Let's Play, page 2
‘Thanks for this.’ With another small glance at those breath-taking eyes, she started turning on her heels, intending to follow Tanya back to the dressing room.
Was it hot in here?
‘Wait!’ he said, stopping her in her tracks.
Half turned, she met his eyes once more.
‘Yes?’
‘Will you come?’ His eyes bore into her, daring her to say ‘yes’.
She smiled and then found what she thought was a compromise. ‘I’ll think about it.’ Gabriela couldn’t say for sure, but she could have sworn that she saw something that looked like hope flash in his eyes. After that, she turned and walked away, following Tanya, who had been there watching the encounter. They walked along what suddenly felt like the longest corridor in history. She was desperate to turn around and see if he was still standing there. However, she didn’t dare. Somewhere, in a deep part of her, she could sense he was still looking at her leave.
When they reached the changing rooms again, Tanya was the first one to speak.
‘Whoa! Who was that hottie?!’
‘I don’t really know. I glanced into the other studio before the Pilates class and saw him there practicing some kind of dance thing.’
‘I doubt that’s all. I saw that look he was giving you. It was like he was striping you naked with those dreamy eyes.’ Tanya fake-swooned and Gabriela rolled her eyes, attempting to dismiss what Tanya was saying.
‘I highly doubt that’s true. He was just doing some marketing for his class.’
That had to be it, right?
‘Look, he gave me the class business card,’ Gabriela went on.
‘I don’t care which card he gave you. That man was interested!’ Tanya said, as she jumped into the shower. ‘Won’t be a minute.’
At that, Gabriela settled on one of the benches to wait for Tanya. With no encouragement from her, her mind started wandering back to relive her short but sweet encounter with Sean.
Sean!
Her mind whispered his name.
That name suits him.
After another twenty or so minutes, Tanya was dressed and ready go. They made their way back out to the main entrance and she prayed they would bump into Sean again. As they walked out into the slightly chilly, pre-spring evening air of Central London, Gabriela searched her memory to remember where she parked her car.
Right.
As they turned, something made her glance in the opposite direction. When she did, she could see a tall figure sauntering off in the distance. She was sure it was Sean. He was wearing casual blue jeans and a dark jacket. He was also carrying the gym bag she had seen him with earlier. With a deep breath and a shake of her head, she followed Tanya and headed to her car.
CHAPTER 2
- meia lua de frente - esquiva -
When Gabriela wasn’t spending her time drooling over hot guys in sports centres, she owned and managed an exclusive nightclub in Soho. The day after she met Sean, she found herself sitting in her office trying to get some work done. The only problem was that the image of a certain man’s naked, muscly torso kept playing around in her mind. She’d spent maybe, maximum, five minutes in the man’s company and already he’d taken up residence in her brain. She picked up the card he gave her that she’d earlier placed on her desk. Passing it from hand to hand, her eyes closed and she recalled, yet again, her night as a peeping Tom. His movements, the sweat that glistened on his skin... it all made him intoxicating!
Shaking her head, she did her best to keep ploughing through the mountain of paperwork strewn across her desk. She had inherited her club, called La Duquesa, The Duchess, from her father after he’d retired three years ago. He had owned it for fifteen years before that. It had already been a pretty successful enterprise under her father, Carlos Espinosa. When Gabriela took over, it had gone from strength to strength. La Duquesa attracted very high-profile clientele and always maintained the highest possible standards in terms of service, discretion, décor, beverages, and so much more. The club was given that name because it had been her father’s nickname for her mother. They had shared a great love, and after she passed, about four or so years ago, Carlos could barely step foot in the club anymore. At the time, Gabriela was the general manager of a chain of restaurants dotted around some high-brow neighbourhoods in the West End of London. After she saw how her father was suffering, she decided to hand in her notice to her boss at the restaurants’ HQ and she went into the family business. Her father and mother had built this club together and they’d made it a smashing success. She had dreamed of honouring their legacy while putting her own unique touches onto the place.
Her father immigrated to London from Cuba about thirty-five years ago, originally to attend university. Her mother was a second-generation Afro-Trinidadian, who was also starting at the same university. They had met at a Freshers’ party and had been inseparable after that. They’d had a wonderful love story that Gabriela could only ever dream of having one like that herself.
With a quick sip from the glass of ginger ale on her desk, she tried to focus on the tasks at hand. She had to order stock and new equipment, check invoices, delegate tasks for her assistant manager, approve some new designs sent over from her marketing team, reply to correspondences from her social media manager and a whole host of other things she would have to get to as soon as possible. It promised to be a very long day, and as it was a Saturday and their busiest night, the night would be long too. However, she wouldn’t have it any other way. She loved her job. She’d been coming here to party ever since she could legally do so, and before then, to help her parents out in the daytime. Her parents would always put her to work. They had wanted to teach her good work ethic. At the time, she just saw it as just more chores. But now that she was running it, she looked back on those early days as a blessing. It had ignited her deep love for this place, and she never took what she now had for granted.
