Preston stopped abruptly and waited to hear what was going on. She could hear voices passing by the door, but she couldn’t make out the sounds. More came and went, and Trihn wondered if the dancers were leaving the building. If they got stuck here, she had no idea what they were going to do.

“Maybe we should go,” she hissed.

He gave her a disbelieving look. “Hell no.”

“There are people out there!”

“They can wait,” he said.

He started moving, and her body fired up all over again.

“Preston…” she pleaded, unsure of whether she was asking him to stop or start.

Her body was enjoying everything he was doing to her.

“They can wait, Trihn,” he repeated quietly. “I have every intention of finishing you first.”

And why would I keep him from that? She prayed no one would hear and that she could keep quiet, but he sure as hell was making that difficult.

The voices outside the room became louder and more frequent as his thrusts picked up pace. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and closed her eyes. Her body was humming. She could barely breathe. She could feel sweat beading on her brow. She couldn’t hold back any longer.

She tightened around him, and then everything released all at once. Her body shook uncontrollably. It felt like a hurricane was ripping through her. And it was pure bliss.

He jerked inside her. His whole body was a knot of tension, and then a euphoric smile touched his lips as he finished. “You’re…amazing,” he drawled slowly.

He pulled back and let her legs drop to the ground. They were shaking from the energy it had taken to hold herself up. She was glad his muscular arms had carried much of her weight. As he righted himself, she pulled her dress on, leaned back against the door, and sighed heavily.

They waited until the voices outside the door disappeared before peeking around the corner and exiting as discreetly as possible. She tightly held his hand and avoided eye contact with anyone they passed. She was sure she looked mussed and freshly sexed. And she didn’t care one bit.

They took a taxi back to his apartment. Before he had even gotten his front door closed, he was peeling her dress off again. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him, and he couldn’t seem to get enough of her. They fell into bed together.

It wasn’t until several hours later that she finally laid her head against his bare chest and felt her body succumb to sleep. It was the first night she had ever stayed at a guy’s place, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

“ARE YOU GOING INTO THE CITY AGAIN?” Trihn’s mother, Linh, asked.

“Yep,” Trihn said.

She grabbed a vegetarian roll off the tray her mother was preparing them on and stuffed it into her mouth. “Thanks,” she said through a mouthful of food.

“Trihnity,” she said, shaking her head, “don’t you think you’ve been spending a lot of time in Manhattan?”

Trihn’s phone dinged in the pocket of her ripped black skinny jeans, and she pulled it out. She ignored her mother’s question. She was concerned. Trihn got it. She had heard it enough lately. Her mother had never cared that much before about her going into the city.

About ready to leave to go see Preston, she checked her new text message.

Got called into work. Hate having to cancel.

Damn.

No problem. Let me know if you can get away. xoxo

Will do.

“Trihn! Did you hear anything I just said?” Linh asked.

Her head popped up. “Was I supposed to be listening?”

“Your father will be back home tonight. Why don’t you stay in and hang out with us before you leave for good?” she asked.

Trihn moved over to her mom and kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, but I promised I’d help Renée with Intensive,” she ad-libbed. She hadn’t planned to do that, but she didn’t particularly want to stay in, wait, and wonder about Preston.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think a boy was involved.”

“Nope, no boy.”

Her mother gave her a long level look.

Trihn sighed heavily. “Ly told you, didn’t she?”

“She loves you,” Linh said in response.

Trihn snorted. Lydia liked to be the center of attention, and she and Mom had this older-sibling bond where they always ended up telling each other everything.

“So, who is he?” Linh asked, returning to making her lunch.

“Mom! I can’t do this right now.”

“I’m just asking,” she said sympathetically. “You never date.”

“I’m leaving now.”

Trihn grabbed her dance bag out of the front closet and slipped into her favorite pair of combat boots. Linh followed her to the door.

“I’m not trying to badger you, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to hide something like this from me. Lydia doesn’t.”

“I’m not Lydia, Mom.”

“I never said you were.” Linh held up her hands defensively. “But if you want to bring your young man over for dinner, I wouldn’t object either.”

Trihn rolled her eyes and opened the door. “He’s not my young man. He’s just a guy I’ve been seeing, and it’s not a big deal, so please stop acting like it is. I have to go or else I’m going to be late.”

She slung her bag over her shoulder and exited the house with her mother reminding her that she loved her. She trudged down the street and took her normal entrance to the subway, swiping her well-used pass, and slinking into her seat on the way into the city.

Her mother meant well, but Trihn wasn’t about to scare Preston by bringing him home to meet the ’rents after only a couple of weeks. Only Lydia would be crazy enough to do something like that with her flavor-of-the-week boyfriend.

Trihn reached the studio right as the lunch hour ended for the Intensive students. She strolled upstairs with her hair still down in her most comfortable destroyed look, and she dropped the dance bag at Renée’s feet.

“Hey, Teach,” she joked.

Renée raised her eyebrows. “Who let this trash into my studio?”

Trihn laughed. “Miss me?”

“I knew you couldn’t resist coming in,” she quipped. “Now, go get in some real fucking clothes, and get to a barre.”

For the most part, Trihn did as instructed. After changing, she spent the rest of the class helping Renée wrangle a group of teenagers before going through the barre exercises and spending a few hours working on the difficult choreography Renée had put together. It was exhausting and therapeutic. It had only been a few weeks since she stopped dancing, and already, her body had forgotten how rigorous it was. She had missed the constant ache of pushing her muscles to their limits.

When classes ended for the day, Renée sent them off to get dinner on their own before they headed back to the nearby dorms for the night. After a quick shower, Trihn and Renée went in search of dinner themselves.

“I’m glad you could drop by,” Renée said once they were seated at a nearby diner. “I haven’t seen you much, and I missed having you in class during the week.”

“Me, too,” Trihn said, realizing how true it was. Dance had been so central to her existence for so long. It was hard to think about what her life would be like without it.

“What have you been doing with all your time? Hanging out with Lydia? How does she like photographing for a magazine?” Renée asked. “I’d think her hippie sensibilities would take over and make her feel like a sellout.”

Trihn laughed. “I think she’s enjoying it actually. Even as some bullshit assistant to a second shooter, she’s happy to be taking pictures for a real job. Plus, she’s a materialistic hippie, so the money suits her,” she told her friend. “And I haven’t been spending that much time with her. Mostly, I’ve been with Preston.”