“Something like that.” He chuckles.
“Do you still do it?”
He shakes his head and then lifts his beer. “No. Been out for a year. Now I’m training to be the next lord of the Sotherbys, remember?”
“Ah, how could I forget, your lordship.” He chuckles. “From the tone of your voice, I’m guessing that’s not something you want to do?”
“Not really,” he says with a wince. “But it’s what my parents want, and for some reason, I have this stark need to always please them, hence why I’m here in my military garb.”
“Well, I might be bias, but it seems like you’re having a good time.”
His eyes scan me over, the green so deep that it almost seems black. After a brief perusal, he says, “Yeah, I am.” He glances at the dance floor and then holds his hand out to me. “Care to dance?”
“Uh, I don’t know any of the dance moves.”
“This is just a simple slow song.” He sets his beer down. “Come on, my parents will kill me if I don’t dance at least once.”
“Can’t have parental homicide. Might not look good for the Sotherbys.”
“See, you get it,” he says as I place my hand in his and set down my drink.
As he guides me through the crowd, something feels so unusual. It’s not the environment or the glamour. It’s not the music. I pause, wondering what feels so odd, and then it hits me. I’m holding another man’s hand.And it feels both odd and wrong.
Evan is a nice guy and all, and he’s handsome, fun to talk to, but an air about him is missing. The reason I was so transfixed with Keller was because he stole the oxygen right from my lungs. From his unruly disposition to the demanding scowl in his brow to the way he unraveled when it was just me and him. He commanded my soul with a single look.
And that realization makes me miss him all over again.
Fuck.
“Okay, just place your other hand on my shoulder,” Evan says, knocking me out of my thoughts. “And follow my lead.”
He lowers his hand to my waist, where he holds me tightly, bringing our chests to almost touching. I quickly inhale, taking in his sandalwood cologne, and glance up at his handsome face . . . and feel nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
It’s so startling that I question if I’m dead inside.
Because here is a very attractive man, someone I’d consider my type. He’s funny, he’s charming, he’s bulky in all the right places, and he’s holding on to me, about to glide me along the dance floor. And for the life of me, I can’t feel one freaking twitch, one jolt, one palpitation of my heart.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Ready,” I say in response, with a smile.
Together, we move around the dance floor, dancing in time with the music. The room spins around us, the lights twinkling with every pass, and it almost feels like time slows down as another man holds me close to him.
For a moment, my eyes squeeze shut, and I can feel Keller holding me instead, his grip so strong that I know I belong to him and only him. His cheek pressing against my face, his rough five o’clock shadow marring me in the sexiest way possible. My emotions get the best of me as tears spring to my eyes.
God, don’t cry, Lilly.
That would be humiliating.
Focus on Evan.
Focus on the cold, dark hole where your heart used to be.
“Oh no,” Evan says, startling me again. “Don’t look now, but my parents are watching. They’re the couple over to the right. My mother is wearing the beehive hat on the top of her head, and my dad is the one with the foot-long mustache.”
Pulling it together, I glance to the right where I see his parents, an ornery couple with eyes keen on us.
