"I don't know about this. I make a fool of myself every time I dance, so I just don't," he admitted.
"You're dancing right now," Kris pointed out.
He laughed to cover his embarrassment. "Yeah. It's your fault."
He was rewarded by a sweet smile.
"You're not doing too badly," she consoled him.
He snorted. "You don't need to spare my feelings."
"Look around you," she encouraged. "See how much fun everyone else is having? You don't have to be a good dancer to enjoy dancing. You just need to be less self-conscious."
"There is still no way in the world I'm going to dance solo with everyone staring at me."
"That's why you have to help me win this bet, you see? Come on, it'll be fun!"
"You sure know how to motivate your students, don't you?" he grumbled.
"So we have a deal?" she asked in an almost-squeal.
Oh, hell. How could he say no to that excited face? Plus, the idea of spending more time with Kris appealed to him—even if they weren't going to sleep together. "Okay, we have a deal," he said a tad cautiously.
"Yay!"
"I do have one big condition, if I'm going to participate in this very scary bet," he said.
"What's that?"
"Don't tell anyone you're teaching me how to dance. My friends would undoubtedly want to watch me trip over my own feet, and that would be mortifying."
"Okay. But how are we going to keep this from them?"
They were both silent as they thought of a good enough excuse. Suddenly, Kris said, "I know. We can tell them you're taking me to all these different clubs so I can find a decent man to have a short fling with. My cousin Sam wouldn't want to tag along if that's the reason we give her."
He laughed. "Okay, for some reason, I can actually see them believing that. Little would they know you're trying to convert one of my left feet to a right one."
"Now that I think about it, it would be great if you could take me to places where I could have my choice of hunks to play with. Maybe after our lessons we could go out and do that?"
What? He stared at her in disbelief.
"I'm not kidding, Trey. I still intend to fulfil this little fantasy of mine. Take me to your favourite pick-up places. Pretty please?"
"Sure," he replied, feeling bothered. He found himself hoping that Kris was simply way too tipsy to mean what she'd just said.
***