He was sitting next to her on the couch, as close as he’d been the night before—although it wasn’t anywhere near as close as they’d been to one another all day. By now, she was surprised that it felt perfectly natural to have Christian so near.
“Actually, this was the first time they ever danced together on screen,” Paige told him. “In fact, it’s the first time Ginger Rogers
ever
danced with a partner.”
“The first time?” Christian looked shocked. “Amazing.”
It occurred to Paige that there was probably a lesson here she could use. “Fred Astaire said later that when they started out together, there were a lot of things Ginger couldn’t do. She couldn’t tap, for example.”
“But she obviously worked twice as hard with her instructor and she got better?” Christian guessed, a really cute smile on his face as he said it.
Paige laughed. “I’m sure she did. Although what I’m trying to say is that while Ginger wasn’t the most technical partner Fred Astaire ever worked with, she was able to make it look so perfectly natural when they danced together, because she could
act
her way through it. She was such a great actress that she could get across the intimacy between them despite the dancing skill she might have lacked. And that’s why they ultimately ended up having such perfect chemistry together.”
Christian watched Ginger and Fred dance on screen for a few more seconds before he turned back to Paige. “That’s what I need to focus on when I dance, isn’t it? More intimacy and all the emotions that come with it?”
The thought of becoming more intimate with him as they danced made a flush of heat rise around her face. “I’m going to do everything I can to give you technical dance skills, but the main thing you need to remember is that the acting doesn’t stop just because the music has started. With dance, there’s nowhere you can hide. You have to put everything you are into it. You have to throw in all your passion, all your energy. When you’re dancing and you’re in the zone, people quickly see what’s there. You have the bonus of being able to take people through a range of emotions. Combine that with the skills I’m teaching you, and I think you’ll be amazing in the movie.”
* * *
The next day in the studio, Paige felt a new kind of intensity from him. One that felt deeply intimate and connected to her as his dance partner. They were working on one of the big numbers toward the end of the film that Christian really needed to acquire the skills for, and she decided to give almost the whole day over to it, stopping only when he started to drag.
Maybe his fatigue was part of his newfound intensity. Or maybe it was the sheer number of steps he needed to master. The choreographer on the movie would undoubtedly do plenty of work with him, and from what Paige understood, he was going to have a separate tap instructor. Yet there were still so many dance sequences in the original movie, and there was no reason to believe that any of them would be excluded in the remake.
Whatever it was, by the middle of the afternoon, his fatigue was hard to ignore. Truthfully, she was feeling it herself. Although she taught every day, there was a big difference between standing in front of a class giving instructions and demonstrations and working closely with someone as a dance partner. If they’d had the time, she might have called a halt for the day, but they couldn’t afford to lose any more time. And she was more than a little concerned that he still wasn’t leading the way he should.
She’d been playing around with an idea in her head all day, one that took only a quick phone call during their water break to solidify.
“Come on,” she told him. “We’re going on a field trip.”
“A field trip? Where are you taking me?”
“I was hoping you would take us, actually,” she told him with a smile. “Our destination isn’t far, but I thought it might be nice to get off our feet for a few minutes, if you wouldn’t mind driving.”
She directed him to the location she had in mind, enjoying the look on Christian’s face once he saw the sign next to the parking lot she asked him to turn into.
“You’re taking me to a roller-skating rink?”
“Where else are we going to practice the parts for
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
?” She gave him a mischievous smile. “The owners have gone to Seattle for the holidays, but their daughter said she would unlock it for me.”
They went inside, and Karen was there to help them pick out some roller skates, the other woman’s jaw dropping when she realized who Christian was. He instantly smiled, putting Karen at ease and even agreeing to let her take a selfie with him.
“Thanks so much. Paige, when you’re done, can you lock up here? I need to get home.”
After Karen left, Paige looked back at Christian and said, “She clearly couldn’t wait to tell everyone about this. I suspect the news that you’re here skating is probably going to be all around the island by the time we’re done.”
Christian just laughed. He didn’t seem to mind. “What matters is that we’re here and ready to dance.”
That was probably a little overly optimistic. At first, they were barely able to stand up. Christian slipped as they moved out onto the rink, at which point Paige promptly fell on top of him as her feet skidded out from under her, too. Christian felt so solid—and so good—beneath her, that she tried to scramble back to her feet again to put at least a tiny bit of space between them so that she could get her breath back. Of course, she managed only to fall right back down again.
After a few minutes, thankfully, they both managed to get to their feet and stay there! Paige had spent her life dancing, but clearly, dancing and roller-skating were two very different things. Her feet seemed to have minds of their own, wanting to go in every direction but the ones she actually wanted them to go in. She started to fall over again, grabbing for the side wall in desperation.
Christian seemed to be having the same problems, but that didn’t stop him from having a good laugh over their clumsiness. It was fun, she realized, watching him being out of control but perfectly happy about it—and letting herself feel the same way as laughter bubbled up and out of her, too.
“Maybe skating wasn’t such a great idea,” Paige said as she took another step and nearly skidded off her feet again. “I thought it would be a nice way to get out of the studio for a while and work on our balance, but…” She laughed. “Now I just think we should get out of these skates before we hurt ourselves!”
She went to sit down on the wooden benches and slipped her feet out of the skates. Christian soon sat beside her and did the same.
Except, once their skates were off, she looked up and realized that Christian was standing in front of her, holding out his hand. There was a twinkle in his eye and a sense of grace to the movement, despite the fact that he was standing there in his socks.
In that moment, he
was
Fred Astaire...and Paige couldn’t wait to be his Ginger Rogers.
