Chapter 6

Kevin

“I’m looking for Jenna,” I said to the female security guard at the front desk.

The entryway of the dance company building was fantastic. I could still remember walking through the same doors with my parents and my sister when she had auditioned for a small part in The Nutcracker on holiday season. They always cast a few local girls to be the smaller roles, and my sister was insanely excited for the opportunity to audition. She was an amazing dancer but just a little too tall for the parts that were open the year we came.

Anytime I got the opportunity to come to the main building, I took it. Sometimes we had fundraiser meetings with the planning committee here, although under recent management, the meetings had been few and far between.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure who that is. Is she a dancer?” the woman asked.

The security guard didn’t give me a friendly look at all, and I couldn’t help wondering if she was new to the job. Most other guards knew all the dancers and staff that worked in the building. I’d never had issues coming there for meetings or anything in the past.

“Yes.”

“Okay, let me look at the list. They are in rehearsal right now, well most of them are. But a few have the day off. It will just take me a minute to go through this. I’m just filling in today. Bruce is normally here, and I’m sure he would know who you are talking about. Sorry about the wait.”

I waited patiently as the young lady flipped through the pages and tried to figure out where Jenna was at. As a couple dancers walked by, I decided to take it upon myself to just ask them if they knew where Jenna was; it seemed like a better option than waiting for the security guard.

“Excuse me,” I said to the girls. “Do you guys know where Jenna is? I came to talk to her for a minute. I shouldn’t take long.”

One of the girls furrowed her brow as she looked at me oddly, and the other one just blankly stared at me. Maybe they hadn’t heard who I was looking for? Obviously, Jenna was one of the top dancers with the company or she wouldn’t have been at the head of the group dancing at the fundraiser. Not only was she the head of her group, but she had been placed right in front of the top tables in the room. I wasn’t an expert at fundraising, but I knew enough to know they were going to put their best foot forward on a night like that.

“I’m sorry, who are you looking for?” the blonde who had furrowed her brow at me finally asked.

“Jenna, I’m looking for Jenna.”

“I don’t know who that is, sorry,” she said and then walked away just as two other women came in through the front door of the building.

It was beyond frustrating to know that Jenna was right inside the building and not be able to just go in there and find her. Sure, security was important, especially in the city at night, but I obviously wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

“Did you say you were looking for Jenna?” one of the women asked with a smile and a much friendlier look than the other woman.

“Yes, do you know where she is?”

“Of course, she’s just in the back rehearsal room. Would you like us to go get her for you?”

“Or I could come back there with you,” I offered. “She left this at my house. It was from the fundraiser,” I said as I held up the costume.

It was a ruse in order to get to see her again. I could have dropped it off and left; I could have mailed it, but I wanted to see Jenna. My stomach was upset at the idea I had done something or said something that made her leave in such a hurry. Never would I purposely do that to a woman, and it sickened me to think I’d done something that made her up and leave like she had.

“Well, well, well,” she said cheekily as she smiled at me and then at the costume. “She left it at your house?”

“Stop it, Elaina,” the other girl said and then took the costume. “Thank you for returning it. We will go get Jenna for you. You’re not allowed back there, though; just wait out front, and we will send her out.”

The two girls giggled as they ran off into the back of the building. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but at least those two knew who Jenna was and were going to get her. It really did strike me as odd that the first two girls didn’t know who Jenna was, though. But then again, maybe there were a lot more dancers than I knew of, and maybe they didn’t all practice together. I really didn’t know all that much about dance. As much as I liked to donate to the ballet as an organization, I didn’t have a good understanding of how ballet worked as a profession.

What I did know about dance I had learned from my sister over the years of her going to dance practices or I had learned from listening in at events I attended for the ballet. I didn’t have much confidence in my dance knowledge at all, and my knowledge about working a creative job like being a dancer was poor. I was used to the idea of a desk or office where people conducted their business and earned money from the work they did. Creative people like dancers, artists, and writers always seemed like mythical creatures who couldn’t actually make a living doing a job like that.

“Any luck?” Tanner asked when I returned to the car.

“Maybe, a couple of girls are going to find her and send her out. I’m still not really sure what happened and why she left in such a hurry.”

“No one knows what’s going through the mind of women,” he said almost under his breath. “My wife changes her mind more than the baby gets a new diaper.”

I didn’t normally have a driver on a random Monday, but I had to get to the airport, and it was easier to have Tanner take me and drop me off. I was starting to feel like one of those rich guys that I despised; the ones who used hired cars to get around all the time because they didn’t feel like driving. The more I had Tanner driving me, the more I liked it. Not just because I could work during the drive, but also because it was much less stressful.

As I stood outside waiting for Jenna to come out, I actually had a weird rumbling going on in my stomach. I was positive I’d done something that made her angry, and that was why she left in the middle of the night. I’d been known to be a little insensitive at times, and I was a guy, so who knows what I could have said that made her angry, but I never purposely hurt a woman.

There was no logical reason for her to leave without saying a word to me. Not to mention that she literally climbed over the front gate to get away from my house. I had my security guy pull up the footage, and Jenna couldn’t have tried to get away any faster. She could have simply said she wasn’t interested in me. Although, I didn’t feel like that was the reason because the way she reacted to me touching her really seemed like she enjoyed our night together.

This wasn’t a position I had ever been in before. I felt off of my normal game as I turned around and saw Jenna walking out of the building in her adorable black dance outfit. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she wore tights and dance shoes. I couldn’t help smiling as she approached me, although I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen next.

