Stripped Down by Marie Lark

Author:Marie Lark [Lark, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-30T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

With the dance party portion of the evening well underway, Saro opted to nurse her drink and sit with Arthur’s boss and boyfriend, Jon Park.

“Are you seriously telling me none of this music makes you want to dance?” he asked. “Becca and Jamie fight for hours over these things. There’s gotta be something.”

Taking a sip of her vodka tonic, Saro shrugged. “I’m not really into music.” She watched Jon leaf through his appointment book, a pleased smile curling the one side of his mouth. At her words he looked up, dark eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“No—with what you do? Jesus, I’d go crazy if I couldn’t play the music I wanted.”

Saro shook her head. “You sound like Red. She has music for every emotion, every occasion, every person in her life. She wouldn’t dance if she couldn’t pick her music. Me, I’ll take my top off to Christmas carols if you pay me—which people do every December.”

Jon nodded, giving her a careful look—the searching kind rather than the ogling kind. “What is it?” she finally snapped.

“Nothing, just—you and Arthur are nothing alike, except for how you totally are. It’s been years since you’ve seen each other and you only lived together for maybe two or three before that?”

Saro nodded, shoulders stiffening.

“You must have, like, really imprinted on each other. Like baby ducks. When I met Arthur last year, he was still messed up about you—the big sister he’d abandoned.”

She looked away, found Arthur flinging himself around on the dance floor to a hip-hop song she’d didn’t really know. Red was with him, her hair whipping around in a bright banner, along with Val and Cyndi—all three women acting as if they’d been friends for years. “He didn’t abandon me. I told him to run and he went. I ran the other way. End of story.”

“Well, however it happened, he still feels guilty for losing touch with you. You helped make him who he is. From what he told me, he survived on his own with no family and no home because of what you taught him. You should go dance with him and that really pretty girl of yours and not worry about whether it’s going to make you any money.”

“Please, like you’ve stopped worrying about money for ten seconds since you opened your shop. Why aren’t you out there with him? He’s obviously over the fucking moon for you.”

Jon shrugged. “I’m a terrible dancer and I’m not drunk enough to not care. You on the other hand…”

“You know, just because I’ve got moves doesn’t mean I have to use them,” she said, irritation rising instinctively.

He put his hands up in surrender at that. “You are absolutely right, but you should because it’s fun. And Rachel keeps looking over at you.”

As if the DJ gods were listening in on their conversation, a song that Saro knew finally started—one from childhood slumber parties and playground dance-offs. Jon must have seen the recognition in her face because he grinned, smile lines creasing his face to make him even more handsome.

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