Page 75 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
But that was before she tried line dancing.
Emma fell forward, laughing too hard to even pretend to stumble through the steps.
“See?” Casey crowed from behind her. She was grinning at Emma as she flawlessly moved in time to the music, along with everyone else around her. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
Ellie was giggling from the sidelines. “Aren’t you glad you wore the boots?”
Emma nodded, tears streaming down her face. It was the third song she’d attempted to join in on, and it had become immediately obvious that it wasn’t off-tempo dance partners she’d needed to worry about crushing her toes.
She was doing a heck of a job herself. She’d literally stepped on her own toes trying to keep up with the group choreography, and she’d done it more than once.
“Keep going,” one of the old men behind her shouted in encouragement.
But honestly, her pride was stinging watching the men and women more than double her age flow through the moves with ease as she fumbled over and over. She waved her arms, swiping at tears of laughter. “I give up.”
Nash was watching her with a smile from the sidelines. She’d just started heading in his direction when Casey shouted again. “Nash, show your girl how it’s done.”
Emma laughed again, certain Casey was teasing, but to her surprise all the older women surrounding Nash, including his mother and aunts, were pushing an obviously reluctant Nash forward until he stumbled onto the makeshift dance floor that took up one whole block of Main Street.
“Fine, fine,” he said, waving off the teasing shouts from his family and friends.
When he drew close, her belly flipped with nerves and excitement.
“Let’s try it from the start.”
She nodded, utterly speechless. He couldn’t be serious, he could not possibly be—
“Start with the right foot,” he called over to her.
Oh. My. Goodness. She blinked in disbelief before jerking into motion.
He was doing it. Nash Donahue, serious, smoldering, sexy-as-sin cowboy was line dancing like a pro.
And it was hot.
The sight of this athletic, capable man moving in time to the music with ease made her insides flutter. And she wasn’t the only one affected. She spotted a couple of girls nearby, their mouths curving into appreciative smiles as they watched him move.
“Looking good, Nash!”
He shared a quick look with Emma, obviously noting their appraisal, and focused on shouting instructions to keep her on track. With his help, she actually managed to make it through the song without stumbling.
Well, without stumbling too much, at least.
When the band stopped playing, she turned to gape at him.
“What?” He scrubbed the back of his neck in thataw shucksway that always made her heart trip over itself.
“You.” She forgot herself. She forgot that she needed to keep her distance. She forgot everything because she was having more fun tonight than she’d had in ages. Her hands fell on his chest as she moved toward him shaking her head. “You are amazing.”
He grinned down at her, his eyes crinkling with laughter and that smile making her knees go weak.
When he was this close, and giving her that grin, it was impossible not to feel like it was real. That smile was meant just for her, and those girls watching from the sidelines were just that.
She was his and he was hers.
He had this way of making her feel like the only woman on the planet. The only one he saw. And that was a heady sensation for someone who’d grown so used to being unnoticed and unappreciated.
She went to take a step back, to move out of the way of the other dancers who were jostling for space, but she didn’t get far. Her breath caught as his arms wrapped around her waist suddenly, holding her still.
