Page 25 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“Nope, guess not,” Brad said, pulling Sophie back into his chest, twirling her on the dance floor in a dramatic spin. As fit as she was, she was soft in all the right places. Good God, she was gonna be trouble.
Sophie laughed, covering her mouth again. He moved her hand and gave her a delicate kiss on her lips. “Now it’s official and people can stop tittering in the corners about us. My sister’s harmless, by the way. She and I are actually pretty close now that we’re adults, but she loves drama.”
“I like her,” Sophie said, and Brad’s heart swelled at her admission. It was all he’d ever wanted, his sister and whoever he dated becoming friends, especially since he’d grown so close to Owen in the almost two years he’d lived next door to Brad’s parents. Paige hadn’t been shy about her distrust of Julia from the start, so to hear her say she wanted to hang out with Sophie after one meeting was a welcome surprise—especially since, like the farm pup, Penske, Paige seemed to have a pretty good read on people.
On the opposite end of the reception hall, Brad’s mom avoided them both, choosing instead to sit alone at her table, a deep scowl etched on her face. For the briefest of moments, Brad thought about going over to her and attempting to smooth things over, but then Sophie would smile at him, and he was all hers again. He would talk to his mom this week, maybe invite her to come over for one of those crappy reality TV shows she was addicted to, frozen pizzas included.
Bottom line? He’d suffer the consequences tomorrow—tonight, he wanted to have fun.
Brad had Sophie’s hands, their arms extended in mid-dance spin, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“May I cut in?” his dad asked, a gleam in his eyes that belied his true age.
Sophie grinned like she’d won a prize. Before Brad could make a quip about how he’d better hand her back after one dance, Sophie had slid over to his dad, giggling as Alan continued the spin she’d started with Brad. Her laughter wormed its way into his heart, egging him on to do more to make her that happy.
Brad stood at the edge of the dance floor, watching Sophie talk to his dad with the same ease with which she’d talked to him. When her hands were busy, she spoke with her eyes, her cheeks, every part of her face showing what she felt. He liked that she was, seemingly at least, an open book. It was a new thing for him, not to have to crack a secret code to find out what a woman wanted.
He felt weird, empty even, with her away from him. His hands hung awkwardly at his side, like now that they’d held her, they didn’t know what to do without her to cling to. Her dress rose to just below the parts of Sophie he’d been daydreaming about each time his father spun her, and he longed to go over and whisk her away from this hall, this hotel, this town, so he could explore her and all her hidden secrets away from prying eyes.
Someone moved in beside him, and he turned, half-expecting his mother to be standing at his side. He plastered a conciliatory smile on his face that was immediately wiped clean when he came face-to-face with Julia.
“Hi,” she said, her gaze lowered. Her lashes were damp, like she’d been crying, and her shoulders were stooped in defeat.
“Hi. And congratulations.” Brad shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled back on his heels. He had no idea what else to say to her. After almost twenty years, she was a veritable stranger.
“Um, thanks. Would you like to…?” She asked, gesturing to the dance floor.
Brad cleared his throat and nodded obligingly, opening his arms to her. How many times had they performed this same routine together—at friends’ weddings, alone at night—and it had never felt like she enjoyed dancing, or at least not with him. Nothing had changed in that respect. She felt stiff and uncomfortable in his arms, and he couldn’t actually remember the last time that they had been easy together. Had they ever?
“The room is beautiful, Julia. You did a great job.”
“Thanks again. It’s not too much, is it?” She always was good at fishing for compliments, though. Their breakup hadn’t stunted that particular talent of hers.
“Nope,” he lied. “It’s perfectly you.” That last part was the truth.
This was part of what he’d dreaded about coming to the wedding. Sure, he’d worried about falling back in love with her, or at least feeling unable to let her go again, but even without Sophie’s arrival back into his life, he’d known his time with Julia was one-hundred percent over as soon as he’d seen her at the door with her father. That didn’t mean he wanted to play the part of the spurned-lover-turned-friend-again. He obligingly, rigidly, twirled Julia around the dance floor, willing the song to be over quickly.
“Julia, what are you doing here?” He sighed, the words heavy.
“This is my wedding, Bradley,” she retorted, finally looking him in the eyes. The makeup around her eyes was smudged, but it wasn’t from crying with joy. Her shoulders were now perfectly straight like his mom’s had been earlier, a look he knew from both of them to be aggressive and defensive at the same time.
“It is. Which you invited me to. And I’m really not sure why you did.”
“I told you a month ago. I wanted you here to support Chris and me. We were your best friends growing up, or did our whole childhood history get trashed when we broke up?” Her cheeks were flushed, adding life to her look that was missing until now.
“You mean when you two cheated on me?”
Her arms stiffened, and Brad enjoyed the momentary satisfaction that gave him.
“You and I weren’t more than glorified roommates, Bradley. Don’t kid yourself.” He wished that didn’t sting.
“You didn’t just dump me when things got stale. That I could have handled, especially from a friend. Youhumiliatedme.”
“It wouldn’t have worked. You and I both know you would have tried everything to keep us together.”
He nodded reluctantly. She was right there. He’d been deathly afraid of moving on from her, from the life they’d built together, from the memories of the times that had been good—some better than good—even if they were few and far between.
“I agree. So, why the texts?” Her feet tripped up but not so much that anyone would have noticed. She was always just steady enough not to draw notice. Her gaze fell to the floor again.
