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“How are you doing?” I turned toward my sister and smiled, hoping I was fast enough so Cade didn’t see me staring at him. Olivia had been in a pissy mood since we’d been in Holden’s room.
“I’m fine.” She lifted her cocktail and took a drink.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cade stand and stalk toward me.
Please don’t stop. Please don’t talk to me.
He came around the table, and I couldn’t see him, but I didn’t have to. The air crackled and popped with an energy I only ever felt when he was near me.What are you doing Cade?
“Can I have this dance?” His hand extended past my shoulder, his knuckles brushed lightly against my skin, and I inhaled a sharp breath.
My heart raced a mile a minute. After all this time, Cade still affected me. If he persisted, I would not be able to resist him. Or more like, I wouldn’t want to resist him.
“Please don’t do this,” I told him in a low voice, while I remained facing forward. Despite how my body heated and my core sizzled, I had to appear aloof toward him.
My mother and his watched us from across the way. Every pair of eyes were on us. I was reminded of the first time Cade danced with me at a community event. We’d never hidden our close friendship or when we became a couple, so the town knew we were together. But dancing and kissing publicly had been a big deal. And it would be a massive statement if I took his hand and followed him to the dance floor.
“Do what? Ask an old friend to dance?”
Butterflies broke out in a frenzy in my stomach. “My boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate me dancing with my ex.”Don’t look at him, don’t look at him.
“It’s just a waltz.” His knuckles grazed my bare shoulder again. The late September day had warmed to the mid-seventies, so I hadn’t worn the black cardigan I’d brought to go with my yellow sleeveless blouse. I regretted not putting it on.
“She’s afraid Jake will lose his shit,” Oliva not so helpfully said.
“She can dance with him if she wants.” Jake appeared and dropped into his chair beside me. “Go have a good time.”
Oh, shit!“No. I’ll stay here.” I turned to smile at Jake but had his phone out and didn’t seem interested in me.
“It’s just one dance.” Cade pulled my chair out, took my hand, and led me to the center of the tent.
I acted normal so not to cause a scene, but I knew how bad this was and I hated Cade for putting a spotlight on me… On us.
His warm hand sent goose bumps up my arm. It didn’t help that I heard soft gasps and whispers.
Or that his cologne wrapped around my throat and choked me in the best possible way.
Or that he looked so fucking hot in a pair of worn-out jeans, a tight-fitting T-shirt and his black Stetson. If I wasn’t freaking out, I’d lower my gaze to his feet to see if he was wearing a pair of snakeskin boots.
He stopped and faced me. Our joined hands raised, and he splayed his free one on my lower back. I put mine on his shoulder and flowed right into doing the two-step.
Except the Brad Paisley song ended, and a slow song started.
“Why are you doing this?” I whisper-shouted as we swayed to the music. “If you’re trying to break up Jake and me, you don’t have that kind of power.” Lightning would surely strike me down for lying.
Suddenly the lyrics registered, and I just might die.
Was it a coincidence that “If I Didn’t Love You” played or had Cade requested it? Was the song selection what Travis and he were talking about? I’d always like Carrie Underwood. Cade knew it too. But it would shock the hell out of me if Cade had picked the Jason Aldeen song because it had made him think of me the way I thought of him. Maybe I was making something out of nothing.
“I wanted to talk to you and figured none of us would cause a scene with so many watching.”
“You are causing a scene.”
His mouth twitched as he held back, smirking. “What can I say? This is the only way I could get you alone.” His hand heated my back, burning right through my clothing. Like always, he weakened my defenses and melted me.
“What do you want to talk about?” I felt faint as I stared into his penetrating blue depths. To be breathing the same air as Cade again, touching him, and our body heat mingling, reminded me of what I’d given up. And what I never felt with Jake.
“How are you really, Honeybee?”
