He introduced Sasha to the couple, both of whom appeared to be in their sixties, as Larry and Marie Hartman. "Larry and Marie are major shareholders in MBI," he explained to her.
Larry's eyes lit up with interest as he shook Sasha's hand, holding it a bit too tight for her liking. "A pleasure to make you acquaintance, Sasha. Fonseca - that's an Italian name, I believe."
Sasha shook her head, tactfully withdrawing her hand at the same time. "Portuguese, actually. My father is from Brazil."
Marie, who was wearing a tight-fitting, low-cut gown better suited to a woman two to three decades younger than herself, gave Sasha a somewhat disdainful inspection. "What is it that you do, dear? For a living, that is."
Sasha, who had grown used to dealing with well-heeled, and quite often uppity students at the studio over the years, merely smiled at Marie with well-rehearsed patience. "I teach yoga classes, Mrs. Hartman. And I'm also a massage therapist. Both jobs that I love dearly."
At the look of wide-eyed shock on Marie's face, Matthew was quick to join the conversation before the woman could say something offensive. "And Sasha used to be a competitive ballroom dancer, Marie," he blurted out, not bothering to add that the last time she'd competed had been as a young teenager. "Do you watch the show Beyond Ballroom?" At Marie's nod, he added, "Well, Sasha's mother is one of the professional dancers on the show – Katya Veselov."
The haughty look of disapproval on Marie's tightly stretched face - the result of a not particularly effective facelift - quickly morphed into a smile of delight. "My goodness, she's my absolute favorite!" she gushed. "I just love how feisty she is, how she always seems to find a way to whip her partners into shape. And especially how she shows up those young dancers on the show every week. She's a real dancer, you can tell."
For the next few minutes, Marie chatted amicably with Sasha about the TV show, Katya, and Sasha's own dancing, while Larry preferred to talk Matthew's ear off about some new tech company he was thinking of investing in. Fortunately, Matthew was able to diplomatically cut Larry off sooner than later, and smilingly whisked Sasha away.
"Sorry about that," he muttered as he ushered her towards their table.
"For what?" she asked calmly. "The fact that Marie was visibly horrified at my choice of profession? Or the way you sort of stretched the truth about exactly when I stopped competing in dance?"
Matthew's cheeks flushed, making him look endearingly guilty. "Uh, both, I suppose. As you probably figured out by now, the Hartmans are sort of on the snobby side, especially Marie. And she always hated Lindsey, especially because my ex used to flirt pretty outrageously with old Larry - who did nothing to discourage it from happening. Marie probably took one look at you, figured you were a hell of a lot younger and prettier than Lindsey, and just assumed you'd put the moves on Larry, too."
Sasha wrinkled her nose in distaste. "No, thank you. I'm not the least bit attracted to men who are older than my own father. Or who reek of offensive cologne. Not to mention the fact that I'm perfectly happy with the man I'm here with this evening. I don't need to stroke my ego by flirting with other men in order to prove they find me attractive, and especially not when I have the handsomest man in the room right next to me."
He gave her one of those wide, goofy grins that always made her toes curl up a little and cause a warm feeling to spread through her midsection. "Really? Not one of the handsomest, but the handsomest?"
With the added height from her stilettos, she didn't have to reach up on tiptoes as she normally did in order to press a kiss to his cheek. "I never say anything I don't mean, Matthew," she reminded him, then looped her arm through his and steered him over to where the Gregsons were standing.
The call to dinner was made a few minutes later, and Sasha was grateful that Tessa had made the arrangements for the two couples to sit together. The other four people at their table were two of Ian's management team and their spouses, and she guessed that Tessa had hand selected them to make sure Sasha would feel at ease in their presence.
And it turned out to be a very pleasant dinner, far more so than Sasha had expected, and she was surprised to find that she was actually enjoying herself. Though she had never attended college, she was extremely well read and made sure to read at least one newspaper every day to keep up on current events. It was easy for her, therefore, to join in the conversation at the table, and every so often Matthew would catch her eye and beam his approval at her.