Page 81 of The First Kind of Love
Kit’s entire face drains of color when he notices the vegetative warfare dangling from his daughter’s fists. “Oh, hell no. No. You’re not getting married until I’m at least in a retirement home,” he declares.
Fulton and I just laugh, and over the course of the next few hours, we teleport around the venue, engaging in small talk and consuming a delicious spread of food. It’s night by the time I get the itch to dance, and Fulton’s on his second slice of chocolate-coconut pavlova cake.
“Will you dance with me?” I ask him, apparently having ripped him from his sugar-coated reverie.
He fails to school his bewildered expression, half of the cake falling out of his mouth and onto his plate. “What?”
“Dancing—you know, when two people move their bodies to the rhythm of music. Sometimes alone, sometimes together. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it.”
Fulton gulps thickly, cringing as he forces the rest of his dessert down. “I might be decent on the ice, but put me on land and I can barely walk without tripping over my feet. Do you really expect me to know how to dance?”
“Does this mean you don’t want to?”
“For you, Shiloh, I’d dance until my feet fell off,” he pledges, jumping to said feet and offering me his hand.
I don’t even realize that I’m being swept into his arms and onto the spacious dance floor until we’re in the middle of the mosh pit, the catchy beats of a pop song blaring into the echo chamber around us. I start to sway to the tempo, finding my footing while butterflies play a restless game of tag in my gut.
Fulton’s slower to feel the music, glancing around awkwardly like someone’s waiting to catch him in the act, so I ease him out of his head by placing his hand on my waist and pulling him closer. It’s not long before we’re dancing with each other, our bodies lightly grazing in a tango of temptation that’s making it harder for menotto drag him down to the beach for some privacy.
When he brings my backside flush against his front, I’m about to commit a morally unsound decision before Lila shimmies over to us and interrupts the moment.
“The last time I saw Aeris throwing it back like that was during a toga party our freshman year of college. And that was after a bottle of Pink Whitney,” she shouts over the music, nodding her head to the newlywed who’s, indeed, pulling some moves on her husband that I’ve never seen before.
“I have no idea how she moves like that and makes it look good,” I yell back.
Lila bumps shoulders with me. “That would be Cali’s doing. Pretty sure the girl has shown her more action than a strip club in Las Vegas.”
Reminder: contact Cali if I ever need private dance lessons to spice things up in the bedroom. Though, knowing Fulton, that won’t be a problem.
I laugh as the blonde grabs my hand and twirls me underneath her arm, and I can’t remember a time when I wasthishappy. Aside from every interaction I’ve ever had with Fulton.He makes me unsteady, but this is a kind of unsteadiness that I don’t mind.
“Speaking of action, did you guys hear that crazy crash last night? It sounded like a miniature earthquake,” she says.
I immediately stop moving and choke on air, all while Fulton’s gone as white as a ghost—and that’s saying something, considering my man is exceptionally unseasoned.
Cross acting off my list of potential careers. “Noise? I didn’t hear a noise.”
Fulton backs me with a resounding alibi. “Me neither. We must’ve…slept through it.”
Lila’s eyebrows jump to her hairline. “Must’ve been one hell of a night’s sleep.”
Fulton and I both look at each other, donning matching grins that definitelydon’tvindicate ourselves. “Oh, you have no idea.”
As the festivities stretch on into the late evening, most of the guests have trickled out, leaving behind the Reapers family and a very exhausted baby Eda. Everyone sits around one of the impractically large tables, picking at demolished leftovers or talking in hushed whispers to accommodate the sleeping child nestled against her mother’s chest.
“We’re so glad you could be here,” Aeris tells me, giving me one of her famous hugs.
I thought I was done crying for the night, but I guess I was wrong. Hayes and Aeris’ love doesn’t just extend to each other but to everyone around them. I feel it now, surrounded by the people who have become closest to me, all celebrating the roots of their homegrown bond.
“It wouldn’t have been the same without you,” Hayes adds.
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve said goodbye in person. Actually, I shouldn’t have considered leaving at all,” I apologize, guilt coagulating in the cavity of my chest.
Aeris waves me off. “Don’t be. We understand how importantfamily is. And just know that you’ll always have a place here with us, even if you and Fulton are no longer together.”
Knowing the word-for-word protest that’s about to come out of my boyfriend’s mouth, I grab his hand and reassure him with a loving squeeze, losing myself in the solace of his eyes.
“Trust me, I’m not going anywhere.”
