“You know what?” Jasmine said, pointing at a spot on the floor until the girl moved over to stand there. “That’s okay. The thing about dance is you communicate through motion, not through your voice.”
For the first time, something besides wariness entered the girl’s expression. Unless Jasmine was mistaken, she saw a glimmer of genuine interest.
“Okay,” she said, moving back to her own place in front of the mirror. “Try to follow my movements. First position.”
They did a single run-through of each of the positions. Jasmine told her what to fix if her form was off, demonstrating what she meant through her own movements. The girl did a surprisingly good job of listening. On the second run-through, Jasmine didn’t have to give as much feedback.
Highly impressive, especially for someone so young.
“Excellent,” she said. “You want to do them one more time?”
The girl smiled. It turned her naturally lovely face into one of rare beauty. Her dad would have a riot on his hands when she got older, Jasmine thought.
“All right. I can help you learn how to transition and hold each position better if I use my hands to guide you. You okay with that?”
A moment of consideration, then another nod.
“Great. Ready? Position one.”
This time, Jasmine moved closer to help the girl fine-tune the mechanics she still hadn’t quite grasped. When she got to third position, Jasmine bent to position her feet, turning them out more and placing one heel closer to the center of the other foot.
“You see how that helps with your balance?” she asked. After receiving the girl’s nod, she rose and guided her left hand out to the side and her right in a gentle arc above her head. “You want to make sure your back is straight and your neck is—”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a deep voice demanded.
Jasmine stepped away from the girl, who lowered her arms and turned with Jasmine to face the voice’s owner standing in the doorway. It took only one look into the male’s furious blue-gray eyes to identify him as one of the girl’s relatives. He looked about Jasmine’s age, so she wasn’t sure whether he was her father, older brother, or maybe an uncle.
All she knew was he was seriously pissed, and his outrage was directed entirely at her.
Chapter Three
Will couldn’t believe what he’d just walked in on. Some strange female touching Katie? She was lucky he didn’t put his own hands on her.
“We were just—” the stranger started to say.
“Katie, come here,” Will interrupted.
His gaze remained on the stranger as Katie obeyed, trudging over to him with her head tipped down. He noted the stranger’s rigid posture and cool expression. Her utter aloofness irked him even more. When Katie reached his side, he placed his hand on top of her head and finally looked down at her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Of course she’s okay,” the stranger said. “We were just—”
“You were just touching my daughter without my permission,” Will snapped, stepping away from Katie to stride over and grab her coat from the chair.
“I got her permission,” the stranger said, jutting her chin in Katie’s direction.
Will paused a couple feet from her and gave her an incredulous look. “In what world is a five-year-old capable of giving consent?”
“Consent for what? I was merely showing her—”
“I couldn’t care less. She’s my kid. If I ever see you near her again, I’m pressing charges.”
“Charges for offering dance instruction? Seriously?”
He started to reply but was interrupted by another female voice.
“Is everything okay in here?”
He turned to the door and saw his physical therapist, Dr. Everly Parker, standing there. The concerned look on her face took the leading edge off his temper. It was clear Katie was fine. His therapist had work to get done. Making more of a scene wasn’t going to help anything.
“It’s really nothing,” the stranger insisted before Will could speak.
Clamping his teeth together to stop himself from arguing further, he walked back to Katie and squatted to help her back into her coat.
“Will?” Everly said, evidently needing him to confirm the stranger’s assessment of the situation.
“We’re fine,” he muttered as he finished zipping Katie into her coat. Seeing one of her shoelaces was loose, he made quick work of retying it and then rose to take her hand. “Tell Cole I said hi, would you?”
Everly smiled. “Sure. Katie, did you get your lollipop?”