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She kissed both women on the cheek and made a beeline for the back of the bar, which Beth assumed led to the apartment upstairs.
“I need a breather too,” Delaney told her.
Beth deflated but only a little. It wasn’t like they could party it up to Elvis, so she began following her sister back to the booth only to stop short when she found Eli standing just outside the dance area.
Delaney smiled and gave Beth a less than subtle wink, then slinked away.
“Want to step outside for some air?” he asked. “It’s getting kind of warm in here.”
She’d already discarded her sweater after her first trip to the dance floor.
Beth glanced down at the tank she’d been wearing underneath, then over her shoulder at the handful of couples slow dancing as Elvis crooned.
“How about you dance with me instead?”
She’d given him a pass on her time with the girls, but this was different.
Eli smiled and gently grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “Come on. It’s a clear sky. I bet there are more stars than you’ve ever seen in Vegas or New York.”
She nodded. “And they’ll still be there after this song. But Elvis only has, like, two more minutes left.”
Eli’s smile fell.
Oh no. Did he not know how to dance, and she was basically asking him to humiliate himself in front of the entire town?
Yeah, right. A man as coordinated as him on a horse after not riding for three years had to have some moves—other than the ones he displayed earlier that day in the clearing.
“Mighty Dancer…” he teased. “I’ll make it worth your while.” He gave her a little tug toward the door, but she still hadn’t budged.
Wait.
The song. It had to be the song. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” was the perfect wedding song. Was it his first dance with Tess?
Her stomach sank. Their perfect night—their unofficial announcement that she and Eli were, in fact, whatever—and the King was going to ruin everything.
Beth forced a smile. “Sure. Let’s go see those stars. I’ll meet you out there. I just have to grab my sweater.”
His brows drew together. “Is everything okay?”
She nodded. “Yes! Totes! All good here, Doc. Now get out there and find us a primo stargazing spot, okay?”
She wriggled her hand out of his and practically ran past him and back to the table.
Totes? Primo? She needed to get a grip and accept the fact that being with a man like Eli meant being sensitive to the fact that she was not the only woman in his life.
When she got to the table, she downed what was left of her pint, squared her shoulders, and grabbed her sweater from where it lay in a ball on the booth.
Delaney glared at her, slack-jawed. “What the hell?” she asked. “I barely had one sip of that!”
Beth hiccupped and glanced from the empty glass she’d just set down to her sister’s incredulous stare.
“That was yours?”
“Uh…yeah,” Delaney replied.
“So I’ve had…” Beth started counting on her fingers, but her math skills were even fuzzier than they were before.
“Four. Bethy, is everything okay? I get wanting to let loose after, like, forever. But four pints would put me under the table, and I at least have some semblance of a tolerance. But you’re a sweet little newborn party girl, and I think I need to officially cut you off.”
