her.
Miss Hollis turned to the other group. ‘How’s your routine shaping up? Would you be able to fit him in?’
‘Oh yes, miss,’ gushed Mairi. ‘I’d be really happy to have him—in our group, I mean.’ The rest of the class giggled as Mairi blushed an amazing shade of red. Liza whispered ‘Hottie McTottie’ so Mairi could hear, making the girl’s embarrassment even deeper.
But then teacher turned back to Raven. Go away, go away! ‘But if Gina is missing, perhaps we should put him with you, Raven?’
Kieran’s crystal green eyes latched onto her, producing that same tingle down the spine she had felt last night.
No, no: she had resolved to keep her distance and this would ruin that plan. ‘Without Gina, it will be hard to know what to do with him, miss.’
‘I know exactly what I’d do with him,’ whispered Liza.
Miss Hollis shot a reproving look at Liza then fixed Raven with her gaze. ‘But you are one of my most experienced dancers, Raven; I’m sure you can adapt to having a boy in your group better than most.’
The teacher’s expectation was clear. ‘I guess we’ll sort something out.’
‘Thank you, Raven. And if Gina doesn’t come back for any reason, then you can simply slip Kieran into her role.’
‘That’d be hard as we were working to the theme of birth—we’d gone for mother and child—Gina being the mother.’
A couple of girls giggled. Kieran frowned at the ceiling.
Mrs Hollis tapped her fingers on her crossed forearms. ‘Well, some of the best dances come from being forced to radically rethink our preconceptions.’
‘If you say so.’ How had her avoidance tactics been defeated so quickly?
That issue settled to her satisfaction, Miss Hollis clapped her hands. ‘OK, girls—and Kieran, of course: let’s warm up. We’ll do some neck isolations, then some hip swings.’
Kieran placed himself at the back of the group just behind Raven. She didn’t like him there; she had the distinct feeling he was following her rather than the teacher and that made the normally innocent exercises uncomfortable. She wished she had put on trackies rather than a leotard and leggings.
Miss Hollis signalled the end to the warm-up. ‘OK, now work in your groups. Start with some trust exercises. I’ll go round and see each group individually.’
Raven turned. He stood right behind her, hands on hips, confident half-smile on his face, lord of all he surveyed. Apparently he was not shaken by being the only male in the room. This was the first time they’d stood eye-to-eye and she was struck at how tall he was. Elf and hobbit—that’s how he made her feel. She reached for her usual sass to counter the height difference. ‘So, Sudoku, how would you like to do this?’
He pushed a lock of hair off his face. ‘Trust exercises—what are they?’
She gave him a querying look. ‘You don’t know?’
‘Obviously not as I just asked you.’
‘You know: falling back and trusting your partner will catch you. That kind of thing.’
‘What is the point of doing that? I already know I’ll catch you and if you try and catch me we will both end up on the floor.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Ya think?’
‘I know.’
‘OK, Sudoku, give it a go.’
‘I am not falling on you.’
‘See, you don’t trust me.’
‘No, I don’t.’
She leant closer and prodded his chest. ‘That was the point of the exercise. You’ve just failed.’
Challenge issued, he responded. ‘All right, Miss Stone, catch me.’ Spinning round, he let himself fall back. She made a good attempt at grabbing him as he fell, but gravity won and they ended up on the floor, her under him.
‘Geez Louise, give me some warning next time!’ huffed Raven, shoving him. She tried not to give away her intense awareness of her body plastered against his spine.
He cleared his throat and sat up. ‘See, I’m too big for you to support my weight.’
Raven rolled out from under him and sprang to her feet. ‘Let’s