She held out her hand and Christian took it smoothly, taking her into the moves they’d been practicing earlier. He was leading her perfectly this time, sweeping Paige up in the whirl of the movement.
She felt as if they could have been in a black-and-white movie just then. There was no music, but he had the steps memorized, and the timing of them seemed to come from somewhere inside him. She flowed with him around the skating rink as though it was the perfect dance floor, until he finally spun her into the last movement of the dance.
“You did it!” Paige said breathlessly. “
You actually did it
!”
Christian seemed every bit as ecstatic as she was. He held her tightly in his arms for a moment or two, looking deep into her eyes as the moment was suspended in time, as if there was no place he’d rather be and no one else he’d rather be with.
And then he kissed her.
CHAPTER NINE
Christian led their kiss as effortlessly as he had led the dance, his lips pressing against Paige’s with the mix of joy and desire. Paige kissed him back with just as much passion, because in that moment it felt
exactly
like the right thing to do. And even though they’d been close while they’d been dancing, their sweetly seductive kiss felt so much more intimate.
She’d always dreamed of a kiss like this. A kiss just like the ones in the movies—sweet and passionate, tender and powerful, all at once.
Christian drank in her smile, saying, “I love seeing you look so happy.”
“I am. I really am.”
He drew her close again and held her, his cheek against the top of her head. Their kiss had been so perfect, so unexpected, but at the same time such a natural continuation of everything that had been happening over the last couple of days. It had been so easy to get caught up in the excitement of their dance...and so worth it when she had.
He had been in the zone from the moment that he’d held out his hand to her. Of course, there was still so much for him to learn as a dancer, but the Fred Astaire feeling that they were going for had definitely been there. While they’d danced, she had been able to feel his intensity of emotion and the way he had led every step. With his acting skills, he had made their dance far more than just a set of choreographed movements: He had made it
beautiful
.
“You were perfect, Christian.”
“So were you.”
She had been talking about his dancing—at least she thought she was, wasn’t she?—but
was he? Or was he talking about their kiss? One she knew she’d replay over and over in her head for a very long time to come.
Still, she was on too much of a high to worry about any of that right now. “You can really do this. You can pull this movie off! I’m sure of it now.” When he had first arrived, the truth was that she hadn’t actually thought he’d get to the stage where he could be convincing in one of Astaire’s dances. And then when she’d first seen him try to dance, she’d been sure that her teaching skills would not be up to the task. But now, after experiencing the wonder of one perfect dance with him in the middle of the empty roller-skating rink, she knew better.
He moved to take her hands as they stood near the entrance to the rink. “You really think so?”
Paige had heard a note of nervousness in his voice only a handful of times. Once had been on the first day, when he’d been down on the floor doubting himself, and then a couple of times after that, when the moves had been really challenging. Yet, now she was surprised to see that her approval meant so much to him.
“Absolutely, yes! If you can dance like that all the time, you’re going to be great. That was the first time I really
felt
something while you danced, way deep down the way I’ve needed to feel it.”
Something beyond the fundamental attraction of being close to him, at least. Paige had felt
that
from the start, of course. Most women would, she knew. But what she’d felt when they’d been dancing just now had been so much more than that. Something had changed. Something had shifted. In the best possible way.
“What you said last night about Ginger Rogers acting her way through it made a huge difference,” he told her. “If you hadn’t been here with me every step of the way, if you hadn’t known how to put things in exactly the right way, so that I could think like a dancer, I would never have known
how
to dance like that.”
Hearing his praise, Paige felt a wave of satisfaction run through her. She was always happy when one of her students had a breakthrough, but with Christian it felt like so much more. Just seeing him look so happy about his achievements was something so simple yet powerful. She could feel that happiness practically radiating from him.
She was also aware of how special he had made her feel, too. Here at the roller rink, it had felt like he’d transported her to another world where it was just the two of them. Where everything was amazing, and doing something crazy like kissing him was the most wonderful thing she’d ever experienced in her life.
Right then, she didn’t feel even a hint of regret about the kiss they’d shared. How could she when it had been the perfect way to end a perfect dance?
“How about Indian takeout tonight?” Christian suggested as they gathered up the skates they’d taken off and put them away.
Paige loved the image of the two of them together on the couch once again. They’d been there the last couple of nights, but in the wake of their kiss, the image felt different. Tonight, it seemed to hold all kinds of promises. Promises that made Paige shiver slightly in anticipation, because being close to him now would never be the same. Even dancing with him held a different kind of anticipation now that they’d kissed.
“I’d love that,” she said. “We’ll have to find another great Fred Astaire movie to watch.”
“Something tells me I haven’t even begun to make a dent in your dance movie collection.”
He was right. They still had plenty of movies to go through—and plenty of nights’ worth of takeout. Paige could so easily imagine sharing her couch with Christian for many nights to come. She knew it was a dream, but right then it felt so good she wanted to believe that it could be true. His dancing had helped to transport her to a beautiful, magical world that she didn’t want to leave. Not yet.
When he reached out to take her hand as they walked back to the car, she not only let herself enjoy being with him, she also allowed herself to look forward to more of his kisses once they got back to her place.
“There he is!” a voice shouted from the parking lot.
“Christian! Look this way!” someone else called.
A crowd of people were approaching them, phone cameras flashing. There were only a dozen or so people, but they were making enough noise for two or three times that many. Most of them appeared to be young women.
Paige immediately slipped her hand from Christian’s, hoping no one had gotten a clear picture of them together.
“Karen must have posted something on the Internet,” Paige said. How could she have forgotten that was going to happen? How could she have gotten so wrapped up in Christian that she’d forgotten about the real world?