Page 107 of Love is a Dance Step
He pictured Lola lying in bed beside him after playing cards, the way she laughed each time she lost. How she’d looked standing in his apartment telling him she didn’t belong to anyone, that she got to make her own choices.
“Piper.” He could practically hear the grin in Leah’s voice. “Is our little Drew realizing he’s in love right now?”
Piper studied his face, meeting his eyes with a soft smile. “Yeah, I think he is.”
Drew shook his head, reality crashing in on him. “I lost her. You guys don’t understand. Lola hates me now.”
“Impossible.” Leah sounded so sure of herself. “You, Drew Stone, are unhateable. You just have to prove it to her.”
The dressing room door opened again, and Ben popped his head in. “Hey, I’m headed out to meet Dax in the box we reserved, but some dude with a headset told me to let you know you’re on soon.”
“I’ll take that as my cue,” Leah said. “Have a good show, Drew.”
Drew stood and let Piper fix his hair. Ben left, but there was no more time for Drew and Piper to talk. They left the dressing room behind. Music surrounded them as the opener finished up his set for the crowd at Madison Square Garden.
This was home for Drew. This place, this city. He loved every inch of it. It was different from Gulf City, louder and fast paced. He needed both parts of him, the exciting and the calm, in order to make this life work.
He greeted his dancers as he joined them near the side of the stage. He’d done basic stretching, but not as much as normal and his legs felt tight. There was too much on his mind to focus.
The moment he saw her, the breath left his lungs. Lola’s dark hair hung down her bare back in ringlets and the black outfit she wore was skintight, leaving parts of her shoulders and back exposed. He wanted to reach out to her, to feel her skin beneath his fingertips.
She lifted her eyes to meet his, a quiet defiance in her gaze. Drew fought for Lola to join his tour, to become his partner, but he’d never considered everything she’d given up, everything the spotlight put her through.
From tabloid rumors to cruel dancers and everything in between.
Yet, she was here. She hadn’t given up. On the tour, on dancing. Onhim.
And that was everything.
Drew heard his name as his dancers ran out onto the stage. He extended one hand to Lola, willing her to take it, to be his partner once more.
Her eyes held more questions than answers, but she didn’t shy away. When her palm hit his, he closed his fingers, squeezing her hand. In this moment, nothing mattered but the dancing.
They’d put their feelings aside, their argument from the night before. There were no brothers standing between them, no rules.
They walked onto the stage, taking up their places among the shadows as the crowd chanted his name.
He flipped on his mic as a single spotlight found him, but he still hadn’t released Lola’s hand. “Hello, New York!”
The crowd roared.
Leah’s words came back to him.You just have to prove it to her.
But how?
He stood facing thousands of people who wanted to hear him sing, and all he could focus on was the feel of her hand in his. He needed to move. He nodded to his band leader to start the music and wrapped an arm around Lola’s waist to begin their slow steps.
His voice came out hoarse, but he pushed through it to keep going as the song picked up.
“Dance with me,”he sang.“And we’ll always be walking on rainbows, soaring across the skies.”
He focused on the feel of Lola’s skin as he ran his hands up her back, the way her step faltered when he dragged her close, melding their bodies together. It was a love story told for the fans, a show for them to swoon over.
But for Drew, it was so much more.
Each dance step amplified the feelings inside his chest.You can’t only love her when she dances, Drew. It has to be all the time. Every day.
He realized something then. Love was like the steps of a dance. Each one needed the step before it to work. It wasn’t one feeling or one moment in time. Instead, a dance was an interlocking series of movements.
