Island Rush (42 page)

He smiled and shook his head.  “Hey now, that’s what got me going to the classes.  Though the pretty girls were a plus, I started to truly love it.  You were spot on with what you said.  It felt good because it let me get everything out and I felt relieved when I did. To move in dance, it shows a lot about you. Depending on how good you are, the style of it, and the atmosphere surrounding you, it can show what emotions you are feeling. It shows your personality too. It’s art, like photography. People just mistake it as just a hobby. They look at how well people do and not the actual person. It got me out of screaming and talking about my feelings to people who don’t care. Dancing always healed me in a sense.”

I thought it was awesome before, but now that he explained it like that, I saw the true passion and love he had for it. I saw how deep he went into it because he was right when he said people don’t notice the small details.

“If you explained it to those people who judged you, they would never judge you again.” I shook my head in amazement.  “You are so unique and special.”

His hand tightened on my back, his other that propped my hand grasped it tighter.  I felt him start to move, to lead me with his feet.  I stumbled forward with him and nearly tripped with surprise before Casey stopped and held me upright. 

“I can’t dance, remember?”  I said, a blush spreading over my face.  “Plus, it’s okay, you don’t need to teach me.  I can however still lose my fingers and toes due to frostbite,” I said.  It was very cold with us away from the fire.  I smiled and tried to walk back to the warmth before I became more embarrassed.

He chuckled a little under his breath, his hands tightening and not letting me move.  A sly smile spread across his face as he bent down, pressing his forehead against mine.  His warm breath brushed over my face.  “Well, I can fix both of those problems.”

I guess learning to dance wouldn’t be so bad if he was pressed against me and promised to keep me warm in the process.  I could only imagine how much fun it would be too.

Chapter 43

Not only was it night, and I couldn’t see much, but I was freezing too.  Why couldn’t he have waited to show me until tomorrow when we could see better and be warm?  Well, I did understand why.  For us to actually be together
and
not injured was something I wanted to embrace.  I was more than happy to do it now.  It made my heart race, the thought of him showing me how to dance.  I could be close to him, keep warm, have fun, and swim in the joy of seeing him be able to do this.

His hand that was resting on my hip slid under the hem of my shirt, placing his cold hand against my bare hip, making me shiver.  Casey’s reaction to that shiver was to pull me tighter against him, his face dipping low to breathe against my neck.  I could feel my skin start to warm where his hand rested on my bare skin.  I moved my hand to clasp the back of his neck, figuring it wouldn’t make much of a difference if my hand were in the correct position for a dance.  After all, we are trying to keep warm too.

He removed his breath from my neck as he leaned his head back to look at me, our bodies pressed tightly together.  “Okay, we will do this slowly.  This is pretty much what a waltz is, except we are too close together.  I want to be as close to your body as possible, so we can say screw that rule for now.” He smiled, his face right above mine in the firelight.  “For now, we will just pay attention to the movement of our feet.  I lead.  I do that by first stepping one foot forward,” he moved his one foot to where mine was, and I moved my foot back on instinct.  “That’s good. You did that right. Where I step, you follow that movement.”

He then took the rest of the step forward, and I stepped back, going the same direction he was.  He smiled as we stood like we had before. 

“Let’s try it at a normal pace this time.” He stepped forward, and I moved my one foot back, then the other when he came to stand where I was.   I felt my lips start to tilt up through the shivers of the night.  I didn’t think I would be able to learn, but that was because I never tried.  “Good,” he said, his breath hot against my face through his smile.  “That’s one step. Now, I can decide if I don’t want to go forward or take a step back instead.”

I was catching on, and as his feet moved to step back, mine followed forward, matching the movement.  I looked up to his face after that step was done, giving him a raised eyebrow in question. “Was that right?” 

He nodded, “Yeah.  Do it at a normal pace.”

We did, and I followed forward as he backed up.  My neck was craned to the side to see the movement of our feet and this time, I didn’t need to do that.  I could tell what foot he was moving thanks to the feel of his body.

“It’s not just front and back.  You can go to the side too.”  He moved his one foot to the side then the next, me following him. “You’re doing great.  There is nothing to worry about, see?  Now are you ready to really try it?”

