Losing to Win (10 page)

“Good idea.” I nodded and started trying to fit the pieces back together.

Suzette yanked the sticks away and broke them again. “I'd rather lose than have you save the damn day.”

Everyone's mouth fell open and we stared at her in disbelief.

“And there it is.” Niecy shook her head and fell back onto the grass. “The entire reason we'll be scrubbing pots and taking out trash: Suzette would rather sink the boat than have Carissa be the captain. Jesus.”

The production truck pulled up and Jim climbed out. “So it's settled?”

“I'm afraid so.” I used his words from earlier.

“No one completed the hunt?” he asked.

XJ put his hands on his hips. “Man, listen. We hot, we mad, we funky. The girls forfeited. Can we be out?”

Jim flashed his smile. “Perhaps the ladies would accept a blind challenge to make up for the loss?”

“Perhaps I'd rather slit my wrist and swim with sharks,” Suzette said.

“So that's a no.” Jim smothered a laugh.

“A no,” Niecy agreed.

“That's it for today, then. Good job, guys. Ladies, we'll see each of you separately in the confessional.”

Ren waited a few moments and then called out, “That's a wrap for this location.”

We nodded and headed for the van to take us back to campus. Mal sidled up beside me. “I may be in possession of a Snickers bar. What will you give me for it?”

I may or may not have whimpered. “Fun size? Regular? Whatcha working with?”

“You know I only deal in king size.” He smirked.

My mouth watered. Not for his innuendo but for that chocolate wrapped around nougat; that caramelly, peanutty goodness. “What do you want for it?”

His eyes darkened. “I can think of so many ways to answer that, girlie.”

I shook my head. “I look beat from tip to toe and must smell like all of the bayou and you're thinking nasty thoughts?”

“Around you? Always.”

“Boy, I'm not about to do you for a Snickers bar.”

“What will you do me for?”

“Are you that desperate to be done?”

“Like I said: With you? Always.”

“How about I let you take the first shower tonight and we call it even?” I offered.

He considered for a minute. “Care to join me?”

“Boy, give up.” I chuckled.

“Not likely. But I'm easy—I'll take the first shower and you can have the Snickers. Will you save a piece?” He climbed onto the bus and we settled into the back row.

I slid him a sideways glance. “Will you save me some hot water?”

“Deal.”

“I don't know, Mal. I might've got the better end of the deal on this one.”

“Which one of us is on kitchen duty for a week?”

My face fell. “Oh yeah. And I ache all over. I could use a hot shower.”

“I could give you a little massage later, work out some of the kinks?”

I smacked him on the shoulder, though the offer was hella tempting. “I'll just enjoy the Snickers and worry about my own kinks, thank you.”

He whispered in my ear. “Sounds nasty.”

“Everything sounds nasty to you.”

“You used to love that about me.”

“Hmph.” Yep. That was my witty comeback. I was spared having to say anything more intelligent as we pulled up in front of the dorm.

 

 

I
had to admit that the
Losing to Win
folks did not miss a beat. No pun intended. They decided to make tonight's challenge a Zumba dance-off. The three teams would be challenged to first watch, then mimic dance steps inspired from the popular dance workout craze, Zumba. Each combination would be more complicated than the last. The couple that showed the most accuracy and style and learned the most steps won the challenge.

In a savvy twist, the production team had opened up the event to the whole town and surrounding communities. The ballroom on the ground floor of City Hall hosted Town Hall meetings, the Christmas pageant, and the Veterans Day dance. This year, it was hosting the Belieux County Brazilian Dance-off sponsored by
Losing to Win
.

A few hundred people had ventured out on this steamy Monday night, dressed in their versions of club gear, and getting their samba, cumbia, and salsa on. Sad to say I witnessed my parents doing some sort of dance that could have stayed forbidden for my well-being.

“Boy, you don't know nuttin' 'bout dat!” my dad cackled, and swiveled his hips in a way I won't soon burn from my memory.

