Page 45 of The Last Dance You Saved
“I’m just going to sit here and enjoy the view,” I said, turning to look for the water bottle I’d been drinking from.
“I don’t think so,” he said. His tone had dropped another level. Darker. Sexier.
I turned back to him, raising a brow. “Excuse me?”
“Let’s go, Tennessee. Time for you to cool off.”
I laughed. “I’m not hot.”
He moved so fast I wasn’t prepared for it, snaking out an arm, hauling me to him, and then plunging us both over the side instead of the back. The water hit me like a bucket of ice. Cold and hard and staggering. Freezing my limbs. He never let me go, kicking upward until we broke the surface. I gasped for air and shoved hard against his chest, but his arm only banded tighter around me.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I sputtered.
The smile that took over his face caused my heart to stop again. It was wide and full, crinkling his eyes and showing off perfectly straight, white teeth and that sexy dimple.
“Loosen up, Sadie. Have some fun.”
I snorted. “You’re the one who doesn’t know how to have fun. You’re the one who stopped us when we were line dancing in your bar.”
I struggled against his hold, but he just held on, fingertips digging into the flesh at my waist. “It’s a piano bar. Not exactly the place for it. And I didn’t like those two guys falling all over you.”
“You were jealous?” Surprise rang through my voice. He pushed at the frown that creased my brows with a wet finger, sliding it along my forehead and down my cheek. His gaze landed on my lips, wet from the lake, and I found myself longing to taste him again. To have the contrast of the icy water and the heat of them against mine. I glanced in the direction of the teens, but they were hidden from us on the other side of the boat.
“You’ve had me in knots from the moment you walked into The Marquis Club,” he acknowledged. I watched as his lips lowered, drifting close to my mouth before detouring to my ear where his breath coasted along the shell. “I’m going to enjoy working each of those knots out with you.”
Every ounce of fight went out of me as I stared at him, dumbfounded by all his words. He let go and pushed me under the water again. When I resurfaced, he’d taken off, using his long arms to cut through the water, heading around the back of the boat toward his daughter.
It took me several long moments to gather myself together, and then I swam for the boat and the ladder at the back. My thin cotton shorts were clinging to me as I pulled myself up. I dragged them off and laid them out to dry before sitting and hanging my feet in the water, ignoring the white scars that marred my leg. Instead, I watched as Rafe tossed Fallon in the air, stole the noodles from the girls, and then swam away. The teens raced after him, trying to reclaim the pilfered toys as he batted them away with ease.
It was childlike horseplay that had Fallon and Maisey laughing and sputtering every time he dunked them. Rafe’s deep laugh echoed over theirs, booming across the water. He was nothing like the domineering, growly man who’d sat across from me at the piano bar, and every time I saw another side of him, it landed another barb in my heart that would be impossible to remove when I left. It had already left me aching for all those things I’d just recently realized I wanted. A partner. Someone to cherish and who would cherish me back.
It didn’t seem possible I could have any of it with Rafe.
But I could have this moment. A few purely joyful hours I might be able to follow up with a few delightfully sinful ones. So, I slid back into the water and started toward them as quietly as I could, trying to keep behind Rafe as the girls attempted and failed to sink him again. Neither of them gave me away as I approached with a finger to my lips. When I was close enough, the three of us launched ourselves at him, pushing and shoving until he finally went down.
He came up sputtering in false indignation, that wide grin stretched across his face, and we tried to push him back under. When he started tickling the teens, they released him immediately, swimming out of reach of those dangerous fingers. I was on my own this time as I tried to shove him down, and he simply caught my wrist and yanked me closer to him. His heated gaze found mine, and he lowered his voice so only I could hear, saying, “Payback is a bitch, Tennessee. I know just how to make you beg.”
I believed him, and I didn’t care.
I splashed water in his face with my free hand, pulled my knees in, and used my feet to kick off those muscular thighs. He gave chase, and the girls defended me with noodles and random attacks.
We spent a glorious hour playing in the water as the sun sank and the wind picked up.
We were all shivering, nearly frozen from the inside out, by the time we finally gave up and headed for the boat, but we had tired, delirious smiles on our faces. Our laughter echoed across the lake, winging along the wind. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this light. This happy. It was as if the wee folk I’d been thinking about since arriving here had filled the sky with their flutes and entranced us all. Except, I didn’t feel like I was under a spell. I felt more like myself than I had in three years.
Chapter Sixteen
Rafe
THE WAY I WANNA
Performed by Max McNown
We were all smiling as Idrove the boat back to the dock. Cold and tired but smiling. It was the kind of happiness you felt all the way to the bottom of your soul, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt that way. Maybe the time Fallon and I had learned to surf in Australia. Maybe longer than that.
The sun was sinking below the tree lines as we neared the cove. The shadows were long, and it was mostly on instinct and long-forgotten muscle memory that I traversed the waters and pulled up to the dock without incident.
Fallon jumped out and tied us off while Sadie gathered our trash, and I dealt with the ice chest. Climbing into the Jeep, we were all quiet in a sated, relaxed sort of way that lingered as the colors bled from the sky.