I bit my lip, knowing it would go downhill from there.  Mistakes would help, though.  I nodded, giving him the cue to start.  Casey took a step forward, faster than I anticipated but I quickly stepped back.  As he instantly led into the next step, my mind started to whirl.  I started to struggle, leading to my foot stepping on his, making us both trip a little.  We caught our feet, though, straightening back up between the chuckles that erupted between us in the process.

“Sorry,” I said tightening my grip for support.

“Don’t apologize when this is your first time or you are practicing,” he said, grinning with a beaming expression.  “We can go a little slower this time but involve all the steps.  I step forward, then to the side, back, side, then forward again in a circle.  All you need to do is follow.”

What was all that he just said?  He started again, slower but at a fair pace, giving me time to react.  I wasn’t sure what he meant by going in a circle but realized what he meant when I made another mistake.  When he continued stepping and moving to the right, I accidentally moved left. 

We stumbled a little before I meet his eyes again.  “I, at least, know what I did wrong.  I was supposed to go the other way because that would have been a circle, right?”

He smiled and chuckled. “Yes, Miss Reeves.  Let’s try again.”

“And it is also your fault because you weren’t specific enough before,” I teased.

He raised an eyebrow,  “How do you mean?”

“You just said go to the side again.  You could have been more specific with which side,” I said.

He smirked. “I just figured that when I said the word ‘circle,' you knew which way I meant.  Back to being a teacher again and you instantly try to take me down?  I see.”

“Teaching English is completely different than you teaching dance.”

“Oh yeah?  How?” he asked, a flirting note in his voice.

“Well,
Mr. Rush
, you’re a lot sexier teaching dance.  It’s a big distraction so thanks a lot,” I chuckled but flushed.

I saw his happiness grow when I said that but, keeping with the act, he said, “As your teacher, you cannot say that to me.  So watch it, lady.”

I smiled, and we continued to try to get each step right in a row.  Several mistakes later, I finally was able to get it.  We continued doing that many times, making sure I got everything down completely.  I didn’t even need to look at my feet soon enough.  I could tell where he was leading me; forward, back, and side each time.  By the time he moved at a normal pace, and the movements weren’t robotic, it looked as if we were moving in a circle.

“I think you got it,” he said as we continued, our hands in the same place as they were when we started.  I started to feel a little warmer but not much.

“Yeah, this part of it anyway.  Are you warm?”

“No, I’m not that warm yet,” he said and smirked.

“I don’t understand how this was going to help us warm up,” I chuckled.

“I said that because when you dance fast enough, get worked up a bit, you sweat a little.  Guess you better buckle down and get better.”

I smiled up at him as I stopped moving, making us stand there still.  I slid my hand down from around his neck and removed the one in his hand.  He looked at me confused for a small second before he realized what I was doing when my fingertips reached the hem of his shirt. 

“Or I could always do this,” I chuckled.  I slid my hands under his shirt, spreading my palms open over his stomach.  Feeling his bare skin, it started warming my hands.  I saw his eyes grow with the cold feeling on his skin, and I noticed his body stiffened after a slight shiver.  I snorted and continued to raise my hands up, gliding them along his chest.

I pushed his shirt off over his head, and he broke out in deeper shivers.  “Oh, s-shit!  It’s so cold.”

“Not for long.  If we keep dancing like we have, we will be a lot warmer than before.  Plus, it’s not as cold as it usually is.” It really was quite nice out considering how awful some of the nights have been.

“For one, you are crazy. Two, what we have been doing is nothing close to actual dancing.  Three, we won’t get warm no matter what because I am wearing no shirt.”

“Yeah?” I stepped closer and pressed myself against him tighter, rubbing my hands more along his chest and stomach.  I rested my cheek against his chest too.  I could already feel the burning sensation that his skin gave me.  “This isn’t helping?”

Watching the fire as I rested against his body, running my hands over him, I heard no answer.  Instead, my eyebrows rose at the feeling of his hands moving to the hem of my shirt, pushing the material up.  I jumped in surprise and looked up to his face.  I could see amusement there as well as the desire I had.

His hands caressed my body and instantly warmed my skin.  I felt him push the fabric higher, chuckling.  He pulled off my shirt completely, discarding it to the grass. “Oh! You ass,” I said, cracking us both up as the shivers were starting to get to me now.

“Hey, you started it,” he said, scoffing.  He moved back and closer to me, pressing our chests together.  I felt both of his hands wrap around me too.  I did the same, now holding each other.  Our bodies were already so much warmer than before, just from that contact.

