Pushing away from the desk, I straightened. “I should…” I glanced at my watch, acting as if I hadn’t realized the time. “I’ve got another meeting, but I’ll expect you tomorrow.”
“Sure, um, I’m looking forward to it,” she said, looking as frazzled as I felt.
I nodded and moved back around to my chair. “Yuri will set your training schedule tomorrow. Expect it to be brutal.”
Her ponytail bobbed again. “That’s good. I mean… despite the classes I teach, today’s audition let me know my ass is out of shape.”
I didn’t mention the fact I thought she was in perfect shape. Instead, I opened the drawer, pulled out a sheaf of papers, and slid them across the desk. “I took the liberty of putting together a listing of some home healthcare workers. You’ll find reviews for all of them included with photos and contact information.”
She reached for the packet. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to,” I assured her. “You’ll find that unlike a great number of places, we feel being helpful and understanding toward those who contract with us is beneficial for everyone involved. Undue stress is the cause of many an injury, and we want our dancers relaxed and happy. It makes for a far better relationship, don’t you agree?”
She looked at me for a long moment and then nodded. “I suppose. Thanks for… for doing this. I’ll be here bright and early.”
“You’re welcome. See that you are”—dipping into the drawer again, I pulled out the contract as a visual reminder—“unless, of course, you’re anxious to discover exactly what sort of penalties you’ll be expected to pay.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed but she nodded. “Yes… I mean, no… I mean… I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, standing and practically running to the door.
Damn, even embarrassment looked good on her. As had that perfectly heart-shaped ass when she’d bent over to grab the strap of her bag.ClaraI forced myself to not look back, no matter how badly I wanted to. Instead, I rushed from the theater as quickly as I could. I slid into my car and took a deep breath once I’d slammed the door shut.
My heart raced and, though I considered blaming it on the exertion of the day, I knew that would have been a lie. I was honest enough to admit my pulse jumped around like some sort of demented bunny from being accepted into the company and being offered a contract by the incredible man who was Alek Volkov.
Pulling out my phone, I called my grandmother to tell her the good news.
“I got in!” I yelled as soon as she picked up, not even giving her the chance to say anything. “I went to the audition, and Volkov Ballet signed me! They think I have a chance of becoming a lead dancer for them.”
“Child,” my grandmother said in a tone that told me she was smiling ear to ear, “they’d have to be fools not to. Congratulations. That’s incredible news.”
“I know. I can’t wait—”
“And you’ll get to be around that very handsome man a lot more, too,” she continued, reiterating the words I’d spoken out loud by mistake during one of our many conversations on the topic before I left to audition. “I just hope you manage to keep your head on the actual dancing.”
There was something in her voice, something that had me worried. Did she think I did this to get closer to Alek? That wasn’t the case at all. Sure, he was gorgeous, and he made my head spin, but this had nothing to do with him. This was all about the future; I hadn’t even realized I wanted to dance again. Once I’d walked away from ballet, I’d turned my back on it, thinking I would never go back. The problem was, I hadn’t realized how unhappy that was going to make me.
Now, I had the potential to be happy once more. I had to hope I could juggle the rest of my life around it. Glancing at the sheets I held in my hand, I smiled. Alek had even gone through the effort of pulling together information he’d known I’d need in order to feel comfortable leaving my babushka in order to do this. All that was left for me to do was not screw things up again. With a rather strangled-sounding laugh, I shook my head… right, like that was going to be a piece of cake.7AlekIt’s just a welcome present, I thought, clutching the shoes tightly between my fingers. I would have done the same for any new member to the theater. But I already knew that wasn’t true. Quite a few dancers had joined the company since I’d been running it, and I hadn’t gone out of my way to do anything special for a single one of them.