22. Chase
Chase
# Always make friends with the band
A raucous cheer erupts when Brax and Eva take to the floor for their first dance and I cannot stop myself from smiling as I watch them together.
Not only because they look so insanely happy and I’m thrilled for them, but because as soon as their first dance is done, then it will be time to do our rehearsed dance, and I will have a wholly legitimate excuse to have Addie in my arms while I stare into her eyes.
The band’s soulful rendition of “To Make You Feel My Love” ends and Brax and Eva kiss to a chorus of whistles and hollering. He dips her and she squeals.
“I remembered all my steps, and I got to dance with the most beautiful woman in the room,” Brax declares and then he fist pumps the air.
I’d have to disagree with the latter part of his claim because I’m looking right at the most beautiful woman in the room—she’s the most beautiful woman in any room.
My heart rate almost doubles. Addie is on the opposite side of the dance floor and I watched her during Brax and Eva’s first dance as much as I watched them.
Her beautiful face lit up with delight the entire time.
“Can the wedding party please take to the floor for the next song?” one of the band members announces over the microphone.
There’s another cheer.
I’m still staring at Addie. Now our eyes meet and I swallow down the thick knot of nerves. We’ve practiced this. It’s just a dance, Chase.
She glides across the floor toward me, effortless even in the sky-high red stilettos.
Fuck me, she is the most beautiful sight I ever saw.
I will my dick not to get inappropriately hard when we dance in front of all these guests, but already he’s ignoring me, twitching at the thought of having her so close.
I hold out my hand. “Shall we?”
She wraps her slender fingers around mine, warm and soft and right.
And then I pull her into my arms and it feels like the most natural thing in the whole fucking world.
One hand on the small of her back, I guide her around the dance floor, repeating the steps that Samuel drilled into us.
We’re one of a half a dozen couples but I’m only focused on her.
The flickering lights reflected in her hazel eyes.
The warmth of her skin beneath my palm. The scent of her perfume.
Everything that is Addison Kinsella intoxicates me.
This is the last of our duties for this evening. Soon Brax and Eva will ride off to their cabin on the opposite side of the lake and probably not leave it for days, and this day will be over. And this thing will be over. A wave of sadness washes over me.
“Today went well, didn’t it?” Her warm breath dusts over the skin of my neck, making the hair stand up on my nape.
“Yeah. You were great.”
“So were you. Your speech was perfect.”
You are perfect, Addison Kinsella. Something stops me from saying that—possibly the ever-present danger of a swift knee to my groin. “Thanks,” I mumble instead.
And then we’re silent, moving to the music until the song ends. She bristles. Goes to pull away but I hold her tight. “One more dance, Addie. Please?”
She looks up at me, eyes shining. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to let you go yet.”
She stares at me for the longest time, the moment stretching out for an eternity.
And then she leans into me, resting her cheek against my shoulder.
I dust my lips over her hair. And then she recognizes the song the band is playing right before the singer belts out the first line of “Santa Tell Me . ”
She looks into my eyes, and hers are shining with delight. “Did you ask them to play this song?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if you remember, but you danced to it at Hugo’s party.”
“I remember. I also remember I was thinking about you when I did.”
Oh, fuck me. I can see her now, a wicked smile on her face as she popped her hips and mouthed the words. “I’m so fucking sorry, Addie.”
“I know.” She smiles and then nestles her head against my chest once more, and I wrap her in my arms and enjoy the feel of her being here with me, right where she belongs. Her parents dance past us and Maggie gives me a knowing wink that makes me laugh.
The song ends all too soon and the singer announces that the bride and groom are leaving, which is met with a chorus of wolf whistles and cheers.
“I guess we should go say bye,” Addie says, and I reluctantly let my arms fall from around her waist.
“How about we pick up right here when we’re done though?”
The smile she gives me makes my knees feel like they’ve been hit with a sledgehammer. “If you’re a good boy.”
We all wave the newlyweds off in their golf cart as they prepare to spend the next four days holed up in their cabin.
Brax has already warned everyone that we won’t be hearing from them for at least forty-eight hours and I’m happier than I can ever put into words for him and Eva.
I have to admit I’m happier about the fact that Addison just danced to a song with me that she wasn’t signed up for.
She chose to. And she didn’t seem even the slightest bit uncomfortable in my arms, not even when she rubbed up against me and had to have felt how very hard for her I am.
We wait until almost everyone else has gone back inside, Addie staring off into the direction of the golf cart with a huge smile on her face. I slip my hand into hers. “How about that next dance?”
She giggles and the sound is so joyous and carefree, it’s almost like we’ve turned back time to before I acted like the world’s biggest asshole. “I think these heels were made for dancing.”
We’re almost back to the main lodge when someone calls out her name. And it makes every single hair on the nape of my neck stand on end, not to mention jealous, possessive anger burn in my veins.
What the fuck is he doing here and more importantly, did she invite him?
I never did get to the bottom of why Eva found her crying into her wine over this guy.
And she even admitted that she was cut up about not coming to the wedding with him.
Even if he is a douche-canoe, maybe Jasper is the man she wants to be with.
The very idea makes me want to throw her over my shoulder like a caveman, carry her to our cabin and remind her exactly who she’s always belonged to.