“SCARLET?” THE WAY MICHEL CALLED my name let me know he had said it more than once.
My mind was so crowded with what I had just done with Tyler that I hadn’t realized he was standing in front of me, and he was hard to miss. He stood at five foot nine, three inches taller than me. He, like Christophe, had presence. He even looked elegant in his tracksuit.
My heart rate picked up. He’d been jogging. Had he seen me in the car, seen the kiss on Tyler’s cheek—or was it his chin? At the time, I’d been too excited to see where it landed, too desperate to get out before he burst my bubble and rejected my offer for sex.
“You have fun tonight? Priscilla mentioned you went out,” Michel said, trying to capture my attention again. Did I detect a bit of humor in his voice?
My eyes darted over him in assessment. While I was an adult and Michel and Priscilla were all for me gaining more independence, I wasn’t sure how they’d react to me being with Tyler.
With Tyler? I wasn’t with him. He was probably already thinking of ways to turn me down, and then I’d have to hide from him the rest of my life to avoid the embarrassment. I hung my head.
“Hey now, where did that smile go?” Michel placed his arm around my shoulder and moved us forward into the elevator.
I forced a smile on my face. “Sorry. I’m fine.”
He sighed, and when we reached our floor, I followed him inside. Before I turned into my bedroom, he asked, “Want to join me for some stretches before you go to sleep?” He stood outside their home studio.
I hesitated. I wanted to be alone, but I didn’t want to disappoint Michel. “I’ll be right there.”
After a quick change into a tank and yoga pants, I met him inside the studio. I smiled. Michel was in his sixties and still had his leg up on the barre, his foot perfectly arched in extension. “You can say no to me, you know.”
I blinked. “I know. I thought you were going to show me some techniques.”
“Not tonight,” he said, then hissed out his breath as he stretched the front of his body over his extended leg.
I sat down on the polished floor and stretched my legs out. I exhaled and lowered my body until my chin touched my knees.
“I hoped to talk with you more,” he said, gently picking up our conversation again. “I saw you get out of the car. It was by chance. I wasn’t spying on you, I promise.”
My mouth went dry and my pulse quickened. “Tyler just brought me home. He’s Zoey’s brother,” I stammered.
“Don’t worry, Scarlet,” he said in a soothing tone. He came over to stretch on the floor with me. “I am not judging you. I just wanted to know if you have a new friend.”
I averted my eyes. I wasn’t ready to share my attraction to Tyler, but even that little piece had already been uncovered by Michel. “I’m fine. It was nothing…nothing happened, I promise.”
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said softly. “I’m offering you an ear just in case you feel you need someone to confide in.”
“Really, it was nothing,” I repeated then moved to lie my stomach. “Tyler and I grew up together. I’m like his kid sister.” Or so he said.
He came behind me as I turned over, took my ankle and foot, and eased me into a stretch of the back of my leg. “But you’d like to be more?”
“Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t work. I have no time for anyone with my dance schedule.”
“It would take maneuvering, but it’s not impossible,” he said, sitting down in front of me. “I once dated a woman named Ava who worked as some corporate suit on Wall Street.” He’d never shared such a story with me; I’d assumed he and Priscilla had been together forever. They’d danced together for many years.
My lips parted. “How did you manage?”
“We didn’t in the long run,” he said ruefully. “She broke my heart, but Priscilla healed it and I’m all the better for it.”
I swallowed. “Did the breakup affect your dancing?”
“Of course it did,” he answered. “We dance with all our hearts and souls. Love will of course affect our art, but for the better. My love and breakup with Ava made me stronger in my relationship with Priscilla. What I’m trying to say is, don’t be afraid to have love. Yes, dance is demanding and it may not survive, but you deserve to have that. I won’t be the one to spoil that for you.”
He paused and waited for me to open up to him, but I couldn’t. After all, I wasn’t exactly being deceitful. Nothing had happened or was going to happen with Tyler. So, I just said, “Thank you, Michel.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome.”
I stood up to leave, but paused at the door. “Could…you keep what you saw between us?” I held my breath. The last thing I wanted was for my mother to catch wind of me with anyone, especially Tyler. He had never been on her good list, but then, no guy ever was if they liked me.
