Chapter 13
A s he and Jade went to the double-deep-fried corn dog booth, Seb’s thoughts spun.
He hadn’t expected her to be at the hoedown, or to look so enticing.
Her outfit was simple— cap-sleeved hunter-green top, perfectly fitting jeans, the same tennis shoes she wore during her dumpster dive, that luscious auburn hair falling in waves over her perfect shoulders.
He couldn’t recall what he had for breakfast this morning, but he couldn’t stop memorizing every physical detail of Jade Smith.
Then there was the Skee-Ball game. He played a few times when he was a kid, and he was never all that good, preferring ring the bottle and baseball toss games.
But he was willing to give it a try anyway.
Then he saw the competitive spark in Jade’s eyes, and a jolt went through him.
This was the side of Jade he knew was buried deep beneath her business demeanor.
Fun, playful, and for a few minutes, relaxed.
He didn’t even mind that she won in a spectacular, and possibly embarrassing—for him— manner.
He wouldn’t care if she beat him ten more times if he could regularly see her smile as brightly as she did when she won the neon pink polar bear.
Then he’d asked her about playing the game as a kid, and the light dimmed. He was unsure why, although she had recovered well.
“Why is it so important to you?” Jade asked, breaking the silence as they neared the Corn Dog Castle.
He jerked his head at her sudden question. “What?”
“Keeping The Clementine Times ?”
Back to business again. He looked at her, the polar bear tucked in the crook of her arm.
Adorable. Oh well, he’d bite, but as soon as she said the words “deal” or “Harrington,” he was done.
He could talk about The Times all she wanted, but he wasn’t going to spoil his day with acquisition discussion. “It’s—”
“Jade!”
She groaned as Logan closed in on them. “What’s he doing here?”
“All right, ladies!” Thurman Story, the hoedown MC, came through loud and clear over the microphone. “It’s what you’ve all been waiting for—time to get yer feller for the Sadie Hawkins dance!”
Already? Nuts. Despite telling Evelyn Margot that he didn’t duck the dance, he always totally did.
“You’ve got five minutes to hit the dance floor.”
Seb felt a cold hand slip into his. He looked at it, then at Jade’s determined expression.
“Let’s go.” She tugged him toward the dance floor.
“Wait,” Logan called after her. “Jade, I need to talk to you—”
“You want to dance?” Seb asked, baffled.
“Yes.” She was practically dragging him now, shooting a look over her shoulder at her brother.
This wasn’t the first time Seb had been asked to participate in the Sadie Hawkins dance.
In fact, he’d been asked every year, by more than one single woman, although several of them had been close to his mother’s age.
A few years ago he developed a plan to make himself scarce.
He would have already implemented it by now, if it weren’t for—
“Jade!” Logan continued pursuit.
She pulled on Seb, and as they passed by the stage, she dropped her polar bear on the edge, then moved to the middle of the dance floor until they were engulfed by couples.
“All right, Biscuit Boys, let it rip!”
The overall-clad band began a moderately paced country song, punctuated by Jubal Fontaine’s twangy jaw harp.
Seb and Jade faced each other.
“Now what do we do?” Jade asked, looking bewildered as couples swirled around them.
“We—” Seb pitched forward as someone rammed into him. They couldn’t just stand and chitchat anymore. He put his hands on her waist. “Dance.”
It was his turn to tug, pull, and lead Jade around the parquet floor, every type of cowboy boot known to mankind thudding in concert with the lively music.
“What kind of dancing is this?” she said over the din.
He shrugged. “No idea. I don’t dance.”
“Me neither. But I needed to get away from Logan.”
He tried to ignore the twinge her words caused. Then again, why would he expect that she wanted to dance with him instead of using him as the equivalent of a getaway car? “He seemed eager to talk to you again.”
Jade’s face pinched. “I don’t want to talk to him right now.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why, but he pulled back. No getting involved. He didn’t need to know what was going on with those two.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Junior Simpkins and his girlfriend, Dora Mae, barreling toward them. Junior was the size of an NFL linebacker and Dora Mae was hanging on for dear life.
“Here we go.” Seb lifted Jade and turned her, narrowly missing a collision with the ungainly couple. Junior and Dora Mae didn’t seem to notice. They only had eyes for each other.
Seb was noticing something, however. Jade was now close to him. Real close. Pressing against him close. Mmm, nice.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling back.
“My fault.” He muttered the words, so he doubted she heard him. For the next turn around the dance floor, they didn’t talk or look at each other. Just held on like two seventh graders who lost a bet at their first dance.
