Page 59 of My Last Dance

“I recall I promised you a dance a while ago,” he whispered, making goosebumps skitter up and down my arms.

My mouth went dry. “You remember that?”

“I remember everything you say, Piper,” he dropped in a deep voice, making my heart hammer against my chest.

“Oh my God, I am positively swooning!” Ria burst out, making me flinch. Richard had a way of making me forget about everyone else around me.

“You have to go with him,” Paige said, elbowing me in the side.

His wolfish grin was back. “What do you say, Piper?” He backed up, still holding my hand. His brown eyes softened. “Dance with me?” he pleaded, and I was transported back to Centre Ice, back to his teen self waiting for me at the arcade game.

I knew I shouldn’t. I knew I was crossing all the lines I drew up for myself. But I followed after him anyway.

My friends started clapping, and soon the bachelorette party joined in, making me shake my head.

He was still holding my hand when we made it to the main floor.Leading me to the door, he paused. “Shit, it’s pouring out.” His eyes dipped to my shins. “You okay to run or should I call a cab?”

My heart stuttered. “Oh, I can run, we can run,” I stammered out.

“Good, I’m glad,” he said warmly, making any of my remaining anger and jealousy melt away. “Oh, shit, wait here one second, yeah?”

As soon as he dropped my hand, I missed his.

He dipped down the hallway for a minute, then came back proudly holding the zip-up hoodie he’d been wearing earlier. He held it up for me to slouch on, then carefully pulled the hood up over my hair. “Okay, keep close.” He pushed the door open and grabbed my hand again, and together, we dashed through the dark, rainy night.

By the time we pushed into a club, we were laughing and absolutely soaked.

He shook his wet hair out like a dog, making me laugh more. When he noticed me shiver, he gave me an apologetic glance. “Sorry I didn’t have a better coat for you.”

“No, this was perfect. Besides, we’ll dance to get warm, right?”

Challenge danced in his eyes as he grinned. “You bet your ass we will.”

He held a hand to my lower back as he led me through the dark bar, decorated with neon graffiti. A few people called out his name as we moved through the packed bar, which only populated more questions in my brain about his secret life.

When the busy dance floor came into sight, a jittery excitement rose in my chest.

With a grin, he lifted my hand and twirled me into the fray right as the first few cords of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” blasted through the air.

Pretty soon the two of us were jumping up and down in the strobe lights, screaming the words to the song along with the rest of the bar.

The DJ played banger after banger. “Low” by Flo Rida and T-Pain, which had the two of us competing to see who could get lower, “Right Round” by Flo Rida and Kesha, which made us twist and turn as we sang the words to each other, and “Bon Bon” by Pitbull had him grinding behind me.

He wasn’t like the frat boys I spent the last year dancing with. He didn’t crowd or negatively impact my dancing, no, it was theopposite actually. He’d grab my hand and twist me out and back into him, then spend a few beats flush against me, grinding to the beat. He matched me move for move, and he danced with the command and ego of a professional dancer.

Dancing with him felt like freedom, there were no mistakes, only the beat of the music booming in my heart and his dimples flashing. My own face hurt from smiling and laughing so hard.

It was the most fun I’d ever had on a dance floor.

He smoothed behind me to hold my hips. I tipped my head back to look at him, and we sang the chorus together, then he spun around and pulled me close so our chests were flush.

Attraction spread through my entire body. Even though it was a fast song, his hands slowly trailed down my arms until he held my hands, then he smoothed them around his neck. Someone pushed me to get through the crowd, making me bump into him, and I felt his hard length against me, making me gasp.

A sheepish grin slid on his face, and his throat bobbed with a swallow. “Sorry, told on myself, eh?”

A laugh popped out of me. I was about to make a quick joke, but the DJ interrupted me.

“For the lovebirds,” the DJ announced.

---