Page 68 of Rope Me In

My eyes widen. “Then why did you ask me to the dance floor?”

He pulls me to him in a confident hold, his left hand gripping my right while his other hand takes mine, placing it on his shoulder. Then he moves his arm to my hip and places his right hand on my lower shoulder so we’re in a basic dance position.

“I told you. I need a dance partner.”

I puff out a breath. When he asked me to the floor, I thought it was to help with some dance moves or something, not just to dance with me for fun.

“Kade, we’re supposed to be working.”

He shrugs nonchalantly. “You needed a break.”

“And you thought I’d want to danceon my break?”

He chuckles and pulls me closer. “You really don’t want to slow dance with me?”

My skin sings under his playful gaze. “Kade,” I try again, though my voice isn’t chiding anymore. “I don’t want to get fired.”

“For the last time, Jake isn’t going to fire you. Especially for taking a ten-minute break.”

I huff. “You’re annoying, you know that?”

“Good. I like annoying you. Now let’s dance, Lemon.”

I try to stop the anxiety curling inside me from rearing its ugly head—not just from Kade asking me to dance but from all the women who wanted to go home with him tonight and are mentally murdering me right now.

Even though we’ve just begun to dance, I’m waiting for one of them to cut in, but I hope they don’t. Because despite how obnoxious he can be, it feels nice to be in his arms. It feels even nicer that he chose me out of all these beautiful women, ones who were literally shoving numbers in his pants all night. Theonly time I ever felt chosen was the night I met Derek, but I think that was all a lie. He was just using me. Even then—

Kade puts pressure on my shoulder and squeezes the hand he’s holding so I focus back on him. “Stop thinking,” he reminds me. “Just feel the music. Transfer your weight from foot to foot, and I’ll lead you.”

“Okay.” I exhale and start to list off things in my head, trying to clear my mind as we begin to sway to the music.Happiness, New Zealand, eggs, baseball…spanking.My cheeks flush.

He cocks his head to the side. “Where did you just go right now?” He leads me around the dance floor as we fall into step with the other couples.

“Um…well.” Heat rises up my neck. “I kind of list things off sometimes to help me when I’m anxious or nervous.”

His face brightens as if I’ve clicked something into place for him. “Is that why I thought you were talking to yourself about groceries yesterday?”

I bite my lip. “Sort of. You list things that don’t have association with each other. It helps when you’re spiraling. Sometimes, if I’m having a hard time falling asleep, I use it then, too.”

“Does it really work?”

“Most of the time.”

Kade uses the pause at the end of my sentence to push me out gently so there’s space between us then turns me under his arm. I go off-balance a little but then he pulls me back in. I fall into his chest, laughing at my clumsiness.

He smiles down at me. “Are you thinking anything now?”

I peer into his hazel irises and find myself smiling so that my eyes crinkle around the corners. “You,” I breathe out. “I’m thinking about you.”

I know I could have lied and said I was thinking about nothing, but I’m sick of lies and being fake. I just want something real.

Kade’s features relax, and he doesn’t say anything. He just pulls me closer so our bodies don’t have space between them, and I feel his lips touch the crown of my head as he lays a kiss there. I tense and try to pull back because we’re in public—and at work—but Kade is quick to stop me.

“Don’t, Presley,” he says. Begs. “Please. Just stay for this dance.”

The pleading in his voice makes me give in, letting myself indulge in the way he clutches me like I’m a slat of wood floating in the ocean, like a life raft for him to grab onto. Nobody has ever held me like this. Come to think of it, nobody has everdancedwith me like this. Or even asked me to dance. I inhale a long breath through my nose before exhaling, allowing my muscles to relax against him, to soak in his strength and to feel wanted.

“Isn’t this cute.”