Dance of Seduction by Elle Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page B

voice came out in a hurried rush.
    “Ellie, I’m afraid I’m a little busy right now. The pool guy’s here, trying to fix the filter. We think something’s jamming it.”
    She paused. “The pool guy? How old is he?”
    “I don’t know. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight. Why?”
    She took a breath. “Do you think he’ll go out with me tonight?”
    There was silence on the other end. Ellie could picture Vivian’s perplexed expression, and if she weren’t so desperate right now she might have laughed out loud. Trying to arrange a date with Viv’s pool boy was probably the most absurd thing she’d ever done.
    “Okay, what’s going on?” Vivian finally asked. “What did you—”
    Before Vivian could finish, the entire story spilled out of Ellie’s mouth, starting with her swim with Luke and ending with the childish lie she’d told him.
    “All right, honey.” Vivian gave an audible sigh. “Let me talk to Miguel. Hold on.”
    Holding the phone to her ear, Ellie paced the room.
    “Okay, I have good news and bad news. Pick your order,” Vivian said a few moments later.
    “Good news first.”
    “Miguel agreed to take you out tonight.”
    Relief flooded her chest. “And the bad news?”
    “He’s gay.”
    Hysterical laughter bubbled in her throat but she swallowed it back. Great, the only available bachelor she had, and he didn’t like women. How would this ever work?
    “But,” Vivian added quickly, “he’s very good at pretending he’s straight. He should be a convincing date.”
    “Knowing Luke, he’ll be at the next table, watching over us like a hawk. Miguel had better be convincing.” Oh, God, she was in way over her head.
    “Is this a bad time to reaffirm my notion that you’re playing with fire?”
    Ellie groaned. “Is there ever a good time to make me feel like an idiot?”
     
    Vivian was laughing when she hung up the phone. If she had to pick one thing she loved about having Ellie living here in town—and there were many—it was that she made life exciting again. Not that Vivian was a believer of any of those silly sayings— Life ends when you hit forty being one, and her favorite, Have a kid and kiss your life goodbye .
    A load of bull, of course. Some of her best memories were from recent years, and she certainly didn’t regret having Tanya. Her daughter was the most important person in her life and always would be. Yet, since Tanya had moved off on her own, Vivian was having trouble adjusting. She’d been a mother for so long, now that her baby didn’t need her anymore she didn’t know what to do with herself. She’d worked as a medical receptionist in San Francisco, not because she had an all-consuming love for the job, but to put food on the table and pay for Tanya’s college tuition. With Tanya out of the house and on her own, Vivian had quit the job and decided to really think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
    Moving to San Valdez hadn’t even occurred to her until she ran into an old friend who happened to be the owner of the Dancehall. The man was eager to sell the club and the need to do something new prompted her to buy it from him. The move had also allowed her to get away from the newest complication in her life. Maybe it was taking the coward’s way out, but hell, she deserved at least one act of cowardice in her life. She could’ve copped out years ago, when her parents had urged her to have an abortion once they found out she was pregnant. Instead, she’d ignored their advice, became a twenty-year-old single mother and worked her ass off to make ends meet. She hadn’t taken the coward route then, but she sure as hell was entitled now.
    “All fixed.” Miguel’s cheerful voice broke through her thoughts and brought on another chuckle.
    Ellie would have a blast with him. Miguel had been working as her pool boy for two years and something about his slightly feminine Spanish accent and mischievous brown eyes sparked a deep fondness in Vivian.