She practically glowed as the sun reflected off her cheeks. Her smile was perfectly symmetrical and her lips a gentle rose color. It wasn’t just that Jenna was a pretty girl; there was an aura around her of softness.

“Hey,” Jenna said as she stood about two feet away from me. “I hear you were stalking me.”

“Hey, you left your costume at my house, and I just wanted to drop it off. I’m sure those things are expensive.”

“Thanks, that was nice of you,” she replied as she looked at Tanner and then back toward the building. “We are rehearsing for the holiday shows.”

“Ahh, yeah, those will be here before we know it. I’m working on a big charity event of my own for New Year’s Eve; it will be here fast, I’m sure,” I said as I tried to keep the conversation going.

The energy between us was off. Maybe it was because we were both dressed in normal clothes, but I felt like it was something else. Like she really wasn’t interested in me at all and just wanted me to leave as fast as possible.

“Okay, well I’m going to head back in for practice. It was nice seeing you,” she said and turned around to go inside.

Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed her hand. I had no idea what I was going to say or how I could keep her there with me, I just knew I needed to keep talking to her. I wasn’t ready to let her go. If I’d done something, then I needed to know what it was. If she just thought I was a rotten guy and didn’t want to see me, then I needed to hear that. If she just wanted a one-night stand and nothing more than that, I had to know. Whatever it was, I had to know more information before I was going to leave.

The touch of her skin against mine reassured me that the chemistry between us was still there. I felt the warmth from her fingers as it went from my hand to the rest of my body as she slowly turned around. This time she was only inches away from me, and the power between us was undeniable.

Her mahogany eyes sparkled in the sun as she looked up at me with a longing that I was almost positive was real. She wanted me. Her body was telling me that she was attracted to me. So what the heck happened, and why on earth had she left?

“Did I say something wrong or do something? Why did you leave?” I asked.

Tact was a trait I was good at. Most of the time, I could build a business client up and make them feel wonderful, even if they clearly were not. When dates behaved horribly, I kept my cool and still navigated with a swagger that most men didn’t have. But Jenna had me off balance. She was acting in a way that I couldn’t wrap my brain around, and I just blurted out what I wanted to know.

“No, nothing,” she answered without looking me in the eyes. “I just had to go.”

I wanted to ask more questions but decided to wait and see if she would offer up a reason for needing to leave so early. Then it dawned on me, maybe she had a boyfriend. I hadn’t even thought of that before, but that seemed a likely reason for her to leave so early. She was a beautiful woman, kind, with a gentle heart. Clearly, another man could have swept her off her feet already.

We stayed there in silence, her hand still in mine and the electricity between the two of us building more and more the longer we stood there. Sooner or later, one of us was going to have to break the silence, and I wanted it to be her. I needed more of an explanation as to why she had to leave. There was more she wasn’t telling me, and I was going to get it out of her. Whatever it was, I could handle it, but I needed to know the truth.

She smiled back at me and raised one of her eyebrows as she looked down at our hands. I wasn’t letting go of her hand, and I wasn’t going to talk first; I had to stand my ground. One of my mentors had taught me that the key to a great negotiation was being comfortable in the silence. Wait for the other person to initiate an offer. Don’t go in with what you can afford, instead let them tell you what they are willing to pay or vice versa. I figured the same would work for a woman. I would wait for her to talk, for her to give me something to work with.

“Sir, you have a flight to catch,” Tanner said as he awkwardly stood behind us and ruined all my plans to be silent until Jenna broke and said something first.

“Okay, thanks, I’ll be right there.”

“Where are you going?” Jenna asked as she broke a smile and looked from Tanner to me. She seemed intrigued by my driver, and I wished I hadn’t brought him. The pretentiousness wasn’t me, and I didn’t want her to think I always had Tanner driving me around.

“Just a quick trip. I’ll be back tomorrow. Would you like to meet down by the water and go for a run or a walk sometime this week? Nothing major, just some fresh air, and good conversation. I love it down there.”

“Yes,” she replied much quicker than I expected.

“Wednesday?”

“Four in the afternoon work for you?” she asked again without hesitating. “I’ll be working until then. I can meet you down there, though. I really love it down there too.”

I couldn’t read this girl for anything. First, she sneaks out of my house when it was barely morning. She doesn’t leave me any way to contact her, but then she is perfectly fine with getting together. Certainly, she couldn’t be married or dating someone because she wouldn’t have agreed so quickly. I wasn’t normally this bad at interacting with a woman, and it was driving me crazy. Jenna just wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

“Yeah, four works for me. How about at the park by the Golden Gate Bridge?”

“Perfect. At the bottom of the stairs by the store?” Jenna said as she flashed me a beautiful, big smile.

“Yep.”

“Okay, now that I agreed to go out with you, can I have my hand back?” she asked playfully as she tugged on her hand.

“I guess so.” I reluctantly let go of her. “So you’re really not going to tell me why you had to leave?”

I couldn’t resist asking again. It was killing me. She’d already basically admitted that I hadn’t done anything wrong because she had agreed to see me. She was looking at me like she had the night before. She liked me; it was obvious. So why the heck had she snuck out?

“I’ll see you on Wednesday. I really need to run. My boss won’t be happy if she finds me out here flirting with you.”

“See you Wednesday,” I said as she ran off toward the front door of the building.

Jenna paused for a moment and looked back at me before flinging the door open and running inside. I couldn’t stop smiling as I climbed back into the SUV and headed to the airport. That meeting couldn’t have gone any better.