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He chuckled because he knew that’s exactly how she’d handle it. Like a huntress.
But she also shared what she knew with anyone willing to listen. She wasn’t stingy with her information.
The first time they’d met, she’d intimidated him with her wide breadth of music knowledge. He’d been afraid to let her know he secretly listed to punk rock. He knew it didn’t fit with his perceived persona. But she wasn’t a gatekeeper and she hated it when people were.
“Music should be enjoyed. That’s the point,” she’d said. “No one gets to decide what art moves you. Just be moved.”
He was pretty sure that was the moment he’d fallen in love with her.
And he’d never stopped falling.
A few more people joined them on the dance floor and Nikki waggled her eyebrows.
“See? People love dancing. They just get scared sometimes.”
“But not you,” he pointed out and then spun her out and back.
They made a few more turns on the floor before she spoke again.
“I just know how it feels to be up there.” She nodded her head at the band. “And if I was up there, I’d want people to dance.”
She eyed his chest and shoulders. He was about to ask what she was looking at when she told him.
“Not everyone can pull off suspenders, but you manage to make it look good.” She flashed him a smile. “I don’t think I told you when I got here but you look beautiful tonight as well.”
They both chuckled and he realized what it was he’d been feeling deep in his gut.
Joy.
She had helped him find joy again.
“Did I tell you what happened in the Badlands?” he asked, a pressing need for her to know taking hold in his chest.
She shook her head. “Did you dig up a dinosaur?”
He smiled, wishing that would have even been possible. “Unfortunately, there aren’t any dinosaur bones in the Badlands.”
Her delicate frown warmed a spot inside his chest. She was disappointed on his behalf and that was so Nikki. And so not anything he deserved.
“The entire month was hot and dry and difficult,” he went on, ignoring how her reaction had made him want to fold her into his arms and never let go. “We found nothing most days. On the days we did find something, it was usually just pieces of an oreodont.”
“What’s an oreodont?” she asked.
“It’s like a camel-sheep-pig. Most of the fossils found in the Badlands are those. But one day, we found something kind of huge. At first, we thought it was just another oreodont, but the more we uncovered, the more excited we got.”
He twirled her out and back, they settled back into their rhythm. Distantly he recognized the new song but didn’t know the name.
“What’s this song?” he asked Nikki.
“‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me.’ Written by the Gershwins and made popular by Ella Fitzgerald. Now stop changing the subject and tell me about the super-sized camel-sheep-pig you found,” she answered in a hurry.
He grinned and was struck with the sudden urge to kiss her.
Nope. Don’t do that. That would be bad.
He cleared his throat and pretended like he was trying to remember where he’d been in his story.
“The more we uncovered, the more I began to suspect—to hope, rather—that we’d found something quite massive.” He glanced down at her. Her attention was fixed on him. She wasn’t bored with his story or trying to change the subject.
