She nodded in agreement. “It’s always like this.”
They stood on the edge of the crowd, watching everyone shake and shimmy.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
As much as Shawna wanted to, she hesitated. How much rhythm did he have? “Why don’t we stand back and watch for a minute?”
He nodded. “That’s probably best. I’m not much of a dancer.” After a few minutes, he dipped his head to her ear again. “If you want to dance, go ahead. I’ll stand here and watch.”
“You came here to watch?”
He placed a hand at her lower back, and the touch sent sparks dancing along the base of her spine. “I like to watch.” His steady gaze held hers, leaving no doubt as to what he’d implied by the words. He straightened, his attention drawn back to the dancers.
Shawna rubbed the goose bumps from her arms.
“I’m going to get something to drink. You want anything?” he asked. She shook her head. “Be right back.”
She watched him disappear to the other end of the room in the direction of a small bar.
“Hey, you want to dance?” A black guy with dreads stood beside her.
She looked over at Ryan, now engrossed in conversation with the bartender. He had given her permission to dance.
“Sure,” she said with a shrug.
She and Dreadlocks squeezed between the bodies and started dancing, but after several songs, Shawna broke away from him when he got too handsy.
She looked around for Ryan. As the only white male in a sea of black faces, he shouldn’t be hard to find, but she didn’t see him anywhere.
Outside she asked a couple of people if they’d seen him. No one had. She climbed the steps up to the street and looked around but didn’t see any sign of him. She wondered if she’d offended him by dancing with another guy. But she couldn’t have, because he’d given her permission to. Hadn’t he?
She went back inside to search for him, and that’s when she saw him.
Shawna couldn’t believe her eyes. Her mouth fell open. Ryan was dancing, shaking his hips and bouncing his shoulders to LL Cool J’s “Jingling Baby.” His dance partner practically did a strip tease in front of him, tossing her long tresses and working her voluptuous body in a series of provocative gyrations.
The next thing Shawna knew, another woman danced up behind him and created a Ryan sandwich. He handled them both by switching back and forth, turning every so often to give each woman his attention, and even incorporated spanking motions with his hands.
Someone nudged her in the arm. “You better go get your man.” The warning was issued, and then the woman walked away.
As the song flowed into another, Shawna made her way over to Ryan.
“Hey.” He smiled but kept on dancing.
“I couldn’t find you. Where were you?” She yelled to be heard over the music.
“In the bathroom for a sec.”
“I’m ready to dance now.” She gave the women dirty looks.
Ryan stopped and smiled apologetically to both of them. When they walked away, Shawna narrowed her eyes at him.
“You played me.”
He flashed his teeth. “No. You played yourself.”
Chubb Rock’s “Treat ’Em Right” started his shoulders bouncing and feet moving again, and Shawna shook her head and started moving, too. She would have to watch him.
****
The night air wafted across Shawna’s face and cooled her heated body. “I had so much fun!”
The venue had shut down and the partiers disbursed, heading for their cars. Her feet hurt after being in heels all day and spending the last few hours dancing, but she didn’t regret it.
“Should I be offended that you sound so surprised?” Ryan had removed his tie and stuck it into the right pocket of his pants. He looked more relaxed with one button undone at the top of his shirt.
“No. What do you mean?”
“Didn’t think the white guy could dance, huh?”