The DemiGod & the Dancer

Chapter 3: Capture

I sighed with relief as I sat on a small stool outside my four foot by four foot stoop and sipped my coffee. Even though all I really could see was the alley and the apartment building across the small space, I loved the quiet.

My days at the gentlemen's club were over. They were over! And just in time. I never thought I would have to fill in for a dancer. It simply never happened. But on my last day it did, like I had unspoken dues to pay. It almost seemed as if they did this on purpose. I helped the dancers with their routines and moves for a small fee, hoping it would be enough, but I knew some of them resented me for not wanting to be one of them out there every night. Some of the dancers said they'd meet me at home to work on routines going forward, and scheduled between my dance exercise and kickboxing classes I was actually doing alright.

The only thing that bothered me was on my last night, I was told a man ordered a wine that most do not, and the mention of it brought back memories...

It was after the stunt show at the amusement park resort. The warriors in training from the crowd had left with their spoils, and so had the cast who put on the show. But Niklaus asked me to stay behind because he had to talk to me about something, and he said it couldn't wait. I was nervous. I didn't want a problem with the lead in the show, so I did. I was surprised to see that bottle of wine, though.

We were on the roof of the place, and looking at the Vegas moonrise. He poured us a couple of glasses of wine and set it on the blanket with the bread, cheese and butter platter on a ledge. "Why do you avoid me?" Niklaus asked me.

"What?" I was taken aback by the question.

"You treat me like the plague."

"Oh?" I felt breathless. His eyes glittered in the moonlight, shimmering in shades of blue and gray, and I wanted that gaze to be anywhere but on me. He was intelligent and I didn't want him to know what he did to me. I always felt as if he could see right through me.

"Oh, yes," he chuckled, stroking the glass absently as he looked down at it. "and here I am, feeling like a schoolboy."

"What?!" I was really confused now. "Look, you have your pick of the dance troupe, you really do. Who do you want? I can hook it up." Even as I said it I didn't want to do it. All I knew was that every woman in the place seemed to want him and he knew it. I was just another one, and I decided I wouldn't be another one, not if I could help it.

"I come in a room, you leave." he stepped closer.

"Stuff to do, show to run." I stepped back, shaking my head in denial for emphasis. "You seem sensitive--"

"Me?" he chuckled. "Well, when the woman who mesmerizes you keeps disappearing, you get sensitive, Tatiana."

I froze as the words registered in my mind. I didn't know what to say.

"I haven't chosen any other, haven't you noticed?"

"I tried not to," I whispered to myself more than him. "What about Nina?"

"What about her?"

"She really wants you."

"But she's not who I asked to come up on this rooftop, is she?" He closed the distance between us, and tipped my chin up so our eyes could meet. "Is she?"

He bent lower and held me in balance as I stood on tiptoe. The first kiss was tentative and gentle-a peck-but then our lips melded, and I felt my feet come off the ground as he coaxed my mouth open for more. I felt us move and my back rest against a generator. I broke the kiss, hoping not to completely give into him, but his kisses moved to my cheek, my ear, my jawline, and my neck. I whimpered softly wanting more despite how fast this was happening.