Thank you to all of you beautiful people out there reading this...I don't own anyone, but I'm saving up for Nick Kosovich and RDA!
Sam and Jack tried to skirt around the Rhumba, only going through it a few times a day. He still hadn't told her about the regs being done away with and wondered when would be an appropriate time.
They came for their next lesson and the Kosovichs were pleased with their progress, but could sense the unease that lingered about doing the Rhumba.
"Time for pep talks!" Nick announced cheerfully, dragging Jack away.
He sat Jack down on the sofa and looked at him seriously.
"What's going on with the Rhumba?" he asked.
Jack heaved a sigh.
"She's my 2IC..."
Nick nodded understandingly.
"So you've got lovely regulations and such."
"We sorta don't anymore..." he muttered.
"What was that!" Nick asked, getting a litte excited. Maybe there WOULD be a proposal before too long!
"Nothing!"
Nick gave him a look.
"Tell me, Jonathan or else I'll repeat what I think I heard to Sam, and she'll get it out of you! I've learned from living with Lena that women can drag anything our of you they want to!"
"I heard my name taken in vain, Nicholas!" Lean called from the opposite side of the studio.
He chuckled.
"On a more serious note, if there are no regs for you to deal with, then simply don't think of this as I'm dancing with someone under my command. Would I be off-base to say that you love her?"
"No." Jack replied softly.
"The Rhumba is a dance that tells the story of the sensuality between a man and a woman. You need to really draw from the emotion that you're holding back in here." Nick said, reaching out and tapping Jack's chest right above his heart.
"You of all people know that things show up when you dance, such as nervousness and uncomfortability."
Jack nodded.
"Technical difficulity is only one part of it...you have to have the emotional side there as well. I know you can do it, Jonathan."
"You're right, Nick...thanks."
The dancer smiled at him.
"Believe it or not, I had a very similar talk with my dance teacher when I was starting to realize that I liked Lena."
Sam sat down and Lena seated herself right across from her.
"I can tell you're nervous and tense about the Rhumba. What's going on?" Lena asked sympathetically.
"He's my commanding officer!" Sam cried.
"Ah...regulations...Nick's brother Raddeus mentioned those when he was trying to find a way to marry his wife."
"Yeah..."
Lena crossed her legs and clasped her hands over her knee.
"You are a scientist, Samantha, and as such you tend to over analyze everything. Instead of focusing on the fact that Jonathan is your commanding officer, just think of him as a man, and nothing more. In fact, don't you usually call him by another name?"
"We call him Jack." she replied.
"In your mind, don't call him Jack...call him Jonathan. It's almost like tricking your mind into thinking that he's a different person...I had to do that with Nick. He was Nicholas in my head for a long time before I could think of him as Nick."
The men came and met the women in the middle. They did a Rhumba a few more times and the Kosovichs were pleased to see that their students were taking their advice. It was a lot better than it had been.
"Okay, we're going to start working on the lifts for swing." Nick told them.
"Lifts? Oh no..." Sam began.
"Sam, I've done them before. Lena, if I may?" Jack asked.
The teacher came over and Jack performed a perfect candlestick.
"Yikes..." Sam groaned.
"It's not that bad...we can start off with smaller lifts and work up." Lena said soothingly.
An evil idea came into Nick's head.
"A good place to practice lifts in the pool...if your hotel has one, I would suggest going there when it's empty and try the lifts there. If you fall, the water is a lot more forgiving than a floor is. You can also swim lengths to make sure your endurance for the Quickstep is there." he said.
Lena gave him a speculative look but he indicated nothing to her.
The pair left and Lena cornered Nick.
"The pool?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Seems like a sound plan to me!"
Jack told Sam to meet him at the pool around 6 that evening and she agreed.
Changing in the small locker room area, she emerged to find Jack swimming lengths in the pool. As he came back, he saw her and swam over to the side of the pool and lifted himself out. Sam had to literally tell herself, "inhale, exhale." Beads of water clung to his lean, muscular body and she was VERY happy to be a woman in that moment!
In his head, Jack was telling himself to breathe. That swimsuit should be outlawed! he thought.
They stood there, contemplating each other for a few moments before Jack snapped out of it first and motioned her to follow him. As he turned around, Sam wished she had a camera so she could take a picture of that rear!
The lifts were going well until they tried a Candlestick. Sam didn't have her hands locked tightly enough around the back of Jack's neck and came down on top of him, sending them both underwater. They emerged, her hands on his shoulders and Jack holding her closely. She was about to wiggle away when she felt him lightly tighten his grip.
"Um sir, I think perhaps we might to try that one again or even move on to something else, I don't really mind..." she rambled, very aware of the close proximity.
Jack took a hand and placed a finger on her lips. She stopped, struck dumb by the gesture.
"I can think of something I'd like better." he whispered, his brown eyes blazing into hers. She was helpless to resist him as he claimed her mouth with his.