Stars, Love And Pirouettes (Dance 'n' Luv Series) (2 page)

“Me?” Was he saying what she thought?

“Lots of people tend to think that TV shows like
Sunrise Lane
are tossed together with casual abandon, trite constructions of some crafty Hollywood screenwriters who are only interested in putting together a slick product that will appeal to the most mundane senses of the mass public. Not true. We take pride in our work. When considering someone for a role, I want an actor who’s not merely playing a part, but embodying it. Your character would be Cassandra Dawson, an ambitious and ruthless ballerina who moonlights as a high-class prostitute and knows how to capture men’s hearts so all they can think about is her.”

So not me
. But Jenna wasn’t about to reveal that she was not only a small town girl at heart, but also the biggest pushover in the world, falling in love way too easily with the wrong men. Handsome and seductive top dogs like Sean. She couldn’t seem to help getting all starry-eyed over them. Until they revealed their true identity, going from Prince Charming to Prince Vlad The Impaler of women’s hearts. “Tall order.”

“And you can fill it. I’m not fooled by your mousey act. On stage you’re a lioness.”

“I’m not sure if that’s an insult or the biggest compliment I’ve ever had.”

“Will you give it a shot?”

What a night. Tossed adrift by Broadway biggie Chang Mulligan, only to be rescued by Hollywood heartthrob Sean Risk. Add in her growing discontentment with her life in the ballet and Sean’s unbelievable offer couldn’t be more serendipitous. It seemed too good to be true.

And maybe it was. Maybe this smooth talking hunk was just playing her. “There’s a part of me that would love to make a change. But I’ve got a contract with the ballet company, and I don’t take it lightly. Are you actually offering me a job?”

“Sure am.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’ll help you get out of your contract. My agent can handle all that. Say yes, and I’ll have him draw up papers tomorrow.”

 “I don’t know. Scary decision. Once I quit the ballet company there’s little chance they would ever take me back. Do you know how many thousands of ballerinas want my job?” She downed another gulp of cabernet sauvignon. “Maybe I can get a leave of absence. The season just ended so it’s not a bad time to ask for one.”

“How do you know you won’t like this better? I could help you get other acting work. I know a lot of people in the business.”

“It all sounds fantastic and exciting but…”

He touched her hand. “I won’t ask you how much they pay you as a dancer. But something tells me you’d be shocked at what your rate of pay would be as an actor. Especially once you get rolling.”

“Nobody goes into dance to make money. You have to really love it. The trouble is I’m not so sure I do anymore.” Jenna’s mind raced. There was no denying it was a big decision. But then there was no denying her deep need for a drastic change. Sean was giving her the opportunity of a lifetime. One she’d probably never be offered again.

After another sip of wine, followed by the longest, deepest inhale she’d taken since before going onstage as the Lilac Fairy in
Sleeping Beauty
, she said, “I accept.”

As they toasted her decision, Jenna wondered if this was a dream come true, or if she was about to walk into the biggest setup of all?

Chapter Two

At two a.m. Aiden Flynn stood on the narrow second-story deck outside his room at Richardson’s Bed & Breakfast. He estimated the temperature to be somewhere in the high forties, making it a relatively balmy night for mid-January. The sky was crystal clear this time of year, particularly here on this rural strip of land that reached over a hundred miles out into the Atlantic on the North Fork of eastern Long Island.

When he first heard a door click and saw a shadowed figure step from the room next-door onto the deck, he’d been annoyed at the intrusion, reluctant to leave his view of the Orion Nebula. Now his Celestron telescope sat on its tripod in the dark corner near the railing, his gaze locked instead on a sight even more beautiful than the night sky.

She looked like a magical fairy. A sleek and graceful figure flitting about in the soft light that radiated from the window behind her.

The full sleeves of her white kimono-style robe billowed out like gauzy wings as she flapped her arms and pivoted about, her long dark hair dancing against her shoulders. The waist-high fence dividing his deck from the adjoining one hid her legs from him, making her appear to be flying.

A sudden urge seized him. He had to see the rest of her. He told himself it was only to know if her feet touched the ground.

