The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1) (4 page)

I lost track of how many
songs we danced to. I know at some point I kissed her temple and I felt the light
butterfly feel of her breath on my neck. But then the music changed from the
slower tempos that had been playing to something a little harsher. I opened my
eyes and blinked. Like I’d just awoken from a long sleep. I felt rested yet
restless. I took a sip of my beer. I looked at Ivy and saw her blinking too,
like she was trying to adjust to a rude awakening. I smiled just as someone
nudged me who was dancing a little to wild. It’s a good thing I had excellent
balance otherwise I might have crashed into Ivy. I glanced over my shoulder, of
course, it was Shel. She spun off back to her partner laughing the entire time.

The dance floor had cleared
some and as I turned back to Ivy who grinned at me, she took a couple of steps
back and began to dance. Ah, can I just say I was out of my element. These
girls were professional dancers, they knew exactly how to move and it showed.

While people continued to
dance around us, it was pretty clear they’d moved off a little to give the
girls more room. Either that, or Shel elbowing folks out of the way had them
thinking twice about getting too close to the crazy chick. I took the beer from
Ivy’s hand and held onto them both for us so she could move better. God that
girl could move. She immediately did like twenty turns right then and there.
All I could do was sway from side to side and be her frame. She could lean on
me or feel me up down and all around, anytime.

After a few fast songs the
beat slowed again and the girls laughing, hugged each other before Shel turned
back to the guy she’d been dancing with.

I leaned down and whispered
in Ivy’s ear, “Wanna get some air?”

She glanced at me and took
back her beer, taking a swig first before replying. “Yeah,” she said, turning
to lead us out onto the deck. The deck wrapped around the house and we
discovered another set of stairs around the back that led up. She climbed the
stairs to see where they’d take us. I was right behind her, my eyes glued to
her behind. I guess it was too soon to palm that delicious ass of hers.

The stairs led to a crows
nest and if it weren’t so dark I was sure we’d be able to see for miles. But it
was a little overcast making it hard to see anything, no stars were visible and
only lights from the nearby homes.

Ivy walked around the small
area. “It’s beautiful up here.” She took a seat on one of the two benches built
into the nest.

I sat down beside her and
rested my beer near my feet before I took hers from her and placed it near
mine. Then I looked at her. “Yeah, beautiful.” I made sure she knew I wasn’t
talking about the place. I raised my hand and placed it around the back of her
neck drawing her to me, at the same time I leaned in to her she shifted toward
me until our lips met.

I tasted the beer we’d been
drinking and underneath that something sweet, something that was Ivy. I ran my
tongue over the edge of her lips and when she opened them I slipped right in
and introduced myself to her tongue. I heard a low moan, but damned if I knew
if it came from her throat or mine. Maybe both. Who gave a fuck?

Her hands moved to my
shoulders and she squeezed them. I let my right hand stay at the nape of her
neck and used my left hand to move her t-shirt aside until my fingers could lay
on bare skin. The feel of her flesh had me groaning into her mouth and shifting
my head to kiss her from a different angle. Taking the kiss deeper, I pulled
her over to me until she sat across my lap. Her ass pressed in to me and I knew
she could feel my boner rooting against her hip. She moved one hand around my
neck the other she pushed under my shirt to lay flat against my chest,
scorching my flesh, placing her brand on me. I groaned into her mouth. My hand
moved around to her shorts and snaked past the band until I could grab her
tight ass. Damn she felt good. Strong, like the athlete she was, yet soft as
only a woman can feel. She twisted pushing her breast flat up against my chest,
like she wanted to crawl inside me or maybe that was me. If we were anywhere
else we’d both lose our shirts, and a helluva lot more.

When she pulled away from me,
I followed, not willing to let go of her mouth yet. She raised both hands and
placed them on my cheeks. We were both breathing hard; my gaze couldn’t seem to
leave her lips. They were moist and slightly swollen and parted, like she
waited for more of my kisses. And oh yeah, I wanted to give her more, much
more. I leaned forward again but this time she pulled back farther and smiled.

“I think we better go find
Shel, it’s getting late,” she said.

I sighed. She was right to
put the breaks on. This was no place to try to get into her panties. That’s not
what I wanted to do. Well I did, but not like this. I already sensed she wasn’t
like other girls, I was surprised she let me get as far as I did. Not that I
was going to complain at all.

She lowered her head until it
rested against my forehead. “I had a wonderful time.”

“I’m glad. Me too. Thank you
for coming with me.”

I raised my head, kissed her
on her hairline and relaxed my grip on her. She got off my lap, and suddenly I
felt the coolness in the air from the ocean breeze. Funny, I didn’t feel cool a
second ago. I was burning up. I stood up next to her and reached down my pants
to straighten myself. Her gaze followed the motion of my hand before shooting
up to my face. “Sorry,” I shrugged. “A little uncomfortable there.” Something
told me as long as I was around this girl, my balls might hurt for quite some
time, but it was going to be worth it.

She laughed and I grinned at
her. “Come on.” I moved over to the stairs. “I’ll go down first so if anything
happens you can fall on me.”

“I have excellent balance,”
she said, grinning at me.

I winked at her and returned
her cheeky grin. “So do I.”