At about four o’clock, she slipped out and headed home to get some rest and freshen up for tonight. She didn’t always work on Saturdays nights. Or if she did, she was there for three or four hours when she needed to schmooze with a V.I.P. or whenever matters required her to be there. In this business, it was always about networking and she liked to attract the best guests to her club.
◆◆◆
It had been months since he’d had a good night out. Of late, he’d spent most of his time building his business. Sean Lancaster owned a string of boutique hotels all across England, Scotland and Wales. The free time he did have was spent attending and teaching classes at Jogo Arrepiado, the Capoeira school. He first joined the school as a teenager and had risen up the hierarchy to become an instructor. The blue belt he proudly wore around the waist of his trousers symbolised the level he had risen to.
After teaching another great class earlier, he’d received a call from some of his buddies demanding that he join them for a night on the town. All he had planned was a night in front of the laptop doing some research for locations for his next acquisition. The work he loved so much had kind of put his social life on the back burner. Even though he protested, his friends would not take no for an answer. So, he had gone home to change instead.
‘Mate, you’ve turned into a workaholic. We’re going to take you out and find someone of the female persuasion to help you to loosen up,’ his best friend Thomas had said down the phone.
So here he was now, at a club he’d never been to before called La Duquesa, with music blaring and a very lively crowd. As he cast his eyes around, he could see a sea of scantily clad, beautiful ladies who were revelling in the atmosphere of the club. It was a nice place. It had black walls, but with very tastily placed gold highlights. There were strategically placed black leather booths and a V.I.P. area which he could see roped off upstairs. That was their destination. His friend Thomas, Tom, was a member here and had been raving about the place for a while. After much convincing, Sean had finally relented and turned up.
Tonight, it was him, Tom and four other friends, Mikey, Antonio, Jonathan and Lars. The boys settled into their spot and Tom ordered drinks.
‘Two bottles of your best bubbly and keep it flowing!’ Tom shouted over the music to their assigned waitress. Tom was an eccentric who liked to party hard. He was the heir to a manufacturing fortune, but he never took any of that for granted. He’d spent more than enough time growing his family’s business himself.
Sean took a few sips from his drink when it arrived, continuing to survey his surroundings. The boys were engrossed in telling some kind of story, but his eyes were being drawn to a blonde who was eying him. What she was thinking was very plain to see on her face. The look was very suggestive of her interest in him, but she was not particularly to Sean’s taste.
As he continued to take the place in, and from his vantage point obliquely opposite the staircase, he spied a woman from behind walking up. There was something vaguely familiar about the sway of her hips which stirred something deep inside him. She was with another, shorter woman who was dressed semi-formally. They seemed to be surveying their surroundings. As they rounded the metal, industrial-style staircase, Sean had a flash of recognition.
Gabriela!
Ever since he’d met her, he’d spent a tremendous amount of time trying to push her out of his mind. The curve of her hips in form-fitting sportswear, the glow of her skin, her juicy lips and those knockout pair of light brown eyes which he had found extremely difficult to look away from. There was something strangely enticing about her that he hadn’t been able to get off his mind. He’d felt so pathetic offering her the Capoeira school’s business card, inviting her to come see a class. However, that pretext was all he could think of at that moment in order to try to see her again. He had no idea if she would take him up on his offer, but he felt a need to set his eyes on her once more.
Now, sitting here in this spot, watching as she made her way past the different private sections along the upper platform, greeting different guests as she walked past, Sean felt a familiar stirring below his belt.
As she walked past the section he was in, the shorter woman she was with was holding her attention, and her mane of black curls bounced around her shoulders. Sean’s eyes followed her as the black knee-length pencil dress hugged her body. He followed until she seemed to settle at the upstairs bar to the right of where he was sitting. The other woman had moved away and Gabriela was chatting briefly with the barman and other staff that walked by.
She seems to be very well known here. Maybe she parties here a lot, by the number of people she seems to engage in conversation.
Sean wondered if he should go over there and say ‘hi’. Well, it would be rude not to, he thought, as he drained the remnants of his Champaign glass. Putting his glass down on the table and shouting out an excuse to the guys, Sean started making his way over to where Gabriela was leaning seductively against the bar.
◆◆◆
After walking the club with her assistant manager Chloe, greeting some of her regulars and passing on some instructions to her staff, Gabriela lounged by the V.I.P. bar, surveying La Duquesa. The place was as busy as it usually was on a Saturday evening. The drinks were flowing and the dance floor was most definitely not abandoned.
Out of nowhere, she started feeling a tingling sensation along her arms, like her flesh knew something that her eyes hadn’t seen yet.
Strange… where did that come from?
Glancing over the rim of the glass of white wine spritzer she had in her hand, Gabriela spotted someone familiar walking over to her.
My God! Where did he come from?
It was Sean, the hot guy from the Sports Centre last night, the one that she had spied on, as he practiced that Brazilian martial art. Capoeira, was it? It was like he was walking in slow motion, step after graceful step. As he approached, she felt her breath catch and her throat went dry. She took a gulp of the drink and then put her glass down. The club’s multi-coloured spinning lights danced and cast a seductive hue across his handsome face. He stopped about a metre or so in front of her.
