Authors: Olivia Jordan
Adam woke up with a start from the couch where he had been napping. “Huh?”
“What’s going on between you and Taletha?”
“What, I’m not allowed to dance with a colleague? Sorry, I didn’t know there were rules against that here. Let me know if you have any other dance partners I need to leave alone.”
“You know damn well it’s not about the dancing.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what you mean.”
“She was totally off after dancing with you.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with me. We just danced.”
“I also saw the way you were staring at her when we were practicing.”
“I didn’t realize there was something wrong with watching, either. Unless—you have feelings for her, don’t you?”
Morris nodded, his face switching from a look of anger to a look of frustration. “I’ve been attracted to her from the moment I met her, and since then, what I felt has grown into love. But she has yet to reciprocate. Anytime I hint at my feelings for her, she suddenly gets skittish, and it takes two weeks for us to recover our equilibrium.”
“Then you don’t have to worry, man. If that’s the way she feels about you, I don’t see why she’d feel any differently about me.”
“So you are attracted to her.”
Adam sighed. “Yes, I am. But there’s clearly no point in me pursuing her if I’m just going to be rejected. I’m better off looking elsewhere.”
“Hey, boys, what are you talking about?” Emily burst into the room, breaking the tension between the two men, but putting them up on their guard. They both knew that she was nothing but trouble.
“Just chatting about the studio,” Adam said. “Morris is giving me some of the ins and outs of the place.”
“I could help you with some ins and out,” Emily cooed, sitting down on the sofa next to Adam.
Morris rolled his eyes. “Come on, Emily. Grow up.”
“Oh, it was just a little joke. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Adam has a good sense of humor, anyway, right?” She stroked her hand up and down his arm and looked shocked when he shrugged it off. But something about her touch made his skin crawl. The manner with which she approached him reeked of desperation, and desperation made Adam nervous.
“I have a sense of humor, but Taletha gave me the details on Matt Fairbanks and his resignation. And some jokes just aren’t that great to make in the workplace.”
“Aw, you’re not any fun.”
“And I don’t see how you running your hand up and down my arm actually counts as joking. I don’t see anything funny about that.”
“Maybe it’s not funny, but it’s certainly fun.” She began touching him again, as though he hadn’t rebuffed her advances moments before. Again, Adam’s skin began to crawl as she invaded his personal space. This time, to make sure she got the point, he picked up her hand and set it in her lap, then glared at her, making sure his angry eyes looked directly into hers.
“It’s not fun, actually. I’d rather keep things completely professional between us, both at the studio and outside of it. You’re my colleague, not my girlfriend. Got it?”
“Geez,” Emily said, rolling her eyes. “What the hell does everyone around here have against flirting? You people all need to loosen up. We’re dancers. We’re not supposed to be uptight.”
“I’m sure some ballerinas would beg to differ,” Morris said. “Besides, I don’t think it would hurt for you to tighten your reigns a little bit. After all, we’re dancers. We’re supposed to be disciplined.”
Adam couldn’t help but chuckle. Emily glared at both of them.
“Fine, whatever. Be boring. I don’t give a shit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lesson to teach.” She got up off the couch and stomped out of the lounge, slamming the door behind her.
Morris shook his head. “We need less drama at this studio. Otherwise, that door is going to fall off its hinges in a week.”
“Something tells me none of this drama started until I arrived here today.”
“Well, it looks like you’re the direct cause of Emily’s angst. But don’t worry about Taletha and me. She’s been my main source of sexual frustration for the last five years. You didn’t do anything new by showing up and capturing her attention.”
“That’s a relief, I guess. Especially because I know she won’t reciprocate my feelings, either. We’re in this together, I guess. Mutually lusting after Taletha from afar, doomed to be constantly rejected.”
“At least misery loves company.”
“Yeah. Hey, when do you have to teach again?”
“Pretty soon, but I have a little time to hang out and chat if you have any questions about the studio.”
“There’s this bar right around the corner that looks really cool. Want to go get a beer and commiserate? Or do you not want to drink before teaching?”
Morris glanced at the clock. “I could have one beer. I just can’t get trashed.”
“Cool, let’s go.”
“What’s up, guys?” Taletha asked, walking into the studio.
“We were just going to get a drink,” Adam said. “Want to join us?”
“At three o’clock in the afternoon on a Monday?”
“Why not? We need to, uh…” Morris trailed off, and Adam could see him struggling to come up with an excuse. “Celebrate Adam’s first day on the job.”
“I figured we would celebrate on Friday night, at the staff outing to The Copa.”
“Why not both?” Adam asked.
“Man, I didn’t realize I’d hired a total party animal. I was actually thinking that since you don’t have any students scheduled until tomorrow, you could give Morris and me a lesson, pretending we’re first-time students. You have a great reputation, but I always like to do a mock lesson with first-time teachers to get a feel for how they work with clients.”
