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“I’ll get you a new one,” I said, “Come on!”
Laughing, she followed along, and when we reached the parquet flooring where all the couples were dancing, I pulled her to me.
She was right; she didn’t have rhythm, but that didn’t matter with a good leader. I used my grip on her hand and her waist to guide her along as she made little exclamations of joy and completely butchered the words to the song.
I loved having her this close, feeling the brush of her chest over mine, being enveloped by her sweet perfume.
Sweat shimmered on her forehead by the time the closing chords played over the speakers, transitioning to a slow song. Della made to move off the dance floor, but I shook my head, taking her even closer.
My fingers intertwined over her lower back, and I leaned my temple against hers. “Let me dance with my girl a little longer,” I breathed.
Her cheek lifted against mine, indicating her smile. And she wound her hands around my shoulders, tangling her fingers in my hair as I guided her to the song’s slow, tender notes. The soft swell of her chest pressed against my front, and her toes bumped into mine as we slowly twisted our way around the floor in the best dance of my life.
An overwhelming feeling of rightness rose over me, and I kissed her temple. Her curls brushed against my cheek. I never wanted to let her go. Never wanted to be farther apart than this.
It was like holding my world in my arms. And in that moment, I knew I was gone.
I wasn’t my own anymore.
I didn’t fucking care about spare bedrooms or pink throw pillows or plushy rugs on the bathroom floor.
I cared about this. About her.
About the way she scratched her fingertips over the back of my neck and sighed against me like she didn’t want anything more.
It was the happiest I’d ever felt.
And I never knew I could feel this way with a woman.
And I’d never been more scared. Knox had warned me she didn’t have time to waste when it came to relationships.
What if she didn’t feel the same way about me?
What if she only saw me as the carefree bachelor and not as a partner, an equal?
What if I was falling for her, only for her to eventually leave me?
34
DELLA
One slow dance was all it took for my heart to pound out of my chest, to feel like I couldn’t get close enough to Hayes Madigan. To feel like I needed more of him.
So when the song faded into the next, I looked up at him and said, “Take me home?”
Like he could read my thoughts, he swallowed, making his Adam’s apple move under tatted skin. And then he nodded, linking his hand with mine.
Forget the drinks.
Forget the dancing.
I wanted Hayes Madigan. All of him.
We walked out into the cool evening air, the breeze pricking at my sweat-dampened skin. I released his hand to lift my hair off the back of my neck, and his eyes followed like he was just as captivated by me.
Once we reached the parking lot, I let my hair fall again. Because even though the breeze helped with my body temperature, my skin was still sizzling with the heat of desire. And I couldn’t hold myself back when he opened the truck door on my side.
Instead of sitting on the bench seat, I reached up and kissed him, holding on to his neck with one hand and fisting my other in his shirt.