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Faith took up position on the far side of the dance floor with her parents, and I headed right on over to join her. I was standing right next to her, as close as I dared, and I was desperate for her. So fucking desperate for her.
“Shit. Oh wow, there she is,” she whispered, and tipped her head in the direction of a suddenly arriving Erica by the main entrance.
She was dressed in a little black dress, her glare piercing hard as she found me in the crowd, and I cursed under my breath, wishing for the life of me that she’d fuck the hell off and not even begin to attempt to wreck the evening. I let out a sigh of relief as Glyn Morris joined her, dressed up so smart in a tuxedo.
“That’s her new boyfriend?” Faith asked, and I shrugged.
“I hope so.”
“That’s good, right? If she’s met someone she likes?”
But I knew she didn’t like him. Not even close. Her stare was all for me, want and hate combined. Just as well my enjoyment was far too alive to take a punch in the gut from her bitterness.
The evening crept by deliciously, the room laughing and joking and dancing as we sipped at our champagne and joined right in with the talking and joking ourselves. It was only when the evening truly started drawing in that the band changed their songs to slightly slower numbers.
It was an especially slow number that had Faith gasping and jumping on the spot. One I didn’t even know. Seemingly her parents did though. They nudged her arm and pointed her up to the dance floor but she was shaking her head, saying she couldn’t possibly head up there all on her own.
So they stared at me – both Colin and Diane – and my heart lurched. Actually lurched at the respect and warmth in their eyes.
“How about it, Miles?” Colin asked. “How about you take our little sweetheart up on that dance floor so she can enjoy her favourite song?”
Diane put her hand to her chest. “Oh, yes! That will be so lovely! So lovely to see you both celebrating!”
Faith’s eyes were bright with the forbidden, her breaths quick as I handed my champagne glass to Colin and took her hand.
“My absolute pleasure,” I told them, and Diane took Faith’s glass from her before she had the chance to protest.
“Are we really doing this?” she asked quietly as we took up position on the dance floor. “I mean, I want it, I want it so bad, but I don’t know, I’m just so nervous…”
I held her as tight as I dared, pulling her body close to mine. “We’re really doing this,” I whispered. “And it really is my absolute pleasure.”
Her expression was a delight.
“Mine too,” she said.
I couldn’t hold back, not for a second. Not the way my body pressed tight, and my smile was so hungry for her. I couldn’t stop the way my eyes burned hard against hers, filled with so much want, and need, and love.
So much love.
“They have no idea,” Faith whispered, and tipped her gaze to her parents grinning away at the side of the dance floor. “They really have no idea about us at all.”
Yet again there was a part of me that really damn wished they did.
We moved to the rhythm, our bodies in sync, and it was right. Just like always. Always so right.
She sang along to the words, her arms holding my shoulders so tight, and I was transfixed by her. Utterly transfixed by her.
The room was whispering and pointing and grinning about the innocence they believed was in our dance together. I could feel it. Her parents thought I was some kind old uncle of hers, and so did the rest of the town, everyone thinking this was as platonic as it ever got, even though we were both smiling and swaying and holding each other so close.
Everyone except Erica, that is.
I caught sight of her as we turned towards the bar for another slow twirl, and there she was, glaring at us from the side lines.
I knew her well enough to know the true implication of her stare, just as well as she clearly knew mine.
She shook her head at me, and my gut lurched, and I knew she could read me. I knew she could read both of us.
Faith caught sight of her too, and she tensed up in a heartbeat. I squeezed her tighter as Erica placed her champagne glass on the nearest table and stormed right on out of there, and Faith’s whispers came out so nervous in my ear.
“She knows, doesn’t she? She knows about us? How does she know about us?”
I whispered right back, still moving to the beat. “Because she knows me.”
With that the song finished up and Faith pulled away. She went to head back to her parents, but I grabbed her hand and shook my head, guiding her out the other way with a few other couples leaving the dance floor.
