Paige swallowed hard. “I haven’t actually danced with him yet.”
“You haven’t? Why ever not?”
“I just…I wanted to concentrate on getting the exercises right.”
Her grandmother made a small sound of disbelief. “That isn’t all of it, is it, Paige?”
“No,” she admitted, “it isn’t. I’ve been putting that part of our lessons off.”
“Sweetie, you’re his dance teacher. You know you need to touch him.”
Paige knew her grandmother was right, of course. She’d avoided partnering with him all day, thinking that the exercises would be enough. But they weren’t. Of course they weren’t. How could they be?
She was acting like a love-struck teenager, and she needed to pull herself together.
Paige felt terribly guilty that she had effectively wasted an entire morning, all because she hadn’t wanted Christian to find out how much his presence unsettled her. She’d wanted to avoid appearing like the kind of weak, simpering fan he probably saw every single day of his life. But, in doing that, she’d held back from giving her student the best possible lesson.
“You’re a fabulous teacher, Paige,” her grandmother continued. “The best I’ve ever known. If anyone can do this, you can.”
Paige hung up the phone, trying to believe what Grams had just said—that if anyone could turn Christian into a serious dancer, she could.
Of course, to do that she was going to have to actually touch him.
By the time Paige walked back into the main part of the studio, she was surprised to find him sitting against the wall with his head in his hands.
“Christian?” He looked up, starting to push himself to his feet. She cut that short by moving to sit down beside him. Sitting there like that, he looked so vulnerable. It was such a contrast to the easy strength that he usually possessed.
“It looks like you were right. I’m no Fred Astaire.”
“No one is,” Paige pointed out. “And you’ve only been learning for one day.”
She was willing to bet that just about everything else came easily to Christian, from his success on TV shows to all the things that were connected with that. Fame, fortune, women. She could imagine how hard struggling with learning to dance must be for him.
“The big entertainment shows are going to be coming in to film us practicing at the end of the week.” The strain in Christian’s voice was crystal clear. “They’ll be only too happy to run with a story about how I’m going to butcher Fred Astaire’s classic role.”
“Then we just need to work even harder. You’ll get it,” Paige assured him, “and when you do, you’ll wonder why it seemed so hard at first. But it’s going to take lots more focus. From both of us.”
Almost as if to punctuate their need for focus, the sound of a phone ringing came from Christian’s sports bag, a distinctly un-macho set of tinkling bells. He winced, but this time he finally got up to take the call.
“Hi. Yes, it’s fine. No, I haven’t forgotten, I promise. Yes, I know you do. Tell them I do, too. I’ll see you all soon.” He turned to Paige. “What time does FedEx close on the island?”
“Five o’clock, but we’ve still got so much to do.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just…wherever I go, I try to send something back to my two nieces when I get there. The tackier, the better, generally. That was my sister, reminding me that I should be spending Christmas with them rather than wandering off preparing for my new role. So I figure I’ve got between now and the time FedEx closes to find something suitably touristy to make up for it. At least it will remind them that I’m thinking of them.” He ran a hand over his face. “I know it probably sounds like I’m making excuses not to practice—”
“No, it doesn’t sound like that at all. We’ve had a long day, and I know how important family is.” She paused for a moment before deciding to tell him, “After my mother died, my father traveled a lot, almost as if being on Walker Island hurt him too much. But he never wanted us to think that he’d forgotten us, so he would send us things from all around the world. Little things. Shells he’d found on a tropical beach. Pictures of places he’d gone with his students. So I know how important tacky souvenirs can be for children. They show you’re thinking of them even when you’re away.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Christian said. “I really didn’t want to quit practice early on my first day.”
Paige looked at his sweat-soaked form. “I think you’ve been working hard enough for a first day, and I know we’re absolutely going to kill it tomorrow. So go on. The FedEx office closes in an hour, which means that you should have just enough time to find some really tacky gifts at one of the little tourist shops on the same stretch of downtown.”
“Come with me, Paige,” he asked. “I could use the help.”
