Rehearsals got fucking boring.

Practice always made me think of the chaos theory that one guy in Jurassic Park had talked about. Nobody knew how things would go in a practice match, or a real match for that matter.

When it came to a rehearsal, a series of choreographed moves? Yes. Things happened. The same planned things that happened every single fucking time. We were given some leeway during the show to be spontaneous, but were expected to stick to the routine during rehearsal, and now we were going through the new sets we’d be switching to in the fall season.

New.

Yeah, there wasn’t much new about it. Same movements, different timing.

I wasn’t sure why this was pissing me off more than usual. It was nothing new.

As I forced myself through every step of the group numbers, I couldn’t put my finger on what was bugging me. Once I was finished with those, I took a break to stretch out and get re-hydrated before practicing my solo sets.

They’d head out for most of that, an arrangement that had become standard.

Leaning against the bar with a half-empty bottle of water in hand, I found myself brooding about the other night and the very delicious Donica. The night had ended…interestingly. After her bloody asshole of an ex had gotten the hell out of the hotel, we’d finished what we’d started, and I’d hoped to carry on through the night. But after we’d both come, she’d napped for a bit, then woke up, looking around the room like she didn’t recognize where she was.

A few minutes later, she’d gotten up to dress and I’d realized she’d planned on leaving.

Being something of a nice guy, or trying to be, I told her I’d take her where she wanted to go. I’d assumed it was home. Instead, it had turned out to be the home of her friend, Avery. I’d assumed it was a woman.

But it had been a man who’d come out to the drive to meet us and judging by the way he’d looked at her, he wanted to offer more than comfort.

It left weird feelings in me, driving away from her.

I’d just met the girl.

She was hot, cute, sweet…and in a bad place in life, definitely not the kind of hot mess I needed. And I hadn’t really known her well enough to say that I felt anything more than a basic attraction.

So why did I have this empty feeling inside?

Maybe it was because there had been some sort of a real connection with her despite our short acquaintance.

“Help me, Oprah,” I muttered, staring down at the water bottle and wishing it was booze. But that was the last thing I needed. Literally.

How long had it been since I’d had a real connection with a woman? Something outside of sex?

I couldn’t remember.

There was a change in the tempo of the music, and I tossed back the rest of the water, glad that my time was almost here. At least it was difficult to brood while I was dancing.

I turned around to throw my empty bottle into the closest recycling bin, and a woman brought me to a near standstill. She stood near the bar, just a few feet down from me. I hadn’t noticed her come in, which just went to show how lost in my own thoughts I’d been. Maybe I was lacking in real connections with the opposite sex, but my dick didn’t care about real—it cared about physical, immediate, and hot.

This woman was hot.

Long light brown hair that she had pulled back so I could see her slender, delicate build, and an angel halo tattooed at the base of her neck. She was tiny, but something about her made me think she was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked. That she could take whatever I could dish out. And damn if that tight-looking ass of hers didn’t make me want to dish out a lot.

She glanced over toward me, then away.

Then back.

A pair of crystal blue eyes widened, and that was all I needed.

As the stage manager called my name, I went to her and held out a hand.

“Come on,” I said, flashing a reckless grin at her. “Come dance with me.”

Her eyes flicked behind me. “I…um…I don’t think so.”

“All right.” Shrugging, I backed away. “I’ll find someone else to practice with then.”

Something flashed across her face, and then she took a step toward me.

Some part of me was disgusted with myself.

Here I’d been, brooding about not being able to connect with a woman, and now I was already about to jump on the next hot female to walk past me. But that didn’t stop me from taking her hand and drawing her closer to me as I slowly backed my way toward the stage.

And boy was I glad I hadn’t talked myself out of it.

She could move.

The stage manager hadn’t been pleased when he’d first seen what I was doing, but several minutes into it, he’d stopped glowering.

Not that I gave two shits.

Now, she had her hands on my shoulders, her hair spilling over us like a curtain as she slowly lowered herself back onto my lap. The chair beneath us was the one thing grounding me.

The voices around us reminded me that we weren’t alone—just barely.

As the music came to a stop, I tightened my grip on her hips and grinned up at her.

“If you’re looking for a job here, you’re probably hired.”

She licked her lips and gave a slow shake of her head. “No. No, Jacen, I’m not.”

“Oh?” I wasn’t too concerned she knew my name. It was plastered all over billboards across town. Damn, her skin was soft—

Abruptly, I realized I’d slid my hand partially under her shirt and was rubbing my thumb across her side. And it wasn’t enough.

“I…um. I guess you don’t remember me. Camry.”

Camry—

A bucket of ice water dumped on my head wouldn’t have been as effective.

I let her go.

She didn’t move.

“I’m Kaleb’s sister.”

Yeah, I didn’t need that clarification.

“I know.” Carefully, I reached up and caught her waist and eased her away from me. The feel of her weight dragging over my erect cock was pure, raw temptation.

Okay, maybe ice water wasn’t quite accurate, but at least I wasn’t about to throw her over my shoulder and drag her to the nearest empty dressing room.

But as I set her on her feet, she took a deep breath and her small, firm breasts pushed against the cloth of her T-shirt again. Then she licked her lips and pushed her hair back. I caught the scent of her again and made myself turn away, scrubbing my hands over my face.

My hands smelled like her.

I was so fucked.

“So, Camry, how have you been?”

“Oh…just swell. And you?”