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*2024 WINNER - New England Romance Writers Reader's Choice Award - Short contemporary romance novel*
A between-jobs vacation was all Angelo expected from Buenos Aires; when it turned into a holiday fling, he wasn’t about to say No.
Ramon’s impulsive trip to Argentina started off as a disaster. The cute dance teacher offering a room share? An early Christmas present. The night dancing tango? A revelation.
The next week turned into a series of great dates, the kind that would take months to set up in real life. By day two, they were both wishing they’d met long ago, in California, where they both grew up. Ramon’s heading back there; Angie’s bound for North Carolina. How could they possibly make it work? Could they try?
Angie leaves Argentina with a head full of plans and wishes, but no regrets. Ramon goes home with a plan of his own, determined to turn some wishes into reality.
A New Year’s Eve party was always going to be a challenging introduction to his new job. Left on their own by two key staffers, Angie and his junior instructors manage to pull it off. The next morning, he’s expecting a hard day of damage control. Instead he finds Ramon on his doorstep.
One way or another, they’ll dance into the future together.
Publisher: JMS Books, LLC
Editors:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 3
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 2 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Forced Proximity
Word Count: 75,000
Languages Available: English
Oh my God. Oh my God. I knew, okay, I knew that tango was sexy. I knew you could lose yourself in the music, and I knew that Angie was a professional dancer, and if there was ever a combination of circumstances that would lead to a great night out dancing it was this combination right here. But oh my God.
I did as he suggested during the first tanda, watching from the sidelines. Tried to be an impartial observer, studying different couples to see what they were doing with the music, but my gaze kept returning to Angie. As soon as we went through the door half a dozen people came up to him. Shaking hands, kissing his cheek, slapping his back, jabbering in rapid Spanish that I had a little trouble following because it wasn’t quite the Spanish I grew up with. He introduced me to everyone. Made sure they knew I could dance but didn’t know tango. Everyone said they’d find me later, and maybe they meant it.
READ MOREBut I hoped they didn’t. Because after the cortina when Angie came to find me, and after we started to dance, I didn’t want to dance with anyone else. Like, ever.
He was teaching me, obviously, because – he said – when I danced with someone else there were specific things I, as a follower, should know how to read. But maybe because he had all those years of ballroom experience, he used a lot of vocabulary I recognized. Here a cross body lead from salsa, there a hesitation step from waltz; here a series of rock steps as in rumba, there a syncopation like cha-cha.
The killer, though, the killer is the dance position. You can dance tango in an open hold; I saw several couples doing that. Angie didn’t give me the option. He slid his right arm around my back, tucking me so close my face was practically in his hair. “Follow my body,” he said softly.
And I thought, helplessly, I’ll follow you anywhere.
Three dances in a row. He didn’t turn me loose during the cortina. Another three dances, another cortina. Then a set of vals milonga, irresistible music in three-quarter time, and he danced me to the center of the floor, showing off with a mélange of styles. I occasionally stumbled or froze, missing leads or not knowing what I should do when he paused, but he never criticized. In fact, he always apologized, then tried something else. Maybe if I’d had longer to watch him dance I’d’ve been less surprised by some of the leads. But I wasn’t watching anything. My forehead was pressed to his temple, my lips inches from his skin, and my focus was entirely on our many points of contact. On how his weight changed, and how his spine rotated, and how his shoulders turned, and how his thigh pushed between mine to send my foot back.
I was breathless, confused, and painfully turned on by the end of that tanda. This time he walked me out to the edge of the floor, found a vacant table, and invited me to sit. I did, dazed, staring at nothing. Music continued, but I didn’t really hear it.
A few minutes later Angie was back with his hands full: two bottles of water in one, two bottles that looked like beer in the other. “I don’t know if I can handle any more alcohol,” I said.
“It’s ginger ale,” he said, setting everything down carefully, then taking a seat with his eyes on the bottles as if to make sure they didn’t topple. “How was that?”
I turned my head and blinked at him, mouth open for a second before words came. “I feel like we just had sex.”
“Oh, shit, I overdid it, didn’t I.” He slumped back.
My eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”
He sat forward again, looking relieved. “Oh! So it was good sex?”
