Page 32 of Knot Her Cowboys
“I guess we’ll find out how many dance steps are tucked away in my brain.”
A lot of weekends in my youth were spent at places like this with teenagers packed onto the dance floor to kill a few hours with line dances and laughter, neon bands on the wrists of those twenty-one and older, and ours sadly bare so the bartenders knew not to serve us. Half those nights had involved Cooper and me sneaking away to paw all over each other in his truck bed.
Cash rubbed the goosebumps from my arms, keeping me close until we finally got up to the door. Music was like a wall as we stepped inside, blasting from speakers all over, the lights low, people moving in synchronized steps across the dance floor.
“Dance or drinks first?” Cash asked, dipping low to speak in my ear, getting my shivers going again.
The song switched over to one that was hugely popular in high school, a revived classic that had come out well before I was born, unlocking my core memories with the opening notes. “Dance.”
I dragged Cash along with me and fell immediately into step, joy lighting me up from the inside out. Bruce and Bryan wouldn’t be caught dead line dancing. It would’ve been a fifty-fifty split on if it was their hatred of spectacle or their hatred of not knowing what to do one hundred percent of the time that would’ve prevented them.
By the time the song finished, I was vibrating with energy and grinning ear to ear. The next up was a song better suited to having a partner, and Cash drew me into a two-step. He moved far more smoothly than I expected for how gangly he’d been as a teenager, enough so that I had to concentrate on not tripping every time I got distracted by his blue eyes focused on me.
The next song was livelier and we matched the pace, Cash spinning me out and in, twirling me around the dance floor as we navigated other couples.
“Flip.” That was my half second of warning before he whipped me over his head and caught me with steady hands as my boots hit the floor again. My heart pounded like a drum, adrenaline and desire rushing over me as he twirled me right back into the dance steps.
Damn. Cash had some moves.
We parted ways on the next song, back into a more traditional line dance, the same as the next two. I didn’t know all the steps, but Cash put his hands on my waist, guiding me this way and that so I didn’t crash into anyone. All I could think about was how much I wanted him to pull me back against him, maybe disappear us into a secluded hallway. I didn’t know if it was the dancing or who I was with, but apparently my penchant for rolling around with my dance partner hadn’t faded over the years.
Cash was afriend.
But as he pulled me back into another couples dance, I couldn’t help the nervous flutter in my stomach, or the ache between my thighs when I looked at him. My breath caught in my throat at the fire in his eyes. I wasn’t so sure I didn’t reflect that right back at him.
Friends didn’t look at each other like that.
Istepped off the dance floor, Cash at my heels. “I think I need some water.”
“I’ll get you some. Wait right here.”
I leaned against the wall, watching him walk away to join the lined-up crowd at the bar.
“Hey there, little lady.” An alpha sidled up next to me.
“Not interested.”
“Don’t be like that. Let me show you a good time.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m already having a good time, thanks.”
He swept over, boxing me in with his hands pinned on both sides of my head. “I can make it better.”
“Buddy, unless you want a boot to the balls, you need to back off.”
“Come on, gorgeous?—”
“Hey,” Cash snapped as he swept up, abandoning the drink line. “She said back off.”
The alpha flipped Cash the bird. “Why don’t you leave us be? She ain’t got a claim on her.”
I dipped out from between his arms, snatching Cash’s hat off his head and putting it on mine. “Now I do. Fuck off.”
The alpha looked between us before eventually deciding I wasn’t worth the trouble.
“That was a pretty fucking bold move,” Cash said when the alpha had gone. “You shouldn’t tease a cowboy like that. Don’t you know what it means to wear my hat?”
I spun toward him, laying my palm on his chest, my heart crashing against my ribs as I struggled to form the words I knew could make or break us. I’d claimed myself in public for Cash. If he’d put his hat on me, it would’ve been a declaration of courting, but I’d put it on myself, telling everyone who might be watching I wanted to be his.
