Worth Waiting For (10 page)

Freddie leaned down toward her. The gentle pressure of his fingers against the base of her spine triggered tiny shivers along her hips. “They play a variety of music here: reggaeton, salsa, calypso, merengue.”

He stayed by her side, guiding her through the throng of bodies to the bar and somehow making a spot for them to squeeze in.

 
“
Hola, amigo
!” The bartender extended a hand to Freddie.

Freddie greeted him as well, and they carried on a conversation in rapid Spanish for awhile before the bartender turned to look at her.

“
Quién
 
es
?” he asked.

“
Se llama Julia, mi mujer
,” Freddie answered.
Julia cast a questioning glance at him. “He asked me who you were. I told him your name.”

“I understood when you told him my name, but what does . . . moo-hair mean?”

“Mujer,” Freddie corrected, smiling down at her. “It means friend.”

Julia swallowed to moisten her parched throat. If she could bottle and sell that sexy grin of his, she could make a fortune fighting depression. “I thought
amigo
meant friend.”

The bartender set a glass of white wine and a bottle of beer in front of Freddie. She was pleased he’d remembered what she liked.

“Enjoy.” Without him leaning close to her, she couldn’t hear him over the noise, but she could read his lips. He clinked his bottle against her glass.

Julia took a sip of the fruity wine. Freddie motioned behind her, where the woman sitting on the stool had gotten down and walked away. Seizing the opportunity, she climbed up onto the empty seat.

For a few minutes they watched the dancers. After awhile, she could feel Freddie’s hot gaze on her. Turning to face him, she raised a brow.

He leaned toward her. “You’re not going to sit there all night, are you?” he asked. His breath tickled the delicate skin of her ear. Her fingers tightened on the stem of the glass.

He didn’t move back, so she whispered in his ear. What she really wanted to do was turn and press her mouth against his neck and let her fingers travel down the front of his shirt, releasing each button so her hand could glide across his strong chest.

 
“No. I have to get used to the place first before I jump in. You can ask someone else to dance if you like.” The instructional salsa videos she’d studied on YouTube were a poor preparation for what she was seeing.

“I want to dance with you,” he said. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.

Julia was caught, hypnotized by his dark gaze. He held out his hand to her. She covered his palm with hers, and there was an immediate fluttering in the pit of her stomach. Before following him, she tossed back the rest of her wine. No point in letting it go to waste. Besides, she needed a little liquid courage. Then, with her hand clasped firmly in Freddie’s, she followed him through the thicket of bodies into the middle of the dance floor.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Out in the middle of the club, Julia became intimidated by the fluid movements of the dancers around her. The men moved their partners around without effort, dipping and twirling them with the expertise grown from years of practice.

 
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Julia whispered to Freddie. She stood stiffly in the center of the dancers. “I don’t want to embarrass you. Everybody will be looking at us.”

 
“No one will be looking at us. They’re too busy dancing.” His teeth flashed an encouraging smile. He rested his hand lightly on her waist and lifted her other hand in his. “Relax, and let the music guide you. Listen to the beat.”

 
Good heavens, could he get any sexier, moving his hips slowly from side to side as he tried to encourage her to relax her rigid stance and get into the music.

 
Julia closed her eyes against the painful memories of some of the last words her ex had said to her.
You’re not any fun, Julia. I need someone who’s fun and exciting.
He said those words right after he’d told her about his pregnant girlfriend. After she’d spent eight years of her life with him.

 
“What’s wrong?”

 
She stifled a laugh. What’s wrong was that she was standing in the middle of a Latin club with an attractive man trying to be something she wasn’t. She was Julia Newman, venture capitalist, future youngest female partner in the firm. She was
not
Julia Newman, salsa dancer.

 
“I can’t,” she whispered painfully, trying to pull away. She didn’t want to humiliate herself. She should have never come. This was unfamiliar territory. There were no numbers to analyze and no reports to review.

He didn’t release her. Instead, his arm curved around her waist like a heavy belt, and his dark brows lowered over his eyes in concern. “It’s not that hard. I promise. I’ll guide you all the way.”

His gaze softened on her, and it encouraged her to make a tentative movement. He tried to guide her backward, but she practically tripped over her feet and stiffened against him.

“You have to let me lead. The man is in control in salsa.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she rewarded him with a wan smile. Looking down into her eyes, he said, “Move your left foot forward . . . one, two, three . . . step back . . . right leg backward . . . one, two, three . . .” He repeated the instructions several times. “That’s it.”

They moved slowly at first. Then, as she grew accustomed to the rhythm of the movement and the pressure of his hand indicating when she should move backward and forward, the speed of their movements accelerated to match those around them. Backward, forward, backward, forward. It wasn’t as hard as she had originally thought.