“I'm so sorry I saw that.” Carissa's voice floated over my shoulder and I turned around.

“Ni-ice!” I hissed as my eyes took in her flirty purple wrap dress with a ruffle that stopped above the knees and ridiculously sexy high-heeled sandals. “You are looking right, Carissa Wayne.”

She checked me out in my black dress shirt tucked into black pants. “I'm just trying to keep up appearances, Bayou.”

“Well, you're doing a hell of a job there, Teach.”

Meshach walked past. “Did you see our parents out on the floor?”

“Man, I can't
un-
see it.”

Carissa snickered. “Reverend Young had an inappropriate grip on my mother's hips two songs ago. I had to walk away.”

Jordy, Suzette, Niecy, and XJ had come over. “When does this thing start for us?” Niecy asked.

“In about fifteen minutes,” Bliss called out as she headed toward the stage.

“Well, that's enough time for me to steal a dance,” Meshach announced and pulled Niecy out on the floor with a haste I found interesting.

I reached for Carissa, but Jordan was already drawing her along with his hand around her waist. I narrowed my eyes as he looked over his shoulder and caught me watching. It was going to be like that, huh? Okay. Game on.

“Suzette, do you want to take a quick spin?” XJ asked.

“Not really.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked off.

“Dude,” I said to XJ.

“Right? Suzette is some maintenance and a brother is tired. I called her husband every day this week to come spend some time with her. Got me hemmed up in that tiny-assed suite night after night with old girl. Sheesh.”

“She wasn't always this bitter. I mean, she was shallow, she just wasn't mad at the world.”

“Well, she's sure as shit mad now. You get the feeling she's out of her element and would be happier someplace else. She can be bearable when Carissa's not around.”

“Yeah, they've always been oil and water and Suzette wanted to be a big fish in a big pond. Belle Haven is a small pond without space for...” I stopped talking as Jordy pulled Carissa in close and slid his hand down her waist to her hip.

“Uh, Mal, I don't need to stand here and make sure you don't rip somebody's head off, do I?” XJ said in a half-nervous, half-serious tone.

I patted him on the shoulder and kept one eye on Carissa and Jordy dancing. “Xavier, I'm a receiver. Don't you know we don't like contact?”

“Ha! I've seen you almost full-body slam a cornerback that got in your way. You don't fool me.”

I smiled at him. “No worries, I won't be delivering any hits tonight.” I watched as Jordy dipped Carissa over his arm and spent way too long admiring her cleavage as he pulled her back up.

“How did you ever let that go, man?” XJ asked in an awed voice as Carissa danced some sort of fancy kick-step ending in a spin with her arms over her head.

God, she looked amazing. The slow burn of desire and possession started spreading in my gut as I shook my head slowly. “It's a long, sad story.”

“I mean, but . . .” He paused as if not sure how much to say. “You gotta get that back, right?”

I really did.

“Yeah, he does.” Renard and Ruby had been standing behind me watching me watch Jordy and Carissa as well.

“Only if he knows what he wants this time.” Ruby sucked her teeth. “Ain't nobody got time to be put through your changes, Malachi Henry.”

“Yes, ma'am,” I answered.

“Why didn't you come get her?” Renard asked. “Before this?”

“First I was mad. Then I was proud. Then I was hurt. Then I'd waited too long.”

“And now, Malachi? What do you want with my sister now?” Ruby asked with a hand on her hip.

“I'm trying to figure that out exactly. But I know I want her.”

“You always have. And then what?” Ruby probed.

“Ruby, let the man have some breathing room. I'm sure he wouldn't start anything if he couldn't do right by Carissa this time. Now, would you?” Renard pinned me with a glare.

“No, I wouldn't do that. Not this time.” I swore.

Ruby said, “Hmm. Good luck convincing her of that.”

I nodded.

“Ladies and gentleman, if we could have the
Losing to Win
contestants come to the stage?”