“Okay,” he said reluctantly. “But if you need to talk about anything, Priscilla and I are here for you.”
Michel, sure, but Priscilla and my mom shared similar views when it came to relationships. She believed dating outside of the ballet world would disrupt my dancing, and even if Michel was there to listen, it wasn’t worth giving details when there wasn’t anything to share—at least nothing I wanted them to know about. Though I thought of Tyler as a man of interest, he’d looked shocked to his core at my request. He would turn me down, I was sure of it. What I wasn’t sure about was how I was going to handle the end of my crazed fascination with him.
I had finished my daily schedule and was heading over to the gym for a swim when Tyler’s number came up on my screen.
“How you doing?” he said in a Joey Tribbiani accent that had me bursting with laughter. I always liked his sense of humor.
“All right,” I responded once I recovered. “One sec.” I went to a corner of the hallway. “What’s up?”
“Listen, I’ve been thinking,” he said, his voice gentle. “We shouldn’t mess up our friendship. If we did have sex, it would make everything weird. We have our families to think about, and we’re both busy with our careers.”
My heart muscles squeezed together. Everything he said made sense, but I felt the sting of tears at the back of my eyes and my throat closed. I took a few moments to speak, hoping he wouldn’t hear how much his rejection affected me. “You’re right, I guess. Um…okay.”
“I did get you VIP tickets to my game,” he said in a placating tone. “If you still want to come and watch the match, but if you don’t want to—”
“Of course I do,” I said, interrupting him and forcing a lift into my voice. What else could I say? I didn’t want to come across as rude just because I hadn’t gotten what I wanted.
“Good, I’m glad,” he replied, his voice now upbeat. “Our class this week is tomorrow evening. If you’re still there when we finish, you could join me and Zoey out for dinner.”
I swallowed. I wasn’t ready to see him, needed more time to get myself together. “I’ve got a long practice then physical therapy.”
“Oh,” he said, and we were both quiet for a few heartbeats. “Are you all right?” he asked. “I mean, with the therapy?”
“Yes,” I said, sighing. “It’s more so nothing gets to the point where it’s a problem.”
“Got it. But are you all right about what I said first? Believe me, I want to have sex with you, I just don’t want to hurt—”
“No need to explain,” I said, cutting him off. I sighed again. “I’ll be okay.”
“You’re not going to ask someone else?” he asked.
“I don’t want to…but…” I murmured.
“But nothing,” he hissed. “Like I told you, you’re better than that. You will meet someone.”
I pressed my lips together. Now he was lecturing me on what I should do, just like everyone else. “I’ve got to go. Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.” I ended the call.
Closing my eyes, I stood there and took a few deep breaths. My mind tried to cling to the part about him wanting to have sex with me. Maybe if we talk more, he’ll reconsider? Before I could get lost in that delusion, a big hand waved in front of my face. When I focused, I looked up into a pair of blue eyes smiling down at me.
“Excuse me,” he said. “I’m Ace, one of the New York F.C. players. I was asked to stop in to drop off some forms at the office—do you know where it’s located…?” He paused and lifted a brow.
“Scarlet,” I said. His large hand covered mine and shook it.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, smiling. “I saw you demonstrate for us during our first class. You know, I never knew ballet was so hard.” We laughed. “We barely did anything in class, but when I got on the field, I could feel it,” he said, following me down the corridor.
“Well, ballet takes some getting used to.” I gestured toward the sign for the office. “And from what I’ve heard from other players who have tried it, it could help improve your game.”
“We’re not doing too bad,” he said when we reached the door.
“Yeah, I know. Tyler and I just talked about it.” My stomach turned over. Tyler. I cleared my throat. “I’m coming to your next game.”
“Oh great,” he said with enthusiasm. “If you want, I could give you a tour of the stadium before the game.” He paused.
I bit my lip. Was he asking me out? “A tour?”
“Sure, I give them all the time,” he said, grinning. “I’m good at them.” He winked playfully.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure. Sounds fun.”
“Great.” He took my phone and typed in his number before disappearing into the office. I continued walking and a text appeared on the screen.
Ace: See you soon, beautiful.
Tyler had called me beautiful too. Perhaps that was just the way he treated all the women around him. He doesn’t want me.
I looked at the message again. Did Ace think the tour was a date?