The moment he took a step forward, she gasped and stopped moving. She looked directly at him, her face a perfect pale oval in the near dark. Something in her wide, brown eyes touched a part of him that he’d thought was long gone. And brought home the weight of his loneliness.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I startle you?”

She crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “I forgot someone else might be out here. In the winter I’m usually the only one on this floor during weeknights.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“No. It’s why I came out here. To get the cold air on my skin. It’s invigorating. And frankly, right now I need that to make my body feel alive. Combats my anxiety. Brings out the animal in me. You know, as in, grrrrr.”

“Actually, I think it’s more like brrrrr.”

She smiled, tilting her head. The light splashed over a childlike face, fine-boned and delicate. “Guess I look pretty dumb hopping all around like this. Kind of embarrassing.”

Dumb
?
Beautiful was more like it
. He couldn’t help staring. Yes, her bare feet touched the ground. And her mid-thigh robe revealed long, bare legs with well-defined muscles that weren’t lost on Aiden. He was an obsessive runner and worshipped at the shrine of the sculpted thigh. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“You were here first.” She shivered and shifted on her feet, shaking out her hands, and he noticed her little dance was not a happy one.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um, this thing started happening.”

The tremor that crept into her voice made him step closer. “Anything I can do to help?” Aiden hoped his tone was solid and comforting enough to make her open up to him. For some reason he badly needed her to do that.

She shrugged, and the collar of her loose, silky robe slipped off to one side revealing a lean, ivory shoulder that nearly unraveled him. He changed his mind and decided it was time to back away, to just let the conversation die.

But then she came toward him and said, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Hey, I’m the king of insomniacs. I’ve read just about every book on how to get to sleep.”

“Did you ever hear of counting your breaths to make yourself drowsy?”

“Sure.”

“I was doing that. But I got to thinking if I don’t keep paying attention to each and every breath I would forget to breathe. In which case, if I fell asleep I’d stop breathing and never wake up. Crazy, huh?” She started pacing and shaking her hands. “It’s happening again. My heart’s racing and my arms are tingling.”

“Medulla oblongata.”

Her feet stilled, and she turned to him. “What?”

“The part of your brain stem that controls all your involuntary functions. Like breathing. Even if you deliberately forced yourself to stop, you’d just faint and start breathing all over again. The body was made to survive. Takes a lot more than scary thoughts to close the show.”

“Makes sense. And here I was convinced I was dying. To think I got an A in biology class.”

“Sounds like you just had a panic attack. Irrational fears. Impending doom.”

“That’s me, all right.” She let out a self-conscious giggle that was half-girlish, half-sexy. Like her body.

The combination got under his skin in a way that surprised him. He hadn’t paid much attention to any women since his beloved Wendy had left this world. Sure, he’d had sex now and then. What man could go five years without it? But he’d kept it all on the surface. Never let anyone breach his protective wall. So how come those huge brown eyes focused on him now were searing straight through to his core?

“You get them, too, don’t you?” she asked, her soft, earnest voice like velvet against his skin. “That’s how you know.”

“Used to.” Yeah, after seeing his whole world fall apart and being totally powerless to stop it, he knew what it was to have fear take over. “But I got pretty slick at deflecting them. I learned to switch my focus. I’d think of stuff like… peanut butter and chocolate brownies.”

“Brownies?”

“Gooey and rich. With walnuts. The kind my grandma used to make.”

“Riiight.”

“So cynical.”

“So corny.”

“Okay, I made up the part about granny.”

“Ha! I could tell your were fibbing.”

“Oh, she made brownies, but they sucked. Terrible cook. Not your proverbial grandmother.”

A laugh burst out, but she quickly cupped her hand to her mouth. “I don’t want to wake up the other guests.”

“I am the ‘other guests.’ And as you can see I’m already awake.”

She pointed a finger upward. “There’s a nice couple staying on the third floor. And they look like the kind of people who actually go to sleep at night.”

He shook his head. “Think what they’re missing. Stars overhead, panic attacks. How’s yours doing now, by the way?”

Her rosebud mouth formed an O. “You made me forget all about it. Thank you.”

They stared at each other a moment and Aiden couldn’t think of anything he wanted more right now than to kiss those full, sweet lips. He looked away.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Aiden Flynn.”

