floor. “I want you five to line up here, and Colin, you stand slightly forward.”
We all do as she asks, and she checks our positions. “Since some of us aren’t happy to be here and don’t have the moves, I’m going to make this an easy dance but still fun for Sara.”
“I’ve got moves,” Caleb says, and Mason shoves him.
“That’s not what Lindsay told me,” Mason says.
“Don’t be upset that she likes me better than you, bro.”
“Boys,” Alyson says and claps her hands. “Eyes on me.”
They stop mumbling, and we all turn to Alyson. “We’re going to start off like this,” she says and steps left, then right. “Really easy, and move your arms like this.” She does the move a couple times, and we mimic her. “Excellent,” she says. “Colin, will you all be wearing suit jackets?”
“You bet.”
“Okay, good. Now this is what I want you to do.”
Christ, if she only knew what I want her to do, she’d go running for the hills.
She grabs a sweater and tugs it on, then slowly removes it and puts it behind her rear end, her hips gyrating. With that look now forever burned into my brain, I nearly bite my damn tongue off as the guys clap and laugh.
“Sara is going to love this,” Colin says, and triumph fills Alyson’s face. For some reason, this is really important to her.
“Okay, now you all try it,” she suggests.
We all make the motion of removing our imaginary coats, and I pretend to put mine around my back and move my hips in some strange gyrating motion that doesn’t thrill Alyson, judging by the way her eyes are narrowing in on me.
“Jay, you’ve got no moves,” she says.
“He’s got the moves like Jagger, said no one ever,” Colin blurts out.
“I’ve got moves,” I grump as everyone laughs.
“Yeah, you do, happy feet,” Patrick says.
She crosses to me, stands behind my body, and places her hands on my hips. “Like this,” she says, and I grumble under my breath when she pushes her stomach against my ass and moves with me.
“Pretend you’re drying your back with a towel.”
“I thought you wanted the towel lower, like on my ass.”
“That’s an even better idea. Try that, boys.”
My goddamn dick starts thickening, and the last thing I need is to be sporting a hard-on and letting everyone in the room know how much I want to sleep with my new neighbor. Jesus, maybe I should fuck her, just once, and be done with this tension between us once and for all.
Once I have the motion down, she goes back to her spot in front of us. She teaches us a few more moves and then goes and turns on the music.
“Okay, let’s put it all together and move to the beat.”
We follow her instructions, and when Adam Levine blares out some line about nobody touching it unless that somebody is him, I get it. Oh, do I ever get it. As Alyson shakes her hips, the room closes in on me, and I misstep a couple of times as my blood leaves my brain.
She teaches us a few more things, and I have to say, she’s a damn good dancer. Was it something she wanted to do professionally? Maybe that’s what she was born to do.
After a good hour, Alyson checks the time on her phone and smiles at us. “You guys were awesome. Now why don’t you all go home and practice? You should have all those moves down by next Sunday.”
“Thanks, Alyson,” Colin says with a laugh. “You’re totally saving my ass by showing me how to shake it.”
“My pleasure. Sara is a sweetheart, and I’m so glad I could help.” She walks to the sound system and turns the music off.
“Beer?” Colin asks us. We all nod, and he calls out to Alyson, “Join us at the Crow?”
“Can’t. I have some preserves that I need to make.”
“All work and no play.” Colin tsks. “You’re turning into my man Jay here.”
“Farm life,” she says.
Colin gives me a look, one that suggests Alyson might be more capable than we ever gave her credit for—that she might be looking to run a solid business—and that I might just end up losing the farm to that asshole Charlie Miller.
“Won’t happen,” I say quietly and push down the unease worming its way through my veins. I remind myself Juanita had determination to be a farmer, too, and it evaporated quicker than a rain puddle after the sun broke through. Yeah, I