“What’s special about tonight’s class?” Alison asked.
“We have T. J. Martinez signed up.”
“The third-base player for the Yankees?”
“Yes. And since he’s good friends with Nate Stern, I thought we needed to make a good impression.” Keeping the club owners and their friends happy was the name of the game.
“Maybe you should have arrived earlier.”
“Alison, I don’t mind a little ribbing, but you have to drop that. We have thirty minutes before class starts.”
“I know. Sorry, I’m bitchy today.” “Why?”
“Marc is leaving for Afghanistan for another deployment.”
“When?” Jen asked. Marc was Alison’s brother and they were very close. Alison often said that he was all she had.
“Three weeks. I …”
Jen went over and hugged her friend. “He’ll be fine. He always is. And I’ll help you through it.”
Alison hugged her back and then stepped away. “You’re right. Now tell me more about the songs we are using tonight.”
Jen knew that Alison needed to lose herself in the music so she could forget about her life for a while. Jen wasn’t sure she could be as brave as Alison. Having a brother who was a warrior and would always be called to a battle somewhere in the world was hard. She saw it on her friend’s face every time Marc got deployed.
The music soon echoed through the empty dance hall as Alison and Jen began their routine. Alison was an okay dancer, though she would never have made it in the competitive world of dance as Jen had. But for Luna Azul she was more than competent.
“I like this,” Alison said.
“Great. I want you to add a little more hip twist at the end of the sixth beat like this,” Jen said, showing her. “Very nice, Ms. Miller.”
Jen stumbled and glanced toward the door to see Nate Stern standing there.
He was tall—at least six feet in height—and had thick blond hair that he wore cut close to his head. He had the kind of deep and natural tan that everyone wanted and wore his clothes with a stylish panache that she honestly admitted she envied. He had a stubborn-looking jaw with a small scar on his chin from a baseball accident when he was ten.
Why did she know these things? She shook her head. One of the reasons she’d applied for this job was that she’d always been attracted to him. She’d seen his picture in the paper when he’d been a rookie for the Yankees and she’d been smitten.
“Thank you, Mr. Stern. Is there something I can do for you this evening?” she asked.
“I’d like a private word,” he said.
“Alison, will you leave us?”
“That’s not necessary,” he said. “Please join me on the balcony.”
She took a deep breath. She hated following orders or letting anyone else be in charge. “Keep practicing.”
Alison nodded as Jen led the way out of the rehearsal room and out to the balcony. She tried to be nonchalant but she couldn’t help her nerves. This job was literally her last chance in the dancing world. If this didn’t work out she was going to have to stop dancing and take Marcia, her sister, up on that secretarial job at her law office. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, quite the contrary. I’ve heard nothing but good things about you and I wanted to come and see for myself.”
“So you’ll be attending my class tonight?” she asked.
“Yes, I will be.”
She almost scowled at him but years of performing for judges enabled her to keep her smile on her face. “That will be wonderful. I believe one of your former teammates is signed up for our class as well.”
“Yes, Martinez. I thought I’d tag along and see how you handle having a celebrity in your class.”
She almost rolled her eyes. Honestly, did he think she was going to treat T. J. Martinez any differently than she did her other students? “Do you think I can’t handle it?”
“I have no idea,” he said. “That’s why I’ll be dropping by.”
She was furious but kept calm. “I’m a pro, Mr. Stern. That’s why your brother hired me. You don’t need to attend a salsa class to ensure I do my job.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Did I offend you?”
“Yes, you did.”
He gave her a quick grin, which changed that arrogant-looking face of his into a very charming one. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intent. Celebrities are the key to our continued edge over the other clubs in Miami, and I don’t want to chance anything disrupting that.”
She nodded. “I understand your concern. I can promise you tonight’s class isn’t going to damage Luna Azul’s reputation one bit. And I will enjoy having you in my class.”
“You will?”
“Yes,” she said, turning on her heel and walking back toward the rehearsal room. “Because afterward you will owe me an apology for doubting my skills.”
His laughter followed her into the hallway and she smiled a bit to herself as she entered the classroom. She had to be in top form tonight and she had absolutely no doubt that Nate would be as challenging in the classroom as he’d been beforehand.
Nate watched her leave, wishing he’d come up here a long time ago. She was funny, spunky and very cute.
Her legs were long—so damned long—and her body was lithe. She was quite a dancer and that was apparent in the graceful way she moved.
He stayed where he was on the patio and stared out at the sky as it darkened into twilight. It was February, and there was a light chill to the night air. The scent of the Cuban food that the patio kitchen was preparing carried on the breeze.
He’d done what he needed to do to keep up the club’s image. After all, he was the face of Luna Azul. Funny that a non-Latino would be the face of the hottest club in Little Havana, but the Stern brothers had turned to what they knew best when they’d started their business nearly ten years ago.
Nate was the youngest of the three Stern brothers, Justin the middle one and Cam the oldest. It had been Cam’s idea to take the failing cigar factory and turn it into a club. Justin was a finance whiz kid and he’d looked at the numbers and decided if they invested their trust funds into the club, it could make them money.
At the time, Nate had been more interested in his budding baseball career and had merely signed a paper agreeing to the terms. But when a shoulder injury forced him out of the game two years later, he’d been very glad
