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Renee popped back into my vision. “Hey, are you okay?”
I looked down at her and blinked.
She smiled. “I thought I lost you there for a minute.”
I swallowed back my feelings and gave her my best smile. “All good. Let’s do this.”
Renee was actually a decent dancer. Her body moved with the grace and comfort of somebody who was used to being on display. The curious eyes that tracked our dancing didn’t seem to rattle her. She didn’t shrink back against the whoops and hollers when I spun her and dipped her low. When I led her around the dance floor, she would move her body in a way that drew her own attention.
We ended the song with a dramatic spin, and her leg hiked high on my hip. Claps erupted around us, and she drank it up.
When the song faded and one of Annie’s favorites came on, I dropped my arms and—shit—there she was walking through the door of the Grudge with Aaron right behind her.
I tipped my head in their direction. “Hey, there’s Annie and her date. Let’s grab a drink.”
Renee smiled, breathless. “Sounds great.”
We headed off the crowded dance floor, and as we approached, I tipped my chin to Aaron. “Hey, man, what’s up?”
He grinned, his eyes flicking toward Annie. “It’s great, man. Really good.”
My eyes shifted to Annie. “Hey.”
Her smile lit up, and her lashes swooped over her high cheekbones. “Hi.” She looked around the Grudge. “I love this song.”
I tipped my head toward the dance floor. “You want to?”
She looked toward her date, and Aaron shrugged. “Fine by me.”
Her gentle eyes shifted back to mine. “Thanks.”
We walked to the dance floor, a walk we’d done a thousand times before. Confident. Comfortable and familiar.
Back in middle school, we had been forced to learn two-step and line dance in PE. Annie and I had been partnered up, and we quickly found out that we were a great match when it came to dancing.
I appreciated her subtle flair, but she could also read my cues, like when I wanted to shift sides or pull her into a spin or change it up a bit.
Annie was always right there with me.
The song played on around us as I stopped and held my arms out for her. She slipped in like we were two lonely planets pulled into each other’s orbit.
Without a word, we started moving. The twangy chords of the song flowed over us, and my heart thunked beneath my ribs. I looked down at her, her eyes sparkling with familiar joy as we swayed together.
I pulled her close to me, wrapping my arm around her waist. The heat of her body radiated against me, and her breath tickled my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I lost myself in the music and the moment, and everything around me dulled and faded away.
I closed my eyes and let myself sink into the sensation of holding her. Reveling in her in a way I had never allowed myself before. The silkiness of her hair brushed against my cheek, and the subtle, delicate fragrance of her shampoo filled my nose as we moved in perfect rhythm. Her laughter blended with the song as I led her around the floor. Her soft voice hummed along to the music.
I twirled and she spun. We laughed and sang the bridge aloud. Her curves molded to my hands. Her breasts pressed into my chest, and it hit me that, tonight, dancing with her felt entirely new.
Different.
I dipped her low, my arms supporting her upper back. And she beamed a smile at me as I righted her. Like always, we maneuvered around the other couples on the dance floor. Some as skilled as us and others simply swaying back and forth to the music. But together we moved, owning the entire dance floor as if there were no other people out there.
When the song ended and slowed to a moody country ballad, I held her in my arms. I looked down at her sea-blue eyes, unable to break the connection. Annie’s breaths came out in pants from the exertion, and my mind wandered to dark and devious places of what those pants would sound like under different circumstances.
“Renee seems nice.” I watched as Annie swallowed and the muscles in her neck worked. “Lark said she was pretty, but wow, she’s really stunning.”
Yeah, well, she’s not you.
