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I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea, though Mom probably did imagine something along those lines. I don’t think for one second she expected me to grow up to be anything like my father. “Probably,” I said. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Well, she’ll be disappointed to meet me, then,” Ray sighed. “Unless she’d consider my shack of a family home a castle.”
“It’s not a shack,” I laughed. “It’s a cute house. It just needs some work.”
I looked toward her, watching her expression briefly as she pursed her lips. “Dad used to do the yard work. I have no idea how to start the lawnmower or use a weedwhacker without risking cutting off a limb.”
I made a motion of holding something out away from me and laughed, feeling utterly ridiculous, but she started laughing too, cracking that icy facade just a little bit more. I’d listen to her laugh like that all night if she’d let me. I hoped she would.
I parked just outside of the studio. Ray chose to leave her coat in the car since it was such a short walk, and as I realized the full extent of her dress and how incredible she looked in it, I annoyingly found myself wishing that maybe, just maybe, she’d be my bunny. But I knew she’d never want that in a million years.
Black satin clung to her from the waist up, little straps holding everything in place. The fabric swooped down a bit where it met the tops of her breasts, inviting me to look closer and get a sneak peek at what was underneath. The lower half hugged her hips before flowing out around her. I could watch her move in it for hours, days, weeks.
But maybe not the way she moved on the dance floor.
For someone so graceful on ice, she lacked that grace on the dance floor. She kept her distance, always a beat behind and completely off-rhythm, the clacks of her heels never hitting in time. I had to fight the urge to tease her about it.
“Come here,” I chuckled, grabbing her hand as she spun and pulling her toward me. She fell into my chest, one hand holding onto mine for dear life and the other colliding with my pec. The heat of her body against mine was intense, warm and homey, with an easiness to it that felt like we’d done it a million times. “Let me show you.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide, mouth parted. “What?”
The classical song playing began to reach its crescendo. I snaked my other hand around her waist, just ghosting the top of her ass, and lifted her up onto my shoes. The little squeak she let out had my hands tightening around her. “Let me show you,” I repeated.
“Oh, okay,” she breathed, her fingers splaying out and pushing against mine before interlacing them. She held on for dear life, and although it wasn’t technically the standard way to hold hands during a dance, I left it alone.
I took the lead. Every breath I made was calculated as I looked down at her, feeling her chest pressed up against mine. I carried both of us across the floor, and even though her toes were crushing my feet, I didn’t complain or tease her. The music hit its peak, and I leaned down to her ear. “Spin for me,” I whispered.
“I don’t know how?—”
I loosened my grip on her hand and held her by the fingertips as I pushed her out from me, spinning her effortlessly. The movement was a little clunky, and as her head whipped around halfway through it, I could see the scowl she held on her face. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as I pulled her back into my chest, leaving her feet flat on the floor.
“See? It wasn’t that hard,” I grinned, leading her as we began to dance to the next song.
“It wasn’t bad.”
The scowl melted away as she looked up at me, erasing the harsh lines and leaving nothing but the softness of her skin, her bright eyes, and the barely noticeable freckles she’d attempted to cover up with makeup. I wanted the opportunity to get close enough to count them.
“Feeling a little more comfortable?”
She nodded, instinctively nestling in closer as she stepped toward me.
“It doesn’t have to be awkward,” I said quietly. “Despite your… inexperience, we move pretty naturally together. Just do what your body thinks is right.”
A blush spread across her cheeks as she turned her head, hiding her gaze from me. “My body is telling me to run,” she laughed.
Liar. I knew it in my flesh, in my bones. That wasn’t what her body was telling her at all. I knew it from the way she didn’t move away from me, the way she didn’t shy away from my chest against hers, didn’t flinch as I dropped her hand and cupped her cheek instead. She didn’t even protest when I lifted her chin, forcing those piercingly honey-glazed eyes to look at me. They could swallow me whole.
“Wade,” she breathed.
“Shh.” Adrenaline hit me then, coursing through my veins like wildfire. She looked fantastical, like something out of my most vivid dreams, and every point where our bodies touched seemed to flare with nerve endings. Ice Bunny was melting, and so was I. “Are you lying to me, Ray?”
She gulped and her lips parted, eyes dashing back and forth between mine. “Maybe.”
“How awfully uncertain,” I whispered, leaning into her until our mouths were just an inch apart, our mixed breath filling the space. I hadn’t even realized that we’d stopped moving until that moment, everyone around us keeping up to the rhythm of the classical song playing, spinning while we were standing still. I could practically taste her already, and fuck, I wanted it. I’d kill for it. “Dare me.”
Her breath wavered as she blinked, and I wondered how hard her demons were battling in her mind. I didn’t dare move a muscle. “I dare you.” The words were so quiet, so shaken that I wasn’t sure if I heard them correctly.
But I wasn’t going to waste the chance.
