“Okay then,” Frankie said, awkwardly rubbing his hands together. “And let’s all get what we want in these garlic mashed potatoes!”
Or maybe this particular indulgence was outside of his range after all.
“I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for soon enough,” I said. “Seattle is a great city to be single in.”
“It’s true,” Frankie added. “We didn’t stay in watching Blockbuster movies every night. Over the years, Rory has taken me to just about every museum, public attraction, and landmark the city has to offer. We even bought some private disco lessons so he could take me dancing on the observation deck of the Space Needle.” He waggled his fork in the air. “If you ever need a special date with one of your gentlemen, don’t forget about that one.”
Asher’s eyes got wide again. “Disco dancing? Really?”
Frankie lifted his wine and waved it in the air as he talked, his head bouncing from side to side. “Oh sure! We learned all these variations of the Hustle. Now it wasn’t like anyone else was disco dancing, mind you, but I made some offhand comment about how it looked fun, and next thing I knew, Rory was dragging me up the elevator to put on a little show for the whole city.” He laughed to himself, then struck his arm in the air, hitting a perfect pose. “We had the night fever, what can I say?”
I chuckled, then rubbed his back. “I was a little better at swinging you around those days.”
“Can I see?”
We both turned to Asher, who had a wolfish look in his eyes, like he was ready to pounce across the table.
“Can you see?” I asked.
“A disco dance,” he clarified. “Just a quick one?”
I turned back to Frankie, ready to say no, but he had a curious look in his eyes. Maybe it was just the glow of the story he had told, the memory of that night. But something urged me to say yes.
Frankie looked a little shy as he scratched the back of his head. His cheeks were pinked, which always made me want to rub against him and feel the heat of his body.
“What do you say, Frankie?” I asked. “Little spin around the dining room?”
FRANKLIN
The electronic drum noises rang out over the speaker, beeping and chiming and tapping the rhythm as Rory and I tapped our feet, side by side.
I can’t believe we’re putting on a dance show for Asher.
If I hadn’t just spent the past week working with him, I’d probably feel embarrassed. But Asher never gave me the impression he was judging me, no matter how dorky I got. He just seemed sincerely interested in Rory and me, hard as that was to believe.
Anyway, I figured we had to grab these opportunities when we had them. There would only be a night or two every week when we had the house to ourselves, and it wasn’t like I wanted to start dragging random men home to dance when Ava was studying at the dining table.
Rory grabbed my arm, and I dipped slightly to the side, relying on him to brace me and hold me up. “You can ring my bell—ell—ell, ring my bell!” the song rang out.
We started stepping side to side, and the moves immediately came back n. A grin filled my face as Rory took the leading role, guiding me as we hustled our way around the room and occasionally dipping me back. He led me into a side break, holding my hand out as we stepped quickly, side-by-side, then pulled me back, wrapping his arms around my shoulders as we kept up the footwork.
“Woohoo!” Asher cheered from the table. “Sexy moves, daddies!”
I laughed, not quite sure how I felt about being called a daddy, although I supposed it was accurate from his perspective. “I’m no Disco Duck,” I said, “but I think we’re remembering the steps!”
Asher popped up to his feet, then stood closer to the action. “I’d say.”
Rory kept me by his side for a few slower moves while we each caught our breath, Anita Ward’s voice still singing out loudly through the stereo. “You should have seen the applause Franklin earned at the top of the Space Needle! I was surprised they didn’t ask him to come back and do a nightly show.”
“Both of us,” I laughed, dipping back into his arms. “I think it was the matching suits.”
“Let me see that one again,” Asher asked, taking another step closer.
“This one?” Rory asked, dipping me back into his arms one more time and earning a dizzy laugh from me.
“Yeah,” Asher said. “Show me how?”
Rory and I kept up the rhythm, stepping together but drifting a little apart. Asher’s eyes were wide and expectant, but there was still that electricity in his gaze, sparking the air we shared.
“Oh, I don’t know if I could really explain,” I started to defer. The flirtations were one thing, but I definitely didn’t want to give the impression that things were progressing, especially not while I was paying him.
Asher’s face fell a little, and my heart ached. It was like someone flipped a switch. One moment, we were laughing and having a good time, even putting on a little show, just for him. The next, it was like Rory and I were dancing, and Asher was sadly alone on the side.
Considering he’d been grinning like a rogue all night, the frown was surprisingly distressing.
“Here,” Rory said, stepping forward. “I can show you.”
I let out a puff of breath. I would have felt like a bumbling fool, trying to swat down Asher’s flirtations while teaching him to dance at the same time. Rory, though, was used to holding things together. He’d always carried an air of respect I could never quite maintain myself.
I stepped back as Rory took Asher’s hand. He kept the younger guy at arm’s distance, but he kindly explained the basic step back and forth that formed the core of the dance. Asher had a funny smile on his face while he moved with the music, letting Rory guide him. He had a sway to his hips and a curl to his lips that let me know steamier thoughts weren’t far from his mind, but with Rory steering the ship, he didn’t have a chance for more than that.
“And when I lift this arm,” Rory explained, “you turn toward me and lean backward.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, grinning at the pose they both struck in front of me. In the back, Rory stood proud and tall, his arms extended at straight angles and his posture perfect. In front of him, Asher practically swooned backward, draping himself seductively against Rory’s thick arm, the only part of his body that Rory was making available to the guy.
They looked good together, no denying that.
Asher glanced up to Rory, a mischievous grin on his face. “Like this?”
“And then back around,” Rory replied, spinning Asher in the opposite direction.
Asher looked dumbfounded when he found himself a few feet away again, suddenly detached from Rory. Heat shot across my cheeks when I noticed the bulge in his jeans. With his shirt tucked in at the waist, there was no mistaking the thick erection in the tight denim.
Asher seemed to notice the situation too when he dropped his hands over his groin, but unsurprisingly, he didn’t seem too fazed by the predicament. I tried to ignore the way my own body was responding to seeing them together and took a few quick steps to grab my wine from the table, drinking greedily. My skin tingling, a strange sensation threatened to overwhelm me.