“Why not?” Cole raised his eyebrows. “Afraid to get dizzy?”
“No. I’m afraid you’ll drop me. I weigh a lot more than little Ella here.”
“Nah.” He reached out his hand. “Come on, cowgirl. Trust me. I promise I won’t drop you.”
“You say that now.” Jess held back.
“Spin her! Spin her!” Ella chanted, and the rest of the kids quickly chimed in. Jess widened her eyes at them, shaking her head, but it only made them louder.
She felt Cole’s arm slide around her back, and it made her shiver deliciously. Then he leaned his head down to whisper in her ear. “The sooner we do it, the sooner we’re done, right?”
Jess tried to ignore the zings flying down her neck as his breath touched her ear, but it was nearly impossible. “Okay,” she finally said. “Okay, you can spin me. But if you drop me, I swear you’ll have a lot more than water balloons to deal with afterward.”
“Deal.” Cole laughed as he swung her into the center of the circle the kids had formed around them. “Ready?”
She closed her eyes tightly, putting her hands gingerly on his shoulders. “Just remember I’m not five. And I’ve been eating Jenny’s and Ma’s cooking for days now.”
Before she could deliver any more warnings, though, his hands were on her hips and her feet were off the ground. She felt suspended in space, as light as a fluff of cotton as he spun her, and she found herself letting her head fall back so her hair swung out behind her.
As the kids continued to chant, Cole spun her and spun her until he had to be dizzy, and then finally he set her down as lightly as if she were a ballet dancer. He kept his hands on her hips until she looked up into his eyes, and then she felt her whole face break into a smile.
“How was that, cowgirl?”
“That was very, very…fun.” She laughed, heart still pounding from the exhilaration of it.
“Are you dizzy?”
Oh, yes. She was positively drunk-dizzy, that’s what she was. Looking up into his deep blue eyes, itching to trace the dimple in his cheek, dying to maybe sample one little kiss—yes, she was downright spun.
“A little,” she finally admitted.
“Good.” He pulled his hands back, winking, then turned back to the kids. “I don’t know about you guys, but I call this a tie.” He motioned to them to get them all back out into the circle of grass. “Last dance is guys versus girls! Winners get ice cream!”
Britney frowned. “What do the losers get?”
“Losers get to scoop the ice cream!”
Twenty minutes later, Jess was up to her elbows in mint chocolate chip ice cream, scooping into cones for both the winners and the losers. By unanimous vote, the boys had won, and Cole had been declared the Ultimate Dance Champion.
Thus the scooping.
After all of the kids were settled on the grass with their cones, Cole stepped up to the picnic table. “I’d like a double, cowgirl.”
She paused, scoop in hand. “You totally rigged the voting.”
He dropped his jaw in mock horror. “I did no such thing. I won fair and square.”
“You won on a moonwalk. Who moonwalks to country music?”
“Hey.” He put up his hands in defense, a grin on his face. “I can’t help it if I just happen to have the exact skills the kids were looking for. Lucky win.”
“Luck, schmuck.” Jess rolled her eyes. “But I will be a gracious loser and scoop your ice cream for you.”
“Thank you.” He winked. “You know, you’ll have another chance to reclaim the title. Tomorrow night. Salty’s. Bachelor/bachelorette party.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t want this title, but thank you.”
“Now, now. Let’s not be a sore loser. I can teach you to moonwalk so you’ll have a chance next time.”
“My dream.” Jess rolled her eyes.
“How about line dancing? Know how to do that?”
“Nope. Don’t tell me you do that, too.”
He shook his head. “I watch it. Under duress.”
“Then I guess you’d better not challenge me to a line dancing dance-off, cowboy.”
“We’ll see.” He tipped his head. “I kind of like dancing with you. Might even put up with a line dance at Salty’s if it means I can do it again.”
Jess felt her cheeks flush at his words, then was embarrassed that she’d let them. For God’s sake, Cole was the consummate flirt. He delivered these lines like it was second nature. His words meant nothing.
“I’m not dancing tomorrow night, Cole. Especially line dancing—in public. Not going