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“Yeah,” he laughed, “except now it was forever. Until death do we part.”
I laughed. “That didn’t scare the hell out of you?”
“No way, you made me wait until I finished my fellowship before you would set a wedding date. I wanted to marry you at eighteen. At twenty-one. For once, you were the patient one.”
“Did that upset you?” Was he a man that pouted or shouted when he didn’t get his way?
“No. I was disappointed, but you had your reasons and I knew that as soon as I was finished, I would run back home to you. And I did. Two days early and with a ring.”
“You didn’t?”
“Oh, I did,” he said, laughing at the memory. “Got home in the middle of the night with deep-dish pizza and German chocolate cupcakes to propose to you.”
“And I said yes. Obviously.”
“Nope. You said ‘I love you, Casey, but it’s the middle of the night and I have horrible breath. Give me an hour.’” He laughed again and shook his head. “You showered and styled your hair, put on a sexy silk robe, and said you were ready. Then you said yes.”
“Wow, I made you work for it.” Was I such a difficult woman?
“Not really. I would have taken you up in a hot air balloon and done something really grand, but you told me you were a simple girl and you preferred things that showed you how much I knew you, loved and appreciated you. So, I gave you your favorite foods and the time to look how you imagined you would when I finally asked you to be my wife.”
“Damn,” I sighed. “You’re good.”
The car came to a stop in the middle of a vast parking lot. Casey killed the engine and stepped from the car before he walked around to open my door. He smiled and pulled me in close, wrapping his strong arms around me.
“When it comes to you, Megs, I always want to be better than good.” He gave me a hug that was more erotic than I knew a hug could be, and he stepped back way too soon.
I fanned my face and laughed. “Very good.”
Casey’s deep laugh sounded, and he clasped our hands together. “Come on, beautiful.”
When Casey said the words, I felt beautiful, instead of like a girl hearing a line and accepting it because she wanted to believe it. As we got closer to the main structure, loud music sounded, and I turned to him with a confused expression. “Dancing?”
He nodded. “You scared?”
“Should I be?”
He shrugged and guided me inside the country-and-western-themed bar. “Only time will tell, I guess.” The music was loud, played by a live band on a stage at the far end of the dance hall. “Drink or dance?”
I didn’t want alcohol, not yet. I wanted a clear head so I could enjoy this night. Maybe it would help me remember.
“Dance.” I extended a hand to him and he took it, dragging me to the middle of the dance floor.
I pulled back as nerves took over. “What’s wrong?”
“What if I can’t dance?”
Casey’s expression softened at the fear in my voice. “Then I’ll lead and you follow until you catch on. Easy.”
It didn’t feel easy, not at first. But the steps came to me quickly, almost like I’d been doing them my whole life. I stepped forward and back, crossed one foot over the other in a toe tap, turned twice, clapped, and did all over again—and I did it with a smile.
“Holy hell!” My eyes went wide and I looked up at Casey in disbelief. “I know how to dance, Casey!”
His smile widened and his feet never stopped moving. “You do,” he said, not even a little surprised. “I wondered if your muscle memory would take over.”
I blinked. “You knew it could happen?”
“I was hopeful, sure, but not at all certain. It’s good.”
It was better than good. It gave me hope for the first time since I woke up to a strange man staring at me. One song changed into the next and so on for five straight songs, each with a different tempo and style. I knew every line dance, when this morning I hadn’t even known there were different types of line dancing.
“Holy shit, Case! I can dance!”
He smiled down at me and bumped his hip against mine. “I need a drink.”
I followed him off the dance floor. “Do we line dance competitively or something?”
He laughed at my question. “No. We took dance lessons to celebrate my parents’ twentieth anniversary and we learned the basics. After we got married, we took all types of dance lessons together. Salsa, hip hop, ballroom, swing, and country line dancing.”
“Why did we do that?”
“You wanted to do something fun that allowed us to touch and burn calories. Your words, not mine.”
My lips pulled into a grin at that. “And you agreed?”
