Page 14 of The Wicked

“One dance, Cinderella. I can lead.”

“So, uh, I can’t go back in there. I…I just called the DJ a jackass.”

“And I’m sure he deserved it.”

“Yes, he did, but now I have to avoid him for the rest of my life.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I—”

“If you modify your behaviour because of him, it won’t matter what internal battle you’re fighting. He’ll win the war.”

“Battles and wars and behaviour modification? What do you know about fighting?”

“Quite a lot, actually.”

“Are you a psychologist or something?”

“No, but I’ll let you into a secret…” He leaned closer, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I know plenty about winning too.”

Charming’s ego was bigger than Texas. My head said run, but my heart dragged its heels. It was strangely exhilarating to have the ego on my side for once.

“I can’t leave Kayleigh’s phone here in the fountain.”

An Insta notification popped up on the mangled screen, reminding me that I was a bad, bad person. Two wrongs didn’t make a right, Grandpa used to say, although one wrong didn’t feel any better, in my opinion. And Charming, it seemed, was a proponent of the “three wrongs” theory. He reached past me, plucked the phone from the water, and threw it into the shrubbery.

“Problem solved,” he announced. “What’s your next excuse?”

“You can’t do…”

I trailed off because he just had, hadn’t he? And Kayleigh could certainly afford a new phone with the inheritance she was about to steal from me. Charming was an arrogant douche, and if his brother was a part of Hadley’s crowd, he was probably a trust fund baby too. Everything I usually despised. But just for tonight, with Kayleigh on the warpath, I decided to step into his world. If nothing else, I could use him as a shield.

This time when Charming held out a hand, I took it. And when he offered me the champagne again, I drank it.

“I’m leading,” I informed him, perhaps a little haughtily. “And if you tread on my toes, you’re on your own.”

“I won’t tread on your toes.”

He led me back across the terrace and into the ballroom. Frankie Flux was playing a dance track, one of his remixes that had topped the charts last year, and although the man had the personality of a porcupine, I had to concede that he made catchy music. The dance floor was already half-full. Hadley livestreamed from the stage as the pink Power Ranger held up a ring light, and the Lone Ranger had passed out on a chair beside them with a bottle of champagne still clutched in his hand.Just another day in the life of an event planner.Charming led me to the edge of the dance floor, and I figured he’d start flinging his arms around like all the other drunk morons, but he just looked at me expectantly.

“Have you ever even taken a dance lesson?” I asked, stalling for time as my toes shrivelled inside my shoes.

“One or two.”

He lied. I knew within thirty seconds of being on the dance floor that Charming had taken more than a couple of lessons. He was no Marcin, but my toes were safe, and I was regretting my decision to lead. At least everyone else was too drunk to notice the way he moved his hips. ButInoticed. I couldn’t tear my freaking gaze away as we salsa’d our way through the rest of the track.

“Eyes on me.” He raised my chin with a finger. “Don’t slouch.”

I straightened as if I’d been electrocuted. Yes, we’d been holding each other as we danced, but that innocent touch felt somehow more intimate. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to focus on Charming’s face.

“One or two lessons? Really?”

“My Puerto Rican grandma ran a dance school, and she says all young men should know how to impress a lady.” He threw in a few samba steps. “Even now, she can out-shimmy a woman half her age.”

“I should send her a bouquet. My last dance partner thought salsa was a type of dip.”

It was true. Brooke told me. Paulo thought we were going to Coos Bay to binge on nachos until she sent him a link to Casa de Salsa’s website.

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