Counting On Cole (Wilde Ways #8) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,36
to dance with you.” Having her in his arms? Hell, yes. “But I’m probably not like the partners you’re used to having.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I can’t dance for shit.”
Laughter sputtered from her. Real laughter. Her laughter and Chase’s both were filled with amusement, and that happy sound cut through the fakeness like a knife.
Evie eased even closer to him. “I can help you.”
“Promise?”
“I happen to be very good at teaching people how to dance. You just have to trust me.”
He couldn’t look away from the darkness of her eyes. “I do.” He’d trust Evie with his life.
She smiled at him.
She was the most beautiful thing in his world.
“Take my hand.”
She held one hand up. He curled his fingers around hers.
“Good. Now put your other hand over my ass.”
He put his hand on her ass.
“Over. As in, above. Like, near my lower back.”
“My bad.” He slowly moved up his fingers.
“You knew where you were supposed to put that hand.”
“I’ll put my hands anywhere you want them, sweetheart,” he promised.
Her lips parted. Oh, how he wanted to lower his head and press his mouth to hers.
“Move with me,” she whispered. “Focus on feeling the music. Nothing fancy, just a soft sway.”
His hand tightened on her lower back as he pulled her forward a bit more. He wasn’t feeling the music, he was feeling her, and, as always when Evie was near, his body had a most definite reaction.
A reaction she probably wasn’t missing considering how close they were to each other.
“You’re doing great,” she praised him.
He smiled down at her. “You’re being nice. We both know that I almost smashed your toes twice.”
She winked at him. “Almost, but you didn’t.”
Warmth filled his chest. His body swayed with hers. Moved slowly. “I missed you.”
She faltered, just for a moment, then kept dancing. “You don’t have to lie and tell me those—”
“I missed you. It should have been easy to forget you. I mean, I was in your life for only a week.”
Evie looked away. “Don’t worry about pulling your punches. Please, tell me more about how easy I should be to forget—”
“You weren’t easy to forget. That was the problem. You haunted me. And I wanted you back.”
She didn’t look at him.
“I still want you back. In case you wondered where my head was at. In case the freaking giant hard-on shoving at you wasn’t a clue.”
He saw her swallow. “I did notice that clue.”
“But you’re the one in charge. You want to slip out of your bedroom and kiss me at night? Then come do it. You want more? Do it.” He was so in for that. “Or if you don’t want to do a damn thing—that’s fine, too. I just wanted to tell you how I felt. I missed you. And I still want you.”
Her slick red lips pressed together a moment. Then she put her head on his shoulder.
It was his turn to falter.
But he focused on feeling her, and he kept moving. Cole caught a glimpse of Leopold. The guy gave him a quick thumbs-up before vanishing into the crowd.
“I missed you, too,” she confessed as he bent to pull in her sweet scent. “And I still want you. I’m just not sure what to do with that desire.”
“When you figure it out, I’ll be here. I’m not planning on going any damn place.” Did she get what he was saying? He wasn’t vanishing from her life. Not this time. This time, he had a second chance. He wouldn’t screw it up.
They kept moving like that, slowly, carefully, until the music ended.
Evie’s head lifted. She stared up at him. His head began to lower toward hers. He wanted nothing more than to get her mouth beneath his.
“Evie! I thought that was you.”
And some jackass had just interrupted his moment. Some jackass with truly shit timing.
Locking his teeth, Cole wrapped his arm around Evie’s waist and turned toward the jackass.
Robert Demakis.
He recognized the director because Wilde had sent a full dossier on the guy. Robert’s hair was a deep black, his eyes a light brown. A Rolex glinted on his wrist, and a wide smile curved his lips. The smile was directed completely at Evie.
“Hi, Robert,” Evie said, voice soft. “How are you?”
He glanced around the room. “Feeling a bit suffocated. Thought I’d step out on the balcony for some air.” He offered his arm to her as he wiggled his brows. “Want to come with me? We can—”
“No, my girlfriend doesn’t want to fucking come with you,”