Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (10 page)

She raised an eyebrow.  “You do love to pull my hair, don’t you?” she asked with a note of dryness.

He nodded with a smirk, staring at her intensely.  Then, “You ready to dance the salsa?”

Janie sighed.  “Well I guess when we let Tiffany pick the place, we should be prepared for Spanish dancing.”

“Pretty much,” he grinned.  “I picked for our birthday last year, so this was all her.”  He looked down at her flirty skirt just skimming the tops of her high boots.  “You look ready to take a spin.  Have you ever danced the salsa before?”

She shook her head no.  “But I’m sure there’ll be some guys there who can give me a lesson,” she shrugged cutely then patted his cheek.  “Don’t you think?”

He grabbed her wrist putting her hand in his.  “I’m sure there will.  And I’m sure they’ll all want to be your teacher.  Lucky for them, we won’t have to bother any of them since I’ll be able to help with that.”  He pulled her as he turned.  “Let’s go.”

Her heart fluttered.

Oh, I’m sure there are a lot of things you can teach me, Luke.

Once they were settled in the limo, they headed toward Hell’s Kitchen to pick up Mike and Emily at her brother’s apartment. 

Janie adored Emily.  Petite and just clearing five feet, she was a dirty blonde with smoky eyes, athletic build, was a master at Krav Maga and a powerhouse of an attorney for non-profits.  She’d just recently implemented a mentoring program for boys called
BoysToMENtoring
in one of the local private high schools where her cousin Jonathan taught Business and Finance, the same Jonathan who was dating Ayanna.  The program called upon men in the community to give their time one Friday a week during the boys’ health and PE classes to teach them life skills, conflict/resolution, and most importantly, healthy ways to relate toward women. 

BoysToMENtoring
was the brain child of Emily and her best friend from childhood, Taylor Hartwell, who was currently a counselor at a middle school in Boston.  After being date raped at 14, Taylor understandably suffered through a myriad of emotions, as did Emily as her closest friend.  While growing up, Emily was determined to create an environment where men took an active role in their responsibility toward the treatment of women.  It was her hope that men would be more proactive in a positive way to teach the younger male population of society how to be good and thriving citizens.

All of the men in Janie’s main group of friends volunteered for the program:  her cousin, Jeremy; her brother, Mike; Luke; Emily’s cousin and Ayanna’s boyfriend, Jonathan; Dr. Drew Huntington, a surgeon they’d gotten to know after Ryann had unfortunately needed his services that past summer; and Maurice Tatum, the school’s resource officer. 

Mmm, her mind stopped.  Maurice Tatum.  Now, he was a hottie.  She’d last seen him on Columbus Day.  They’d flirted a bit, but that was it.  She knew Mike approved of him, having gone through the Police Academy with him.  An African American with a killer sexy smile, maybe he could be an option to bide her time until she could convince Luke of her…

Of her what?  Worthiness?  She put it from her mind and came back to the present.

Along with Mike and Emily, they were also going to be picking up Taylor, and Emily’s cousin Mark who was Jonathan’s younger brother.  Both Taylor and Mark were in from Boston for the holiday.  The rest of the crew would be meeting them at the club; Jem and Ryann, Ayanna and Jonathan, Tiffany, Maurice and Dr. Drew.

She felt Luke’s eyes on her and turned to look at him, giving him a
what?
expression.

He shrugged.  “Why so quiet?”

“No reason.  Just thinking.”

“About?”

She turned fully toward him and gazed at him with a heated smile.  “Salsa instructors.”

He waited a beat, then, “Yeah?  What about?”  His arm was up on the back of the seat and his forefinger came to his mouth to stroke his bottom lip as if thinking.

“Just wondering if your salsa instruction will be as informative as your previous lesson in how to pleasure a woman,” she said boldly with a smile in her eyes, watching him unabashedly.

“How have you remained single to the ripe old age of 28 with that naughty mouth of yours, Miss Callahan?” he murmured with humored exasperation. 

At that moment, they pulled up outside Mike’s place and Luke texted him that they were there. 

