Burning Touch

Chapter 5

Izzy hadn't had much to drink the night before, so she still had a perfect memory of what had happened.

André.

How was it possible that she could go from hating him one second to wanting him to take her right there on the dance floor to hating him again? The man was an arrogant piece of jerk and she had enough going on in her life to spare some time for his smug ass.

She pushed the thought of him away as she prepared to leave for the hospital. She had the morning shift, then a dance workshop later in the day which she had to attend because she was the special guest. She was looking forward to it.

André was glad he had decided to leave all the work to Fred because if he hadn't, he wasn't sure he was going to get a thing done with the image of one sexy dancer dancing in his head. He couldn't get the image of her, the way she felt in his arms, the softness of her skin away from his head. She was...everywhere.

Unlike other girls he had come across, she neither wanted him nor was she intimidated by him. She was indifferent to him and that made him want to find what made her tick and why she was the only one who didn't give two foxes about him.

She was exactly the way Josie had described.
He thought.
Sexy and Fiesty.

He had been cramped up in the penthouse all day and he was starting to re-think getting a separate penthouse from Fred. But his constant phone calls had been disturbing throughout their journey and he needed some alone time so, it was good in some ways.

His phone rang, breaking his train of thought.

Josie.
"Hey." He said when he picked up

"Where the heck are you?" She asked "You idiots are supposed to meet me at the café downtown. I sent you the address."

André pulled his phone away from his ear to check his messages and saw she had sent it ten minutes ago.
"Damn!" He cursed "Sorry, I lost track of time."

"Or..." She began "You still don't check your messages on time."

He smiled.
She knew them.

"It's almost like you guys are too busy to hang out with me anymore."

"Hey, Priya." He got up, picking his keys "Don't be like that. I'm leaving right now. You probably should call Fred, he isn't with me."

She sighed.
"That idiot!" She said "Fine. Be here in 5 or I'm leaving."

He got into the elevator.
"I'm halfway there."

She snorted before she hung up.

André arrived at the café a few seconds before his 5 minutes were up. He spotted Josie at one of the seats near the floor to ceiling window, where she loved sitting by and he smiled when she looked up.

He walked up to her table.
"I couldn't help noticing you when I walked in." He said, "You're beauty ever so radiant, your eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky, your smile like..."

"Oh shut up and sit down already." Josie cut him off with a smile as he chuckled and pulled out a chair and sat "You never change."

"Never." He smiled "Where's Fred?"

"Said something about a business deal...again."

André laughed.
"Yeah." He said, "He says this one is very important."

"He says that about all of them."

"Well, at least we know him." André said, "Good thing I decided to take the time off work."

"I'm glad you did." She said, "You deserve it after everything."

André sighed
"So, enjoying Leicester?"

"Not yet. I got to see only a small part of it yesterday." She said, "Mia and Izzy took me to a few of their favorite places."

"Speaking of them." He began "Where are they?"

"Mia's got this internship at this law firm which will be over soon because she's got to prepare for the bar exam." She said "Izzy went to the hospital in the morning. She would probably be at the dance workshop now."

He smiled.
"She's teaching the class?"

"Of course." Josie smiled. "I was going to attend but it's been a while since I danced, so I'll probably find a tour bus to take me around. Want to accompany me?"

André's mind was at the dance class Izzy was teaching.
"Hum." He began "I would love to but..."

"But you have a thing for my friend and you want me to give you an address so you can go stalk her?"

André stared at her bewildered at how well she knew him.
"Yea-ah?" He dragged

She was silent for a moment.
"Ok."

He laughed.
"You. Are. The best."

She shrugged.
"I know." She brought out her phone and typed away "Sending...now."

His phone beeped.
"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She said "Just a little piece of advice."

He waited.

"If you do anything. I mean anything to hurt her, I'll emasculate you and feed it to the dogs."

"Woah!" He lifted his hands, palms facing her in surrender "I haven't even started anything."

She smiled a creepy smiled
"Just saying."

"Besides who's side are you on?"

"There are no sides." She said, "Just gender, and I'm loyal to mine."

André rolled his eyes.
"You need to get out more." He said.

A moment passed as Josie waited for it.

"When are you going to start..."

"Na-uh." She said "Let's not do this again. I told you, I'm not ready."

"You never are." He said, "What about..."

She glared at him.
"Don't."

"Alright." He said

"How's your mum?" She changed the topic.

"Putting up with Aubrey every day." He joked and she smiled.

The conversation went in for a while longer until Josie got a notification about the tour bus she had decided to join.

"Got to go." She said picking her bag and getting up "See you later." She kissed his cheek and walked briskly out of the café as he sat back down on the chair and got out his phone.

He checked the last message Josie had sent him. Copied and pasted it on Google map. It was just a few minutes away.

He googled the dance studio where the workshop was happening and found tickets were sold out. He checked his Instagram and found the post on Isabelle's page and she was live.

He opened her story and saw she was already teaching the class. He better watch her live than from a device. He got cold coffee to go before he left the café and headed to the studio.

Better late than never.

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Hey guys,

There's a little surprise for HABD readers, head on to the book for the new update.

Love,

J.L.