Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Emeline smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, you keep saying that.”
We danced in silence until the song was over, then stepped apart.
“You can’t avoid her forever, you know.”
“If I can get back to the table to sit, it’ll be easier to let her down.”
With a confused expression, she asked, “Why is that?”
“You stepped on my foot and made me twist my ankle. I can’t possibly dance now.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I have never in my life stepped on a dance partner’s foot!”
Winking, I replied, “First time for everything.”
Once we got back to the table, we found Caden and Lilibeth in a heated discussion. Sitting, I glanced between the two.
“How would you even know, Caden? Have you ever done the swing?”
Emeline was about to say something when Caden shot her a warning look, then focused back on Lilibeth. “What makes you think I haven’t?”
Lilibeth looked him up and down, then smiled. “I’m sorry, you just don’t seem like the type of guy who’d swing dance.”
Caden leaned forward. “Are you suggesting that just because I’m a man, obviously I can’t dance?”
She motioned toward him with her hands. “Of course not, but you’re so…”
He raised his brow. “So what?”
She shrugged. “Not a very…cheerful kind of guy, and the swing is a cheerful kind of dance.”
Caden’s brow rose. “Are you saying I’m too grumpy to dance to a country swing?”
Lilibeth’s eyes sparkled. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Tipping his hat, he replied, “At least you’re honest.”
She stood. “Okay, cowboy. Give me two minutes.”
The three of us watched as Lilibeth walked over to the DJ, then made her way back to the table. She held out her hand to Caden, who I was pretty sure had drunk just enough beers to actually do this.
The woman sitting beside him, the same one he’d been talking to earlier, shot Lilibeth a scathing look.
Still holding out her hand patiently, Lilibeth said, “Let’s go, cowboy. Show me what you’ve got.”
Emeline grinned widely. Meanwhile, I felt bad for Lilibeth. She had no idea what she was getting into.
As they walked to the dance floor, the DJ told everyone to make a bit of room in the middle of the space.
“She has no idea Caden can dance, I take it?” I asked Emeline.
“No,” she said on a laugh. “And he has no idea Lilibeth took almost twenty years of dance lessons!”
I tossed my head back and laughed. “This is gonna be good.”
Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much” started, and we both laughed again.
I couldn’t tell who was more shocked, Caden or Lilibeth, when they started to dance. They instantly fell into a rousing country swing.
“Oh my gosh! Look at her spinning!” Emeline shouted as she clapped, and Ensley whistled.
I watched, thoroughly entertained, as Caden and Lilibeth moved across the dance floor with so much ease, it seemed as if they’d been dancing together for years.
“How are they doing those dips and turns like that? They’re so in sync,” Emeline said, smiling from ear to ear as she watched the two dance.
“I have no clue.”
As the song ended, Caden pushed Lilibeth out into a spin that seemed as if it would never end. The last note ended with him dipping her, and her leg coming up. The crowd went wild, including everyone at our little table. Even the woman Caden had been talking to all night.
Another song instantly started, and Caden and Lilibeth both stood there for a moment. She took a step toward him and said something. He closed his eyes briefly and drew her closer. They started to dance as other couples moved around them in a slow two-step.
I watched my best friend as he seemed to let go of something when Lilibeth lifted her gaze and met Caden’s. She smiled, then rested her head against his chest.
Turning, I looked at Emeline, who was also watching her brother and Lilibeth. She smiled softly, then glanced down. I would have given anything to ask her what she was thinking in that moment.
She must have felt my gaze on her because she lifted her head and looked directly at me. “If I ever see Rachel in this town again, I’m going to kick her ass for hurting my brother like she did.”
I let out a soft laugh. “I do believe you’d do exactly that.”
Her eyes searched my face before she asked, “Dance again?”
Suddenly aware of the crackle in the air between us, I replied, “I think I’ll sit this one out.”
The look of hurt passed so quickly over her face, I would have missed it if I hadn’t been staring at her so intently.
“Emeline?”
The sound of another man’s voice caused us both to turn to see Luke standing there.
“Would you like to dance?”
She stood. “I’d love to.”
I watched them walk out to the dance floor. When he drew her close, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, I had to fight the urge to go cut in. Instead, I grabbed my beer and drank the rest of it as I tried to ignore the way my chest ached to see Emeline in another man’s arms.