Chapter Four

Ivy

For a week we were
inseparable, sometimes Shel was with Maze and me, and sometimes not. She spent
a lot of time with some of the guys she’d met at that first party we’d been to.
But Maze and I were joined at the hip. That is when he wasn’t off training, but
usually we ran together in the mornings and the evenings belonged to us. We’d
done a lot of heavy petting but no intercourse. It didn’t take him long to
figure out I was a virgin and only let him go but so far. Although some days
and nights it was hard to resist. He’d gotten me to do things, feel things that
no one else ever had. Half of the time I didn’t know what I was doing, only
that I needed him to touch me and I needed to touch him. It got to the point, I
had no idea why, I would only let him go but so far. But deep down I knew and I
think so did he.

Our worlds were in two different
stratospheres, and yet somehow we had come together at the right time. We got
lucky, but it just wasn’t going to be forever. Oh we’d keep in touch after he
left, I was sure about that. Technology made the world we lived in very small,
but it wouldn’t be the same, and we both knew it.

A few days before the end of
both of our vacations we made plans to go to a party at one of the guys’ house
Shel had been hanging with. His parents were visiting a friend and would be
gone for the night. It was in the same area just down the street from the first
house party we’d been to. Shel and I drove taking the path we’d taken that
first time, Maze would meet us there.

We parked on the street a
house down from where all the carts were pulled in the four car driveway. Shel
hadn’t been kidding when she’d described the house to me earlier. This house
was twice the size of ours, which was pretty big. At first I didn’t know how
I’d find Maze in the crush I knew the place would be. But the phone in my
pocket buzzed. I pulled it out and sure enough the text was from Maze.

Maze:
‘Standing here at the edge of the driveway watching you.’

I got out of the cart and
looked toward the driveway. Sure ‘nuff, Maze stood against one of the carts at
the edge of the drive. Damn, I’d never get over how incredibly beautiful he
was, nor that he’d chosen me to hang out with for the summer. I knew any of the
many girls that trolled the beaches during the day and parties during the night
would spread their legs for him and do it quick fast and in a hurry. But
anytime we were together he never looked at or paid them any attention. And he
seemed to be okay with the road blocks I put in place for him.

I walked toward him but he
moved and met me halfway, nodding to Shel and grabbing me around the waist.
“Tony’s waiting for you, Shel. He’s inside.”

“Cool, have fun kiddies.”

Shel moved off and walked in
the direction of the stairs leading to the second level of the house, which we
could see crowded with youth. I moved to follow her, but Maze pulled me back
against him and grabbed my hand raising it to his lips. “I don’t want to go
back in there just yet. Take a walk with me.”

I glanced up at him and
grinned. Like I was going to say no to spending alone time with him. I knew
Shel would be fine at the party for awhile, we’d made a few friends and at
least three of them were at the party tonight including Tony. “Okay.”

Maze led me over to the cart
he’d been leaning against and reached around the back. He pulled out a large
beach towel and a couple of beers. He had long side pockets on his cargo shorts
and stuck the beers into them then grabbed my hand again. The boy had been
thinking. I was impressed. We walked down to the path that led to the beach. A
full moon reflected off the water’s surface and looked like the moon had come
down to earth. Maze found us a spot near the dunes, which cut out some of the
wind. He released my hand to spread out the blanket. I stood and watched the
muscles on him ripple like the tide. As a dancer I’d danced with a lot of guys who
had toned hard bodies, but Maze was truly a thing to behold. His muscles were
tight and cut enough to rival any dancer’s. I shook my head and smiled, he
glanced up at me then, having plopped down on the blanket.

“What’s the smile for?” he
asked.

“Nothing.” I sat beside him.

“I think I know.” He placed
his hand behind the nape of my neck and pulled me toward him until our lips
fused. I opened my mouth slightly to let him in and inhaled his breath and gave
him mine in return. I’m not sure how it happened but I went from sitting
beside him to lying on my side and his leg rested over mine, trapping me there.
Not that I was moving away from him. I moved closer to him so there would be no
gap between our bodies. I felt the hardness of him pressing against my thigh.
It’s not the first time I’d felt him. But I ground myself to him even more,
needing him closer, wanting him. Wanting so much more. He tempted me like no
other.

The sound of a dog barking
had us releasing our lip lock but neither of us pulled away from the embrace.
Maze raised his head and glanced down the beach in the direction of the noise.
I twisted a little to see what he was looking at. The beach wasn’t deserted,
but there were only a few people out and most were a distance away, silhouetted
against the night. However, there were three white guys and a small dog walking
along the sand, not too far from us. I turned back to Maze and ran my hand
through his hair. I loved the soft silkiness of it. I couldn’t believe we only
had a few more days together before we would no longer see each other every
day. My heart ached at the thought of not being able to see him at day’s end.

His gaze returned to mine and
he smiled, but it seemed a little sad. “I’m going to miss not seeing you every
day,” he said.

“Are you a mind reader, too?”
I asked softly. “I was thinking the same thing.”

He raised his hand and
caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “We’re only an hour and a half,
two with traffic away from each other by car. I swear I’ll come see you as often
as I can get away and not a day will go by when you don’t hear from me.”

I blinked and had to blink
again to hold back the tears. This was hard. How could I feel so close, so
connected to this young man I barely knew, yet I was all those things and more.
And I thought he felt the same way about me. “That’s only for another couple of
months then you leave for Japan.”