now, they're in Jefferson County,
North Carolina, the
principal said, shaking his head.
“So, we're without music.
Ian was nice enough to make a few
calls to the local radio
stations. Both DJs are booked for
wedding receptions. I
real y don't know what to do.
“Does the school
have a music system, Mr. Walters?
Ian asked.
“Yes. A pretty
good one, the principal said.
“I'd be willing
to play DJ if we can set it up in here.
Looking pleased with the suggestion,
Mr. Walters said,
“That would be
great. You'd be a lifesaver. I'd hate to think
what would happen if all the kids
showed up, and we didn't
have any music. Colby, would you
mind helping out?
A quick refusal sprang to her lips.
“I don't know very
much about the kind of music the
kids like.
“Yes, you do. Mr.
Walters smiled. “I'l bet Lena's
laptop is full of it.
He was right. It was. It would be
sil y to refuse Mr.
Walters's request simply because she
promised herself she
would stay away from Ian. “It
is.
“Terrific.
“So is Luke's,
Ian said. He glanced at his watch and
then looked at her. “We
could run by our houses and grab
them. What do you think?
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Colby had to admit it seemed like a
good idea. And
since their options were limited,
what else could they do?
“Sure. I'd be
glad to help.
Agreeing that it might be quicker to
go separately, Ian
and Colby took their own cars. Colby
arrived back before he
did. Mr. Walters had set up the
speakers while they were
gone. Once Ian arrived, the
principal grateful y left them to it
and went off to put out the most
recent fire.
They worked in silence, burning CDs
of songs they
thought would be appropriate for the
dance. Within twenty
minutes, they had a great mix.
Ian turned to look at her. “Think
we can pul this off?
The question startled her. They
hadn't said anything for
the last ten minutes, both of them
feigning intense
concentration on the task at hand.
She'd been on pins and
needles the entire time. “If
we don't, we may have a rebel ion
on our hands, she said, glancing
toward the door where
couples were filing in. It was
almost eight-thirty. The dance
officially started at eight, but no
one came that early. “Good
thing it isn't cool to get here on
time, huh?
Ian smiled. “Yeah.
We might have been reduced to
singing.
With the atmosphere between them
considerably lighter,
Colby laughed. “
That
would have been a disaster.
“And you haven't
even heard me sing, he said in
mock dismay.
“I was speaking
of my own lack of talent.
His gaze lingered on her. “You
look incredible tonight,
Colby.
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“Thank you, she
said, realizing how much she wanted
him to notice. She would have been
lying to herself to deny it.
“You look nice
yourself.
“No mud or tomato
juice on my shirt?
She smiled while awkwardness
descended upon them in
a grip every bit as crippling as any
she had ever experienced
as a teenager.
For the next forty-five minutes or
so, they played music
and made smal talk. A couple of
their first selections got a
few boos, but several songs into the
mix, they apparently hit
the right combination. The dance
floor was packed, and no
one seemed to be missing the band at
all.
Colby searched the crowd for Lena,
final y spotting her
on the other side of the gym. She
waved, certain that Lena
saw her, but Lena turned away
without waving back.
Colby restacked the CD cases in
front of her,
determined not to let it ruin the
night.
“They can put a
knife through your heart, can't they?
Ian asked in a quiet voice.
Colby looked up, started to deny it,
then decided there
would be no point. He was right. And
she knew he
understood. “I
never thought being a parent would be this
hard. Even when she was a newborn
and I was trying to
go to college, it wasn't this
difficult.
“Caring is what
makes it hard. I imagine it would be a
lot easier if we didn't love them so
much.
“You're right,
she said, sighing. “How are things with
you and Luke?
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“Better than
they've been in a long time. We're actual y
talking, and it feels real y good.
“I'm happy for
you. That's terrific.
“Thanks. He
paused, then said, “Any word from Lena's
father?
She shook her head. “No.
Ian reached out and squeezed her
shoulder in a gesture
of comfort. Or at least that's what
Colby told herself. That
did not explain, however, her own
response to it: the instant
need it conjured up, the yearning to
be alone with him, away
from curious gazes, to pick up where
they'd left off that
Sunday morning in the storage room
of her clinic.
He took her arm and tugged her into
the crowd. “Come
on. What do you say we test our
selection?
Before she knew it, they were in the
middle of the
throng of dancers, the song a
Coldplay number Lena loved,
and Colby had no idea how to dance
to. She gave it her best
shot, though, and after a minute or
so, forgot about her
inhibitions and relaxed.
As a dancer, Ian surprised her.
She'd always thought
men of his height and breadth had a
disadvantage when it
came to looking good on a dance
floor. He proved her
wrong. They finished out two fast
songs. Toby Keith played
next with a toe-tapper about the
woman of his dreams. “I
don't think I know how to dance to
this one, Ian said.
“You were the one
who wanted to come out here.
You're not getting off that easily.
Come on. I'l show you the
two-step. Colby took his hand and
walked him through the
motions. When he looked impressed
that she knew it, she
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
said, “That was
the one thing I got out of my date with Tip
LaPrade before he showed me the
prenup agreement.
Ian laughed, the sound of it rich
and full and
undeniably seductive.
He caught on quickly, and she said,
“Let me guess.
You own stock in a dance studio.
