Page 55 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

He gave me a half-smile. ‘I fell a lot.’

‘Did they laugh? Point fingers?’

‘No, because they were biting it worse than me.’

‘That’s all performing is… practice. You do it enough and it becomes muscle memory. The song plays and your body knows what to do.’

‘That’s kind of like an ollie. I plant my back foot on the tail, my front foot in the center. Toes lined up with the edge.’ He grabbed his board to show me. ‘Then you snap the tail and jump.’ He went into motion and I liked the confident way he held his body. He needed that same attitude with this dance. He skated back toward me and said, ‘At first the trick is hard, and you fall a lot. But now, I do it all without thinking about it.’

‘Exactly.’ I tipped my chin to the center of the gazebo. ‘Want to give the choreography another try?’

‘Only if you do it with me, because I know you’ve learned the steps too.’ He grinned.

Maybe I hadn’t been so subtle standing stage right and moving along with the kids.

‘Let’s go then.’

We stood a few feet apart and I counted off the song. Together we stepped left. Moved right. Did an intricate crossover all while trying to keep up with our singing. More than once we stumbled, tripped over our own feet, but we kept going.

Toward the end of the song, we moved to the center and we spun in a circle until the world started to tilt. He eventually let go of my hands and we both flung out to the far edges of the gazebo. Dex landed on a bench, while I careened directly into a well-built chest.

‘Why are people down there when the real show is up here?’ Ford said, gripping my waist, his fingers pressing into the thin fabric of my shirt.

‘I was… helping Dex with a little bit of choreography,’ I said, inching away from his warm touch.

He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. Dammit, I hated that my limbs tingled when I looked at him. That with his dark hair brushed back, those glasses sitting perfectly on the bridge of his nose, he was too gorgeous for words.

‘Miss Piper is really good at this. She knows all the steps.’

‘I bet she does.’ He stepped closer, the woody scent of his cologne washing over me. ‘Want to head to the dance floor and show me some moves? I could use a teacher too.’ The huskiness to his voice, and not-so-subtle innuendo, made my veins electric.

‘We still have a little more to go over here.’

Dex was already grabbing his skateboard. ‘It’s okay, Miss Piper. My mom’s expecting me for dinner and I’m already late.’

He grinned like he and Ford were co-conspirators and took off down the steps.

Ford held out his hand, his voice dropping so achingly low that I felt the timbre of it in every part of my body. The musicians transitioned from one quick song to the next, the sweet sound of the fiddle sweeping through the air.

‘What do you say, Bird? May I have this dance?’