped my head slightly so our foreheads were touching. She did a weight shift to make sure we were both on the same foot, paused, then stepped forward. I immediately stepped backward, and we were dancing.

The basics of Argentine tango are simple. You first learn how to stand. Then you learn to walk. It's a slow, sedate, sensual style, and you can have a good dance with nothing but walks. What I like about it is the embrace.

"How much do you know?" Moira asked into my ear.

"It was ten years ago. I am going to disappoint you."

"Hush. All I cared about was holding you. This is already more than I was expecting."

We made it around the room twice with just walks and turns at the corners. At the next corner she led me into a set of back ochos and into the cross. We paused like that.

"Nicely done," she said. "You remember more than you realized, perhaps." Then she stepped forward again.

At the
next corner, she asked for a molinete, which to an American's ears would be pronounced mole-ih-neh-tah. I didn't do very well on it, but we stepped out of it, and when we ran into a traffic jam behind me, she asked for another one. I did better.

"There you go," she said.

"It's like a waltz grapevine," I told her. "But walking around you."

I felt her smile against my ear. At the next corner, she did something different, and just while attempting to maintain proper position in front of her, I found us doing a grapevine across the dance floor before she stepped me into the cross. She paused just briefly before walking.

The song ended, and the cortina came on. The cortina is undanceable music, and it is traditional at that point to change partners. I pulled away from her slightly and felt a tear slide down my cheek.

"Oh honey," she said, wiping it away.

"Where have you been all my life?"

"Oh honey," she said again, pulling me into a hug.

The next tanda started. "Are you all right?" she asked into my ear?

"Yes." I adjusted my stance so we were in a proper embrace. She weight shifted, and we were dancing.

She found my limits during the second song in the tando.

"I'm sorry," I told her after the third time of failing to follow something she asked for.

"Hush. Now I know what you know and what you can follow. If we do more of this, we'll take lessons together."

"Really?"

"Really."

After that, she kept to my limits, pushing me slightly, but I learned how to follow her and found myself relaxing more and more in her arms.

At the cortina I opened my eyes and pulled away to look at her.

"All better?" she asked.

I nodded. "Is this real?"

She smiled. "Yes. Do you need me to pinch you so you know it's not a dream?"

"Maybe later."

The next tanda was a milonga, a different style of tango music. "I'm not ready for that," I told her.

"It's okay," she said. "Andi and David just arrived." She pulled me from the dance floor and over to a table along the side. Andi was sitting there with a tall, good-looking man. They stood up as we approached, and Andi introduced me to her husband. He and I shook hands. He and Moira hugged. Then we all sat down together.

Andi smiled. "You tango."

"Barely."

"That was more than barely. Can you lead?"

"I'm sorry, no."

"And you don't milonga?"

I shook my head. Andi turned to David and said, "Ask Moira to dance, David."

Immediately David said to Moira, "Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to, David," she said. They stood up and David led her to the dance floor. I adjusted so I could watch them. Moira settled into David's arms. She winked at me before closing her eyes.

"Are you leading Moira on, Pamela?" Andi asked me sternly.

I looked at her in surprise.

"You are certainly encouraging her attention," she said. "Don't deny it."

I looked away. I didn't want this conversation with Andi when I didn't even understand my own emotions.

"You will answer me, Pamela," she said sternly. "Now."

I looked back at her. "Wow. Does that tone work for you?"

She smiled. "Usually."

"If Moira were a man, I would already be practicing signing my name as Pamela Jenkins."

"But she is not a man."

"No. Clearly I have issues to resolve."

"Does Moira know this?"

"Yes."

"Figure it out soon, before you hurt her too badly."

"I am working on it, Andi." I paused. "My entire life, I've thought of myself as straight. I've dated guys. Then this auction happened. You know about the auction?"

She nodded.

"You know there are two women?"

"Yes. Is that another issue to resolve?"

"Yes. They both are treating me better than any guy ever has."

She smiled. "With guys, you need to take the upper hand and keep them in line. You can't wait for them to treat you properly. You have to make them."

"Like ordering your husband to ask my date to dance?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't he mind?"

"No." She paused. "We have a very good relationship. Many women are very difficult to please. He knows exactly how to please me, and I make sure he is happy to do so."

"How?"

She laughed. "You aren't that naive, are you?"