She was tempted—so very tempted. But in the end, she knew better than to spend any more time with Christian than was absolutely necessary. Already, he’d managed to chip away at the walls she’d built up around her heart to protect herself from getting hurt again by a big star. She couldn’t allow the walls to crumble any further. Not if she wanted her heart to remain in one intact piece when he left at the end of the week.
“I’ve got to take care of some work here,” she said, “but have fun. And good work today.”
She could see that he was disappointed that she wasn’t going with him, but he didn’t try to push her. Neither, she noted, did he rush out of the studio. Instead, he stared into her eyes long enough, and intensely enough, for her to wonder if he might be about to kiss her.
In the end, he simply said, “Thank you, Paige. I couldn’t ask for a better dance teacher than you.” Even though he hadn’t given her the kiss that she could no longer deny she wanted, her heart was fluttering wildly in her chest as she watched him go.
CHAPTER SIX
Thanks to Christian’s dash to a souvenir shop and the FedEx office, Paige got home much earlier than she had anticipated. She went straight upstairs, heading for the shower, hoping the hot water would help to wash away some of the day, too.
“Not touching him.” Paige shook her head at the foolishness of that approach.
Now that she didn’t have those piercing green eyes on her, it was easy to see just how silly she had been. Besides, what had she been doing, allowing herself to be unsettled by a man who was spending time with her only because he needed to learn to dance? How could she have wasted a whole day of practice when they needed every second of serious dancing time they could get?
Face to face, cheek to cheek, that was how they needed to be dancing together. But even as she thought it, a vision came of what it would be like to be held against his strong muscles, pressing close to him as they danced…
“Stop it,” Paige told herself as she stepped out of the shower. While she had spent all day looking at Christian and thinking about how handsome he was, how wonderful, how sweet—she knew all he could have possibly seen when he looked back at her was nothing more than a dance instructor ready to put him through Fred Astaire boot camp over Christmas.
She’d been so busy trying to avoid looking like the cliché of the island girl falling for the big star that she’d become a paralyzed star-struck fan instead. Which was especially crazy considering she didn’t even idolize Christian Greer. Until a couple of weeks ago, she hadn’t really known much about him or his TV show. Well, not unless her father was over at the house and grabbed the remote to put on Christian’s show, or when Grams felt like watching it. Not more than a few times a month, at most.
“So I should have absolutely no problem with touching him,” Paige said to herself as she settled on a soft, flowing skirt and a royal blue sweater, leaving her hair down for once to let the soft waves bounce naturally.
Really, she thought now that she had the benefit of a little distance from it all, it wasn’t like either of them was suddenly going to fall head over heels in love with the other. Fortunately, she had an entire night to pull herself together and get used to the idea of working closely with Christian on a purely professional basis.
When Paige went downstairs with a much clearer head than she’d come back from the studio with, she realized all the Christmas decorations were up. How could she not have noticed until right now? She had to laugh at herself, thinking of the time Michael had practically rebuilt the kitchen and she hadn’t noticed for a week because her life had been such a blur between teaching at the dance studio, coming home to eat a quick meal, and then sleeping until it was time to get up and teach again. Thankfully, it was a beautiful blur Paige loved, filled with students who always managed to amaze her with their progress and joy in dance.
In any case, it was good to have Morgan back home and in charge of the decorations. With her flair for design, the house looked especially beautiful this Christmas. Paige could easily guess that her sister had hung the decorations with Charlotte in tow. Their niece had clearly wanted to put glitter everywhere, and of course Morgan had been only too happy to indulge the sweet little girl.
There were miles of tinsel, decorations on every available surface, lots of colorful and shiny baubles hanging from the ceiling, and so many assorted Santa Clauses that their home could have been the location of a holiday trade show.
