you need to go and cover yourself up. Poor Mr. Atwood can hardly be expected to perform with your smuggled raisins directly in his line of sight.”
A few people chuckled and Damon frowned, looking at Alicia as though finally becoming aware of her attire. Alicia did her best Marilyn Monroe as she brought her hand to her mouth and gasped, glancing down at her chest in surprise. Pu-lease. Like she hadn’t known all along. It was bordering on ridiculous. She’d gone to put her cardigan back on when Iggy called me over.
“Rose, can you come here for a second? Damon dances well with you. I think we should practice the routine without Alicia a couple of times until he’s comfortable. You know this part, don’t you?”
I nodded silently and walked across the studio. I knew every routine in the entire show by heart. I had spent several weeks helping Iggy to develop it, after all. Damon’s eyes fell on me, and for a moment he seemed stricken. I stared at him, trying to silently communicate everything I couldn’t say in front of all these people.
I recited Satine’s lines with practiced confidence, unfazed by those around me. They were the cast, and I was comfortable with them. It was audiences full of strangers that I feared. Damon looked at me with such vitriol as I held my hand out that I had to stifle a gasp.
“Okay, a little less anger and little more dumbstruck by the courtesan’s beauty, Christian,” said Jacob from a few feet away.
Damon smoothed out his expression and took my hand, but when he did, his grip was too tight. Almost forceful. Well, now I knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of Damon Atwood’s temper: scary.
His silence only functioned to make me feel that much more intimidated. He stared down at me like I was a stranger and my stomach twisted into knots. I knew why he was reacting like this. He’d told me before he didn’t trust easily, but he’d trusted me, and look what had happened. He thought I’d betrayed him.
The backing music played through the sound system as the cast sang the song. I danced with Damon, but he held his body as far away from mine as possible.
“That wasn’t what you think,” I said under my breath, quiet enough so that only he could hear.
“It looked pretty clear to me,” he practically grunted, his hand still tight around mine.
“I was taking inventory in the storage room when he came up behind me. I thought he was you, Damon. Everything you saw was a mistake. I was letting him kiss me because I thought he was you,” I said, emphasising my words. “After the lunch we shared, I thought you’d come to find me.”
His eyes moved between mine as my explanation sank in, and the tightness in his body loosened slightly.
“Okay, a little less chitchat and a little more saying your lines,” Jacob ordered, obviously noticing our whispered conversation.
Damon’s expression eased a small bit, his mouth opening and then closing. He couldn’t respond to what I’d told him because we were in the middle of the scene, which required dialogue. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alicia return to the room, her chest thankfully covered as she looked over at us.
I saw her ask Jacob a question as she folded her arms, probably wondering what I was doing dancing with Damon when it was her job. He gave her some explanation, and her mouth formed a thin, unhappy line.
My attention returned to the man in front of me. His warm hand pressed into the base of my spine, and he studied me closely. I wondered if he believed what I’d told him. Then the scene ended I stepped away, but we didn’t get the chance to speak because Jacob whisked him back to Alicia.
I went to stand by the wall, and someone slinked up beside me. As soon as I smelled his cologne, I knew it was Blake. Never again would I forget to smell a man before I let him start putting his mouth all over me.
“So, you thought I was someone else,” he said, voice tight. “I suppose I don’t have to think too hard to figure out who you mistook me for.”
“You had no right touching me like that,” I hissed.
He let out a mirthless laugh. “Sorry, I kind of forgot to ask permission when you started grinding on my dick.”