I laughed. "Maybe I am, but perhaps I just got an education."

I paused, then my mood turned a little mischievous. "Does he, um. Please you?"

She smiled. "In bed?" I nodded. "Yes."

I turned away.

"And your past gentlemen?" she asked. "Have they pleased you?"

"Not really."

"David didn't at first, either. I had to teach him. Now I enforce a strict three-to-one policy."

"Three-to-one?"

"Yes," she said. "Three orgasms for me for every one for him."

I thought about what she'd been saying. "You're very open and blunt with a complete stranger."

"You are Moira's friend, and I think very important to her. She is very important to me. Thus, you are important to me as well."

I turned away and watched David and Moira dance for a minute, then turned back to Andi. "I should resolve all this before I call you for a job."

"No," she said. "I won't pull strings for you because you are important to Moira. I will pull strings if I believe doing so will enhance my reputation for finding good talent. That is regardless of how your relationship progresses with Moira."

"You can really get me a job in my field?"

"No. I can get you an interview and offer a little extra weight on the scales when your resume is balanced against someone else's. If you were to relocate to Chicago, that interview would be with me. But not in Minneapolis." She paused. "Review your material before you call me. I will not be impressed if you appear to know less than you should. Do you still have your textbooks?"

"Yes."

"Then I will assume you have the financial knowledge expected from a recent MBA graduate in finance with an intimate knowledge of mortgage law and at least a passing knowledge of the rest of banking. Are you going to disappoint me?"

"No."

She smiled. "Good."

"You just told me what I needed to do to please you."

"Yes, I did. I want you to succeed, after all. How can you do that if you don't know the expectations?"

The cortina came on, and David led Moira from the dance floor. Moira immediately asked Andi to dance, and David invited me to the floor. When he opened his arms to me, I stepped into an open embrace instead of close. He frowned, but we began dancing. I danced with my eyes open.

Open embrace looks a lot more like normal ballroom style. You maintain some distance between your partner. It facilitates some steps, and David asked for those. I performed them as best I could.

When the song ended, we were next to Andi and Moira. Moira looked at the gap between us and raised her eyebrow.

"I-" I said. "I didn't want you to get jealous."

"Dance properly," she said, smiling. Then the next song began, and they stepped away from us.

I looked up at David. "Whatever you are comfortable with, Pamela."

"Will Andi get mad?"

"Of course not."

I stepped closer and closed my eyes.

Dancing close with David was much different than with Moira. He was taller than she was, too tall for us to touch foreheads. I had to turn my head to the side and laid it against the front of his chest instead of his shoulder. David gave me good dances, but I realized Moira and I fit much better.

The third song of the tanda ended with us immediately behind Moira and Andi. During the cortina, we simply switched partners, with me back in Moira's arms and Andi in David's.

"Did you and Andi have a nice talk?" Moira asked me, once we were dancing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told her.

She asked for a molinete, but when we reconnected, she told me, "Don't be coy."

"She asked if I was leading you on."

"Ah."

"And we talked about job interviews."

We danced for a while without talking. I found myself melting more completely into Moira's arms, which probably wasn't proper form, but she felt good.

"I know you're not leading me on," Moira said.

"Good."

We grape vined again, then she said, "Did you enjoy dancing with David?"

"Yes, but you and I fit together much better. I would rather be in your arms than his."

We didn't talk after that, but simply danced. The cortina arrived, and I clutched at her, taking a deep, deep breath before I allowed her to release me.

"If anyone asks you to dance tonight, you will say yes."

"But-"

She put two fingers over my lips, then withdrew them.

"Yes, Moira," I said quietly.

She led us back to the table. Andi and David weren't there. I looked around and saw they were on the dance floor, Andi talking to some man and David with a woman. The music started and they began to dance.

A man, somewhat older than Moira was, approached our table. He asked Moira to dance. She stood up and took his hand, leaving me alone for the first time that night. I sat out that song, but then another man walked over and invited me to dance. I looked at him. He was also older than Moira, but she had been clear. I nodded and stood up.

It felt strange to allow a man I didn't know to wrap his arms around me like that. "I'm new," I told him.

He was gentle with me. I miss-stepped a few times, but by and large he stayed within my limits. At the cortina I thanked him, and he walked me back to the table. Andi was waiting there, and he immediately asked her to dance.