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“So the lesser of two evils.” He exhales. “I get it. Things with my mom…well, you know.”
“She wants to make things right with you.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” He spins me around, then lowers me into a dip. We’re back in each other’s arms when he says, “She’s tried to make it right before. That stops when it becomes inconvenient for her.”
I hesitate, selecting my words. I stop dancing to meet his eyes. “I get that. But you could let her try again. Not for her, but for you.” I study his face. “There’s a possibility she’ll let you down again, and you’ll get hurt. But there’s also the possibility she won’t, and in that scenario, you’d have your mother. Trust me when I say it’s worth the risk.”
“I’ll take it under advisement.”
I nod, smiling. “Good.” Tired of conversation, I pull him in close, and we dance with no space between our bodies, like we’re the only ones in the room.
He puts his mouth to my ear and whispers. “That day, when Jemma asked me when I fell for you. My answer was the truth.”
I stop dancing and look at him, shocked. “The day I auditioned forUrban Dawn?”
“Yeah.” His face flushes. “I had a feeling you were going to land the part of my co-star. Which meant you were off-limits. But I couldn’t stop looking at you. The way you moved. Your voice. Your smile.”
My skin turns to gooseflesh, and a tingling hums through me. “I thought you couldn’t stand me.”
“I couldn’t stand how out of control you made me feel.”
His words knock the wind from my chest. And before I can say anything, he pulls me closer, whispering, “We’re supposed to be lovers, remember?”
“Right, we have to really sell it.” I move in and flutter out a breath as I rest my head on his shoulder. “No telling who could be watching us.”
“No telling.” He pulls away, ever so slightly. Then, his nose moves up my neck. “Would lovers do this?” His teeth graze my jaw. “Or maybe this?”
With no space between our bodies, the length of him moves with the length of me, and my entire body feels like an inferno. My lips brush his. “How about this?”
Our lips break apart, and I take a deep breath, drinking in the moment. We’re standing on this dance floor, holding each other, the candlelight casting a golden hue over everything. The surrounding room is moving, but we are still and peaceful—the sound of the music fading away.
It’s more than enough to simply be. We don’t have to talk. And it really is something out of a fairy tale—this feeling that comes over me when I’m with him.
He pulls away with a twinkle in his eye. “I’ve always had a fantasy about dancing with a barmaid.”
“You know, that’s not all that creative, Madman. I think most men have that one. It’s kind of basic.”
“I’m okay with having basic fantasies.”
I lean in. “Tell me more. Much, much more.”
His voice lowers an octave when he says, “I have another fantasy that most men have as well.”
My stomach flip flops. “Oh, really. And what is it?”
“To be inside you.”
All my body reacts: my skin tingles and my limbs weaken, and every part of me wants every part of him.
I mean, we’re in a castle for hell’s sake, but it’s not just that. Maddox just hoisted me through cow shit and helped me through a crisis. He’s been nothing but a class act on this trip. I don’t hesitate. “Then what are you waiting for?”
He pulls me in closer, his lips touching my ear lobe. “If I take you tonight, I won’t want to stop tomorrow.”
“I never say you had to.” I pull away. “And, tonight, I’m not drunk.”
He closes the distance between us, his lips touching mine. He skips the sweetness, moving his mouth hungrily over mine. His hands roam over my dress, and I don’t think we can get back to the room fast enough.
16
