There wasn’t anything I'd like more.
"Always," I told him.
He took my hand, leading me through the same steps Nathan had taught me. While I looked like a tentative colt balancing on legs for the first time, he moved with an ease and flair I couldn't help but envy.
He effortlessly turned the simple steps into a thing of beauty, somehow making it seem like I knew what I was doing.
"Having fun?" Liam asked as we moved back and forth.
There was a smile still caught on my lips, and I knew my cheeks were flushed and my eyes full of laughter. "I am, yes."
"Good," he said. "Hold onto that thought."
He moved quickly and suddenly the world was flipping as I spun over his arm. I landed back on the ground my eyes wide and mouth open in disbelief. Around us people pointed and clapped.
He'd flipped me like I was a damn top. He looked pretty proud of himself too.
He arched an expectant eyebrow.
My smile widened with delight. "Do it again."
*
We danced for hours. Until my feet hurt and the club announced last call. Not all of it was swing. After two more songs, they transitioned back to typical club fair. Liam, Anton, and Nathan didn't abandon the dance floor. Instead, they took turns as my partner.
The brief glimpse of Pelt—if that was who it had been—was a distant memory by the time the club closed.
I don't think I'd ever laughed or had so much fun. At least not in recent memory. The only thing that would have made it better was if Caroline had stuck around.
The shots we'd started with were only the first in a long line, leaving me a tad more inebriated than I'd planned when the night began. Singing “Baby Shark” softly under my breath, I stumbled toward the club's entrance as the light's came up.
Liam steadied me when I tipped, nearly running into a door. Anton and Nathan brought up the rear.
I stretched, a broad smile on my face. "This was so much fun."
"Night's not over yet," Liam said with a tender look on his face. He watched me like I was some fey creature he'd never seen before, but was afraid might disappear if he looked away.
I dropped my arms and blinked at him as the two enforcer's moved past us, disappearing into the night.
"Later, A," Nathan called. "Let's do this again. Next time we'll do salsa."
I frowned at him. "Isn't Liam your ride?"
The two didn't even bother hiding their smiles. Nathan waved at me. "We can find our own way home."
That didn't seem fair. Dudes that came to the club together, left together. Or did that rule only apply to the females of the species?
Too late, I opened my mouth to protest only to find the two blurring away. Nathan let out a war cry, leaping into the air and appearing on the roof of a one-story building seconds later.
Anton bounded after him.
I shut my mouth. "Yeah, you better run."
Liam's warm chuckle had my attention swinging to him.
Now that we were alone, I felt uncertain. Sometimes what I felt for him was too big to process. It often left me in the default of retreat.
Liam didn't let me tonight. He drew me closer, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand.
