Page 31 of In Full Bloom

I put my hand in his and feel a ripple of heat pass through me as he gently closes his calloused fingers around it. I step closer and he slides an arm around mywaist.

“Warning you,” he says against my ear. “I cannot dance like Flynn can.”

I want to laugh, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he made me laugh, so I keep it in. Instead, I focus on the way he holds me against him, our bodies not exactly pressing together, but touching all the way up.

This is a terrible idea.

It reminds me far too much of the first night and what his hands felt like on my waist then, when he lifted me so I was straddling his lap.

It reminds me of the way those calloused hands roamed over my skin, from my waist to my breasts and down to the curve of my ass. The way he fitted his hand against the side of my neck and brushed his thumb across my mouth.

It reminds me of how he kissed me against the wall, trapping me with his hot hard body as he pressed it into mine.

A wave of lust and desire crashes over me and after a quick scan of the room to check Flynn and Olivia aren’t paying us any attention, I grab Dallas’s hand and pull him into the darkened space between the end of the bar and the jukebox. There’s a short hallway that leads to a storeroom and probably an office or two.

I don’t know what my plan is, and as far as terrible ideas go, this one blows everything else out of the water.

“What’re you—” Dallas starts to say, before I yank him into me and he cuts himself off. I press my back against the wall and his arm comes to rest beside my head as his body crowds mine. It’s so reminiscent of the first night we met that my knees go weakfor a moment.

Dallas is finally looking at me.

I press my hands against his chest, slide one higher to curl around his neck and catch in the soft strands of hair at the nape of his neck.

His free hand comes to rest on my side. He licks his lips and looks at me like he wants to devour me.

I lean forward, push up on my toes and reach towards him.

My mouth is an inch from his. His grip tightens on my hip.

“Katie,” he breathes. “No.”

16

DALLAS

My two simplewords break the spell like a hammer shattering glass.

I know what Katie wants and I want part of it too, but on different terms. I’m certain of it.

I want to be clear before we do yet another thing that’s going to mess with everything else.

Katie goes rigid under my hands. She recoils from me and immediately tries to duck under my arm to get back to the main room.

“Katie,” I say.

“Sorry, just forget tonight ever happened,” she says.

“Katie, wait.” I don’t know what I’m going to say or why I so desperately need her to stay, but I know that her walking away from me right now isn’t the right thing. I need to make this okay before I let her out of my sight.

She sighs and leans against the wall. I haven’t been able to look at her all night, but now it seems like the roles are reversed.She stares at the toes of our boots: hers, an incredible pair of thigh high ones with towering heels; mine, a clean replica of the boots I wear on the farm every day.

Two pairs of boots, two completely different lives.

“We had a deal,” I say. “One time. No repeats, no do-overs.” I don’t say the last part out loud.

Especially no feelings.We don’t need to look too closely at that part of the rule, especially when I’m on the verge of breaking it.

“I know,” she says.

---