Page 82 of Love Me Dangerous

When “Dancing in the Dark” comes on, Linnea wrinkles her nose. “Who’s this?”

I recoil like she’s wounded me. “Only the greatest storyteller in music.”

“Yeah, right, didn’t synthesizers, like, die a sad death before I was even born?”

I laugh and roll up my sleeves. “Just wait, he’ll get under your skin.”

Sofie slides in next to me with the stack of plates. “Kind of like someone I know.”

I sing along as I scrub each plate and pass it down the assembly line. My companions just laugh.

“Have you been to one of his concerts?” Sofie asks.

“He’s never come to Alaska,” I say, then realize my slip. Shit.

“That’s too bad,” Sofie says, not looking at me. Does she detect the fear rising up my throat?

“Then he’s probably never come here either,” Linnie says with a sigh. “Nobody cool does.”

“Who would you want to see?” I tell myself that it’s okay if Sofie and Linnea know where I came from. It doesn’t have to be a threat.

Will there be a time when I stop worrying about it so much?

“Imagine Dragons,” Linnie says. “Dua Lipa. Taylor Swift. Not that we could afford tickets, though.”

Sofie sets the last dish on the drying rack. “We can always work something out.”

I wipe my hands on the dishtowel and pull Sofie from the sink, overcome with the need to move. The song is a reminder that dancing is freedom, and I’m longing for it hard tonight.

Linnea watches me dance with a giggling Sofie, her expression a cross between a scowl and delight. “You guys are weird.”

I catch Sofie’s eye as we share a secret smile, and it strikes me that this—someday—could be my life. Spending time with good people, being welcomed into their homes, sharing the day’s highs and lows, sharing our lives.

The idea brings on a wave of yearning for William to be a part of it too. To see his face light up, to hear his laugh. Hell, he and Linnea are close in age. What would it be like for them to grow up together? Togive William a normal life. For him to grow up knowing he’s loved, and safe.

Am I on the brink of this someday dream coming true?

Chapter Twenty

ZACH

While Sofie tucksLinnea into bed, I stoke the fire in the hearth. Sofie slips past me to the kitchen, then returns with two bottles of beer. We settle on the small couch with her facing me from the side, her legs crossed. We clink the tips of the bottles.

“What’s Alaska like?” she asks.

Nosy again, huh? I sip my beer. “Big.”

Sofie gives me a flat look. After swallowing a sip of her beer, she sets it on the little table behind her and spreads a blanket across our laps. “Do you miss it?”

I reach for her foot under the blanket. She starts, like she’s ticklish, but when I begin rubbing the arch with my thumbs, she sighs in contentment, an unreadable look on her face. Hasn’t anyone done this for her before?

“I’ll tell you what I don’t miss,” I say. “The mosquitoes in the summer.”

She reaches for her beer, the motion tugging the side of her sweater up, revealing bare skin. I focus on rubbing the arch of her foot in slow, firm strokes. “Is it true they’re nicknamed the Alaska State Bird?”

“Yeah, and rightfully so.”

“What about the long winters?”

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