“This isn’t so bad, I guess. I have a pretty girl against me. I remember why I loved dancing so much,” he laughed as he began to sway with me.  Then, it picked up more, until he was dancing.  I was so happy I was able to dance with him too!

I knew this wasn’t technically the correct stance, but it was worth it.  We were warming up and were very close to each other.  His bare body rubbed against mine and my stomach.  It made me want him that much more because I just couldn’t get enough of him, especially now with our bodies so close. 

Tilting my head up, I met Casey’s eyes and saw he was watching me closely, a large smile on his face.  “Even though this is basic, I’m surprised you were able to get it down so fast,” he said.

“Hey, I’m just as surprised. I think you should start singing, though,” I said, my skin warming more by the second.  We started moving at a faster pace and fun one too.  Though we were in the improper position for this kind of dance with our bodies tight together, we were doing extremely well. 

“You want me to sing, huh?” he asked.  His eyes were burning close to mine since our bodies could be considered glued together.

“Yeah, I want something to dance to now that I can actually dance,” I said, biting my lip.  “I still can’t get over how well you did last time you sang,” I teased.

“Any requests, my dear?” he asked over the pounding of our feet against the ground as we glided in fast circles.  We went slightly faster, making me laugh in glee.

“I just want to hear you sing again,” I chuckled.

He gave me a bright smile before he stopped our movement.  He separated us so we were at the appropriate distance this time.  He took both my hands and started to pull me along, pulling me in circles as he went backward, leading me towards him at a fast rate!

“Casey?  What are you doing?” I asked as he went a little faster.  He backed up with his hands in mine, dragging me with him in a circle.  Then, he let go one of my hands.  I swung past him before he pulled me into him, my chest hitting his again and stopping me like before. 

He smiled brightly, his teeth shining with love and excitement before his lips moved.  And out from those lips… came the popular lyrics from the song “
Edge of Seventeen
.” It couldn’t have gotten any better than that!

His voice was smooth, and all I could really do was stare in shock.  Though amusing that he was willing to sing for me, his voice was mesmerizing.  He didn’t exactly sound as he had before.

In those first few words of that song, it told me a lot.  First was that when Casey is high, he couldn’t sing worth shit compared to this.  Second, he had the voice of an angel.  Those lyrics from the Stevie Nicks’ song already blew me away.

He slowly started backing up, his hands in mine as his feet moved with a pattern I was unfamiliar with.  Luckily, I was able to follow and keep up as he kept singing – for now.  “Casey,” I said, “I don’t know how to go this fast or do whatever it is you’re doing.”  I assumed he would stay at the pace we were at before because I knew he wanted us close.  I guess I was wrong since he continued singing this upbeat song with a smile.

He paused in singing, “You’re fine.  Trust me.  We are doing what we did before.  Just throw in a few freestyle moves and we’re good,” he said before continuing on singing, staring at me as we moved.

We were moving in those circles he had taught me that I was comfortable with, and even though we were going fast, I was able to follow his steps.  I felt my body relax more and go with him.  I didn’t trip yet with him going this speed so I was able to enjoy this.  It was hard not to anyway with how much fun we were having!

Casey quickly broke our circles, stretching his arm out, and therefore mine, pushing me away from him before he pulled me back to him. I waited for him to continue but I saw him watching me with a smirk, his eyebrow raised.  He wanted me to continue the song with him. So that’s exactly what I did.

Earning an approving smile, he continued dancing with me again through a few chuckles.  Though the only contact our bodies had were through our hands and arms, the heat between us spiked.  Seeing the sweat start to form on his smiling face, along with him dancing and singing, I just wanted him that much more.

We continued dancing together and now singing the words in sync.  His hand lets go of my waist, and he spun me out around him, lifting our still connected fingers high in the air.  I turned under them then moved back to him where his hand then rested back on my hip.  We continued dancing, our feet following in sync, and my mind racing.  I could hardly believe that I could do this. 

As we danced and sang together, the heat began to rise.  I didn’t feel cold anymore and wanting him more and more helped. It was such an amazing feeling to experience.  The energy was high and alive.  I can honestly say Casey never seemed as beautiful as he was now.

We went faster as we danced, making me break a bit and laugh as we yelled out the lyrics in each other’s faces.  I had the best time I have had in a long time.  That’s when I noticed something.