same sassy tone. “Answer the question.”
Joey’s eyebrows rose. “You want to know if we’re on a date?”
A pause. Becca felt uncharacteristically vulnerable. “Well, are we?”
“I can’t date you. You come with The Jade.”
“So then it’s not.”
Joey scoffed. “We’re like the Hatfields and McCoys. Harry Potter and Voldemort. Daenerys and Cersei.”
“Those last two would be smokin’ together, and you still haven’t answered the question.”
“Well…the beer is really good.” Joey stared into it with a smile that clearly acknowledged her blatant dodge and weave.
Becca leaned over. “Joey, I love a good chase. I’m up for it.” She watched as Joey swallowed. “As long as I have your blessing.”
Joey’s eyes found hers. “I would never stop you from your sincere aspiration in life.” She gestured behind her. “Now we should probably scoot so we can see some more of Whisper Wall.”
“You want us to dance? Really? I thought we were just touring.” She checked out the dance floor and saw a dozen or so people dancing in a synchronized line.
“You don’t dance?” Joey asked, backing up to the floor with a grin that seemed to halfway entice, halfway challenge.
“It just so happens I love to dance.” She’d just never line danced before, but surely she could make the adjustment, give it a shot. Becca prided herself on her go-with-the-flow confident outlook, and she would simply harness that now. She joined Joey in the line and watched the others for direction. She shifted her hips with the group but then missed a turn, which made her laugh.
Joey grinned over her shoulder. She had her hair in a loose braid, with a few wayward strands framing her face. “You keeping up?”
“Not yet,” Becca said, still two steps behind everyone but recognizing the pattern. As she turned, she swore she saw Joey’s gaze drop to her ass. She smiled.
“What?” Joey asked, her cheeks turning adorably red.
“I saw that.”
“You didn’t see anything. I’m dancing, and you’re behind the beat.”
She was, but just as she found her groove, the music changed on them to a much slower song, and everyone around them coupled up, shifting to a two-step.
“Do me the honor?” A man in a blue-collared shirt extended his hand to Becca.
Joey took a step between them. “She’s with me tonight, Frank.” Becca raised an eyebrow as Joey took her hand and led her away. Without a word, Joey rested one arm around the back of Becca’s neck and linked their other hands between them in proper two-step position.
“Totally a date,” she said in Joey’s ear, as a song about a neon moon played on.
“Yeah, well…” was all Joey gave back. It was plenty.
The talking faded into the mist as they danced because Becca became aware of their proximity. It dismantled her normally careful composure. Tonight, she was entirely affected and watched helplessly as the control she always craved was stripped from her with each passing moment. With Joey pressed up against her as they stepped across the dance floor in a slow, impeccably timed shuffle, the rest of the world faded at the edges. She enjoyed the way Joey’s hair inadvertently tickled her neck. She memorized the feel of Joey in her arms, and she reveled in the warmth from her body. She savored the raspberry vanilla combo that would forever mean Joey Wilder to her, for now and always.
When the final notes of the song clung and faded, Joey stepped back and met Becca’s gaze. Her eyes were wide and her lips parted, almost as if she’d just experienced what Becca had.
“Where should we go now?” Joey asked quietly.
“I don’t know, but I think I’d follow you anywhere.”
* * *
Joey hadn’t set out to feel what she was feeling. That hadn’t been the goal tonight, but at the same time, she noticed herself stepping toward feelings for once, instead of away. That wasn’t her usual MO, especially after the way she and Simone ended.
She navigated and watched Becca as she drove them to Maraschino’s, where they could surely cool off via ice cream. She needed it, too, because watching Becca drive had been a bad idea. Her perfect profile and the little freckle to the side of her upper lip sent Joey to dreamy places that quickly moved to steamy places and more. Becca’s chestnut hair, its long layers, had her fantasizing again about what it would be like to thread her fingers through that hair as she kissed those lip-glossed lips, taking that lip gloss out entirely. She shifted in her seat, feeling overly sensitive