Page 91 of Down and Dirty

“Enough said! We Cajuns have an extra dance gene, ain’t that so, chère?”

She smiled. “Oh, yeah. My mama, she was dancin’ in the cradle, and Papa, that man been playin’ the washboard since he was knee-high to a crawfish.”

The two of them did not walk out onto the dance area; they danced out.

“Wait till you see this,” Zachary said in her ear.

And what a show Cage and Marie put on! One song ran into another and yet another. No longer about rocking and rolling, but one about a love shack. Do they have special shacks for loving here? Then, another with the oddest lyric, “honky tonk badonkadonk.”

“What is a honky tonk badonkadonk?” she asked Zachary.

“Female ass.”

“That remark is sorely lacking humor.”

“It’s true.”

She glanced around the table, and those who had overheard nodded their heads.

Not for the first time, she thought, What an odd country! As ribald as Viking men were wont to be, even they did not sing about arses. Leastways, not in mixed company.

Cage and Marie were doing the most suggestive dance moves, all to the rhythm of a pounding beat of music. They circled each other, never quite touching, sometimes undulating in unison, with Cage spooned up to her backside. Britta could only describe their movements as a game of seduction. And she didn’t think Marie even liked Cage all that much.

Then, one of the band of musicians yelled out, “Have we got any cowboys in the crowd?”

There was a wild roar of yeses and yee-haws.

In response, the musicians launched into a song called “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” and Marie actually appeared to be riding Cage’s extended leg as if it were a horse. Still not touching, but everything but.

Britta shook her head at the absurdity and outrageousness of it all.

Other couples moved onto the dance floor, too, including everyone at their table. Dylan and Donita. JAM and Terri. Sly and Geek, with other ladies. Omar and Slick had already left, claiming other places to be.

“Wanna dance?” Zachary asked her.

“No.”

“That was blunt.”

“If you think I am going to engage in sex in public and call it dancing, I have a longship you might want to purchase.”

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder. His arm was draped casually over the back of her chair, and his fingers played with the edges of her newly shorn hair.

Why was it that she was so aware of him when he merely smiled at her, whilst Dylan, and any other men in the tavern, could be stumps for all she cared?

“I have not talked with you for sennights.”

“Not for lack of my trying. If I recall correctly, you pretty much told me to go do something physically impossible to myself. More than once.”

She had to think a moment to figure what he meant, then said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk! I ne’er said those words. Besides, every time you attempted to talk to me it was after having nigh drowned me in those bloody rub-her boats, or in the midst of dousing me with sand, or mostly after a brutal assault on my body by excessive exercising.”

“I warned you how hard it would be, Britta. It’s my job to push you and the other WEALS as hard as you can stand. I haven’t treated you any differently. Besides, you can always—”

“—ring out,” she finished for him. “I have not struggled this far to quit now.”

He nodded. “How are the tutoring classes going?”

“Very well, but as much as I learn, there is so much more I realize that I do not know.”