Page 41 of Devoted Enough

We stood there, neither of us saying anything, until I cleared my throat. “How have you been?”

“Good,” he said, slipping his hands into his pockets. He seemed to do that when he was nervous or didn’t know what to say.

“I got new tires on my car.”

His brows lifted. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yep. According to Hank, someone wanted to pay it forward that day, and they paid for my tires. Can you believe that someone would be so generous?”

Nate gave a slight shrug as he looked everywhere but at me. “I can believe it. There are still some kind people out there. People who care about the welfare of others.”

Chewing on my lower lip, I replied, “Yes, there are.”

He looked over my head and out to the dance floor. “Crowded tonight, huh?”

I didn’t bother to look behind me. I knew the dance floor was crowded. “Yeah, it sure is.”

Nate looked down at me. “Would you like to dance?”

Surprised, I asked, “Me?”

He laughed. “Yes, you.” Then his smile faded as he looked around the bar. “Unless you’re here with someone.”

“No!” I quickly said. “I’m just out with the girls.”

He smiled again, and I had to force myself to stand upright and not let my wobbly knees get the better of me.

Nate took the beer from my hand, put it to his mouth, and drank it.

I watched as he put it on an empty table.

“Candice is going to be pissed you drank her beer,” I said, letting him take my hand and lead me to the dance floor.

“Well, damn, and here I thought your lips had been the ones on it.” And just like that, with my mouth wide open, the song changed from a pop song to a country one. It was Kelsea Ballerini’s “Love Is a Cowboy.” Nate raised his brows and gave me a crooked smile before drawing me to him. The smell of his woodsy cologne surrounded me as he touched my lower back and pressed me closer to him. I drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out as Nate moved us around the dance floor like we’d been dancing together for years. He was such a good dancer, and it was then that I realized that I hadn’t seen him dance that much.

He spun me around and pulled me back, tucking my hand and his up against his chest. Everything Kelsea was singing I was feeling at that moment. Everyone else seemed to simply fade away, and when I looked up and saw him looking down at me, I couldn’t pull my eyes from his. The song ended, and we stood momentarily staring at each other. When a faster song started, Nate winked, then pushed me out and spun me around as I let out a laugh. Pulling me back to him, he put his mouth against my ear and said, “Let’s show these people the proper way to two-step.”

Smiling, I nodded right before he took my hand and spun me in a few circles before he drew me back against him, and we danced as if we were in a couple’s competition. I had never laughed and had so much fun dancing as I did with Nate to Shania Twain’s “Boots Don’t.” When the song was finally over, I couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face if I had tried.

“Why, Mr. Shaw, who knew you had that in you?”

He placed his hand on my lower back and guided us off the dance floor. “Back at you, Ms. Larson. When do you find time to dance?”

“When do you?”

“Touché.”

I caught sight of Candice and Bounty still on the dance floor. I’d have to order her another beer once I returned to the table.

“Hey, Nate!” a cute little blonde said as she bounced on her toes right in front of us.

“Um, hey, Laurel.”

“Want to dance?” she asked him without so much as giving me a second look. Of course, we weren’t together, but I would never ask a guy to dance when he was so obviously with another woman.

“Not tonight.”

The way he dismissed her caught me by surprise. He wasn’t rude, exactly, but he seemed more annoyed than anything.

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