‘Well, if this isn’t a small world,’ Sean said.
‘It’s you.’
‘Last I checked.’ His little smile, as she said that, made her think that he was enjoying her shock.
‘How did you know that I was here?’ Gabriela felt that she had just asked a very stupid question, but at that moment, she couldn’t think of any sensible ones.
‘I didn’t.’ His smile deepened. ‘My best friend, Tom,’ he said as he pointed over to his section, ‘dragged me out tonight as he didn’t appreciate the night of work I already had planned.’
She glanced over to the section that he indicated, and then her eyes were once again drawn back to him. She recognised his friend. He was a member here and she always made a point of familiarizing herself in some way or the other with her members, especially the V.I.P.s.
She managed to smile back at him. ‘What a small world.’
‘Indeed. I was wondering if I’d ever see you again… and here you are.’
‘Here I am.’ It was all she could manage as her power of speech was being adversely affected by the tall, handsome man standing in front of her.
He came closer and then propped himself against the bar in the same manner that she had, but only inches away from her. She was sure that he noticed the rapid rise and fall of her chest. From where they stood, they had a full view of the entire club.
‘You must come here a lot. I saw you walk past. You seemed to know a lot of the guests here and staff too.’
She giggled and looked over at him. She could see the confusion that passed across his face. ‘You could say that.’
‘What…’
‘I do spend a lot of time here. Sometimes it feels like every day.’
‘Management must love a regular customer like you.’
‘I’d like to think so.’ She turned and faced him then. ‘La Duquesa is mine, Sean. I’m management. The owner, actually.’
He faced her now. He seemed genuinely impressed, and for some reason which she could not fathom, Gabriela got pleasure from this. His smile deepened and she could see luscious dimples form on both of his cheeks.
‘Really? It’s a nice place,’ he said, casting an eye around the club again. ‘And I’m not just saying that,’ he added at her raised eyebrow. ‘There’s a nice vibe here, it’s not overcrowded and the DJ is spinning some great tunes. What more could anyone ask for? I like it here.’
‘Thanks. I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself. Making sure that my guests are happy is my top priority.’
Was that as flirtatious as she thought it sounded?
Gabriela wasn’t sure, but she could feel her cheeks burning up.
He smiled slyly. ‘Is that a fact?’
She could see the wheels turning in his head.
‘Yes.’
He stepped even closer to where she was. He towered over her. His frame would be intimidating, if his face wasn’t so warm.
‘Dance with me.’
‘W… what?’
How is it possible to stumble over the pronunciation of a simple word like that?
‘I said, “Dance with me”. I would like you to dance with me.’ He stared her down, daring her to say ‘no’.
‘I… can’t. I’m working.’
‘I’m sure the boss won’t mind if you take a break.’ His smile was full of feigned coyness.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his quip. She was sorely tempted to be enfolded in those strong arms and lose herself, but she didn’t dare.
‘One dance…’ His eyes bore into her as he extended a hand to her.
Almost of their volition, her hand started moving up meekly to take his. His palm was cool and sent shivers up Gabriela’s arm. He held her hand firmly and started leading her towards the staircase. When they walked past his friends, who were still indulging, she could see their mouths open and looking very impressed with Sean.
Her hand still in his, they descended the stairs and made their way over to the dance floor. There was a hip-hop song playing which she liked, so it was easy to get into the groove. She started slowly swaying to the music. She rotated her hips, waist and shoulders as the up-tempo rhythm required. She loved to dance. That was the easy part. It was just that the hungry look in Sean’s eyes as she gyrated was doing a lot of things to her pulse that had nothing to do with the music’s bass line.
◆◆◆
God, but she was magnificent!
The easy sway of her hips, the inviting curve of her breasts, her closed eyes and the pleased look on her face were making Sean hungry, and not for food. He hadn’t been to a club in a little while, but he liked to dance, so keeping up with her rhythmically was not the issue. It was the way her body brushed his as they moved together that was speeding up his pulse rate.
And that’s how they continued for about ten minutes. Neither of them seemed to care about the original ‘one dance’ request. Then, the music changed. Gone was the pumping hip-hop and now it was a much slower-paced soul song by Toni Braxton, Breath Again. It meant that he had to take her in his arms. Only fabric separated them. He lifted her arms and placed them around his neck. Then, he wound his own arms around her slender waist. He loved how her body felt against his. They moved to the rhythm, song after song, eyes locked together, hearts pumping.
Then the music changed once again. This time, to salsa. Celia Cruz’s, La Vida Es Un Carnaval, sent electricity through the entire dance floor and also, it seemed, through Gabriela’s spine. She moved like a woman possessed. Her head twisted and turned. Her hips were perfectly in sync with Celia. Salsa was one of his favourite styles of dance, so he spun and dipped her to his heart’s content.
Marc Anthony’s, Vivir Mi Vida, came on next, and Sean could see the uninhibited pleasure this gave her. A huge smile plastered itself across her face. Her hands were on her hips, rolling them to the rhythm. He liked watching her dance and enjoy herself, and even more so that she’d chosen to dance with him.
