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“So, mostly you’re working.” Ally sighed. “Even your new tan is going to make you look fantastic onstage.”
I scoffed. “Dance isn’t work.”
“Dance is therapy.” She mimicked my voice, exaggerating my slight twang, then suddenly said, “Oh shit! I just noticed the time. I gotta go.”
“Why?” I asked, doing the math in my head to come up with the right time back in Texas. “It’s too early for work.”
“I’m covering for you tonight. Mercedes is headlining me.” Ally puffed out a breath. “It’s crazy. There’s no way I can take your place. That’s why I need the extra time to practice.”
“You showed her the Rihanna number.” I nodded to myself, knowing I’d guessed right.
“Yes,” she said. “The one you choreographed for me. She loved it.”
“Wish I could see you dance and hug you after,” I said, frowning. “You’ll do great.”
“Wish you could see me too. But if you were here, I wouldn’t be doing it. You would. Go out, El,” she said sternly as if she were the boss of me, and we weren’t the same age. “Do something good for you. Step out of your comfort zone. Live a little for a change. At least rack up some extra expenses on Mercedes’ credit card while you’re out there, yeah?”
“Okay.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Promise me,” she said insistently.
I let out a long breath. “I promise.”
I would do my best to keep that promise. But first, I needed to dance.
Champion
ALONE, I GAVE the Jeep some gas, inching toward the stop sign as I followed the rusted-out Toyota Corolla in front of me. Even though I was the MVP, I’d drawn the short straw and was grocery shopping for everyone else back at the villa after our long travel day to Saint Croix.
A quick glance at my phone showed that the market was only five miles away. But with what looked like the entire population of the small island converging at the intersection ahead, it would probably take another fifteen minutes before I arrived at my destination.
I exhaled a frustrated breath, removed my shades, and tossed them into the empty passenger seat. With the sun on the descent, the light wasn’t bright enough to trigger a migraine, so I didn’t need them anymore.
Propping my elbow on the door frame, I tried to focus on the warm tropical setting, reminding myself that I was on vacation. I didn’t really have much to complain about. I’d left my Super Bowl ring and my responsibilities to the team behind. For an entire week, I was free to relax and be myself, the man apart from the legend. Whoever the hell he was.
Finally, the Toyota moved, and it was my turn. I was just about to put my foot on the gas when a flash of movement distracted me. When I turned my head and glanced up, my jaw dropped. There was a woman in the top of a tree, a very beautiful woman with long black hair.
No. I corrected my initial assessment. She wasn’t just beautiful. She was smoking hot.
Unable to look away, I watched as she walked—no, danced—across the thick branch beneath her bare feet. Skintight purple shorts and a cropped top with slashes over her cleavage made love to her sexy body like I envisioned doing. Her slender arms flowed outward. Her curvy hips undulated. Whatever tune she listened to through her headphones, the beat was as sexual as my thoughts.
Damn, I wanted a piece of that.
But why was she dancing in a tree? Who was she? What song made her dance like she was begging to be fucked?
My mind pulsed with those questions while my cock throbbed. Imagining giving her what she wanted, I was caught off guard when she unexpectedly pirouetted.
I sucked in a breath. My heart clenched at the fear that she’d fall, but she didn’t.
“Fucking hell.” I exhaled my relief.
The car behind me honked. My distraction heard the horn too, despite her headphones.
Glancing down at us, she seemed to ignore the vehicle behind me. Her eyes somehow found mine, and awareness slammed into me like a blitzing lineman.
She was exquisite. I’d never seen hair as dark as hers or eyes that same electrifying shade of silver. Imagining fucking her wasn’t enough. I had to have her for real.
A beat passed, then another. I couldn’t look away, and apparently, neither could she. The distance between us seemed to disappear. I saw something in her eyes, felt something, a pain that seemed familiar.