“Amazing. Aside from the part where I didn’t come.”
He slapped a hand over his mouth to mute the gust of laughter. I drank some ginger ale, which was very refreshing, not too sweet. Then I drank some water. He was doing the same, apparently waiting for me to say something else. I didn’t, though, because I needed to let my thoughts settle. My arousal had subsided once we weren’t in contact. My body was now telling me it was tired, and I’d been up for a lot of continuous hours, and I’d been non-trivially stressed for a fair proportion of those, and I needed to sleep. But he’d barely gotten a chance to dance with anyone else. “You should get back out there. Do what you came here to do.”
“What makes you think I haven’t been doing what we came here to do?”
I took note of the plural. Yes: we came here. This was, no doubt about it, a date. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have held me like that.
COLLAPSEJay on Queeromance Ink wrote:Angelo Viveros Belmann is a competitive dancer and dance instructor. He’s taken a job in North Carolina, leaving his LA home for the first time. But on his way, he’s taking a couple weeks in Buenos Aries. Then there is a problem with the last room in the hotel and he offers to share with the poor guy who ended up without a room, 4 days before Christmas. He’s never had trouble making friends and Ramon Torres is beyond grateful as he’s dead on his feet. After a nap and some food, Angie discovers that Ramon has taken a spur of the moment vacation because he’s just broken up with his long term girlfriend – and the reason is kind of a doozy. Angie feels like he needs to share that he is indeed gay and a ballroom dancer – latin styles mostly – but he’s proficient at all 28 styles. Ramon is intrigued. He likes to dance but hasn’t really done latin dance.
Turns out that Ramon is bi – or maybe pan? He’s not 100% sure, but he’s had relationships with both men and women. It’s cause a bit of an issue with his family but he’s taken his own path. He’s an accountant of all things, but he doesn’t love his job. He’s intrigued with the milonga that Angie suggests and is fascinated watching the dancers. Leading and following. He dances with Angie and with others and he really loves it. As they spend more time together, it’s clear there is a real attraction. They end up sort of having a holiday fling, but can it be more? You’ll have to read to find out because I don’t want to spoil the really lovely unfolding of this story.
Wow! This is a new author to me and I’m really looking forward to more from her. I had no idea really what to expect, but I really really enjoyed this fairly low angst holiday fling to soul mates HEA love story. The atmospheric story really put me in the time and place of the Holidays in Buenos Aries – a bucket list destination for me, especially since I missed on on a trip there in 2009. 🙁 I loved all the descriptions of the city itself as well as the beautiful dance scenes. Angie and Ramon were just such compelling characters. They were so different and yet they complimented each other so well. Another really great quality of this book was how naturally we learn about the backstories of these characters as they get to know each other. The pace and storytelling really flowed and because we get the dual POV, there is no question about how much these two really enjoy each other’s company – not just for sex, but for everything they do together. Dancing – the milonga and Argentine tango, leading and following. Visiting museums. Taking walks in the parks and people watching and eating and going to Christmas eve service. While both are pretty open books with each other, they are also trying to protect their hearts a little bit at the beginning. But it doesn’t take long for them to realize that this relationship that they seem to be building is different than anything either of them has every felt before. Their families are so different and yet, they are able to work that out as well. I’m not sure how this story could have been made better. It’s a fast and intense connection but I was not at all put off by that. I understood where they were coming from and how they somehow met at the right time and the right place with the right person and it was beautiful to watch. I’m a real fan of this book and I highly recommend it. I can’t wait for this author’s next book. 🙂 She’s set a high bar here.
5 Hearts.
A very sweet and beautifully written whirlwind romance.
Angelo is a dancer/dance teacher between jobs and has gifted himself with a holiday in Buenos Aries. He ends up accidentally sharing a room with Ramon, a recently jilted accountant. Both come from LA, but Angelo is moving to North Carolina.
There is no real drama apart from the angst the characters feel at the suddenness of their feelings and the need to be together. There is a great deal of interesting information about dance and quite a lot of explicit sex. And there are two lovely rescue cats.
Mistletango a contemporary story based around Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This is a feel-good mm holiday romance with assured writing, pleasant and interesting characters, and a HEA ending.
