Learning Curves - By Elyse Mady Page 0,7

wanted, did she?

Refusing to get side-tracked by her nemesis’s amorality, she crammed the note in her pocket. She hurried back to the door and opened it a crack. A thunderous round of applause and whistles reverberated from the stage. She slammed it shut. His set must be over. She had to act quickly or she was going to have a hard time explaining her presence here. To Brandon or Gillian, for that matter. Leanne being hauled out by bouncers wasn’t something that would escape Gillian’s notice, no matter how many fruity drinks she’d consumed. And if she learned of Leanne’s interference, there’d undoubtedly be hell to pay.

Yet even as escape plans tumbled through her mind, she remembered the torturous sense of excitement she’d felt watching Brandon perform. How her body had responded to the mere promise of his sexual prowess. And experienced a fleeting moment of regret that she hadn’t been able to talk to him after all.

Only in her wildest dreams could she ever imagine seducing a total stranger, but she would have liked a chance to see if the peculiar magnetism he’d exerted on her body had been real or just a fiction of her overheated, under stimulated body.

Well, she thought wryly, turning the doorknob once more, on the bright side, at least I have a new star in my vibrator-induced fantasies…

Offstage, Brandon shrugged into his robe and made his way back to the dressing room. He’d forgotten the rush of dancing in front of a live audience. They’d been jazzed up tonight, calling him back for two encores.

Pausing outside the green room, he thought about going back on stage again more regularly. Fact was, he’d missed it. Not every night, of course. But once in a while…It might be fun.

He opened the door, still distracted by the idea of a return to the stage, and stepped inside, eager to change.

And plowed into a warm, softly scented body.

His arms came up and he felt the whoosh of her breath as he knocked her back into the room. He came to a screeching halt just inside the door.

“I’m sorry,” he said, tightening his hands around her torso to stabilize her, and got his second shock in as many seconds. Whoever he’d flattened definitely wasn’t June. The woman squirmed free of his hold and knelt to gather the small purse she’d dropped in the collision. She looked up from her knees, meeting his eyes reluctantly. He did a double take.

Holy crap! The girl from the floor. His brain seized at the sight of her face, his voice harsher than intended. “What are you doing in here? This is off-limits to patrons.”

Standing now, tucking her purse over her shoulder, she licked soft, pink lips and grimaced. “Looking for the ladies room?”

He scoffed and she blushed, the scorching color rising across her cheeks at the obvious untruth. His eyes swept over her, taking her in. Pretty, in an understated sort of way. Her shoulder length hair curled around her heart-shaped face, and just a hint of makeup highlighted her features. Not tall, but the way she held herself gave the impression of height. She had great legs, shown off to good effect by a knee-length denim skirt and a pair of tall black boots. Her sweater revealed a few details he hadn’t been able to make out from the stage, namely some seriously tempting curves.

Understated but classy. And appealing as hell.

“You should have turned left at the bar about three hallways ago,” he chided, trying to marshal his face into an appropriately stern expression.

She was looking at him a little unsteadily, two bright spots of color on her cheeks. He tried to take heart from the fact that she wasn’t as composed as she appeared at first glance.

“Look,” he continued when it was obvious she wasn’t going to tell him why she was there, “I don’t do private dances, so you need to leave.”

Another flush of color rose across her pale cheeks. Her eyes sparkled, whether from embarrassment or disappointment he couldn’t tell. But the deep blush set off her dark hair beautifully. He swallowed and tightened the belt of his robe. Given that five minutes ago he’d been next door to naked in front of two hundred women, he knew his newfound modesty was ridiculous, but he still felt underdressed.

Even as he told her to leave, he couldn’t help but wonder if her skin colored the same way when she came. Did her breasts and neck flush in the grip of