Janie bounced her leg which was crossed over her other one while they waited.  “My mouth has helped me a great deal over these last 28 years in my singleness, Luke.  And actually,” she
paused pointedly, “I haven’t heard any complaints.”  She wiped at the corner of her mouth as if she’d just finished tasting a treat.

He watched the movement of her finger and sent a steely gaze her way.  “We’ll see how you do on the dance floor.”

“I trust with you as my teacher, I’ll do exceedingly well.”

“No doubt.  I’m sure with me as your teacher, we would discover a lot of things that you’re good at,” he said.

She blinked just as the door whooshed open, letting in the chaos and whirl of friends.

……

“Follow my lead,” Luke whispered into her ear as they stood on their little corner hardwood flooring, one of his arms tightly wrapped around her waist and his other hand in hers.

Janie didn’t have a chance to be nervous.  As soon as the music started, Luke began moving and instructing, counting in her ear and leading her through the steps.  He’d always moved well.  Sensual, wolf like, predatory.  He was a natural on the dance floor.  The lights were dim but colorful and most of the friends were coupled up with their significant others or other dancers at the club. 

There was a lot of laughter over the music but Janie couldn’t focus on that.  Instead, her heart was in her throat given how Luke kept looking at her, holding her, touching her.  While speaking softly in her ear, he would twirl her and dip, only to start the move all over again with a knowing smile.  He looked calm, confident and intense, his eyes drifting often to her body as his hands skimmed over her curves.

At the end of the first dance, her body was on fire, a humming mess of jumbled nerves all sexually charged and hypersensitive.

He pulled her in for one final dip and as he lifted her so she was smashed to his front, he smirked and said, “Your salsa dancing has proven to be better than your Spanish speaking skills.  Maybe in high school, I should have tutored you in this instead.”

She laughed nervously and pushed a curl off her forehead.  “That was fun,” she said a little out of breath.  “I think I need a drink.”

He took her hand and led her to the bar, where she ordered a white wine.

“Lookin’ good out there, sister dear,” Mike laughed as he came over and bumped his hip into hers.  He was dressed in his combat boots with a white button down shirt and dark chinos.  Emily’s influence she was sure, since he was usually in jeans.

“I have a good teacher,” she said wagging her eyebrows and looking back at Luke with a come hither smile, not hiding it from her brother.

Luke looked like he was about to choke.

“She’s got the moves out there, right bro?” Mike asked Luke.

Luke cleared his throat, “Yeah, she’s good.  Doesn’t even need much instruction.”

“That’s because she’s got the Callahan skills.”  Mike smiled at Janie and hugged her, nearly spilling her wine.  Luke grabbed it just in time.

Janie chuckled at her brother’s typical and affectionate antics.  She took the wine back from Luke who had the same expression on his face that she had.

“You should take a spin with Mo,” Mike said to Janie.  “He didn’t have anyone to couple up with for the first dance,” Mike said, referring to Maurice Tatum, the school resource officer.  Her brother was giving her a playful and knowing look.  She knew exactly what he was doing because in his goofy brother way he’d been pushing Luke for a while now to make a move.

She loved her brother even more since he’d found Emily White.  He’d turned into a meddling matchmaker ever since Emily kicked his ass and stole his heart.

They all directed their attention to Maurice at the other side of the bar.  He was laughing with Taylor, Emily’s friend.  They made a striking appearance together, him with his chocolate brown skin and gorgeous smile, her with her multi-racial mix of Japanese, Irish and German features.  

“He didn’t?”  She made a sympathetic noise with her mouth.  “Poor guy.”

They watched as Emily’s cousin Mark walked over and inserted himself into the conversation between Mo and Taylor.  Within seconds, Mark was smiling and leading Taylor away to the dance floor.

“I’ll go over and see if he wants to dance.”  She took a swig of her wine and handed it to Luke.  “Would you hold this for me?  I’ll be back in a bit.”

“He looks like he’s going to be okay to me,” Luke said.  They all looked back over and noticed a JLo lookalike approach him.  “I don’t think he’ll want to be interrupted at the moment.”

