Page 39 of Sweet Devotion

Standing near the edge of the room in dress blues he hadn’t worn since before his injury, Aiden tugged once at his cuff. The uniform still fit. Maybe a little better than it had a month ago. His hip still ached from the day, but not enough to ruin the night. That in itself felt like something worth celebrating.

“Man, you clean up good.” Kade’s voice came from behind him, easy and amused, and Aiden turned to find his former staff sergeant one arm already around his wife. Seeing the man on a weekend pass from base, standing there looking more husband than soldier, made something in Aiden’s chest loosen.

“So do you,” Aiden answered.

Kade looked down at himself. “My wife insisted.”

“I did no such thing.” Cassie smiled up at her husband. “You were already planning to show off.”

“Also true.”

Aiden shook his head. It still amazed him how many of the Sweets looked at each other like they’d invented love and no one else had caught on yet. Kade and Cassie. Preston and Sarah Sue. Carson and Jess. Rachel and Jim. Even Clint and Alice.

A moment later, something inside him shifted and he knew Colleen had arrived. She came in at her mother’s side, her hair swept up soft and elegant, a few strands left free around her face. The dress she wore wasn’t flashy. It didn’t need to be. Deep blue, simple lines, something about the way it fit made him suddenly understand why men in old movies forgot how to speak when the heroine walked in.

“You all right there, buddy?” Kade’s voice held barely suppressed laughter.

Aiden cleared his throat. “Fine.”

“Uh huh.”

He ignored that. Or tried to.

Colleen spotted him a second later and smiled. Just smiled. And somehow that did more damage than the dress.

By the time she crossed the room, greeting family and friends as she went, he had himself more or less under control. More or less.

“Well?” At his side now, her eyes were bright with amusement. “What do you think?”

“You look beautiful.” It took every ounce of effort to spit out those three little words.

A little color rose in her cheeks, and that pleased him more than it should have.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

The banquet moved at an easy pace. Aiden listened to the speeches, clapped where appropriate, even smiled through a slideshow of football improvements and future goals. But what he remembered most was the way Colleen leaned in now and then to murmur a comment, or how her shoulder brushed his when they both reached for the breadbasket at the same time. By the time the tables were cleared and the trio onstage shifted into slower music, the whole room felt lighter. Freer. The formal part done.

Aiden stood and held out his hand. “Dance with me.”

A smile touched her lips. She put her hand in his, and together they moved out onto the dance floor where half the town already swayed in soft circles under the lights. The first slow turn felt as natural as breathing.

“How is your hip holding up after all the ruckus today?”

“It’s fine.”

She tilted her head just enough to let him know she doubted the word.

“Better than fine,” he corrected.

“That’s good.”

They moved in easy silence for a few seconds, not needing anything more. Around them, couples drifted slowly across the floor. Near one side of the room, Kade danced with Cassie, his head bent toward hers. Beyond them, Alice and Clint looked like they had been together since forever and not something new. Aiden glanced down at Colleen at the exact moment her gaze lifted to his.

Right here, in the middle of the dance floor, with the whole room warm and glowing around them, with music curling soft and sweet through the air, he slowly bent his head, his lips barely brushing hers before pressing harder, sweeter into the perfect kiss. Soft. Sweet. Certain.

When he lifted his head, her eyes were still closed. Her hand had tightened just a little on his shoulder. His mouth curved. “We really do make a good team.”

The words lingered between them as surely as the kiss still lingered on her lips. For one suspended second, Colleen simply stared at him. The music swayed softly around them, the gym lights glowed against the blue and silver decorations, and somewhere at the edge of the room someone laughed, but all she could hear was the echo of his voice and feel the brush of his mouth against hers.