“When did I lie?”
“You told me you didn’t dance,” she said.
He swayed with her from side to side while gliding his feet in a slow circle.
“Actually, I told you I danced all the time at functions just like this one.” He looked around the tastefully decorated ballroom teeming with elegantly dressed people in various stages of drunkenness. “Except the various military balls I’ve attended didn’t have quite this much free-flowing alcohol.”
She laughed. “It’s a New Orleans wedding. Free-flowing alcohol is as mandatory as the preacher.” She tipped her head to the side. “Come to think of it, one can be married by the justice of the peace, but to be married without hurricanes or Crown Royal and Coke? Blasphemous.”
The band brought the slow ballad to a close. Moments later, the unmistakable opening notes of the “Electric Slide” started.
“That’s my cue,” Thad said, turning on his heel.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Ashanti caught him by the wrist. “Thisis the kind of dancing I want to see you do.”
He closed his eyes and groaned, but then took two stepsto the right, joining in with the dozens of others who had rushed to the dance floor. And, since he was here, he decided to play it up, getting some shoulder action in and adding some oomph to the kick.
He probably looked like a fool, but seeing the sheer delight on Ashanti’s face made it worth it.
Thad had been unsure whether she would still be up for attending the wedding after the tumultuous week she’d had. He’d barely seen her between her taking care of Duchess—who, thankfully, had fully recovered from the Akita attack—hiring two bakers and setting up the kitchen for that big grocery store order, and dealing with her sisters.
He’d been surprised when she’d texted him early this morning to find out if the wedding had a certain color theme—apparently, that was something people did these days—and mentioned how much she was looking forward to a night out.
Knowing that he could take a little of her anxiety away, even if just for a few hours, made the satisfaction in his chest expand like helium filling a balloon.
The dance ended and Ashanti pleaded they stop for a breather. Not because she’d tired herself out from dancing, but rather from laughing. At him.
Thad grabbed two bottles of water from the bar and joined her at their table. The moment he sat down, someone hooked an arm around his neck and kissed his cheek.
“I don’t know what kind of magic spell you’ve weaved around my brother, but I like it,” his sister said to Ashanti.
Thad rolled his eyes at Nadia’s intrusion, but he couldn’t fault her for being surprised. He would be surprised as hell ifhe were in her shoes too. The last time he’d danced like this was probably a family reunion when he was twelve.
“Ree Ree plans to throw the bouquet soon. Let me know if you want it and it’s yours,” Nadia said with a wink.
“Enough with the matchmaking, Frances,” Thad said. She was as bad as his grandmother.
“Speaking of, Grams said that somebody had better bring her wedding cake first thing in the morning. She wants it for breakfast.”
“Of course she does,” Thad said, his good mood dulling at the thought of his grandmother and what he’d promised himself he would do when his sister came to town.
“You’re thinking about that ancestry thing, aren’t you?” Ashanti asked as soon as Nadia left the table.
“I guess my poker face needs some work too,” he said.
“You haven’t talked to your sister about it?”
He shook his head. “She’s been looking forward to Reshonda’s wedding. I didn’t want to ruin it for her. But she knows something’s up. She’s got a sixth sense for shit like this. The moment she walked into the house, she asked me what I was hiding from her.”
Ashanti fiddled with the cloth napkin at her place setting. “When do you plan to tell her?”
“Tonight,” Thad said. “She’s flying home tomorrow afternoon.”
She reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. “This won’t be easy for either of you. I’m sorry.”
He would give anything to have Ashanti be the one coming home with him tonight. Maybe he could offer to put Nadia up in one of the hotels in the French Quarter. The benefits would be twofold, he could put off telling her about theirphilandering grandfather until the morning and finally wake up with Ashanti in his bed again.
Thad scratched the idea.
