Page 33 of Until I Own You

Happy? That’s not good enough. He should be doing cartwheels to dance with me.

Accompany? That sounds clinical.

I think I might be reading into it until we position ourselves for a spin around the dance floor.

His hand doesn’t touch my waist but just above it. And the grip he has on my hand is cool and professional.

Something is different compared to how we were walking down the aisle earlier. His charming chat in my ear, obvious flirtations, thinly veiled double entendre.

Now, he’s avoiding eye contact and touching me in a platonic way.

What changed?

“I’m surprised nobody else has snatched you up to dance, Bridget,” he says.

Our eyes meet. There’s no glow in his. No spark.

“Yes, well, I think they might have thought I already had a partner.” I try to close the space between us an inch more.

Dory doesn’t allow that, pulls back just as much as I stepped forward, like we are magnets repelling each other. “Yes, I’m sure if it’s new for you, people haven’t gotten used to you being unattached.”

I furrow my brow. “What?”

Dory smiles at me. And it is pity. I can tell because his eyes are sad. “I heard you’re newly out of a relationship.”

Have I stepped into the Twilight Zone? “Where did you hear that?”

“Doesn’t matter, I just, you know, I know what it can be like to want to–” Dory clears his throat, shakes out his curls. “Get over by getting under, you know?”

My eyes widen.

“And while I don’t want to assume, based on our rapport…well, I’m flattered to say the least if you were looking for something like that with me, but I find that situations like that always end up complicated, so I’d rather not. For your sake.”

Thank god he’s still dancing because if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to move my feet. I’m too dumbstruck to make sense of what’s happening. “Someone told you I went through a breakup?”

“Yes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, of course.”

Any possibility of an attraction I could’ve had to Dory the past two days releases like the popping of a balloon.

First off, how dare he assume I wanted to sleep with him? And second of all, how dare he assume I’m ashamed of a breakup? And third of all, what fucking breakup is he even talking about?

“But take it from me, I’ve been around the block. Don’t know if you can tell from the gray in my hair,” he says on a soft laugh. “Sometimes what’s best is to take some time away rather than to rush into…”

As we circle around to the beat of the song, I get a new view of the room, and over Dory’s shoulder I spot him.

Seth.

He’s just reentered through the doors to the garden, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers, scanning the room like he’s just been up to no good.

The bastard. It was him. I know it!

He scared Dory away. Pulled him aside and told him some fib about my love life to scare him off. Under the guise of trying to protect me. All he’s doing is isolating me.

This is textbook Seth.

And I’m fucking fed up.

Dory’s voice comes back into focus. “You understand what I’m saying?”

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