He snugged the hat back on his head and held out his arm. “Right this way.” A mid-tempo song came on, one Hunter could probably sing in his sleep. He had a choice to make. He could swing her to the music, showing off his moves, or he could two-step her around the dance floor and have her close.
He opted for the two-step. His mama may have raised him to be a gentleman, but she’d also raised him to be smart.
To his utter astonishment, Zoey fit into his arms perfectly. He started out the slow-slow-quick-quick step, and her feet moved without any effort on her part. They made several rounds on the dance floor, their bodies moving as if they’d been doing this together their whole lives through.
He spun Zoey out and then tugged her back in, his right arm wrapped around her shoulders. She lifted her chin to look up at him, and his world tilted. “You don’t say much,” she teased.
He grinned. “I prefer to let my feet do the talking.”
Zoey wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure what they’re saying.”
He chuckled. “Well, they must like you, because they haven't stepped on your toes.”
She laughed. “I guess so. Maybe my feet are saying the same about you.”
His heart flip-flopped. The song ended, and another, slower song began. “One more?” Hunter asked hopefully.
Zoey moved so her arms were around his neck, and they began to sway together. “I think I can spare another song for you, cowboy.” She tapped his hat.
Hunter grinned. “So you’re Brandon’s sister …?” It wasn’t really a question, but more of a conversation starter.
“Yep. And you’re his neighbor…?”
“I’ve known Allie and Jo all my life, but Brandon has become a good friend of my family’s. We have adjoining property lines.” Hunter paused before continuing. “And I helped rescue his fiancée from a couple of kidnappers.”
Zoey frowned. “Kidnappers?”
Hunter filled her in on what had happened with the guys who Brandon and his military buddies had put away, and she gave him all the perfect responses, gasping, fuming, and finally laughing as he told her about the posse and how’d they’d ridden in to save the day. She was so open with her emotions, he felt he could read her thoughts with one look.
Hunter laughed too—the feelings of lightness and rightness making it easy. “Only the toughest posse in Virginia in the last hundred years.”
Zoey shook her head. “I wish I’d seen that.”
Hunter answered her string of questions, being careful to stick to answers that would make her laugh and bring out the sparkle in her eye.
All too soon, the song was over, and all around them couples broke apart and headed off to get a drink or find a new partner.
Zoey ducked her head and then grinned at him. Her smile hit him in the face and went right to his brain, scrambling it. She should have a license for that thing. “I’m really glad you asked me to dance.”
Feeling as though he was moving and thinking through a thick Virginia fog, he replied, “Brandon said to.”
Zoey’s chin drew back. “Brandon?” She stepped away from him. “He told you to dance with me?” She glanced over her shoulder, but the bride and groom were halfway across the lavender fields, running off together as if they didn't have a care in the world. “Ah—he asked you to distract me so they could disappear.”
The fog in his brain was clearing at her words, but not fast enough. “No!” He reached out a hand. “I—”
“It’s okay.” Zoey gathered herself up and pasted on a smile. This one didn’t include any of the light that Hunter found himself craving. “I appreciate that you’re his good friend and would do a solid for your buddy. But I’m a big girl, and I don’t need a distraction or a babysitter.”
“That wasn’t—” Hunter’s words fell off as he watched Zoey weave her way through the crowd toward her other brother and sister-in-law sitting at one of the tables. He turned, wanting to punch something—mostly himself for being such an idiot.
Maverik appeared at his elbow. “How’d it go?”
“Shut up.” Hunter shoved away, squeezed between the buffet tables, and headed for his truck. He’d messed up—big time. Why had he even brought Brandon up in that moment? Obviously, it was the wrong thing to say.
Hunter groaned. Well, that was that. He’d held the perfect woman in his arms for two songs and then lost her. It shouldn’t sting like it did. But oh, did it ever sting. This was one of those times when he should have thought things through before jumping in—he should have planned it out better. Maverik made fun of him for thinking out each scenario, but this was what happened when he left things to chance.
Never again.
