I shoved my phone back in my pocket and stood up to stretch, still feeling Damon’s attention. It did strange things to me, and all of a sudden I felt giddy, my insides aflutter. We had another hour of practice before lunch, and I was suddenly looking forward to it far more than usual.
Unfortunately, Iggy was in a terror of a mood, and we suffered a gruelling hour because of it. It wasn’t really his fault, though, and I could understand why he was feeling irritable. It seemed like everybody was off their game today, their moves sloppy and uncoordinated. I tried not to feel guilty for the fact that it might’ve been down to some of them being in attendance at Julian’s party on Saturday night.
The moment he called for lunch, Iggy pulled me aside, letting free all of his frustrations over the mess our dancers were in. I did my best to console him, and amid all this, I completely forgot I’d agreed to meet Damon for lunch. When I finally managed to calm Iggy down, all I wanted to do was find a quiet spot, eat my sandwich, and try to de-stress from the nightmare we’d just endured.
In one of the small practice rooms, I found a chair, sat down, shoved my earphones in, and dug into my lunch. A couple of minutes later the door opened, and I glanced up to see Damon step inside. I hit “pause” on the audiobook and shot him a look of apology.
“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot I was supposed to meet you. Iggy chewed my ear out over all the mistakes everybody was making during rehearsals, and I’ve just been so frazzled.”
Damon waved away my apology. “No worries. Can I sit? It’s okay if you’d rather be alone.” He held a packed sandwich in his hand, alongside an apple and a bottle of energy drink.
“No, not at all,” I said, patting the seat beside me as I wound up my earphones to put them away. Damon eyed them.
“Are you listening to Outlander?”
I nodded.
“You don’t have to stop. I’ve actually been curious to see what Jamie and Claire have been up to,” he admitted.
My heart skipped a beat as I remembered what part of the book I was on. The sex hadn’t started yet, but I could tell it was about to. No way could I sit here listening to a sex scene while I ate lunch with Damon.
“Oh, no, it’s all right,” I said, but he reached out to take the earphones from me anyway, unwinding them with his long fingers.
“I want to listen with you,” he said, somewhat gruffly.
I couldn’t speak as he gently placed the bud in my ear before putting the other in his. I didn’t do anything for a second and then realised he was waiting for me to hit “play.” Oh, God, this was actually happening. Somehow I didn’t quite have it in me to say, I’m sorry, but I’d rather listen to this part on my own.
So, with no more time left to dawdle, I moved my finger over the screen. The narrator’s posh accent came on, reciting the last few lines of one chapter before announcing the title to the next: Revelations of the Bed Chamber.
Damon stiffened for a second before his dark eyes fell on me. I glanced at him, tried not to blush, and took a too-large bite out of my sandwich. It got lodged in my throat, and I had to work hard to swallow it down. I could tell Damon probably wanted to abandon ship, but he’d made such a fuss about listening that he couldn’t really back out now.
We both ate in quiet for a while, just listening, but the entire time I was overly aware of Damon’s presence. His breathing seemed heavy and tense, and I listened as he inhaled and exhaled. After a few more minutes, I closed my eyes, falling into the story and at the same time wishing Damon could touch me the same way Jamie was touching Claire.
He took her hands into his, smoothing his fingers over her palms.
I wanted Damon to smooth his fingers over mine.
They talked about their past experiences, like soon-to-be-lovers do.
I wanted to talk to Damon about my past, tell him everything and hear every word he had to say about his own.