Ian smiled. “Right.
I've also got a couple of bridges in
Nevada if you're interested.
Colby laughed. They finished out the
Toby Keith.
Kenny Chesney was next, and someone
started a line dance.
Everyone knew the steps except Ian.
“You'l catch on, she
told him when he began to look
doubtful.
He was a good sport, fol owing her
lead but missing
every other step at first. His
forehead wrinkled with the
effort of concentrating, while the
line of dancers moved
gracefully in one direction and then
the other. He started
laughing at one point and said,
“Clueless in Keeling Creek.
That's me.
Colby laughed, too, until tears
threatened to ruin her
mascara. She wiped at her eyes,
smiling and refusing to let
him give up. “No,
you're not. You've almost got it.
“Doesn't that
only count in horseshoes—
“—and
hand grenades, she finished.
They both laughed again, and by the
end of the song,
he nearly had the hang of it.
Something slow and bone melting
followed. Alarm bel s
went off inside Colby. Time to get
back to work. Distance
between them was one thing. Dancing
as closely as this song
cal ed for something else
altogether. Colby turned to head
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INGLATH COOPER
back to the table, but Ian stopped
her with a hand on her
arm. From the look in his eyes, he,
too, knew it wasn't wise,
but that didn't stop him from
saying, “One more?
If she'd had an ounce of honor
inside her, she would
have turned him down. But there in
the middle of the
crowded dance floor, his gaze held
hers, said things that
didn't need words for expression.
The message couldn't have
been more eloquent. Her own response
echoed inside her,
compelled her to take his hand, to
move into the circle of
his arms, the last place on earth
she should have been.
He held her close, closer than she
should have allowed
him to.
The music echoed her pulse rate.
Sensation heightened
her awareness, making her conscious
of each and every place
their bodies touched in mirror
alignment. Her left shoulder to
his right, her hipbone to his thigh,
their knees grazing with
each half turn. She was aware of the
silk of her dress
smoothing across her skin, the brush
of his cotton shirt on
her arm.
To Colby, dancing had always seemed
an act of intimacy,
but this? Another thing altogether.
Here in his arms, they
might have been the only two people
in the room.
Neither of them said a word
throughout the entire song.
They didn't have to. Their bodies
did the talking, and Colby
knew there was no point in denying
what they were saying.
Yet she was dancing with a man
engaged to another
woman. A man who made her question
her own choice to
be alone all these years. She
couldn't make herself step out
of his arms and walk away.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
They swayed to the music, their
bodies in tune with
the rhythm, in tune with each other.
The song seemed to go
on forever, but when it ended, Colby
wished it hadn't. They
lingered for a moment under a spell
of confusion, but the
silence fol owing the song jolted
them both back to
awareness. The CD player had
stopped. Everyone on the
dance floor stared at them.
Blushing, she turned and headed back
to the table. Ian
fol owed her, pacifying the crowd
with a promise that the
music would be on in a second.
Luckily for them, the problem ended
up being nothing
more than an electrical cord someone
knocked loose. Ian
got the music started again while
Colby went off to get
herself some punch. She wasn't
thirsty, but she needed to
collect her thoughts.
She stayed away as long as she could
manage without
total y deserting him, talking to
anyone she recognized.
Final y, she returned to the table,
where Ian stood watching
her with knowing eyes.
“You didn't have
to do that, you know, he said.
“Ian, I don't
think it's a good idea for us to— She
broke off, thinking maybe she'd
assumed too much.
“You're right. He
held up a hand. “It wasn't. And
with that, he turned around and
walked away.
249
39
o way!
NHer mother acting as DJ! With
Luke's father!
And the two of them dancing together
a little while ago. It was
awful. The two of them looking at
each other as if they
couldn't pul their eyes away.
Her mother had to be doing this to
deliberately
embarrass her. As if she didn't have
enough to deal with,
anyway.
Lena stood in the shadow of a set of
bleachers, her
gaze on the dance floor where Luke
swayed to a slow song
with Melanie Cundiff.
She felt as if her very soul were
breaking into little
bitty pieces, one grain at a time.
What did he see in her, anyway?
Lena glanced down at her dress and
wished she could
disappear. What a fool she'd been to
let Millie convince
her that she should show up without
a date in the hope
that he would be alone, as wel . She
deserved to feel this
way. It served her right.
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Why did girls like Melanie always
get the guys? Melanie
already had more boyfriends than
Lena dreamed of having
in her whole life.
But then, she knew the answer to her
own question.
Sex. It was always about sex.
Melanie put out.
Everybody knew it.
Since she'd met Luke, Lena thought
about making out
a lot. But whenever her thoughts
reached the sex part,
they'd shied away. She couldn't
imagine that it might
actual y be fun. She'd grown up
seeing animals do it, and to
be honest, she'd always felt kind of
sorry for the female.
How could it be much different with
humans?
Luke and Melanie danced into her
line of vision again.
Melanie's arms were tight around his
neck, her breasts to
his chest, her thighs against his.
Obviously, Lena was
wrong. There had to be a lot more to
it than she'd imagined.
So maybe she needed to try it
herself. She was nearly
sixteen. Several of her friends had
already done it. The
others were talking about doing it.
Why wait, anyway?
If sex would help her get Luke
McKinley, then she would