“It’s easy, now you do it backward,” David instructs, “left foot back, right foot slide, left foot close.” Lexi follows him elegantly. “We do it again. Ladies, grab a partner.” I look around, seeing we are one woman short, so I stand to the side, not telling anyone I already know how to dance the waltz. “One, two, three,” he counts, doing the first set. “One, two, three.” He does the other set, then looks at me. “Come here,” he urges me, calling me over and stepping out of Lexi’s arms. “You can take my place. I will put my hands on your hips and guide you.”
“Here we go,” I mumble as I step in front of Lexi and she rolls her lips.
“You put one hand here.” He takes my hand and places it right under her shoulder. “You put your hand here.” He places her hand on my shoulder. “Then hold hands,” he instructs us. “Perfect.” He leaves us to go and make sure the other couples are all paired properly.
“Do you know how to do the waltz?” I ask her and she nods her head. She looks around and waits for David to come back to us. “So why did you say you don’t know how?”
“Because I always end up messing up the steps,” she replies softly, “and then I’ll step on your foot because I have two left feet.”
“I bet you don’t,” I assure her and she looks up at me, the heat of her hand searing through my T-shirt.
“Okay and start,” David says.
“Ready?” I ask her and she shakes her head, making me laugh. “And go,” I urge, moving my foot and she moves hers. “See? Told you, you’re fine,” I joke with her as we do the series of steps four times. I see a couple of the guys calling David’s attention to them.
“Do you know this dance?” she asks me and I nod.
“I do,” I admit to her. “My stepfather used to attend these fundraisers for the bank he worked with. He used to take us with him and I got forced into it.” She smiles as we continue dancing. “How long have you lived in Phoenix?”
“It’ll be about ten years, I think.” She thinks about it. “I moved here with Trent when he was twenty-five and got his residency here. We thought it would be for four years, but he excelled here. He climbed the ladder quickly and became the best in his field.”
“I bet he’s the best,” I mumble and she just tilts her head to the side.
“What about you? Why Phoenix for your off months?” she asks me as we waltz, and I even lead us in a turn.
“Born and raised here,” I reply, surprising her.
“Really?” she says, shocked. “But there isn’t even ice here.”
I laugh at her. “My father moved here from New York,” I tell her. “Started me skating when I was three. When he passed away, I made it a point to always skate.”
“I’m sorry,” she says softly.
“Thank you. He passed away and six months later my mother married my stepfather.” I look into her eyes. “He tried to pull me out of hockey.” My body tightens and she must feel it, her eyes search mine. “Said I could only play hockey if I took up golf. Golf, after all, is the all-American sport.”
“I think that’s baseball,” she tries to joke with me, “or maybe it’s a toss-up between football and baseball.”
“But deals are made on the golf courses,” I repeat some of the words my stepfather drilled into my head, “not on the ice.”
“He doesn’t sound like a nice guy,” she states softly. “I’m sorry, that was rude and I shouldn’t have said anything.” Her eyes search mine. “It was out of line.”
“You’re right, he wasn’t a very nice guy,” I admit to her. “We didn’t see it though until many years later.” I share a look with her, hoping she understands the meaning. “It was always about him and never about us. He was a hedge fund manager. Made deals with some of the important people. Lots of mergers made because of him and many of those were made on the golf course. Of course, he thought I would be following in his steps.” I smile. “He passed away the day I signed my hockey contract.” I chuckle, my hand slipping from her shoulder to the middle of her back, and I pull her even closer to me. “Even in his death, he had to take away one more thing from me.”
“Well, you showed him,” she says softly. “You are on the ice making the deals happen.” She smirks at me. “Pretty sure there have to be some deals being made on the ice.”
I smile at her. “I tried to make deals with half my team to make sure we beat your cousins, Michael and Dylan, a couple months ago. Asked them to make sure they did not kick our asses. I even made a deal with your best friend, Ariella, that if she had another baby and it was a boy, she would name it after me.”
She shakes her head. “She really isn’t one of my cousins,” she shares and I stop dancing, making her step on my foot. “Oomph.”
“What did you just say?” I ask her, confused.
“She isn’t really my blood cousin,” she repeats the words and I look at her because everyone knows the Stone family. “She’s cousins with my cousins.”
“I can bet if you say that in front of your uncle Matthew, he might have something to say to that.” I glance at her and she just looks down, avoiding looking at me. “I’ve only met him a couple of times, but each time it was like—make no eye contact.”
She laughs and looks up. “He’s the best. He pretends to be this big bad wolf, but he’s a softie.”
“I dare you to tell him that to his face,” I tease and she just throws her head back and full-on belly laughs. “I want to be there when you do.”
