Survival

Chapter 33 Weak Link

Edward was dancing around his living room when the knock came at the front door. He looked down at his watched and chuckled. Always right on time, the stock market could have relied on her skills to keep the international clocks on tick. Olivia walked inside without even saying a word. He didn’t realize she was so concerned about the arrangement.

“Why does it sound like a beach resort in here?” She didn’t waste any time. Maybe he was just a complete god in the bedroom and waiting pissed her off. Likely story. He’d win her over though and show he was good for more than just a quickie.

“I borrowed some music from Alphonzo so we could dance.”  He shimmied his shoulders from side to side.

“That is not part of the arrangement.” Such a harsh tone and face. He’d work on that later.

“Oh come on, lighten up and be spontaneous, Olivia. You can’t tell me you don’t want to move to the beat right now.” He shuffled toward her, swaying his hips like Alphonzo had coached him.

Her arms remained crossed in front of her chest, stiff as, well, him most of the time she chose to wear tight pants like that. “Absolutely not.”

“I’ve been practising, and not to brag or anything, but my dancing has been compared with the likes of Patrick Swayze.” It didn’t matter that he was the one doing the comparing and Alphonzo had responded by laughing until he nearly fell off the couch.

“Who?”

Edward shook his head. “Sometimes, I just want to find that rock you grew up under and smash it.”

“Are or aren’t we engaging in intercourse tonight?”

Way to suck the fun out of the whole night. “I was hoping we could, but if you want to postpone I guess that’s alright.”

“You seem to be more interested in dancing alone in your kitchen so I wasn’t sure.”

Ouch, ice queen strikes again. No matter, he could charm his way through this. “I want to dance with you.” He shuffled his shoulders from side to side with a goofy smile. “Can’t we have a little fun before we get down to business?”

“If you aren’t enjoying the sex-“

“Oh believe me, I am. It’s just so dull living underground some nights; I thought you might want to liven things up a touch. You know, add a bit of seduction to the mix. Doesn’t every woman love to feel sexy?”

Olivia paused for a moment and Edward smiled. He had her. Her actions betrayed the fact she loved every minute of his attention, like a ferocious lion cub. He extended his palm towards her and awaited her hand. She remained still.

“May I have this dance?”

“I don’t know how to dance to this music.” There it was, fear of the unknown. He should have seen it coming.

“Then I’ll show you.” He stood in front of her, gently holding onto her curled fingers. “You step back with this foot,” he said, squeezing her right hand. “Then bring your weight back to this one.” Olivia moved again with clinical rigidness. “And then you bring the other foot forward again.”

They kept practising the basic step until Olivia’s scowl deepened to nearly irreversible levels. Edward knew his laughing wasn’t helping the matter, but he couldn’t help but find this woman’s frustration endearing.

“Is this your retaliation for what happened in the desert? If so, I can assure you, I can dance better than you run.” She stumbled on the steps again, moving forward instead of back and crashing into his chest.