“That’s what I imagined it would be like when I moved here at sixteen. I thought I’d find a home and a community, maybe even a family. You know how that turned out.”
He said, “I’m glad we have the next six weeks here. Hopefully you’ll get to replace those bad memories with some good ones.”
When I noticed he was tapping his foot in time to the accordion music, I climbed out of the hammock and held out my hand. “Here’s a perfect opportunity. Dance with me, Gabriel.”
He let me help him up, and we put our arms around each other and swayed to a song that felt like it belonged to another place and time. I decided to get fancy and spun him before saying, “Fair warning, I’m going in for the dip. This might end badly, but every romantic movie I’ve ever seen tells me I have to give it a shot.” He let me tip him back, sweep him around, and pull him upright again, and I exclaimed, “Hey, we did it!”
That made both of us laugh. Then he draped his arms around my shoulders and met my gaze as he murmured, “You just keep surprising me, Riley.”
“In a good way, I hope.”
“In the best possible way.” He kissed me before saying, “My turn.” Gabriel put a hand on my lower back and dipped me, then pulled me upright and flashed me a big smile. “You’re not the only one with some tricks up your sleeve.”
“So I see. What else can you do?”
“I’m glad you asked. I’ve never done this to accordion music before, but let’s see how it goes.”
He retrieved his heels and put them on, then brought a chair over and indicated it with a flourish as he said, “Please take a seat.”
I did as he asked, and he called, “Excuse me person with the accordion, could you please play something I can strip to? I want to put on a show for my date.” The music stopped abruptly. A few moments later, our hidden musician started to play a pretty great rendition of ‘Lady Marmalade’. Gabriel grinned and called, “Thank you, that’s perfect,” as he crossed the brick patio.
He started to dance to the music with his back to me. When he unbuttoned his jacket and dropped it off his shoulders, I realized the black button-down shirt was backless. He swung his hips from side to side, then pulled up the jacket, turned, and strode toward me. My breath caught as he pushed my legs apart and dropped into a crouch with his hands on my knees.
He locked eyes with me and licked his lips. A moment later, he stood up and strode across the patio as he took off his jacket and tossed it aside. When he came to a stop, he widened his stance and bent at the waist, putting all of the focus on his ass. I whispered, “Holy shit.”
He snapped upright, spun around, and crossed the patio again, approaching me like a panther stalking its prey as he unbuttoned his shirt. Then he ran a hand up his body and pushed aside the fabric to reveal one of his shoulders. He made that little peek of skin the sexiest thing I could ever imagine.
The slow, seductive striptease went on another minute or two, until the song ended. Gabriel and I both cheered and applauded the accordionist, and I kept applauding as Gabriel turned to me and took a bow. “That was a little taste of my short-lived burlesque career,” he said, as he straddled my thighs and sat on my lap while buttoning his shirt. “I’d usually strip down to lingerie, but I thought I should probably keep my pants on in Miss Pearl’s yard.”
“That was incredibly sexy.”
“I used to do a slower, more seductive strip tease when I was working at the burlesque club, but that song called for something a bit more down-and-dirty.”
“It was so hot.” I slid my hands over his shoulders and down his exposed back as I murmured, “This shirt is amazing, too. Where did you find something like this?”
“I made it. Well, kind of. I have several black button-downs in my wardrobe, and one day I decided to make them more interesting. This one was easy. I just had to cut out the back panel beneath the yoke and refinish the seams.”
“What’s a yoke?”
He touched the fabric that covered his shoulders and spanned the upper part of his back. “I cropped another shirt, and I cut the top of the sleeves off a third one, which gives a little peek of skin, right here.” He cupped the sides of my shoulders as he said that. “I like shirts that look normal under jackets, but then have an element of surprise.”
“You’re brilliant. You know that?”
He chuckled and said, “Hardly.”