“You two enjoying yourselves?” Mom entered the room with another effervescent smile.
“Yes,” Olivia said. “Supper is delicious. Thank you.”
“You’re so welcome.” She turned to Kingston. “After you’re finished, why don’t you go back to the den? You can show Olivia some of the dance steps you’ve been practicing.”
He inwardly groaned as Olivia hid a smile behind her napkin. This was more embarrassing than the time in high school when his mother had tried to fix him up with the daughter of one of her country-club friends. The excuse then had been calculus tutoring, and after she’d plied the two of them with after-school snacks, she’d suggested that Kingston show the young woman his science-fair project. He’d forgotten the girl’s name, but he hadn’t forgotten the way she rolled her eyes and told his mother she had to go home because supper was in two hours.
“I’d love to see that.” Olivia’s soft-brown eyes twinkled in the candlelight.
“Superb!”
Was there a superlative his mother didn’t abuse?
“You could show her some tango steps,” Mom continued, slyly pushing the plate of strawberries in Olivia’s direction.
So much for her idea of practicing the basics with Olivia. “Sure,” he said, gesturing to his mother with a jerk of his head for her to leave.
Her brows shot up and she nodded, floating on a cloud of satisfaction as she exited the room. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Well, that wasn’t embarrassing at all.”
Olivia moved the strawberries to the center of the table. He’d noticed she hadn’t touched them. “Sunny’s teaching you the tango?”
“Yes. We were practicing that the other day at her studio. The tango will come up later in the course, so I wanted to be prepared for assisting in class.”
“Do you like dancing with her?” Olivia sipped on herginger ale, which his mother had kindly refreshed for her. The woman was an exceptional hostess.
“I do. She’s easy to dance with, obviously.” He glanced at her empty plate. “We should dance a few steps to make Mom happy,” he said. “No rush, though.”
“I’m finished.” She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin and stood, picking up her drink. “I’d like to learn the tango.”
He rose, grabbing his drink too. “Don’t expect much,” he said as they made their way to the den. “I need another lesson or two.” He walked over to an oak cabinet, set his drink on the coaster on top, and opened the doors to reveal command central for the sound system. He used an app on his phone to change the music to a tango beat, and after a second, the song played. “Sometimes the system is glitchy,” he said, closing the doors. “I think it will behave tonight.” He turned to face her.
She was standing in front of the row of windows, staring out at the backyard. He went to stand next to her. “Still okay with swimming tomorrow?”
After a pause, she nodded. “It’s about time I learned.”
Suddenly the lights dimmed in the room. Kingston shook his head. “Mom—”
“—Karen,” Olivia said at the same time. They grinned.
“I’m sure she’s spying on us somewhere.” He put his hand lightly on her waist and led her to an open space in the den. “We should have enough room here.”
“What do I do?”
The music changed from a tango to a slow jam. “I guess it’s going to glitch after all. I can change it—”
“Or we can dance to this.” She stepped toward him. “Once she sees us dancing, she can go relax.”
He took her hand. “This isn’t exactly ballroom music,” he pointed out, resting his hands on either side of her waist.
“It doesn’t matter.” She put her hands on his shoulders.
His breath caught. He’d known it was going to be difficult to ignore her allure, and he’d spent the entire afternoon and evening preparing himself for this moment. But similar to how he felt before their make-out session afterThe Quiet Man, it wasn’t just a physical attraction. Even though Olivia was used to his mother’s quirks, Mom had pushed things to the limit tonight, but Olivia had been gracious throughout the evening. She was also the most interesting woman he’d ever met—he doubted they could ever run out of topics to talk about. And even though he’d blown his chance with her, and they both agreed to seeing this stunt through, he couldn’t stop wishing that the enticing way she was looking at him wasreal.
“I’m going to pull you closer,” he said, not wanting her to feel a second of discomfort. He’d made her feel that way long enough. “Is that all right?”
She nodded, her hands moving closer to his neck. She was too short to entwine her hands behind it, but this was close enough. He drew her as close to him as he dared, and they swayed to the music. On instinct he closed his eyes as the smooth R&B singer crooned about love and... other things.
“Kingston?” she said, breaking into his trance.
