was it. I probably looked at myself once in an entire day. Some days not at all. Staring at my reflection now was like having a tattoo on your shoulder that you forgot was there. It was like, huh, so that’s what my face looks like.
I ran a hand through my new haircut. It felt different, like I was touching somebody else’s hair. Rose came and stood beside me, placing a hand on her hip.
“Not too shabby, eh?” she said, her eyes meeting mine through the mirror.
I tensed up as though I’d been caught doing something unseemly. “It’s hair.”
“You never told Graham if you liked it. You do realise that’s the ultimate insult for a barber, right?”
I frowned. She shook her head and laughed. “I’m messing with you. To be honest, I think you made his day just by walking into his shop. Come on, let’s get started.”
I followed her over to the middle of the dance floor as she went on, “I’m going to teach you a basic foxtrot. There’s a scene or two where you’re going to need to ballroom dance with Alicia, and this is a good place to start.”
Leaving me standing there, she went to turn on some music, and a minute later “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra came on. Rose returned to stand in front of me, holding her arms out as though about to dance with an invisible partner.
“Okay, so watch my feet. It’s really easy. You do two slow steps forward, one quick step to the side and then back.”
I studied her feet like my life depended on it. She said it was simple, but there was still a good chance I’d fuck up.
“Damon,” she said, drawing my attention to her. “You’re biting your lip. Stop it. You won’t learn if you’re too tense.”
I nodded and released my lip. I didn’t even realise I was biting it, but now I tasted blood on my tongue. Rose let out a slow breath and demonstrated the steps for me again.
“All right, I think I have it.”
She eyed me sceptically. “Are you sure?”
“Aye.”
“Come here, then.”
I stepped closer to her and she took my hands, placing one on her back just below her armpit and the other she laced her fingers through. Her blouse was cool and silky under my touch. I thought I saw a tiny tremble go through her, and my cock reacted. I silently urged it to fuck off. I didn’t need Rose noticing my stiffy and thinking I was some kind of sexual deviant.
“Don’t worry about trying to lead,” she said. “I’ll do that until you get the hang of it.”
“Two steps forward and one to the side.”
“And then back,” she smiled.
“Let’s do this.”
Laughing, she shook her head, her smile widening. “You’d swear we were about to bungee jump off a skyscraper.”
I grimaced, because she was right. I was acting daft. “I don’t want to fuck up.”
“You won’t. Relax.”
It turned out she was right. Well, almost. I stepped on her toes a couple of times, apologising profusely, because I knew it had to have hurt even though she pretended it didn’t. I had big clumsy fucking clown feet. Finally, on the fifth try, I managed to pull it off.
“I told you that you could do this,” she said triumphantly. “Look at you, you’re even starting to lead and you don’t even realise it.” We danced our way across the room until Rose’s back hit the wall. My chest bumped hers, a small oomph of breath escaping her as my mouth crashed against the top of her head. I could feel her tits this close. Fuck, they were full and soft, and I knew they’d feel incredible bare. Her hair was silky and smelled like flowers. I wanted to bunch it in my hand, pull her head to the side, and taste her neck.
“Shit, sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she replied, unfazed. We broke apart, and I willed my cock to fuck off once more as I followed her back to the middle of the room.
“Now I’m going to teach you how to change direction so that doesn’t happen. This is a corner step.” She took my hands again, placing them back where they had been. I inhaled deeply, eyes on the delicate curve of her collarbone until her voice demanded my attention. “Imagine we’re on a crowded dance floor. We don’t want to go bumping into other couples, so we need to corner step to avoid them. When I take a step back