The Last Step

By H Stinington

Ballet dancers Daniel and Isabella are aware that with their entire lives having led up to a shining moment that they conquered, they will have to reassess their priorities in life. Having denied their feelings for each other for years and put a hold on a relationship that they feared would compromise their united goal of becoming the best dancers they could be, Daniel and Isabella finally arrive at a moment of reckoning where they have to choose between each other and their profession. However, the choice is clearer than either of them think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: H Stinington
• Release date: May 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540195883

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Five more minutes?

Ten.

Daniel stretched, still half asleep and happy in the warm cocoon of their bed. Mmmm, he said, in firm agreement that ten more minutes in bed would be better than five. He hadn’t exactly slept well that night. Come here.

She was already wriggling over, crossing the few inches that separated them at night. Daniel contributed to the hug by opening his arms to her and then, once he had her, rolling over onto his back to pull her on top of him. Hey.

Morning.

Eyes closed, holding her tight, breathing deep, Daniel decided - as he did on a regular basis - that he liked mornings the best. Love you. He was pretty sure he could tell her that fifteen times a day and it still wouldn’t be enough.

Love you more, Isabella muttered, lips and breath fluttering against his collarbone.

Mornings were definitely the best and Daniel was perfectly happy to lay there, still not quite awake. He preferred not being awake; as long as everything was pleasantly blurry he could just barely manage to ignore the world pushing in on their peaceful, perfect bubble. There was nothing uncomfortable here: no hard floor that hurt to fall on, no pretending and nothing to hide.

Daniel really didn’t want to get out of bed at all today and he was pretty sure Isabella didn’t either. Today, more than usual, he wanted all of the good and none of the bad.

Are you nervous?

The question she asked was one Daniel wasn’t sure he wanted to answer. He did anyway, because it was Isabella and they were in bed. Yeah. Are you?

Isabella put her head back down before she answered. Yeah.

More than usual?

Yeah.

Me too. Daniel, more functional now, was suffering slightly in the aftermath of a shattered night’s sleep. He felt like he’d been waking up all night, always looking for her, needing to know she was still with him, falling back to sleep once he’d reassured himself by rubbing her arm or stroking her head. Nights like this he wished she hadn’t given up on sleeping on top of him, because at least that way he hadn’t needed to be conscious to know where she was. It’s the Nationals.

"I’m expecting us to win, which is probably the worst thing I could be doing, and probably why I keep thinking something terrible’s going to happen." Isabella rubbed her face against his chest so that the last words were muffled.

Daniel would like to say that nothing terrible would but he thought that might jinx things. He was becoming superstitious in his old age. I know.

Mmmm.

Isabella was silent. Their journey would be a long one. They were dropping by to spend an hour with Daniel family who were in Bellington and stop at York for lunch, so it would be dark when they reached the hotel and settled into their rooms and beds. They had to get going but he didn’t even want to start.

Maybe in a few more minutes he’d be ready to get out of bed and face the day. He could find some confidence and start telling himself that and then it might come true.

Isabella shifted again in his arms and Daniel knew, by her slow, deliberate movements, what she was up to. She raised herself up, bit by bit, so that her face was a mere inch above his. Hi.

This was the best kind of distraction.

Daniel ran his hand across her back, shoulder blade to shoulder blade. Hey gorgeous, he whispered, closing his eyes as she came in for the kiss.

Daniel had had a lot of surprises over the last ten months. He’d expected this to be harder than it was. He’d thought their parents might roll their eyes and say it’s about time. He’d worried that their secret would slip out and people would judge them, either for dating each other or for dating each other and trying to act like they weren’t. And he’d been afraid that they'd fail at the most basic thing they’d set out to do, and their personal relationship would affect their dance career. He had been wonderfully, happily wrong about all those things and incredibly surprised when he realized it.

And even with all of that, one of the biggest surprises of his life had been the discovery that it was possible to lie in bed with someone and kiss someone and not have it lead to sex. Even more surprising was how much he liked it, morning breath and all.

They stretched their extra ten minutes to its limit and beyond just lying there and kissing. He kept his hand up her shirt, fingers outstretched against the warm smoothness of her back; she had one hand in his hair. His nose pressed against hers and their lips moved together and he could just be, both himself and one part of a whole.

When the increasingly pressing need to get their butts out of bed won out over the fun of kissing they stumbled out of bed together on the count of three and then, in true Daniel fashion, he stumbled over the suitcase he’d left open on the floor for a few last minute essentials and caught himself on his dresser. He was still straightening himself up, feeling like an idiot and grateful he’d only hurt his pride, when Isabella swatted him on the ass on her way past.

Nice ass.

That was a bit much coming from someone wearing nothing but her underwear and one of his t-shirts, especially considering that the person in question was swaying her hips, on purpose, as she disappeared into the bathroom. Daniel realized his mouth was hanging open like something out of a cartoon, and shut it again.

Thanks babe. You too! he called after her, a moment too late to be funny, and then went to put the coffee on, to fumble around in the kitchen as it brewed, to make toast for both of them and then to kiss Isabella when she appeared, freshly-showered and bright-eyed and smiling. She talked near constantly as they ate, listing all the things she liked in Bellington and all the things she wanted to do this time. ‘Win a national title’ wasn’t on her list, but Daniel supposed that went without saying and figured that they were probably better off without mentioning it anyway.

I can’t wait to see everyone again, she said, her toast now just crumbs on the plate, tapping her fingers on the table. She was smiling a little too much