“Keep your hips moving,” Freddie coached. “Yes . . . just like that.”

He warned her he would try a spin move, and she didn’t get it at first, getting off beat on the turn. When they tried again, she mastered the spin, and she looked up at him, grinning widely.

“I got it!” She laughed.

He just stared at her. He didn’t smile back. She noted the hardening of his jaw and felt the split second tightening of his fingers around her own. Unexpectedly, he lowered his head until their mouths almost touched. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Perfect,” he muttered, before claiming her lips.

Although taken by surprise, Julia didn’t hold back. His mouth moved across hers with a longing and passion that found an instant match echoed inside her own needy body. She did what she’d wanted to do since he picked her up. She plunged her fingers into the black curls and buried them until they were no longer visible.

The music switched to a sultry, heady reggaeton beat. He hauled her tighter against his muscular frame.

Freddie broke the kiss, but only so he could trail hot kisses along her jaw to the sensitive point beneath her ear. Julia clutched his broad shoulders, then glided her hands along his arms. She reveled in the powerful muscles beneath her hands. In return, his hands ran restlessly up and down her back as he fought what she was also fighting—the base instinct to disrobe and satisfy an unbearably pulsing ache.

“
Perfecta
,” he whispered in her ear.

Julia didn’t care they were in the middle of a crowded dance floor. She didn’t care if anyone saw them or thought their behavior was indecent. Wrapped in his arms, none of it mattered. Freddie made her feel like a goddess, and she was slowly getting drunk from the power of it.

He lowered his big hands to her hips, and the heated pressure penetrated the material of her skirt and spread warmth along her pelvis. Emboldened, she swayed her hips from side to side in time to the beat of the music. He lifted his head as he felt the difference in her.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered. “Let yourself go, Julia.”

She did. The music flowed over her. She became one with it, letting it course through her veins and lift her spirits. She allowed him to guide her in a turn that ended in her back pressed against his front.

Julia lifted her arms toward the ceiling, and his hands made a slow progression up her side to rest high on her waist. His harsh breath fanned her neck. They were practically making love on the dance floor, and she wasn’t the least bit ashamed. She reached back and trailed her hand along his firm jaw, and she felt, rather than heard, the groan that rippled through his taut body.

****

Lento. Lento
. Freddie knew Julia couldn’t understand the lyrics of the song, but her relaxed body followed the instructions to a tee. Slow. Slow.

He couldn’t count the number of times he’d shared a dance with an attractive woman. While there were times when the right woman could turn him on, he’d never experienced the type of ravenous need consuming his body the way it was with Julia. He bunched his fist into the loose-fitting skirt, fighting the urge to haul it up to her hips so he could run his hands along the length of her inner thigh. He buried his face in her fragrant hair.

“
Dámelo, dámelo
,” the woman wailed in the chorus. “
Lento
.
Lento
.” Give it to me, give it to me. Slow. Slow.

His body shook with the internal struggle to tamp down the need Julia had awakened by rubbing her sexy little body against him. Heaven help him, if she wasn’t careful, she would find herself hemmed up in a dark corner of the club, getting it from him—
lento
.

****

They danced to a few more songs, and then Freddie led her back over to the bar. She could barely walk. This time she requested a bottle of water. She needed something to quench her thirst. Dancing was like exercising, but her thirst was actually the result of her deep-seated arousal.

He sat on one of the stools and pulled her close between his muscular thighs.

“I should come dancing more often,” Julia said. She rested a hand on one of his broad shoulders, feeling the heat emanating from him.

The hand around her waist tightened and brought her closer.

“You should,” he agreed. His hooded gaze caressed her face and made her feel deliciously feminine. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, and she felt the heat of every stroke as if he’d touched her bare skin. “You’re very good.”

She blushed, leaning into him. “I had a good teacher.”

The movement of his hand stilled in the middle of her back. His gaze traveled over her face. The pulsing sound of the music receded into the background. “You look happy. Your eyes are shining.”

“Because of you,” Julia whispered. “I’m having fun and enjoying myself.”

With Freddie, she discovered a new side of her personality. Perhaps it had always been there, hidden away behind a protective shield. No one would believe the seductive way she’d danced and teased him on the floor. Even now they were practically joined together, impervious to the activity around them, as if they were the only ones in the room.

He slipped his hand up to the nape of her neck under her hair and kissed her. The soft pressure of his lips heightened her aroused state. “You’re coming home with me tonight.”

She had no idea if it was a question or a statement. She felt a moment’s hesitation. But even if her brain wasn’t sure, her arms, legs, fingers, and toes were ready for what was to come.

He pressed his mouth to the hollow at the base of her neck where her rapidly beating pulse was a silent signal of her concession.