“Sounds great,” Adam said.
“I’m game,” Morris said with a smile. “We could probably stand to get some pointers from a dancer who has been known to kick our butts in competition from time to time.”
Adam didn’t know what made him more nervous as the three of them walked out to the main studio, the fact that he was going to have to give his new boss and competitive peer a lesson, or the fact that he was going to have the opportunity to touch Taletha a second time. He hoped his knees would stay stable enough to keep him upright, and he hoped his hands would stay tremor-free as he guided the couple around the floor.
“So, what did you want to work on?” he asked.
Taletha smiled. “Relax. Just pretend we’re brand-new dancers. Act like we don’t know anything about dancing. Start as though you’re meeting us for the first time on day one.”
Adam swallowed. “Okay, um, sure.” He shook his body out to release the tension, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on what he was doing. “Welcome to the studio. I understand you both want to learn salsa.”
Taletha gave an impish grin. “Yep!”
Adam tried not to laugh at her fake attempt at beginner’s enthusiasm. “How much dance experience do the two of you have?”
“None! We’ve never danced before!” Morris also hammed it up, his eyes sparkling with all the fun he was having.
“Okay, then. Let’s get started with the basic step. I’m going to start with Taletha. Morris, I’ll be with you in a second.”
Adam taught Taletha the basic step, then showed Morris the beginner foot work as well.
“Now that the two of you know the first pattern, let me put on some music and have you try it together.” Adam hit the stereo for the remote control, and a cheerful salsa beat filled the studio. Morris and Taletha grinned at each other. Adam knew that they were plotting something. They danced the first few steps fine, but then intentionally started making mistakes.
Adam couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.
“A word of advice,” Taletha said, though she was obviously on the verge of giggles herself. “I suggest that you avoid laughing at your students when they make mistakes!”
“That’s not why I’m laughing, and you know it. I’m laughing because it’s hilarious to see the two of you attempting to be beginners.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. But some of your students will screw up.”
“I know that. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to teach anybody. It’s just funny the way you do it.”
“Fair enough. “But come on, get back to teaching us. Correct our mistakes.”
Adam swallowed his laughed. “Okay, the two of you got off to a good start, but we need to review the basics a little more, and I think one of the reasons you both got confused was because we haven’t really discussed dance frame yet. Morris, may I cut in?”
Morris nodded. Adam took Taletha in dance frame in order to demonstrate proper posture. The second his right hand held hers and his left hand cupped her shoulder blade, his whole body burned with the desire to run his fingers up and down her curves, under the short skirt she wore, past the panties she had on underneath, so he could finger her clit and find her throbbing G-spot.
Adam pulled himself to attention before his cock had a chance to get hard, though the buzz of arousal refused to leave his body. His cock refused to settle down completely, and still gave the occasional twitch and jump, no matter how focused he stayed on the lesson at hand. Despite his body’s refusal to cooperate, he pushed on, discussing proper form and leading Taletha into the proper footwork, then back-leading Morris.
“Okay, I want the two of you to try it together again, now that you seem to have gotten the hang of things.” He turned on the music, and he started to worry when Taletha and Morris grinned at each other again. This time, though, they didn’t intentionally mess up. Instead, Morris started leading Taletha into advanced footwork involving tight spins and fast drops. Entranced by Taletha’s long legs and precise arms, Adam let the song run until the very end, struggling to keep his cock in line, but unwilling to make her stop dancing. He loved the way her hips wiggled along to the beat, the way she managed to roll her head to hit the legato accents, the way she smiled and really performed the dance, even though she was just fooling around. He especially the way her breasts jiggled slightly, the way they always bounced when Morris pulled her up out of a dip.
When they finished, Adam burst into applause, and they took sheepish bows.
“Well, I see that I am a genius teacher, able to impart advanced dance wisdom upon you via osmosis. I think we’re done here. Since I’ve managed to teach you so much so fast, you can have a $50 discount on my regular rate.”
Taletha laughed. “You’re going to fit in well here.”
Morris glanced at the clock. “Sorry to cut this short, but my next lesson starts in a few minutes. I need to take off.”
“Thanks for helping out,” Taletha said. She turned back to Adam. “Want me to stick around and give you some more pointers?”
Adam nodded.
“Great.”
Morris leaned in close to Adam as he walked out of the studio.
“If you’re going to get that aroused by every student you have,” he whispered, “you might want to buy some looser pants.”
Adam felt his face light up.
“What was that about?” Taletha asked.
“Oh, nothing. Really.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Okay. If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure,” he said, a little too quickly.
“If you insist. Let’s keep going, then. Why don’t we switch gears, though? This time, just level with me as a pro. I’m interested in hearing your perspective on the way I dance.”