Page 35 of Toxic Apple Turnovers
“Lottie, your husband is really going to thank you once he sees his big surprise!” Janelle doesn’t mind throwing it out there, and I look to make sure Noah is receiving it. Sure enough, he looks as if he’s about to be sick. “Now let’s get a couple down here.”
Cormack hops up and barks like a seal until Janelle waves them down front, and I’m quick to reprise my spot between Keelie and Meg.
“All right, mister,” Janelle belts it out to Noah. “Hold her by the hips and really feel her move.” Cormack does her best to swivel as if her relationship hinged on every move those hips were capable of. “See this, Lottie? This is how you’ll encourage your partner to participate. There is nothing more sensual than having the love of your life share this delicate dance with you.”
Or with Cormack.
Cormack shakes a little too hard, her hips a little too eager to grind their way over to Noah’s, and Janelle shakes her head at the maneuver.
“No, no.” Janelle plucks Cormack out of Noah’s arms. “Lottie, why don’t you come down here and show Cormack how you move and glide? It needs to be loose and fluid. Lottie, you really are a natural.”
Meg shoves me forward. “Go on Lot. Show ’em what you got.”
I growl at both her and Janelle—and mostly Noah.
Owlbert buzzes from above. “This is amazing, Lottie! It seems at every turn you and Noah are forced into one another’s arms. It must be fate.”
“Or very bad timing,” I mutter as I step up, and Janelle lands Noah’s hot hands over my hips. I can still feel the heat from Cormack’s body on his sticky fingers, and it makes my blood boil.
Janelle moves my hips and away I go.
“Very good!” She offers me a spontaneous applause. “Keep it up until the music stops.” She takes off to bark out orders at the rest of the class while I wiggle for Noah, and Cormack huffs at our side.
“She’s right.” Noah’s dimples look as if they’re mocking me. “You’re a natural, Lottie.” His eyes glaze over with lust, and soon enough he’s bedroom eyeing me. “Come over tonight,” he whispers it low—lest his fiancée hear the salacious offer.
“I can’t. I have to show off my moves to Everett.”
He frowns. “Word on the street is you’re giving him the cold shoulder, too.”
“Word on the street is that I don’t like that word on the street that the two of you are sharing words behind my back.” I don’t even care if that made one iota of sense. I’m sick and tired of Noah trying to protect me by way of leaving me in the dark. “And guess what? I found a pattern of break-ins and bank heists that fit the pattern of those imbeciles who held us up. It stems from Florida to South Carolina”—I watch as his eyes enlarge as I go on—“Virginia to Pennsylvania to—”
“New York to Vermont.” He closes his eyes a moment as I swivel in close.
“You know?”
“Of course, I know,” he smothers the words with ego.
“What else do you know?”
He looks perturbed by the conversation. “That’s for me to know and for you not to find out. Lottie, please.”
“Cormack?” I slip out of his grasp and pull her in my place. “Dance for your fiancé. It really is such an aphrodisiac.”
The class wraps up, and I sic both Meg and Keelie on Noah. Under no circumstances are they to let him out of their sight.
I head over to Janelle as she’s packing up her things.
“Wonderful class. Expect a basket of muffins sent over by my fiancé. Baked by me, of course.” I belt out a laugh as Owlbert lands heavy on my shoulder.Geez! He weighs as much as a toddler. “So, what do you think happened to Amanda? I mean, she told me all about that drama between her and Connie before she passed. You don’t think Connie did her in, did you?”
Too much? I can’t tell, but I thought it was best to get it out there.
Her blue eyes jet out like hardboiled eggs. “She told you that? I thought she’d go to the grave denying it. You know, to hear Mark tell it, he’s the innocent one in all this. He’s just trying to save face by going around telling anyone who’ll listen that he broke up with Connie first like a real gentleman blah, blah, blah.” She makes a face. “The truth is, he was two-timing Connie for months.”
“With Amanda?”
She nods. “Amanda had the perfect cover. She told Connie that she and Mark had real estate to look at, and it was true in the beginning. Soon enough, they were doing it in every empty house in Honey Hollow.” Lainey’s new house comes to mind and I cringe. “Her brothers got wind of it. That’s when the relationship hit the fan and he really broke it off with Connie.”
“How did Connie react?”