“What are you doing out here?” she asked. “I thought you two would be settled in for the night by now.”
“I was checking on the horses and got waylaid by the music. And . . . frankly, that dress.” His appreciative gaze took in the blue, ruffly silk dress she’d worn tonight. It was one of her three go-to event dresses, which made her feel pretty, but no one had ever noticed before. She felt herself blush. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she focused on the kids.
He leaned closer. “Is it out of bounds for me to say you look pretty in that color?”
“Wildly out of bounds. But thank you.” She flicked a smile up at him. “You look nice, too.”
“Well, thanks. The horses mentioned it, too. Asked who I was dressing up for.”
“Must have been She-Ra. She’s a terrible flirt.”
“I noticed that about her,” he said, his playful gaze fixed on Shay’s mouth.
The band started playing an old-time Ry Cooder song called “Boomer’s Story,” that she remembered her mother playing on the CD player when they were young. A song about lost love.
“Wanna dance?” Cooper said.
Her eyes widened. “What? No, I . . . I can’t. Dancing is for guests and I’m—”
“All dressed up with nowhere to go,” he finished. “I meant right here, back behind the barn. Just you and me, a little dance. Nobody has to see us.”
Shay looked around. No one at all was paying attention to them. She swallowed hard. She hadn’t danced with anyone in years. But it would be a mistake. Definitely. There was no way she should say yes.
However. “Okay. Just a quick one?” was what came out of her mouth instead.
With a grin, he took her hand and pulled her behind the barn. “I prefer slow.” He tugged her closer, fitting his hand in hers, then wrapped his other arm around her waist.
Shay thought surely he could feel her heartbeat thudding against him as they started to move together. She couldn’t help but inhale the delicious scent of him—soap, fresh air, and some indefinable scent that belonged only to him. She tried not to focus on how his shoulder felt under her hand—so strong and muscular—or the way he held her just so, not too tight or too loose. Just right. She felt his hips sway against hers as she tipped her forehead against his shoulder feeling ridiculously happy. When her heels started sinking into the soft, grassy earth there, she kicked her shoes off and felt instantly more balanced. Or rather less off-balance.
At the chorus, he let loose of her and twirled her. Shay laughed at the unexpected move, but he pulled her back against him with a smile. She forgot to worry about the space between them and let him hold her. God, it felt good to be held. To dance. To just be.
“Anybody ever tell you you’re a good dancer?” he whispered against her hair. “Especially barefoot.”
“If they did,” she replied, “it was so long ago, I’ve forgotten it.”
“Now, that’s a shame. A woman like you should be danced with on the regular.”
“A woman like me,” she said, “is generally too busy for dancing.”
“Ah, but you should never be too busy to dance,” he claimed, rocking her to the music with a slow and steady skill that made her insides tumble.
“Funny, I would never guess that about you. A dancer.”
“Oh,” he said, “there’s probably a lot about me that would surprise you.” Spinning her around again, he dipped her low until she laughed out loud.
When he pulled her into his arms again, he stopped dancing, simply holding her close for what seemed like forever but was probably no more than a few seconds. The band wrapped up their song. She thought he meant to kiss her again. She held her breath, but when he began to pull away, she tightened her fingers around his and held him for a long moment.
She was about to possibly embarrass herself by kissing him. Instead, a ruckus behind them in the wedding reception caused her to freeze. The sound of dishes crashing to the ground and glass breaking and shrieks of laughter—
“What in the world?” She broke away from him and followed the sound of chaos breaking out as wedding guests tried to dodge little blurs of movement that wound through the crowd, heading straight for the flower girl and ring bearer, whose eyes were wide with what was quite possibly terror.
“Oh, no!” She gasped.
The puppies had somehow gotten loose from Cooper and Ray’s apartment and were making a beeline for the shortest, most lickable people on the floor. The flower girl shrieked as Pippa jumped up to swath her face with her tongue, but knocked her over, exuberantly bathing her face in kisses. Poppy, the skinniest of the two, collided clumsily with the little boy, who let out a delighted shriek of laughter as he dropped to the ground to allow the dog to have his way. Adults were scrambling to catch the dogs who eluded capture while climbing over the little ones and doing what puppies do. Cami was chasing them with her arms spread wide but couldn’t seem to contain them either. Cooper tried and failed as well.
As adults snatched the children up, the puppies turned their attention to licking bare ankles on the fly and generally stirring up chaos. Even the band had stopped playing to laugh and watch.
“I’m so sorry,” Shay said as she chased the dogs in circles. “Really, I don’t know how this happened!”