“Let’s slow it down, y’all.” Thurman did his best impression of a countrified Barry White as the Biscuit Boys switched to a ballad. A few of the couples moved off the floor, but somehow he and Jade were in the middle of the throng, still surrounded. There was nothing left to do but—
“Hey, bro.”
Seb turned to see Evelyn Margot and Haskell Pancake dancing right next to them.
“Having fun?” she said, winking at Seb.
He was about to say something smart-alecky when Haskell smoothly moved them both on. He wasn’t as big as Junior, but he did have some weight on him. The man was surprisingly light on his feet.
“Sebastian?”
His head swiveled to Jade. Their gazes met. Whoa.
“You don’t have to dance with me anymore. I’m sure Logan gave up.”
From the frantic way Logan had tried to get her attention, Seb wasn’t so sure.
He also didn’t care about her brother right now, or that Jade was going to keep trying to take The Clementine Times away, or that he had no business enjoying holding her this much.
Common sense took a nosedive too, because he tightened his hands on her waist. “What if I want to?”
* * *
Jade wasn’t sure she heard Sebastian right, and not because of the Biscuit Boys’ harmonizing violins filling the air.
Her heart was pounding in her chest and had been since she made the snap decision to avoid Logan by dragging Sebastian onto the dance floor.
She quickly realized her mistake. If they were on the dance floor, they’d have to dance or get run over.
So they danced. It was awkward, a bit stumbling.
.. and wonderful. The pressure of Sebastian’s strong fingers lightly pressing on her lower back made her pulse go into overdrive.
The movement wasn’t sensual, and they were surrounded by other dancers, including Sebastian’s sister, she discovered.
But being in his arms again was just as amazing as it used to be.
But she had to reel her feelings back in. Somehow she had managed to, only to have them resurface again when he said he wanted to dance with her.
She couldn’t give in.
She shouldn’t.
He smiled—a gentle, soft, heartstring-tugging grin that made her toes go crazy curly and made her want to give in and let go, something she hadn’t done in a long, long time. Or ever.
Her hands were on his biceps, and she tentatively moved them up, up, up until her wrists rested on his shoulders. That made him smile more, which compelled her to move closer. Before she knew it, the minuscule space between them was gone.
“You okay?” he said, his eyes not leaving hers.
Managing a nod, she said, “Yes.” She was more than okay. She was in heaven.
The Biscuit Boys played their final note, and the crowd applauded, breaking into whatever magnetic connection they just had. Sebastian dropped his arms, and she followed suit.
“Thanks, uh, for the help.” Her mouth felt like cotton, and she could barely move it.
He nodded, the sexy smile gone, his expression emotionless. “Gotta interview the band,” he said, stepping away.
“Okay. See you—”
He walked off.
“—later.” She sighed and followed the rest of the dancers off the floor, trying to get her bearings.
When she stepped onto the Wilsons’ thick green lawn, she realized she’d blown another chance to discuss the Harrington deal.
She’d intended to stick to her promise to talk about only the newspaper.
Then Logan showed up, and she lost her wits.
Maybe she should wait around for Sebastian to finish with his interviews. But would he even want to talk to her by then? She was almost sure he would change his mind, having had some time to think about it. He didn’t owe her anything.
Jade headed to her car, not bothering to eat anything or talk to anyone. She’d been right about Logan, though. He was nowhere to be seen. That was two wins today, although she felt guilty for evading him.
Then again, if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have danced with Sebastian or had those few sweet moments in his arms, even if it was under false pretenses and didn’t mean anything.
Her temples started to throb.
She drove back to the Clementine Inn, and as soon as she pulled into the parking lot, she realized she’d forgotten her bear.
Disappointment hit her. It was a cheap toy and didn’t mean much.
.. Except it did. Well, it was gone now.
Hopefully it had found a home with a child. That thought made her feel better.
When she saw Mabel in the lobby, she went to her, holding out little hope that her briefcase had been found. Sure enough, Mabel hadn’t seen it. “It will show up, sugar,” she said. “Don’t you fret.”
Jade nodded and mustered a weak smile, then went to her room. She flopped on the bed, not bothering to take off her shoes, an absolute no-no in her world. She had too many things to think about... to fret about.
Her briefcase and Sebastian’s ledger. Finding a way to convince him to talk to Miles, although that was becoming as remote as finding the briefcase. Then there was Logan. And Lydia. No. No Lydia. She refused to think about her.
Nothing was going her way, and to make it all worse, she wished she was back on the dance floor with Sebastian. For those fleeting moments there was no business failure, no financial trouble, no family heartache. Just the two of them. Like it used to be.
But it would never be that way again.