Why don't you Stay ... Forever - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,13

brothers.

My heart squeezes. Am I going to have to walk away from Erin, pretend our incredible night never happened, to save her career?

No, no, no. What am I thinking? Shit like that only happens in movies.

Then again, what do I know? I’ve had girlfriends before, but I’ve never spontaneously jumped into bed with a woman. Not that it was entirely spontaneous—I’ve been drooling after Erin since she started working in our office a month ago.

But if I’m distracting her so much she can’t dance, what chance do we have together? I know that if Erin has to choose between dancing and me, I’ll be out in the cold so fast I won’t have time to shiver.

I try to tell myself that Erin missing steps has nothing to do with me, but I’m scared that it does. I white-knuckle the rest of the performance. When it’s over—after the bowing, the flower giving, and the director greeting the kids from a local dance school—I head to the stage.

The security guy from last night is there again. This time, he gives me a cordial nod and sends me right up the stairs to the wings.

Dean spots me and hurries over. Not like he wants to greet me, but as though he’s trying to head me off. What the hell?

A glance past Dean’s large frame tells me why he’s so worried. Just outside the hall that leads to the dressing rooms is Erin. With her is another man—a black-haired, handsome guy with enough hard muscles to tell me he’s a dancer.

He has Erin in his arms, and as I watch, he leans down and gives her a passionate kiss on the mouth.

Chapter Five

Erin

“What the hell are you doing here?” I all but yell once I finally pry Reuben off me.

Reuben Barrow gives me his best slick smile as I wipe my mouth in disgust. I truly never wanted his saliva on me again.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” he has the gall to ask. “I’m back, sweetheart. I’ve signed with Clarice again. You need a decent male dancer in this company.”

I brim with fury. Reuben is supposed to be in Milwaukee, with a dance company that begged him to join them two years ago. I wonder how many people he pissed off before they fired him. I’m certain he was fired—he’d been hot to erase the dust of Arizona from his feet, loudly saying he’d never return. He wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t now desperate for a job.

“Clarice re-hired you?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. You know Clarice never wanted me to go. Neither did you, I recall. And here I am.”

Reuben spreads his arms, his smile as cool as ever. I guess he expects me to fling myself at him, rejoicing that he’s come home.

He’d dumped me plenty fast when the Milwaukee opportunity came along, claiming that long-distance relationships didn’t work. I’d protested at first, but when I realized he truly didn’t give a shit about me, the scales, as they say, fell from my eyes. I quit fighting the breakup, threw his things in a box, and set the box in the middle of my driveway. The box had vanished overnight, and so had Reuben.

Today, I’d danced on to the stage to do my solo and spied Reuben in the wings on the other side, next to Clarice. What a way to throw me off my game. My performance sucked, seriously sucked, and I knew it.

And now, worst of all, Dean is bearing down on us with Ben. Shit.

“Reuben,” Dean booms. “You get tired of all that winter up north? I remember you proclaiming you were done with heat. Welcome back to the sun.”

I need to extract myself from the situation. I’ll grab Ben, who has halted at Dean’s side, taking in Reuben with his assessing gaze, and run, run, run. Maybe never come back.

Damn Reuben. I’m happy in Clarice’s dance company, but I never want to work with him again. Or even lay eyes him.

“Wisconsin wasn’t so bad.” Reuben shrugs. “I was working all the time, so I didn’t notice the weather. It’s already too damned hot here, and it’s only May.”

“So stay inside and work,” Dean says. “How about we have a beer and catch up?”

Dean is wonderful. He’s trying to steer Reuben away from me, but Reuben digs in his heels. “I was thinking about catching up with Erin.”

“Erin’s busy,” Dean tells him.

“Doing what?”

Ben, who is no fool, has figured out what’s going on. I haven’t told him about Reuben,