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“Because you’re a kind person who trusts that other people are kind too.” He leaned his head closer to her ear. “And you did tell him no.”
“Only once you showed up.”
“The important thing is that you stood up to him. It doesn’t matter when. And I never would have let him hurt you.” He pulled back to peer down at her. “It’s all okay now.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s not. He might have been an oafish jerk, but he was right about one thing. Iama terrible dancer. I don’t know why I thought I could do this.”
Luke lifted her chin to look at him. “You arenota terrible dancer. You’re not a terribleanything.”
“But I’m nothing like the rest of these people. I don’t know how to smoothly glide around the dance floor.”
“Most of these folks have been doing this for years. I only know how because they made us take a class in high school and another one in 4H. That’s how we all learned.” He tilted his head toward where Dean was circling the dance floor with Marnie.
“They make it look so easy.”
“Would you like me to teach you?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know. Part of me is just embarrassed and wants to go home. But the other part of me is trying to be brave and knows the only way I’m going to learn is to try.” Plus she loved the feeling of being in Luke’s arms and didn’t want that to end.
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Seems to me that everything you’ve done this week has been new and different. And you’ve thrown yourself into trying to learn all that. Why is this any different?”
“Because I wasn’t running fence or mucking out stalls in front of half the town.” Or with his arm wrapped securely around her waist.
He shook his head. “Oh, forget about them. Nobody’s watching us anyway.” He still held her chin, and he lifted his index finger and stroked it softly down her cheeks. His voice was just as soft, the deep cadence of it rumbling through her chest as he held her captured in his gaze. “All that matters is just you and me, darlin’.”
“Just you and me,” she repeated in a whisper.
He took her right hand in his and guided her left to his shoulder. She curled the fabric of his shirt in her fingers, somehow feeling stronger by having something to hold onto. He slid his hand under her arm and cupped her shoulder blade, completely different from the big oaf’s possessive grip on her waist.
“I’m going to teach you the two-step, but we’ll take it slow. There are only two basic steps to this one, two quick ones and two slow ones. And this dance is more of a glide, like our feet will just drift past each other. You barely even have to pick them up.” He nodded toward Dean and Marnie again. “See how they move. The two-step is just like learning to walk to the beat of the music. Exceptyouhave to do it backwards.”
He grinned down at her, and her stomach did a little flip. “That sounds easy enough.” She took a deep breath, feeling more secure, in the dance part at least, as she watched the way the other couple moved. “Just like walking backwards. To the beat.”
“You got it,” he said, taking a step forward. “I’m always gonna start with my left foot and you’re always gonna start with your right. You know why?”
She shook her head as she stared down at her feet, suddenly unable to remember which one was her right and which was left.
He lifted her chin to look at him again, and his lips curved into a mischievous grin. “Because the woman’s always right.”
She laughed and let her shoulders relax as he glided her backwards.
“It’s just like walking,” he reminded her. “We’ll just glide first, and then we’ll add the quicker step. I’ll set the pace, and you just follow along.”
He patiently moved her through the steps, again and again, until they felt more natural, and she only stepped on his feet a few times. But he didn’t seem to care.
“Quick, quick, slowww, slowww,” he said the words softly into her ear as he gracefully led her around the dance floor, his hand on her back gently guiding them around the other couples.
“We’re doing it,” she said.
“You’redoing it,” he told her, as the song came to an end. The band started another slow song, and he offered her an encouraging smile. “You did awesome. Do you want to go again?”
She smiled back at him, her courage blooming like a cluster of wildflowers in one of his fields. “Yes.”
“Good.”
This time, she felt more comfortable as she got more familiar with the steady rhythm of the steps. By midway through the song, she was really getting the hang of it and starting to enjoy herself.
Dean had switched partners and now danced with his daughter. They glided by them, and Emma let go of her dad and slipped under Luke and Kaylee’s arms. “Switch partners for one go around,” she called out.
