Page 68 of Safe and Sound

As I stared into his earnest face, I realized what a true unicorn stood before me. A rich, powerful man had driven almost an hour to see me. Despite my red flags of being divorced and having PTSD, he still wanted to pursue something with me. He was willing to go out of his way to try to make me comfortable.

I knew there was no possible way I could say no.

“Okay, fine. We can try to see where this goes.”

Dare’s blue eyes lit up. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I repeated.

With his usual cocky grin, he replied. “Good. I’m glad you could see it my way.”

“You’re impossible,” I replied.

As he walked up to us, Nick crooked his finger. “Come on, Aves. It’s time for the Sirtaki,”

“Coming.”

Dare’s brows furrowed. “What the fuck is that?”

I laughed. “It’s a Greek dance.”

“It doesn’t involve gyrating against other men’s dicks, does it?”

“Maybe,” I replied with a wink.

An erotic shiver pricked over my skin at the jealous fury written on Dare’s face. Even after I turned away from him, I felt the heat of his stare singe against my back.

Whenever we danced the Sirtaki, it was my brothers and all my nieces and nephews who started the dance. Although there were many variations, we tried to keep it as simple as possible so when we picked out guests to join us, they could follow. Many were familiar with it from movies likeMy Big Fat Greek WeddingandZorba the Greek.

After gathering in a line, the music started. We placed our arms on top of each other’s shoulders. Then we kicked one leg out in front of us before taking a sliding step to the side. Bending our knees, we brought them up in front of us before pushing our leg behind us. With another move, we threw one of our arms over our head and snapped our fingers.

As we began circling around, guests began clapping or twirling their white linen napkins in the air. Of course, Lexie and Dani picked out handsome men from the crowd. When we danced past Dare, Nick slid aside. “Come on!” I called to Dare over the band.

“I don’t know the moves,” he protested.

“Go with the flow.”

He grinned. “If you say so.”

Although he muddled through the moves in the beginning, it didn’t take long for Dare to catch on. I couldn’t keep the beaming smile off my face. The longer we danced the clearer it became that I was an utter and complete fool for walking out on him this morning. There weren’t many men who would willingly make a fool out of himself by dancing in front of a crowded restaurant.

At the end of the dance, he whirled me against him. Before I could protest, he slammed his lips against mine. As the patrons whistled and clapped for the end of the dance.

When we finished, we clapped and whistled along with the patrons.

“That was amazing,” I remarked.

“The kiss or the dance?” he teased.

“Both,” I admitted.

“While I agree with the kiss, the dance was absolute shite,” Dare remarked.

Laughing I replied, “No, it wasn’t.”

“Maybe for you.”

“You picked it up quickly.”

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