disappointment. The disenchantment. He recognised the moment when you realised the parent you looked up to your whole life turned out to be, oh, so flawed.
“Anyway,” she said, shaking out the funk that had settled over her, “after a particularly punishing day, I secretly auditioned for Sky High—at the last second using my grandmother’s maiden name—and lo and behold got a place. Within the week I’d moved to Vegas, to the first real job that I’d ever been sure I’d got on my own. Not only that, it changed my life. Like I’d been dancing in shoes a size too small all my life and never known it. I’d found my bliss.”
She finished with a soft sigh, a wistful and faraway gaze in her eyes. Then she looked around, seemed to realise where she was—or more precisely where she wasn’t.
Her laughter was glib as she said, “I’m sorry. What was the question again?”
“I think you answered it.” And then some. “I have just one more question. About your mother actually.”
A flash of warning licked behind her eyes.
“She still pole dancing today?”
Nadia’s laugh burst from her with such suddenness, such vivacious luxury, she near fell off her chair. “Ryder, if you knew her, you’d know how funny—I mean how far off the mark that was. A big Aussie mining magnate saw her on stage not long after I left New York, swept her off her pointy-toed feet and took her back home with him. She’s retired. This time I’m the one who came home in disgrace.”
“Back up a step now, Miss Nadia. Now we’re getting to the good stuff. What did you do to disgrace yourself? Rob a bank? Sell state secrets? Arabesquewhen you were meant to...anti-arabesque?”
Her lush mouth quirked into a sensuous smile, before her face scrunched up in what looked like embarrassment. This was turning out to be a day of revelations. “It’s nothing nearly so dramatic or exciting.”
He waved a hand for her to go on.
“I broke up with my boyfriend, quit my job, and fled.”
And somehow the idea of a boyfriend, a man, being this close, closer, to her, ever, made Ryder’s hackles rise more than the thought of her making off with an armoured car. “Poor boyfriend.”
Her cheeks pinked even as she smiled that sexy, exuberant smile of hers. “Missing out on all this? You bet poor boyfriend. But you know what? In all honesty?”
His eyes roved over her, the beautiful bone structure, the sultry dark eyes, the sensual way she moved. “Hit me.”
“I’ve spent the past year convinced I left because of a relationship that went embarrassingly south. But I’ve been dancing professionally without a break since I was sixteen. I wonder if it wasn’t really a blessing in disguise, if my body told me this was my chance to get away from it all for a while so that it could recuperate. If my ego saw the chance to eke out some time to just grow up.”
She shrugged and sat back in her chair, her nose buried in the empty wineglass in her hand.
While Ryder couldn’t quite feel his centre on the chair any more.
Because somehow things had...shifted. As if in the daylight, in her unassuming little flat, the normality of it all, having an actual honest conversation, caught at him, raw and arresting. Here sat a beautiful woman, slightly broken, but rich with substance and grit. And with his feet no longer pressing into the cracked old floor, there was nothing stopping him from perusing what his instincts had long since been screaming for him to do.
“Nadia.”
“Yes, Ryder.”
“You look plenty grown up to me.”
The faraway gaze came back into sharp focus and her mouth curled into a smile. “I can assure you I am. All the way grown up.”
And in the way that mattered most to Ryder, she was. What you saw was what you got with Nadia Kent. And there’d never been any question that what he saw he wanted.
“You missed some sauce,” he said, eyes honed in on her lush mouth.
Her tongue flicked out to swipe the corner of her mouth.
“Anyway,” she said, shaking out the funk that had settled over her, “after a particularly punishing day, I secretly auditioned for Sky High—at the last second using my grandmother’s maiden name—and lo and behold got a place. Within the week I’d moved to Vegas, to the first real job that I’d ever been sure I’d got on my own. Not only that, it changed my life. Like I’d been dancing in shoes a size too small all my life and never known it. I’d found my bliss.”
She finished with a soft sigh, a wistful and faraway gaze in her eyes. Then she looked around, seemed to realise where she was—or more precisely where she wasn’t.
Her laughter was glib as she said, “I’m sorry. What was the question again?”
“I think you answered it.” And then some. “I have just one more question. About your mother actually.”
A flash of warning licked behind her eyes.
“She still pole dancing today?”
Nadia’s laugh burst from her with such suddenness, such vivacious luxury, she near fell off her chair. “Ryder, if you knew her, you’d know how funny—I mean how far off the mark that was. A big Aussie mining magnate saw her on stage not long after I left New York, swept her off her pointy-toed feet and took her back home with him. She’s retired. This time I’m the one who came home in disgrace.”
“Back up a step now, Miss Nadia. Now we’re getting to the good stuff. What did you do to disgrace yourself? Rob a bank? Sell state secrets? Arabesquewhen you were meant to...anti-arabesque?”
Her lush mouth quirked into a sensuous smile, before her face scrunched up in what looked like embarrassment. This was turning out to be a day of revelations. “It’s nothing nearly so dramatic or exciting.”
He waved a hand for her to go on.
“I broke up with my boyfriend, quit my job, and fled.”
And somehow the idea of a boyfriend, a man, being this close, closer, to her, ever, made Ryder’s hackles rise more than the thought of her making off with an armoured car. “Poor boyfriend.”
Her cheeks pinked even as she smiled that sexy, exuberant smile of hers. “Missing out on all this? You bet poor boyfriend. But you know what? In all honesty?”
His eyes roved over her, the beautiful bone structure, the sultry dark eyes, the sensual way she moved. “Hit me.”
“I’ve spent the past year convinced I left because of a relationship that went embarrassingly south. But I’ve been dancing professionally without a break since I was sixteen. I wonder if it wasn’t really a blessing in disguise, if my body told me this was my chance to get away from it all for a while so that it could recuperate. If my ego saw the chance to eke out some time to just grow up.”
She shrugged and sat back in her chair, her nose buried in the empty wineglass in her hand.
While Ryder couldn’t quite feel his centre on the chair any more.
Because somehow things had...shifted. As if in the daylight, in her unassuming little flat, the normality of it all, having an actual honest conversation, caught at him, raw and arresting. Here sat a beautiful woman, slightly broken, but rich with substance and grit. And with his feet no longer pressing into the cracked old floor, there was nothing stopping him from perusing what his instincts had long since been screaming for him to do.
“Nadia.”
“Yes, Ryder.”
“You look plenty grown up to me.”
The faraway gaze came back into sharp focus and her mouth curled into a smile. “I can assure you I am. All the way grown up.”
And in the way that mattered most to Ryder, she was. What you saw was what you got with Nadia Kent. And there’d never been any question that what he saw he wanted.
“You missed some sauce,” he said, eyes honed in on her lush mouth.
Her tongue flicked out to swipe the corner of her mouth.
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