“Well, Aiden, I’ve got a hot tip for you on brownies. My sister’s best friend Natalie D’Alessio owns the Coffee Cove down on Cove Street, and she makes the most outrageous brownies.”

“You’re a local girl?”

She nodded. “I’m Jenna Richardson.”

“Related to the woman who owns this B&B?”

“She’s my mother. I grew up in this house. But it was a farmhouse then, not a B&B.” She heaved a sigh. “I’m kind of back for a while. You know that TV show called
Sunrise Lane
?”

“Sure. That’s the one they shoot in the Hamptons.”

“Well, I’m going to be in it.”

“You’re an actress.”

“Not really. I’m a dancer, a soloist for American Ballet Theater. Or I was until two weeks ago. I’m on a leave of absence from the company for three months. I got really sick of my life and decided to make a change. To try out a new profession.”

“That’s brave.”

She gave him a sheepish look. “Truth is, I caught a huge lucky break. Sean Risk, the star of the series is also one of the producers. He saw me perform, asked me out for dinner and before dessert arrived, he offered me a role on the show.”

In return for
? An unbidden surge of protectiveness and jealousy sprang up in Aiden. He forced it back with the reminder that this magical female creature would never want him, anyway. Even if she didn’t have a movie star courting her. “That’s really fabulous.”

“Exactly. So why am I so freaked out?”

“Maybe because there’s so much to lose.”

Jenna combed her fingers through her long sable hair. “You aren’t kidding. What if I bomb? Ballet is all I know. It’s been my life since forever. What if I mess up my lines tomorrow? What if the ratings go down because I’m so bad? What if Sean hates me for ruining his show? What if—”

“Whoa.” He stop-signed his hands. “You’re a runaway train. There’s your panic attack.” He gestured at the night sky. “The universe is filled with what-ifs. There are always things beyond our control. Take it from one who knows what it’s like to try and rail against the forces of nature. After a point you have to surrender your attempts at control and enjoy the ride, or in some cases… suffer through it.”

“The C word. I know it all too well. Dance is all about control. It’s about practicing something over and over until I get it right. Or analyzing a flaw in my technique and working my tail off to correct it. The perfect career for those of us who are never satisfied. Letting go of that is like trying to break an addiction. One that feels like a prison.” She twisted her fingers together. A troubled gesture that made his heart melt.

They stood so close now, one on either side of the fence, that if he bent forward he could bury his face in her hair. Instead he inhaled the scent of her coconut shampoo, wondering if she knew how beautiful she was.

Jenna glanced up at Aiden, and his breath caught. She said, “I’ve never told anyone this before. Not sure I knew it myself. I’m sorry. You must be sick of hearing about me and my problems. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? And what do you do?”

“Nothing interesting.” He hated those kinds of questions. Switching subjects, he gestured to his Celestron. “Want to see the surface of the moon? Or how about the constellation Andromeda?”

Her large eyes got even bigger. “Is that your hobby? Stargazing?”

“Yep.” But the stars were more than a hobby. Talk about addictions. This was his nightly escape from the memories that plagued his sleep.

Jenna placed a hand on top of the fence and in one effortless motion that would make any parkour traceur proud, swung her legs up into a scissor (with pointed feet of course) and floated over to his side.

Her deft display of perfect body control and coordination must have taken less than two seconds, but it was time enough for Aiden to catch a full glimpse of her magnificent legs. Pangs of longing shuddered through him all the way to his groin. Struggling against his body’s reaction to Jenna, he led her to the telescope.

She gave him an inquisitive eye and studied the stubby gray cylinder that sat perched atop a tripod. “Do I need to adjust something before taking peek?”

“No. You’re good to go.” He pointed to the small eyepiece. “Try covering your right eye with the palm of your hand instead of simply closing it. Less tiring and it reduces the tendency to squint with the other.”

Jenna cupped her right eye and gazed into the eyepiece with her left. “Oooh. Like tiny blue Christmas lights. Only gazillions of them spread out in a haze. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. There are even some pinks and purples mixed in there along with the white stars.” She looked up, her face bright. “So beautiful. So magical. Thank you.”