Their eyes caught, snagged. “Watching you do something you love.”
She swallowed, seeing the admiration in his eyes. Was he saying that he hated dancing but loved watching her?Really?Her heart filled with heat, expanded, and knocked against her ribcage.
He shrugged and looked away. Wren could feel it, he’d pulled back, just a little, as if realizing that he’d said too much.
“Is that your way of blackmailing me into continuing teaching the class?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No blackmail, I’m just stating my position. You teach. I try. Colt dances. You don’t. I don’t. The world will continue to turn for Colt.”
He wasn’t exerting any pressure, just stating facts. It was her choice, and whatever she chose, it wouldn’t come with any judgment. “Maybe I should…” she said, biting down on her lip to keep her words in check.
“Carry on with classes?” Dane filled in the blanks. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Helpful,” she muttered.
He smiled. “Let me ask you this… Did you have fun? It looked like you did.”
Wren nodded. “Mmm, I did. There wasn’t any time or performance pressure. I could just enjoy the way my body moved, the way the kids moved. I haven’t felt that for a long, long time.” And it was what she’d been missing, that freedom. The joy.
Joy was the missing ingredient. Had she found it in a dance studio in H-Town of all places? That was nuts. Actually, maybe that fit, since this town wasn’t exactly sane.
“So, I have this theory…” Dane said. She waited for him to continue, her eyebrows raised. “I think that when you find something you enjoy and love to do, you should do more of that. And don’t think about it too much.”
“Do you do what you love?” she asked and watched as confusion clouded his clear blue gaze.
He waited a beat or two before speaking. “I thought I was doing what I loved, thought it fulfilled me in all the ways it should. Now I’m not so sure.”
Wren knew when to push, and this wasn’t the time, so she bumped his shoulder with hers. “I’ll think about it, Trafford.”
He nodded. “You do that, Dunlop,” he replied, sounding as if he knew exactly what her answer would be.
But how could she cave to Luna without losing her dignity? How would she avoid hertold-you-so’s? It was enough to make her rethink her decision.
Dane sat down on the bench and rested his head against the wall behind him, closing his eyes. “God, that was torture.”
She laughed and sat next to him. “Didn’t you enjoy it?” she teased, knowing that he’d spent most of her very basic lesson flailing.
He sat up, opened his water, and took a long swallow. “No,” he muttered.
Wren crossed her legs, rested her elbow on her knee, and shook her head. “How can anyone be as bad at dancing as you?” she said. “You have no rhythm, no coordination, and no sense of the music.”
He shrugged, unoffended. “It’s one of the great mysteries of the world.”
“So why on earth did you take awful Penn up on his dare?”
“He pissed me off.”
“I got that.” Wren touched his thigh, just lightly, her fingers briefly connecting with hot, hard muscle. “I had fun, but you definitely didn’t.”
“I didn’t have fun when I first joined the army, or when I first started med school, either. Everything gets better with practice,” he stated.
He drank some more and rested the bottle on his thigh before lifting his wrist and squinting at his watch. “Would you be interested in getting a drink with me?”
She’d promised herself a drama-dance-and-man-free summer: three months to pull herself together, to slow down and recalibrate. She’d ninety per cent decided to continue teaching this class, which meant she’d failed at one of her resolutions before her summer had even properly started.
He was a good-looking man, but she’d enjoyed his company far more than she expected to. Bottom line: he intrigued her. But getting a drink with a hot man she was fiercely attracted to was upping the stakes and it wasn’t a smart move. It was better to keep her distance, so she would be strong, and clever, eminently sensible. What excuse should she use? That Luna was expecting her? She had a video call scheduled with a client? She’d promised herself an early night? She already had a date?
“That sounds good,” she said.
