Page 99 of Healing Eleanor

Once I finish, I search for Nik through the haze of the rain, just to find him staring at me, his grin wide.

“That was great!” He shouts toward me.

I giggle. “It was fun!” I shout back at him.

He strides toward me, wiping away the stray hair that’s stuck to the sides of my face. “Feel’s good, doesn’t it?”

I nod, laughing despite myself.

“Do you still trust me?” He asks, voice low.

“I do,” I answer. There isn’t anything that can kill my joy right now.

He smirks, rain running down his face, his hair sticking up in a million different directions, and his shirt outlining his muscles. He is handsome.

“Have you seen Dirty Dancing?”

I blink at him through the rain. “What?”

A playful smile appears on his lips. “Please tell me you’ve seen it.”

“I… might have fallen asleep halfway through,” I confess, cheeks warming despite the cold downpour.

Nik gasps dramatically, looking at me like I’ve just shattered his heart. “That’s a crime. We’ll have to fix that later.” His voice softens, almost lost under the storm. “But right now, I think we need to try the lift.”

I blink, caught off guard. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m very serious.” He steps back, arms out, grinning like a madman. “Come on, Baby. Trust me.”

He called me Baby.

I know it’s the character’s name from the movie, but I can’t deny that hearing him say it makes my heart skip a beat all the way to space.

A few feet away, Nik bends his knees, arms out like he’s ready for anything. “Ready when you are!” he shouts.

I shake out my arms and legs, running through a million reasons why this is a terrible idea. My mother always says I need to be small if I want to be lifted in ballet. What if he thinks I’m too heavy? What if he drops me?

Then one word runs through my mind: free. Nik wants me to feel what it’s like to be free. So the least I can do is try. I run awkwardly toward him, trying not to slip on the slick pavement.

When I reach him, he grabs my hips with a firm, steady grip and lifts me off the ground.

A laugh ripples out of me. A mix between a scream and a squeal. He lifts me higher, and I flail my arms and legs in an attempt to look graceful. It doesn’t quite work. My legs angle wildly in his face, and my arms swing like I’m searching for something to grab onto.

Below me, Nik breaks into a raucous fit of laughter. “Eleanor! You’re going to knee me in the nose. Stop wiggling!”

He lowers me slowly, sliding his hands from my hips up to my ribcage as he sets me safely on solid ground. I grip his biceps for balance. When I look up, his smile covers his entire face. It makes me smile back without thinking.

His eyes dart to my lips, and I’m acutely aware of how close we are. If I lean just slightly, our lips will meet. But as fast as the thought surfaces, he steps back, holding my forearms before sliding down to squeeze my hands.

“We need to work on your jump, Eleanor,” he says with a rough, throaty rasp.

My laugh comes out breathless. “Sure, I’m the one who needs to work on it,” I tease.

He gives a rueful smile and a slight shake of his head. “Come here.” He holds out his hand.

I take it without hesitation.

Nik draws me close. One hand rests in mine, and the other slides around my back. He begins swaying us slowly, side to side. There, in the pouring rain, we dance to the rhythm of water hitting the pavement.