Chapter 25 #2
“I told you, I’m only here if you want me,” he said, as if reading her mind.
Behind them, the acrobats took a bow, completing their dance. Polite applause rose from the crowd as the floor opened to music and dancing once again.
“I need to talk to you.” The words burst from her lips as violins swelled into a slow sensual song. The lights stilled, encasing them in a dark curtain of red. Her heart rioted as she waited for his answer.
Hawk offered a hand. She handed her trophy to Margo.
“Then let us talk, the same way Penelope and Nox did at the Dark Elm Ball.”
Lilian frowned, not understanding the reference until he led her toward the dance floor, pulling her behind him.
“While dancing.”
“I don’t know what I’m more impressed by, the fact that you actually read The Raven King or that you can dance.
” She didn’t mean it to be rude, but the idea of Hawk knowing how to waltz was almost too strange to believe.
Lilian turned to gauge her friends’ reactions to this new turn of events. But Margo and Alex were gone.
“I told you, my parents liked to control my weekends,” he answered evenly, but she could see his lips pulling back into a grimace at the memory. “When I was younger that meant LARPing and period dance lessons.”
“You poor baby.” The teasing reply came out of habit, but it brought a smile to both of their lips. She kept her eyes trained on him, studying the eyes behind the mask. The strong nose that some might have deemed too pointed but was perfect in her eyes. “I don’t know how to dance,” she admitted.
“I’ll go easy on you.” His voice was a low vibrato that whispered in her ear. It was the only way she could hear him over the music.
Hawk's hand fell against the small of her back. The heat of it seeped into her spine. An easy six inches of space separated them, a blessing really—if he touched her any more she might actually forget everything she wanted to ask. “And how did you know I would be here?”
“Who do you think bought you the ticket?”
“Margo and Alex.”
His chocolate eyes held her gaze, and she knew instantly that this entire thing was a setup.
“Okay,” she tried again, “how did you know I would come?”
“I didn’t. But it was worth the chance.”
He actually was a good dancer. Guiding her along and managing not to step on her uncertain feet. His voice coaxed her, breath whistling through her hair as he said, “I’m going to turn you now.”
His arm arched over her and the rest happened naturally.
She spun around completely and finished in his arms, chest to chest. Around them people were laughing, dancing, swirling clouds of colors.
Sheila and Russ blinked beside them, naturally stepping across the floor like they’d been trained in the waltz.
She wasn’t nearly as skilled, but Hawk was taking it slow for her, swaying as they talked in hushed tones.
“What else did you want to talk about?”
“Everything,” she whispered, brain struggling to remember the long list. Her eyes fixed themselves on his fingers, which had intertwined with hers as they danced. “Alex said you were thinking about quitting the faire.”
Behind the mask, his eyes widened. “I’m not just thinking about it. I’m quitting, after all of this.”
“You can’t.” Lilian spoke before she could process what she was saying. “Your mom needs you now more than ever.”
“She’ll be fine,” Hawk said, but it lacked the usual confidence. She could see it in the way his jaw clenched, as if he didn’t believe the words.
“Hawk, before she had your dad helping her. Now there will be no one, and the faire is too big. Your mom needs someone who understands the business aspects of this place. You can't leave her.”
The fingers against her back flexed, showing she struck a nerve. “She can’t trust me with the faire either. I am supposed to know this business inside and out, but I missed such an obvious problem with it.”
Heat flared at his words. The anger wasn’t pointed at Hawk, though; it was at Marcus. By making his son doubt the thing he was best at. “That wasn’t your fault,” she told him. “You were doing a lot, with your accounts, my business, the ball, and the faire. You can’t expect to do it all perfectly.”
“I do,” he said in that same arrogant tone that demanded perfection.
Not just from the people around him. But of himself, most of all.
“I let him get away with so much bullshit. I didn’t care if and when it hurt other people.
I only cared when—” He stopped short, but she could imagine the next words he’d been about to say.
When it was someone I cared about.
He tried again. “More importantly, I opened us up to serious liability with my lack of action.”
“Your dad did all that,” she told him. “Don’t take the blame for his actions. You’re not him. You’re better.”
His eyes burrowed into hers. “I’m trying to right my mistakes.”
Lilian looked around at the grand party. People were watching them. Some were even smiling. Usually, people gave Hawk a wide berth, but tonight was different. It was obvious they knew who had helped make the ball such a success.
“You’re on the right path,” she said quietly. “I think if you want to make things right, you can’t give up on the faire. It’s going to need you more than ever.”
“I wasn’t just talking about the faire.”
The words hit her straight in the chest, reaching deep, and grabbing the pain she’d been holding on to and then… released it.
She wanted that, too.
Since the last time they’d talked, she’d taken ownership of a bookstore. Sold that bookstore and was starting another from the ground up. She’d found a location. Talked to banks. Written a business plan.
All without him.
She didn’t need him, not for those things anymore.
She needed him because he was Hawk. Because she wanted to do all those things with a friend by her side. A partner in every sense of the word.
She wanted him.
The song came to an end, and with it their dance. Lilian’s shoulders hunched, but the fingers entwined with her own did not let go. Now that she had him in her space again, it was impossible to let him go.
“Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”
“You want to leave?” he asked. “I could do another dance.”
She could, too. The offer was tempting; this was the night she’d been looking forward to. The perfect night. At least that was what she’d thought. When given the choice between dancing the night away in the Dark Elm Ball or spending it talking with this man… the choice was easy.
Her fingers squeezed his. “No. Let’s get out of here.”