Page 88 of Forged By Sacrifice

As Georgie and I moved around the room, greeting people, it was Georgie that did the most talking. When I introduced her, she cut me off before I said her last name, and I quickly realized she didn’t want people to hear it, to know who her father was. And to anyone not familiar with her, it wouldn’t even have been noticeable. Instead, she appeared graceful, confident, and informed on my arm, easily keeping up with almost every topic that came up. She effortlessly turned the conversation with as much ease as Dani. I stood, watching with awe, the two undeniably brilliant women who had entered the room with me.

At some point, the appetizers disappeared just as the cocktails got stronger, and people shifted to the dance floor. I watched as Russell pulled Dani gently away from a group they were talking to and wrapped her in his arms, moving across the dance floor in a waltz that was unexpected, like so many things tonight about him and Georgie and me.

Georgie put her hand over mine. “Are you okay?”

I looked down the inch or so into her eyes, her tall body in those sparkly stilettos almost matching my own height. “Do you want to dance?” I asked, deflecting.

“I’m not sure I could do that,” she referred to Dani and Russell’s movements across the dance floor.

“We don’t have to waltz.” I handed our glasses off to the waitstaff and then joined my fingers with hers, leading her onto the dance floor where I pulled her tight up against my body. I could feel her curves through her green satin dress, and my whole body burned at the thought of removing it. The dress. My tux. Just skin. Even more skin than had existed when we’d been in our swimsuits.

“Do you waltz?” she asked.

“I can, but I’m not as good at it as him,” I said, referring to my sister’s date.

“They look good together.”

“I’m not sure if I should shoot him in a dark alley or ask him to put a ring on her finger.”

Georgie laughed, and it brought me back to her and away from whatever was going on between my sister and Russell. It brought me back from my week full of doubts, to the woman in my arms with eyes that I wanted to stare at for days.

“I haven’t said it. I wasn’t sure I could without embarrassing myself earlier, but you look gorgeous. No. That isn’t the right word. Maybe there isn’t a right word. You look like the stars came down and kissed you with their sparkle. Shit. That’s really bad. You look?”

Georgie put a finger on my lips and smiled. “Thank you.”

“I don’t have Eli’s way with words.”

“Good thing you’ll have speechwriters, then.”

It was yet another reason for me to wonder if I’d done the right thing, leaving my Navy career behind to join the ranks of the political masses. It made me wonder if what I thought I wanted was what I really wanted. If maybe my heart was telling me something my brain hadn’t quite caught up to yet.

“What is it?” Georgie asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked as our bodies swayed together to a tune that was slow and sultry.

“You keep disappearing into your head tonight. You’re usually all smiles and bravado. But tonight, you seem…pensive.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised that she caught on to my mood, but it still caught me off guard.

“You’re good at that,” I said.

“What?”

“Reading people. It’ll make you a really good lawyer.”

She flushed. “Thank you. That means more than you trying—and failing—to compliment my looks.”

“I’ve always thought I was good at reading people. Situations. It’s why I thought I’d be good at politics. That I’d be able to see past the bullsh?crud people were spouting.”

“You don’t feel that way anymore?”

“I’m not sure what I was expecting...” I trailed off, not only because I was unsure of what I was trying to say, but also because I was losing my way with her body brushing against mine.

“It’s only been a few weeks. You have to give yourself time to adjust,” she said.

As she spoke, she somehow moved closer in my arms, as if she was trying to soothe me. Her curves crushed tighter into my body, and I lost any train of thought except the wave of longing coursing over me. I brought the hand that I had on her waist up to caress her full lower lip that had lost most of its lipstick throughout the night. I wanted my lips to be the ones that made the color ebb away. I wanted my lips to give hers a new color. A deeper shade of red that came from kisses burned across them.

She turned her head slightly and pressed her lips against my palm. And I was done. I needed to get out of the ballroom before I lost myself like a teenage wet dream on the dance floor. I needed to take her with me. I needed to make love to her…her family be damned…my future be damned.

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