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I’m not proud.
But it happened.
And we’ll never speak of it again.
We went through the chorus a second time, and I tried to ignore the way Colton’s hand in mine kept sending shivers up to my elbow. But then I glanced at him and he was watching me with the most amused, affectionate grin. I couldn’t look away. From that point on, the whole thing became a competition between us: who could wiggle lower, flap faster, snap harder.
He definitely knew how to challenge a girl.
I was laughing so hard I didn’t notice Beau had completely deserted us to run off and play with the flower girl until the song ended.
Beyond embarrassed to realize I’d been dancing alone with Colton for a good thirty seconds or more, I started to slink off the floor, cupping my hands to my mouth. But a new song started, making Colton catch my elbow.
“Hey! The Macarena.”
“Oh, hell no!” I laughed and pulled back, except the crazy man wouldn’t let go. “Colton!” I shrieked.
The Macarena was already starting, so I just dragged him away with me, laughing as I went.
“Boy, you’re lucky you got the last song out of me. Besides, after the Chicken Dance, I need alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. And something a hell of a lot stronger than champagne.”
He grinned and tugged on my fingers, changing directions. “I can help you with that. This way, my lady.”
JULIANNA’S CHAPTER | 4
After dancing, my heart was beating a little faster and my skin felt flushed. And I really did need that drink because my mouth was bone dry.
I was relieved that Colton was a resourceful kind of guy. He knew exactly where the open bar was located, and bless him, he took me straight there. Once we each had a plastic cup in hand, he set his free palm on the small of my spine to escort me back to my table, which felt…nice, actually.
But a guy waiting in the back of the line for the bar pointed at us. “Yo, Colton. That’s just pop, right?”
I recognized the man as being a groomsman. There’d been two—the wedding pamphlet had named them Noel Gamble and Oren Tenning. Since this guy looked Brandt-ish, I figured he was Noel, which would make him Colton’s big brother.
Lifting his cup as if in cheers, Colton answered, “Of course.”
I glanced at him, frowning slightly and trying to remember what he’d ordered for himself. Had it only been cola? I wasn’t sure.
“You were drinking champagne earlier,” I suddenly remembered.
He shrugged as he took a sip from his cup. “They let me since I had to make the toast.”
“Oh.” I nodded in understanding. That made sense. As we approached my table, I drank from my own Crown and Coke. “You know, that toast you gave actually didn’t suck.”
With a gasp, he clutched his chest. “Holy shit, is that a compliment? From the Julianna Radcliffe?”
“What?” I sniffed, a little hurt. “I can give a compliment.”
“Yeah. Just not to me.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but damn...was he right? I tried but couldn’t think of a single time I’d complimented him or even said a polite thing in his direction. Damn, how utterly bitchy of me. Feeling crappy about that, I blurted, “Well...the way you tricked me onto the dance floor was evilly genius. Well done there.”
He snickered. “Damn, girl. Slow down. Too much more praise from you and you’ll convince me you’re in love with me or something. I mean, not that I’d blame you, but—”
“Oh, shut up...jerk.” I shoved at his arm only to chase it with a laugh.
When I rolled my eyes, he chuckled too and fell into the chair he’d been sitting in earlier across from me. No one else who’d been assigned to sit at my table was there. In fact, they’d never shown up at all. The only items that had been used at their seats were their champagne glasses, which I’d drank from, one after another, when the server had come around to fill them for the toast: the witty, clever, sweet, endearing toast Colton had given.
When I sat in the seat next to him and not the one I’d been sitting in earlier all the way across the table, he glanced at me pointedly with lifted eyebrows.
