The Perfect Partner

DECEMBER 12

Kat looked askance at the outfit the stylist had chosen for her to wear to the album release party. She didn't think she'd ever get used to others picking her wardrobe for her. The dress was much shorter than she normally wore. At least she had black tights under it so she wouldn't flash anyone when she danced. The bodice was vertical black satin and red velvet stripes, tightly fitted with a natural waist and spaghetti straps. The skirt was black lace, underlined with red satin and VERY short. It was stylish and pretty but not at all what she was used to. They had wanted her to wear 3 inch heels, but she had flatly refused to even consider it with her ankle. She was constantly fighting with the stylists over their choices of appropriate attire. There was a short black fur jacket that went over the whole outfit. It was real fur. Kat didn't know what kind, but she had a sneaking suspicion it might be sable.

She had on far more dramatic eye makeup than she habitually wore and the hair dresser had braided the right side of her hair into 3 French braids and pulled them around the back of her head to drape over the left shoulder. The back and left side of her hair was left long and straight. It was all held in place over the left shoulder with her dancing cat hair clip that Xi had finally returned to her. He said he had the original now and didn't need the hair clip. Crazy Man!

Xi was decked out in Kat's favorite black. The dark color highlighted his fair complexion beautifully and made him utterly gorgeous. The jacket was short and set with silver buttons and his shirt was red. His hair was what she called "artfully tousled" and falling down over one eye. A good sized cabochon star ruby earring hung from his left ear. It's mate was in her right ear. They looked good together. And she had teased him that she was robbing the cradle because he certainly did NOT look like he was 40. He'd scowled at her and reminded her that she was 12 years his junior and if anyone was robbing the cradle it was him. "Hmph," she had replied. "It takes a younger woman to keep up with you, Crazy Man! And besides, it's not the years, it's the mileage. UGH."

"Kat," Xi looked serious, "be careful around the men at this party. Jianci runs with a bit of a fast crowd and they're not always very respectful of the women, especially since you're American. Some of them have the idea that American women are more 'adventurous'."

"Ok," Kat agreed. "I'll be watchful. And besides, you and Deng Wei will be there. And I can always plead my ankle hurting. And the day I can't handle a man who's taking liberties, especially in public, is the day I resign from the Bitchy American Women Club. We don't stand for that sort of thing in the US. I've known how to handle that since I was a teenager."

Xi kissed her softly. "And try not to draw too much attention. We still need to keep up the pretense that we're just dance partners, at least for the time being."

She sighed. This clandestine marriage was proving more difficult than she had anticipated, but his agent and publicist had agreed that it was necessary for now. Asian fans did not look favorably on the objects of their affections dating, let alone marrying. In order to protect Xi's career, it was necessary to keep up the fiction that they were colleagues only.

As usual in social situations, Kat had found a quiet corner and was sipping on her drink, nibbling on the canapes and people watching. Everything went smoothly until Jianci got up on stage and the music for "Dance Monkey" started. The song was one of her favorites and she never could stay off the floor, especially when the music was live. Kat looked around for Xi or Deng Wei, but couldn't find either of them. Others were starting to dance, so she found a spot and danced by herself. She'd promised Xi she wouldn't dance with anyone but him or Deng Wei, but hadn't said anything about dancing alone. As usual she closed her eyes and was totally absorbed in the music. But Xi had once noted that Kat totally owned any dance floor her feet ever hit, and tonight was no exception.