"I've seen pictures. Cheeks puffed out, eyes bulging, face red. It's not a good look."
"Maybe you should watch videos, then, because it looks pretty good to me," Briana disagreed mildly, then glanced into her drink and mumbled, "I make them."
"Make what? Videos? God, do you have any free time at all? What kind of videos? Like music vi?—"
"Saxophones!"
Laurie broke off at the interruption and blinked at her. "You…make…saxophones?"
"And…yeah. And flutes, not Renaissance flutes but standard ones, or at least I'm working on those, anyway, and…yeah," Briana mumbled. "I weld and smith, you know? And I found out a while back that there's a market for custom made brass instruments. I thought that was cool, so I started taking classes. I just recently sold my first one."
"Dude." Laurie sat back in the booth, eyes wide. "Dude, that's amazing! You made—can I see one? Can Iplayone?"
Briana felt heat climbing up her face and gave first her drink, then Laurie, a shy smile. "Yeah, I don't know why not. It's actually—it's fascinating," she all but whispered. "The differentmetals you can use, the different sounds you get from the different metals?"
"Yeah," Laurie said longingly. "I dream of owning a bronze sax someday. They've got crazy depth of sound. But they're expensive. But you probably know that! Do you play?"
"No, no wind instruments. I can just about plunk something out on a piano, but I'm not really musical. You, though. Your brother plays the lute, right? Is your whole family musical? I know you play Renaissance flute and tin whistle and now I know you play the sax. How many instrumentsdoyou play?"
"Regular flute, too, and I can play pretty much any recorder-style instrument. I can make some noises with trumpets."
Briana laughed. "Ican make noises with trumpets. They're just not nice noises."
"Basically that." Laurie grinned at her, though it softened into a smile. "You're amazing. A smith, a mountain climber, and a luthier."
A snort of amused confusion escaped her. "A what?"
"A luthier is somebody who makes instruments. I think technically it's somebody who makes stringed instruments, but the minstrels at the Faire just use it to mean somebody who makes any kind of instrument." The music changed to something slower, and Laurie cast a glance at the dance floor before looking back at Briana almost shyly. "Would you care to dance, Madame Luthier?"
"Well, you did ask me to 'the dance,' so it seems silly not to." Briana drank most of her ginger ale in one bubbly gulp, erupted in an enormous burp as she stood, and sank back down into the booth with her hands over her face. "Or I could do that."
Laurie's laugh drowned out her embarrassment. He stood, offering his hand, and Briana mumbled, "Excuse me," but took it, letting him lead her to the floor as he continued to snicker. Once they were there, though, his laughter faded and a look ofuncertainty came over his face as he clearly debated where he should try putting his hands.
Briana took them and put them on her waist, muttering, "If you can face risking another burp like that, anyway," and then shivered almost violently as his fingertips brushed the bare skin at the small of her back.
Laurie tightened his grip a little, like he was trying to make himself not jerk away apologetically, then brushed a fingertip down her spine just where his touch had landed. "This dress," he said in a low, half-agonized voice. "Jesus, Briana."
Heat soared through her and she blushed again, though she also glanced up with a nervous smile. "Yeah? I thought it might be…I don't know. Too much. I don't wear dresses very often."
"I promise you," he said in a low, intense voice, "it is exactly the right amount of much. You look incredible. You have the most fantastic shoulders. And biceps. Not to repeat myself, but Jesus, Briana."
"I had to step up a little," she said wryly. "I mean, I'm trying to compete with a Torben, here. Or complement one."
"Complement," Laurie said instantly. "No need for competition here. Also, you'd kick my ass if wewerecompeting."
"Flattery will get you…somewhere," Briana allowed, and Laurie positively lit up.
"That's an improvement!"
"Yeah," she said, amused. "Yes, it is. Now let's shut up and dance."
"As you wish."
And that, Briana thought, even right then in the moment, was probablyit, for her. That was the last of her defenses melting away. Laurie very carefully tucked her a little closer, and she nestled up against his chest, arms around his neck and her eyes closed for long moments as they drifted with the music, even when it changed to something more up-tempo. It felt right andcomfortable and—no point in denying it—heated and sexy to be pressed up against his body, to be in his arms, to feel his fingertips light against her spine. She mumbled something, not expecting to be heard over the music, but she'd forgotten about shifter hearing, and felt Laurie duck his head to murmur, "Hm?" against her hair.
"That line from that movie. Relationships built on intense experiences don't work out, or something like that. The landslide was a pretty intense experience."
Laurie stopped dancing entirely and took a quarter of a step back so he could actually look at her. "Briana. Do you remember what the next line in that movie is?"
