Desperate times. Desperate measures.
He arrived just as Maddie’s mom was turning to Maddie, raising a hand to gesture toward the curly-haired guy?—
“Would you—” Leo said to Maddie as he arrived at her shoulder.
She turned at once, an encouraging look springing to her face.
“I was hoping . . . that you might.” Leo swallowed. “That is, I was going to see if you’d like to dance with me.”Shoot!Why couldn’t he have said that better?
“Yes,” she answered at once. “I’d love to.”
Thank God. He offered his forearm. She wrapped her hand around the crook of his elbow, and he led her to the side of the gathering couples.
“It seems the forced dancing portion of the evening has begun,” she said lightly.
“Does Mrs. Pottinger enforce dancing at this party every year?” he asked.
“This is a first. Last year she insisted we play an enormous game of Christmas charades. The year before that she created a small sledding hill and made everyone sled down it.”
“I’m guessing Bruce didn’t like charades or sledding.”
“Exactly. She seems to be taking the Mission:Christmas volunteers on a tour of all the activities Bruce detested.”
“I think I would’ve liked Bruce,” Leo said dryly.
Maddie laughed, and he found himself laughing, truly laughing.
“You could have warned me about this,” he said.
“I could have. But then you might not have come.”
“I’m impressed thatyoukeep coming to this party year after year.”
“It’s good for me to step outside my comfort zone every now and then. Besides, it gives me a chance to eat delicious food and wear a fancy dress.”
“I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier,” he said, “but you look beautiful in your fancy dress.” Her simple white dress followed the curves of her body from shoulder to knee.
“Thank you.” She smoothed the dress into place. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to wear it.”
Her long earrings sparkled. Her silver high heels showed off toes painted red. The clean grapefruit scent of her perfume scrambled his thoughts. Was he . . . should he say something else?
Music expanded through the room, and they adjusted to face each other. He offered his left hand. When she placed her fingers in his, a shock of heat surrounded the contact. Rattled, he concentrated on placing his right palm at a respectable spot on her waist.
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful,” sang Dean Martin.
Leo and Maddie swayed in time to the music. He didn’t feel like a terrible dancer. He felt okay at it and like the luckiest man in the room because he had Maddie in his arms. For this one night, he wasn’t at home, cleaning up toys and loading the dishwasher. Maddie smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her, as if the two of them had just pulled off a jail break.
“It turns out that I don’t hate forced dancing,” she said.
“No. Me either.”
“This is kind of nice.” She settled her gaze on something over his shoulder.
“Yes.”
“Really nice, actually,” she said softly.
He nodded.Really nicewas still an understatement.
