Then as luck would have it, the DJ played a slow song again. Couples paired off and Brooke glanced around at everyone but at him.
Logan held his hand out to her. “Don’t make this weird.”
Brooke took a step closer to him and gently placed her hand into his own. “I’ll try not to.”
He brought her close, wrapping his arm around her waist. At first, she kept her body stiff and two inches apart. But as the soothing music played, her tight muscles relaxed. To his delight, she rested her head against his shoulder. Logan closed his eyes for a moment as they swayed to the melody. He let himself revel in the feeling of her body relaxing softly against his. The smooth curves of her hips fit perfectly next to him. Her tantalizing aroma filled his lungs, hints of lavender and vanilla. The scent made his head spin.
He tilted his chin down. Their gaze locked with one another. His heartrate racked up to a staccato beat. Her lips twisted into a twitching smile while her eyes crinkled around the edges. She studied him, and he wondered if she felt this momentum too, this building tide which would eventually have to break.
She moistened her lips. Logan’s breath hitched in his chest. He brought his face closer to hers, but he forced himself to stop before their lips could gaze each other’s. The ache to kiss her rattled him.
“Should I kiss you now?” he whispered.
His gaze roamed her face.
Ever so slightly, almost indistinguishable, she nodded. Logan cupped both sides of her neck. His thumbs brushed the length of her jaw. Then he let his lips collide with hers. Brooke melted into him. Her hand crept to the middle of his chest and soon her fingers fisted a handful of his shirt. His insides melted into a velvety smooth wave he wanted to ride forever. Their kiss was warm and gentle. It was filled with the possibilities of a future. All the waiting, wanting, only further laced the layers of heat between them. How much time passed, he had no clue. A few times he felt the bumps and brushes of other dancers, but Logan lived in a world where only he and Brooke orbited. This world he never cared to leave. This time he would never walk away even if she pushed him.
Their kiss deepened. Their shared breath warmed them despite the lowering temperature. Tonight, he held the one thing he cared to have, and he had no plan on letting go or being the first to tug their lips apart. For as long as Brooke would allow him to kiss her, hold her, he’d enjoy the beauty of being in the present.
Soon, the song ended. The DJ changed the song back to a fast song. Brooke broke their lips an inch apart. “I guess we’d better stop now.” Her lips were raw and red. “We’re probably making a scene and there are children here.”
“Huh?” In a daze, Logan tried to find his place back on solid ground. He loosened their embrace and ran a finger under her bottom lip where her lipstick had smudged. “Whatever you say.” He smiled and kissed her at her temple.
Some of the people on the dance floor bumped into them, he guided her away from the crowd to the outskirts of those dancing.
“Ugh, you still have Shelby.” Her words broke the trance. “We shouldn’t have kissed. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She gnawed her bottom lip.
“What?” He dropped his hand from around her waist. “No. I’m not with Shelby.”
The mention of her made his gut twist. When would Shelby finally be out of his life forever?
“But you went out with her,” she fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt, “right?” Then she tilted her chin up to meet his gaze.
“No.” His jaw tightened. “Why do you keep pressing me on this? I told you I want to be with you. Why won’t you believe me? Didn’t that kiss tell you everything you wanted to know?”
Logan forced himself to take a long calming breath.
Brooke stepped back. “Your sister thinks you should be with Shelby.”
“But I want to be with you.” Logan rubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t care what Danielle wants or thinks.”
He didn’t want Shelby, maybe at one point he did, but not now, not when he’d had another taste of Brooke.
“I asked you to go out with Shelby. I need to know that chapter of your life is closed.” Brooke widened the gap between them and wrung her hands together. “I can’t handle it if we start to date and you change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind.” He attempted to reach for her, but she stumbled a step back out of his grasp. “It’s not like that. Shelby, well— there’s?—”
Her flat expression made his stomach plummet. “Just go out with her.”
“I’m not going to go out with her,” Logan said as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I want to be with you and not for pretend, and not just until the wedding.”
The DJ interrupted their conversation with the announcement, “Everyone grab a sparkler, the newlyweds are about to leave.”
“I need to go. This was a mistake.” Brooke backpedaled and bumped into another guest. “Oh, sorry,” she said as she weaved around them.
Then she twisted on her feet and drifted into the crowd of people moving toward the exit to line the path for Ian and Aubrey’s departure. Logan didn’t see the point in going after her. He tried and failed to convince her he wanted so much more. So, he watched her drift away and then he turned around and left.
CHAPTER 16
