Page 28 of Sweet Devotion

He shrugged. “You were drawn to the poster, so you must like old musicals too?”

“I do.” She bobbed her head. “Both my mother and grandmother loved old MGM musicals. I’ve probably seen them all.”

“I bet this would look great on the wall of your new therapy space.”

Though it made no sense, his thinking about how to blend her love of music to decorate her new therapy location made her heart swell.

“Look,” his arm straight, his finger waved toward the back wall, “I think I see more.”

Sure enough, stacked about twenty feet away was a whole stock of movie posters, and to his surprise, most were very reasonably priced. The next thing he knew, they were storing four framed posters. The first they’d found, a black and white from an Astaire, Rogers movie, the classic Donald O’Conner, Gene Kelly, and Debbie Reynolds in Singing in the Rain, and the last one had Colleen squealing like a kid who got everything on her Christmas list. “This is my absolute favorite.”

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He had to agree, great dance routines. “Did you know the choreographer for this movie was in It’s Always Fair Weather.”

“Really?” She patted the posters as if she were tucking a young child into the back seat.

“Really.” At that, his stomach reminded him that they’d gone well past the noon hour. “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little hungry.”

“Good,” Colleen rubbed her hands together, “cause after all this bargain shopping, I’m starving.”

Aiden raised his arm and pointed across the street. “Want to take your chances with the world’s happiest honky tonk?”

Grinning, she shrugged. “They actually have pretty decent food there.”

“You’ve been before?”

“It’s an easy stop when shopping.” She leaned into him and lowered her voice. “The food at the diner is just awful. I think their chef is left over from the Korean war. At least his food tastes like he is.”

That had them both chuckling. Standing at the curb, he didn’t know why, but without thinking he shot his hand out to help her cross the street. As if she needed help. But, to his delight, not only did she accept it, but she didn’t show any signs of letting go. And wasn’t that one of the nicest things to happen to him in a very long time.

It was all she could do not to squeal like a teenager. Not only did he take hold of her hand, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of letting go. As his physical therapist, mixing business and pleasure with a patient was never a good idea, but right now, she simply didn’t care. She was downright giddy.

The smile tugging at the corners of her lips felt impossible to contain. She’d held plenty of hands in the course of her work, steadied plenty of patients, offered support in all the practical, professional ways a physical therapist should. This was not that. This was a man she found entirely too fascinating taking her hand to cross a street as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The even more startling part was how right it felt.

The honky tonk looked like the sort of place that had seen more boots than brooms. Weathered wood front, neon beer signs in the windows, and a painted fiddle over the door that had probably looked brighter twenty years ago. Inside, the dim lighting made it easy to forget the bright sun outside. The air felt dramatically cooler and thick with the smell of grilled onions, beer, and sawdust. A few men occupied stools at the bar, and in the far corner a small raised platform told her that at least once in a while, a live band played. Today, they were treated to whatever tunes came from the vintage juke box tucked into a corner. At the moment she recognized the expected country tune encouraging listeners to dance when given the chance.

Aiden released her hand to slide into a booth. Instantly she missed the warmth of his palm in hers. The waitress brought menus, glasses of water and a smile that promised good food. Within minutes, the two had placed their orders and Colleen found her surprisingly lacking anything to say to Aiden. Normally they could chat about all sorts of things to pass the time, but today, things felt different. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she was delighted when the waitress appeared a few moments later with plates of food on a massive tray.

First bite and she could have sworn that Aiden’s eyes almost rolled back in his head.

She did her best not to smile at the response.

“This,” he waved his fork at this dish, “is fantastic.”

“Wait till you taste their desserts. They make a blueberry bread pudding with vanilla cream sauce that will make your mouth water until next Tuesday.”

Chuckling, he nodded. “Guess I’d better leave room for bread pudding.”

The tables began to fill up as they ate. Some folks here to eat, others seated at scattered tables around the dance floor were clearly here early for the music. A familiar tune by Rascal Flats played overhead and she noticed Aiden’s toe tapping. Apparently the man’s musical interests were broad enough to include popular country. When he finished his last bite, another familiar tune played and Aiden’s focus shifted from food to the people slowly filling the dance floor, and then it came. She’d forgotten about the free dance lessons on the weekend. The DJ made the announcement and the sparsely filled dance floor was suddenly crowded.

From the look on Aiden’s face, he was probably thinking the same thing she was—where did all these people suddenly come from. As the music played a little louder and the DJ gave direction to the group over the microphone, Aiden’s gaze followed the people circling around the wooden floor doing their version of the two-step. “You dance?”

“Excuse me?” She wasn’t expecting that.

“Do you like to dance?”

She paused, debating how to respond, considering if this was curiosity or an impending invitation. And if it was an impending invitation, how would his hip handle it?

“Was the question that hard?” He smiled.