“What’s five more minutes then?” she exclaimed over her shoulder as her husband led her onto the dance floor.
They had left her in their dust before she could even answer. She watched as they found her aunt and uncle on the dance floor and started doing embarrassing things she wished she could unsee to the tail end of a Kool and the Gang song. She shook her head and looked down at the now cold plate of chicken and sautéed vegetables that awaited her. It was not appetizing at all, but she didn’t even care at this point, she just needed food. She went to sit once again before Reed’s hand wrapped around her arm.
“What’s five more minutes?” he asked with a grin.
She looked down at the plate then out at the dance floor where everyone had coupled off and were swaying along to a slow song. Of course she had five minutes for him. He could have as much of her time as he wanted. He took hold of her hand and led her to the far corner of the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his back while his hands moved around her waist and pulled her closer.
When she invited him as her plus one last fall, she had visions of them hanging out and enjoying the open bar with her friends. Maybe a part of her had hoped that if the mood or drinks hit them just right, they might share a dance like this. Just as friends, of course. Sharing a dance like this as girlfriend and boyfriend, though? It was sweeter than anything she could have imagined.
* * *
Reed
“Hi.”
He had watched her from afar all day as she fulfilled her maid of honor duties, and now he finally had her all to himself for the first time today.
“Hi.”
“You look absolutely beautiful,” he said as he stared into her brown eyes.
She was radiant. Skin glowing, hair twisted and pinned back into an updo, and body swathed in a floaty pale green gown.
“And you look handsome, but I suppose you already knew that,” she said with a smirk. She chuckled quietly as she moved her hand from his back to the base of his neck, grazing her thumb along his skin and through the tuft of curls that gathered at the collar of his shirt. He loved the warm current it sent down his spine when she did that.
“Turn me.”
“What?” he asked of the abrupt request.
She sighed as she took the lead and took a few steps to change their position. “My mom keeps staring at us and it’s weirding me out. Was everything okay with them?” she asked.
“Your mom is…very curious,” he said with a grin, choosing his words carefully as they swayed back and forth in each other’s arms. “But I get it. This is new to them.”
Maya had been back in town for less than forty-eight hours, and in that time, he had met her parents, helped them move Maya into her new apartment, and now they were all attending a family wedding together.
“I think you made a pretty good impression helping with the move yesterday. I’m sure my dad appreciated having you there to help him put together my new bedroom set. You two had it done in no time.”
“Do you have any idea how awkward it is to do that with your girlfriend’s father?” he huffed. “I can only imagine what was going on in his head.”
“Oh God.” Her face fell as the implications hit her. “Oh my God, Reed. I didn’t even think about that.” Her forehead dropped to his shoulder as they both laughed quietly. When she pulled back, he was met with the brightest smile. “See, this is why I love you.”
He wished he could stop his heart from pounding so loudly in his chest, turn off the music, and make everyone hush for a moment, so he could ask her to repeat herself because he wasn’t quite sure if he had heard her right.
“I do,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
It came so easily from his lips. Nothing had ever felt so right in his life. Whatever song was playing was just background noise as they slow danced in their own little world on the corner of the dance floor. He would carry this memory with him forever.
“Finally a party where you’re not leaving me the next day,” he said as he held her in his arms.
“That’s right. I’m not leaving town. In fact, you’re coming home with me, and I don’t even plan on leaving that bed tomorrow,” she purred into his lips as she leaned in for a kiss.
“How much longer do we have to stay here?” he murmured into her lips as they briefly parted.
“Not much longer,” she promised before stealing another kiss.
As he pulled away, he opened his eyes slowly, catching a glimpse of Maya’s father looking their way. “Let’s turn again,” he muttered as he angled them away with a few steps.
“Hmm?”
“Your dad,” he explained, shaking his head. “I can’t.”
No disrespect, of course. He loved Mr. Hendricks’s daughter something fierce and would spend the rest of his life trying to make her happy, in any and every way possible.