At the center of it all was the tree. Paige smiled at the memory of Christmas trees from her childhood. They’d always been big and beautiful, filling the room. She and her sisters had worked together to decorate it while their mother, father, and grandmother cheered them on. Hanna had usually been the one wanting to add more ornaments to it. Morgan always liked to have a specific color theme. Rachel would volunteer to climb the ladder to put the angel at the top. And Emily would meticulously sort the presents into neat piles underneath.
The tree this year was everything she remembered. Big enough that it was a wonder they had managed to get it through the door. Brightly decorated to the point where it was almost hard to believe there was a tree under all of the ornaments and lights, with the angel placed on top.
The house was quiet for this time of day. She had expected Grams or Emily to be here somewhere, and given that everyone was on the island for the holidays, it was surprising that the rest of her sisters weren’t filling up the house, too.
With all the decorations throughout the house, it took a little time before Paige noticed the note from Emily propped on the mantelpiece between a snow globe and a Santa Claus music box.
Grams and I have gone over to Seattle to do some Christmas shopping. Hanna and Rachel are at Dad’s place. Charlotte is staying over at Morgan’s. So the house is yours for the night. Have fun!
Momentarily, Paige was at a loss as to what to do for the evening. She thought about going over to see her father, Hanna, and Rachel. He lived only a short distance away, in the middle of town. It would be nice to visit with all of them—a nice end to a day that had been so frustrating.
On the other hand, she saw far more of her father than her other sisters did and knew it would be good to give him a chance to visit with them on their own. Besides, with Nicholas and Joel in tow, his small cottage would be full to bursting.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Paige’s head. “I get to control the TV for once,” she said with a smile. How often did she find herself alone in the house? As much as she loved her sister and grandmother, it was nice to have some space every now and again to watch whatever shows
she
wanted. Especially since the others tended to veto her collection of dance movies. Apparently, she and Grams were the only ones who loved watching the same movies for the hundredth time so that they could work through the dance sequences.
Another idea made Paige smile even wider: She was the only one in the family who liked to order takeout.
She went into the kitchen to look through the drawer where she kept a collection of takeaway menus from the local restaurants. What would it be tonight? Indian? Thai? Local seafood? Though Walker Island was small, the number of tourists who visited meant it had a good selection of restaurants.
Inevitably, though, Paige settled on Chinese. She looked over the menu, working her way down through the selections to see what caught her eye. What hadn’t she had in a while? She took the menu over to her collection of dance-inspired DVDs, planning to match the food with the video.
Flashdance
with ginger beef, maybe?
Strictly Ballroom
with kung pao chicken, perhaps?
Paige was still contemplating the perfect combination when the doorbell rang. It wouldn’t be one of the family because they all had keys for the house. Could it be that Michael had decided to ring the doorbell, rather than just come in the way he normally did? He was a talented carpenter and builder, and there probably wasn’t a single part of the house that he hadn’t renovated, redecorated, or simply repaired. When he wasn’t doing that, he was helping Grams with her laptop. Sometimes, if he was in the neighborhood, he would simply stop by to say hello. Emily was forever muttering about the way he
always
seemed to be here, but Paige thought Emily was pretty darn clueless if she hadn’t figured out the real reason behind Michael’s regular appearances. Especially since everyone else in their family could see that he’d been desperately in love with Emily ever since they were teenagers.
“Coming!”
She turned on the porch light and opened the door, shocked to find Christian rather than Michael on the front step. He looked so good in a checked shirt and slacks that it took her longer than it should have to realize that he had come bearing gifts. Namely, Chinese takeout in a bag from her favorite Chinese restaurant. Paige could also see he was holding a DVD, and a quick glance confirmed it was
Shall We Dance
.
He’d come over with takeout and a dance movie? On the one night when her family wasn’t in? Had he read her mind? Was this all some kind of dream? Because having Christian, Chinese takeout, and her favorite movie all in one evening certainly sounded like a perfect fantasy.
“I ran into your sister and grandmother in town, and they said they were off to Seattle and that you were home on your own.” Then he added, with a smile, “After today, I realize more than ever that I’m going to need to work not just harder, but smarter, too. So I’ve come up with a plan.”