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Somehow, it feels like it’s just me and her.

And I could dance with her for a thousand fucking years if it meant I got to stay this close and see her like this.

A shoulder bumps into mine.

I look behind me and find Dex awkwardly attempting the same steps, a knowing look plastered across his face.

I give him my best fuck off stare.

His smile turns evil.

“Drooling again!” he yells over the music.

Lexy slaps his arm. “Leave him alone!”

Dex rubs his arm and gives her his best chastised-puppy look.

I laugh out loud at their antics.

When I turn back, Nora has stopped dancing.

She’s staring at my mouth.

Fuck.

Her eyes snap up to mine the second she realizes I caught her.

“You rarely laugh like that,” she says.

I’m still smiling.

“I like this side of you, Grumpy.”

I shrug, then lean down until my mouth is close to her ear so she can hear me over the music.

“You look…”

A million words come to mind. Beautiful. Wonderful. Ethereal. Mesmerizing. Abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous.

But none of them feels as important as the one I finally choose.

“Alive.”

Her dark eyes search mine.

“I feel alive,” she whispers.

“Good.”

Her smile is softer this time.

“Oh my God! The Macarena!”

Chiara’s scream breaks whatever the hell just happened between us.

And that is how I, Jude Hawthorne, also known as the man who never participates in this kind of shit, find myself learning the fucking Macarena while the other four idiots laugh at me.

Halfway through, I catch Lexy holding up her phone.