Page 9 of Away We Go

Unfortunately, the man in question was Nicolai Dimitrios,the Nicolai Dimitrios,who rarely makes it home for a visit, so the line of people wanting to get a piece of him was a mile long. It wasn’t until the bridal party were invited to take their places on the dance floor with the bridal couple that I’d gotten my chance to talk to him.

The emcee had just called us up onto the floor and I’d been looking around to find Dave, the groomsman I’d been paired with for the day, only to see Nicky standing in front of me, offering me his hand with a grin that had even my Nanna swooning.

“Dance with me?”

I looked around, equal amounts thrilled and terrified. When I’d envisioned myself talking to Nicky this evening, it had never involved his hands on me.

“Please?”

I floated into his waiting arms, my heels taking the top of my head just up to his chin.

“You look beautiful tonight.”

My feet faltered, landing on one of his in response. “Sorry,” I cringed, pulling back and hoping for death.

He laughed, his big hands tightening on my hips, urging me back closer to his chest.

“I barely felt a thing,” he said, his lips twitching in the face of his blatant lie. I’d caught his wince; my heel went right into his foot.

Wonderful.

“Nicky.” I bypassed the foot-stomping incident altogether and pressed on with my planned speech. “Thank you for giving me a spot on your team. I won’t let you down.”

This was another lie. There was a very big chance I’d let him down. If I were to believe Troy, which I struggled not to do, screwing up was all I seemed capable of doing these days.

His eyes drifted over me, taking in the long, expertly styled curls tumbling down my back, a back that was bare thanks to the sexy but subtle halter neck dress the bride had chosen for me. She’d picked it because she knew royal blue worked well with my red hair and blue eyes, and standing here now, with Nicky’s appreciative gaze roaming all over me, I was grateful she wasn’t a Bridezilla determined to make herself look better by making her bridesmaids look terrible.

“I know you won’t,” he responded to my vow, and I breathed a sigh of relief. If he believed in me, maybe all was not lost.

“And I won’t get in the way. You won’t have to worry about me.” I knew from Matt that Nicky had had reservations about me joining the team, and I was desperate for him to know that I could do this. That I was an adult who could take care of herself. “You won’t notice me at all; it will be like I’m not even there.”

“Impossible.”

My eyes snapped up to his, unsure I’d heard his whispered word correctly. He was gazing at me intently, his eyes painstakingly taking inventory of my face, finishing on my lips where they stayed. I licked my suddenly dry lips and watched his gaze darken as his head inched down closer to mine.

What. Was. Happening?

“And now, can we ask you all to join the bridal party on the dance floor?”

His head jerked back, and I swayed towards him. He swallowed hard, his eyes looking anywhere but at me, and I cursed the emcee with every piece of my soul. Had he not spoken in that moment, this gorgeous man who was now holding me at a distance like I had the plague, was going to kiss me.

Wasn’t he?

“Um,” he cleared his throat and took another step away until we were barely touching hands. “It will be great having you on the team.”

I nodded, wanting to move back closer to him, to feel his body against mine, but knowing the moment had passed. Whatever spell had been cast over us was gone, and he was back to seeing me as his best friend’s little sister.

“Yes, great.” I shook my head and watched him take another step back. At this rate, he’d be in a different time zone by the end of this dance.

“Yes.”

We danced the rest of what became the longest song in the history of the world, with Nicky looking anywhere but me and me looking at the floor. It was only when the next song started and we knew the torture was over that he stepped in closer and brushed his lips against my cheek—I may have had a mini-stroke in the process.

“I’ll see you soon, Cherry,” he murmured into my ear, his long legs taking him as far away from me as possible, where he stayed for the rest of the evening.

And that was it. One small moment that ebbed and flowed in significance in my mind. There had been times over the last month when I was convinced that he was going to kiss me that night, and then I’d see him on Instagram with a supermodel on his arm and I knew I was mistaken. He was an athletic God worshipped by millions and I was just a girl from a small town who got dumped by Troy the Ordinary. We don’t exist in the same universe.

“You ready?”

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