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He looked down at his fingers gripping the walker. “Um, I don’t …”
“Please?”
Was there anything he wouldn’t give her if she asked?
Very slowly, he took his trembling hand off the walker and lost a little height when his legs braced for balance. She put his left hand on her right shoulder and brought her left hand around behind him, tightening her arm against his lower back to support him. Her right hand found its way behind his neck.
“Okay?”
He nodded.
“Don’t worry about the right steps. They’ll come to you. Just trust your partner.”
Very slowly, they swayed back and forth.
“Dancing is reacting,” she said. “Dancing is being so in tune with the world around you that your movement is a response. A contribution.”
All he could do was cling to the warmth of her body, the warmth in her eyes.
“I’m going to take a step back,” she said softly, “and you’ll step forward. Keep your eyes on mine, okay? I’ve got you.”
She stepped and he followed, certain he would fall.
“Perfect.” Her smile almost made him cry. “We’re going to go to your right, and then I’ll step forward and you’ll step back. Eyes on me.”
He followed, heart lurching with every step, eyes locked on hers.
“You know you’re one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen?” she said.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I can’t do what you do.”
“Really?” She held his gaze. “Because we’re dancing now. Without the walker.”
He chanced a startled gaze to his left, where the walker stood empty. When he looked back at her, he had tears in his eyes.
She said, “You make me better too, Nick. Thank you for dancing with me.”
He was suffused with warmth, speechless. He needed to tell her, but the words wouldn’t come, weren’t there. He needed to make her understand what she’d just done, what it meant, and he was running out of time, because she was leaving, and oh God, this was a goodbye dance, a parting gift, and he would never get to stand in her arms and feel her warmth again.
He kissed her.
He didn’t remember deciding to do it, didn’t remember moving his hands to pull her in, only knew it when their lips met and he tasted sweet lip gloss. Her mouth opened in a surprised gasp under his, and her fingers tightened against his neck. She wasn’t kissing him back, but she wasn’t pulling away either, and the soft touch of her lips both charged him and calmed him—he felt like he could conquer the world, but he didn’t need to anymore. He had just enough time to want to taste her forever before he leaned into her, lost his balance, and overcorrected. His back hit the wall.
Hayley looked dazed. “Nick …”
Oh God. Oh no. He reached for the walker and pivoted. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
He couldn’t look at her. “Sorry. I’m drunk.”
“Hey.” He felt her hand on his shoulder as he stepped into his personal cage. “Nick, sweetie, it’s really okay.”
“Don’t call me that,” he said hoarsely. “I’m not your sweetheart or your baby. I’m nothing.”
He swung around, and the pity in her eyes broke him. She was going to be nice about this, just like all the other girls who didn’t want anything to do with him.
He said, “You know I would’ve asked you out, right? If you didn’t have Kevin, I would have asked you out.”