“We're up,” XJ said with a sigh, looking around for Suzette.

I headed for Carissa and held out my hand. “You ready to do this?”

She slid her hand into mine. “I'm ready to win this.”

We grinned at each other. No need to be modest; we had an unfair advantage. We'd been dancing together for years. I was a natural athlete and Carissa could always cut a step. Our only real competition was Jordy and Niecy. And while they might hold their own, they were no match for us in this challenge.

We climbed onto the stage. Jim came out from wherever he'd been hiding and waved at the crowd. “Hello, Belieux County, Louisiana!”

The audience applauded politely.

“Y'all ready to see these folks get their groove on?”

Carissa whispered, “Should we tell him to never say ‘y'all' or ‘get their groove on' again? Like ever? He's not Southern and he's not hip. Bless his heart, though.”

I cleared my throat to hide the laughter bubbling up. “After the points are tallied, you can tell him whatever you'd like.”

“Good point.”

Jim went through the instructions and rules and then introduced the dance instructors who would be leading and judging us. Within moments, we were learning a cumbia hip swivel followed with some Bollywood arm movements and ending with a reggaeton “stop and drop it like it's hot” move. We walked through it once.

I shot Carissa a smile. “You got this?”

She raised a brow. “You want the extra style points?”

“Bring it.”

Not even twenty minutes later, I was regretting challenging her. Her last move resulted in her ass brushing my pelvis as she dropped down and came back up. Lord have mercy, I thanked the roominess of these pants. I could not stand in front of all these folks sporting wood; at least the pleats camouflaged my condition somewhat.

When the instructor said we were going to slow it down a bit, I actually broke out in a sweat.

“Let's put a little tango in here, shall we?” the instructor enthused and it was all I could do not to groan. They demonstrated twice, once slowly and once to tempo. As we stepped together stepped in the first set of the next routine, Carissa looked up at me through her lashes. The mischievous sparkle let me know she knew what she was doing all along. “You're killing me right now, you know that, right?”

“I had an idea,” she said with a total body shimmy against me.

“You've turned into a tease.”

“Me?” she asked with false innocence.

“You know I want you and you're playing me. Is it payback?”

“Mal, come on. This is just a little seductive suspense. It's not like I, say . . . promised to marry you, strung you along for years, and forced you out of my life with nothing but a Benz for a parting gift. Now, is it?'

I stopped dead still for a second as her words hit their mark. “Ouch.”

“See?” she said with a dazzling smile as she danced in a circle around me. “Now that's payback.”

I glanced around and started moving again, my mind no longer in the dance or in the foreplay. “I thought we were getting past it?”

“I'm working on it.”

Improvising on the steps we'd just seen, I wrapped my arm around her waist and dragged her close. “Well, I want another shot.” I whipped her away from me in a spin and pulled her back in close.

Our breath was labored from more than the efforts of the footwork. “Another shot at what? Me?” She turned away and turned back quickly before we pranced sideways together with hands clasped.

I put my hands on her shoulders as she slid down my leg and gritted my teeth as her hands got a little familiar on the way back up. “Oh yeah.”

“What are we talking here? Sex?”

“To start. I think I'm finally ready for you,” I whispered as we pressed our cheeks together for the last phase of the dance.

“Well, that's something,” she said breathlessly as the dance finished.

“What?”

“Now
I'm
not ready.”

“I'm right here when you are.”

“Really,” she drawled. “You, Malachi Knight, are going to wait for me?”

“It's my turn, don't you think?”

Her eyes went wide and she had nothing to say.

“Carissa and Mal, come over here and tell us where you learned to dance like that!”Jim crowed.

We both blinked as we realized where we were and what we were supposed to be doing. I put my hand in the small of her back and gestured. “After you.”

She flicked an uncertain glance my way before affixing her “television” smile and walking toward Jim.

I had my work cut out for me here. But I was definitely up to the challenge.