“Sure he will.  If Janie’s asking him to dance, he’ll love to be int
errupted.  I think he’s gotta crush on her,” Mike said, then turned to Janie.  “Luke can find someone else to dance with this round.  Go ahead.”

That caused her to stop.  She glared at her brother who raised an eyebrow over his mischievous eyes, as if to say
Trust me.
  He was having entirely too much fun ever since he guessed her feelings for Luke.  She continued glaring at him but plastered on a smile and turned to the very annoyed Mr. Daniels.

“Don’t have too much fun without me.  And can you get me another glass of wine?  I’m sure I’ll need it after the next dance,” she chuckled, implying Maurice Tatum would have the same overheating effect on her as Luke had.

Luke just nodded and watched her walk away.  Janie meandered her way over to Mo just as JLo girl was taking a sip of her drink.

“Hey!” Maurice said when he saw her approach.  “How ya doin’, girl?” he said with his megawatt smile.  He turned to the woman next to him and said, “Gabriela, this is Janie Callahan.  Janie, this is Gabriela.”  The woman politely put out her hand to shake Janie’s.  Maurice explained, “Janie’s brother and I were in the police academy together.  Her brother and I are also in the mentoring program I was just starting to tell you about, along with some of the other guys here.” He looked at Janie.  “She asked how I’d heard about this place and I was telling her we were here for Tiffany’s birthday which led to me explaining how I’d met all you guys.”

Janie nodded.

“That’s great that all of you would volunteer your time like that,” Gabriela said sincerely, referring to the mentoring program.  She actually seemed sweet.  Janie almost felt guilty pulling him away from her.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Janie began.

“Not a problem.  We were just getting to know each other,” Mo smiled.  “You looked good out there with Luke.”

“Yes, he’s a very good teacher,” she laughed.  “It’s my first time dancing the salsa.”

“Yeah?  You couldn’t tell.  You looked like a pro.”

Janie smiled and looked at Gabriela who looked a little lost.  “Is this your first time here, Gabriela?”

“No, actually.  My dad owns the club, so,” she said with a smile and a shrug.

“Really?  How awesome is that?!” Janie exclaimed and turned to Maurice.  “You should get out there with Gabriela.  I bet she could teach you a thing or two.”  Aw, hell.  It looked like her brother’s matchmaking ways were rubbing off on her.

“Or three.  I’ve never danced the salsa, so I’m sure I’d learn a lot.”  He gave Janie a
thank you
look and said to Gabriela, “Whattaya say, Gabriela?  You game?”

“Absolutely!  It was nice to meet you, Janie,” she smiled, then put her drink down to grab Mo’s hand.

He looked back at Janie and threw her a cocked eyebrow then laughed as Gabriela pulled him out to the dance floor.  Janie chuckled.  She turned back to where Luke and her brother had been and saw that Jem had joined them.  Jem was saying something which made them all smile, and they each started slapping him on the back.  The three of them really were a sight to behold, all of them tall and each so good looking in their own way. 

Janie’s guess was that if Jeremy wasn’t with Ryann at that moment and he’d left her alone for even a second, it was probably because Ryann was in the restroom. There was no way her cousin would leave Ryann unattended for too long.  He would never give that much opportunity for another man to get a hold of her.  She held in her giggle over her cousin’s love of his woman and his watchful ways.  Who would’ve thought Jeremy McCallister, ladies’ man, would’ve fallen so hard.  Half the time, Janie thought he was so possessive with Ryann because he knew firsthand how men were around a beautiful woman.

Janie walked to the restroom, knowing she’d find Ryann in there.  Sure enough, when Janie entered, she found Ryann at the mirror applying her lip gloss.

“Hey!” Ryann beamed at her through the reflection in the glass.  Ryann, an auburn haired, hazel eyed beauty, was curvy and sweet.  A former high school English teacher, Ryann had once taught for years with Jonathan at the high school where Emily’s mentoring program took place.  Following her dream of being a painter and combining it with her passion for teaching, Ryann was now an instructor at the Manhattan Institute for Art and Design.  Interestingly enough, Jem’s grandfather had started the Institute years ago and Luke actually sat on the board of trustees there.