Flirting with Danger Bk 1

So am I, I guess.” said Louis, looking at me. “But I think I’m a little worse ‘cause I didn’t even know we were going to Cervia.” he smiled slightly, giving me a flirtatious look, but I only returned a friendly one. I felt tension at my side and knew Connelly was being weird again, being jealous of Louis. Why? I thought. I was going out with him wasn’t I? What reason did he have to be mad at Louis?
“Does anyone know where we’re staying at?” Louis asked, turning his head to the side like he was going to look away, but kept looking at me.
“I do.” said Dale, bumping Louis purposefully as he ducked behind his seat. He reappeared a few minutes later after some shuffling, holding a piece of paper.
“So?” I said, looking at Dale now expectantly.
“The Grand Hotel Baglioni in Bologna, Italy.” he read, raising one eyebrow.
“Bologna?” Sue asked, looking up at him.
“That’s what it says.” said Dale, smiling. Sue laughed then and the rest of us joined in, Sue snapping pictures while we did.
“So, what does this Bologna hotel offer us?” Louis asked, chuckling.
Dale looked back at the paper. “Well, it has satellite and internet,”
“Of course.” said Louis.
“Daily maid service, a fireplace, balcony, and a safe.” Dale continued.
“For all those valuable jewels and million dollar shoes we bought at the mall.” I smiled and we laughed.
“A coffee maker and mini bar.” Dale said, looking up at us. “Oh cool, and they have a multi-lingual staff, concierge service, and barber an hair stylist.”
“Cool, we can get our hair professionally done for the competition.” I said, Sue and I exchanging smiles.
“There’s a restaurant in the hotel, currency exchange, and get this,” Louis looked up at us as he said this, “they’ve got a club, an inside pool and a hot tub!”
“Awesome!” I said excitedly. Then we proceeded to talk about what our rooms were going to look like and what we were going to do when we got there. We laughed, we ate peanuts, had drinks, and I was having great fun, but Connelly’s acting weird was bothering me. He just kept staring out that window, his eyes glazed over like he was watching something in his mind.

Later on, when things had quieted down and both Louis and Dale had turned around in their seats, I looked over at Connelly again, looking at the now darkening sky. I had to know what was wrong. So, taking a steadying breath, I leaned over and touched his arm. The glaze disappeared from his eyes and he turned to look at me. His eyes were concerned and confused, feeling my nervousness and worrying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You know what I mean.” I said, trying not to let my annoyance show through. I was trying really hard not to get mad at him in front of everyone.
“Kota, this isn’t the place.” he said, indicating Sue.
“Come on.” I said as I got up. We went down the aisle and into the empty bathroom.
“Now, what’s wrong?” he asked in a normal voice.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked as softly as I could. I didn’t want to blow up at him here.
“Nothing.” he said, but didn’t meet my eye.
“Connelly, you’re not acting like yourself. Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“No,” he said quickly, but softly, taking my hands in his. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Then what’s going on? You’ve changed since the thing with Rudi. You hardly talk anymore and you always have this glaze over your eyes, like you’re thinking about something else.” I said, suddenly wondering if it was another girl. Could he be falling for another girl? Would he really do that? What if she was a vampire like him? That would definitely have its appeal, I mean, he wouldn’t have to be so careful around her and they’d live forever together, or however long they live. I thought and my stomach did a somersault.
“It’s nothing like that at all.” he said, looking seriously into my eyes. “You’re the only person in my life.” he said, and I could tell not only in his eyes but in his voice, that it was true.
“It’s just —” he said, but then stopped, looking down. “I can’t —” he tried again, looking at me. His eyes were pained so much it was starting to scare me.
“I — I… I’m still worried about the other vampires.” he said, looking down in defeat, like he was embarrassed to admit this. I knew he was talking about Lesley, Troy, and Joe, the ones who’d helped and then deserted Rudi.
“Oh,” I looked down, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t at all what I had thought it had been about. Hm, you would have thought I’d think of that. “Well, I’m sure they’re gone. I mean, why would they follow us after you killed Rudi?” I said, assuring him.
“Yeah, I guess I’m just being paranoid.” he said, smiling and rubbing his neck.
“It’s okay.” I said, putting a hand on his waist as we left the restroom. Sue and Ivan were still asleep when we got our seats, Sue’s head on his shoulder, his head on her head, and their hands intertwined.
I smiled. They were so cute.
I yawned just then and whispered, “I think I’ll follow their example.” I looked up at him and he nodded, smiling. He leaned over and kissed me goodnight. I snuggled into his side, our armrest having been put up, and fell asleep.

Connelly and I were in a restaurant, eating wonderful Italian food and talking about the places he was going to take me. “Can you pass the salt?” I asked, holding out my hand.
“Kota.” I looked at him. “Kota, we’re landing.” He looked at me, a soft grin on his face.
“Excuse me?” I asked, raising one confused eyebrow at him.
“We’re landing Kota. Wake up.” he said, acting like this was a perfectly normal thing to say in an Italian restaurant. My face scrunched up in severe confusion and I shook my head, not understanding. But then the dream was ripped away and I felt the shaking and the bumping up and down of the plane.
“The plane. The plane is crashing!” I said, my eyes popping wide open, but yawning. Ivan and Sue snickered in front of me and I looked over at Connelly, whose face was of loving humor.
“What?” I asked.
“We’re here.” he said, leaning back and revealing the window. I leaned forward and saw land below. We were in Italy.
“We’re in Cervia?” I asked.
“No, actually we’re in Ravenna.” Ivan said, looking out his window too.
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t know anything about Ravenna. After we landed, we grabbed our luggage and met up with the rest of the dancers and Amelia. By now there were only me, the guys and their partners, and the Peters.
“So, how close is Ravenna to Cervia?” I asked as we followed Amelia and Mathias outside. It was still dark, but I figured it was still a few hours before dawn.
“It’s the neighboring City.” Connelly said, looking to our left. Then, just when I was starting to think that this was odd, two limousines pulled around the corner and stopped in front of us.
“Limos? We’re going to be riding in limousines?” I said, looking at him in amazement.
“Of course!” said Mira, coming up behind me. “What else would we ride in to go to the hotel?” she smiled at me and winked.
“Come, come children.” Amelia said sweetly, holding open the door to the first limo while Louis and the others got in the other one.
I was picking up my luggage when Connelly came up to me and said, “Listen, I’m not going to be able to ride with you to the hotel.”