Page 81 of The Lost Book of First Loves
“Ah.”
“I had no idea he planned to meet up with Smitty and Tank. Not sure if I would have agreed to come if I had known I was crashing a bro-fest.”
“I’m sure Clint wouldn’t have come into the bookstore in search of you if he hadn’t wanted you along.”
She couldn’t read his expression, probably because the hallway was as dim as the rest of the place.
“Weird, isn’t it?” She shook her head. “When he came to pick me up earlier, I didn’t exactly pinch myself to make sure it was real, but I wanted to.”
“Glad you’re having fun. The band is great.”
“You haven’t been dancing,” she pointed out.
“You know me. I’m not much of a dancer. I’m fine watching everybody else.”
“Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“Yeah. On a date with Clint Maclean. I’m sure he would love it if I came over and pulled you away to dance with me.”
“I’ve been dancing with Smitty and Tank, too, and he doesn’t seem to have a problem with that,” she pointed out. “Besides, Clint knows you and I are old and dear friends. He wouldn’t care if we danced together.”
He didn’t answer and again she couldn’t read his expression.
“We should probably head up,” he said.
“Right.”
He followed her up the stairs and she was weirdly aware of him behind her. When they reached the rooftop, she found three blonde women had pulled up chairs at their table. Two of them had pulled up chairs, anyway. One was sitting in hers. The six of them were engaged in an animated conversation. Ali was disconcerted to realize her reaction was mostly one of relief.
“Looks like I’ve lost my spot,” she said.
“You can sit at our table until the crowd clears, if you want. We have an extra chair. Or I can take it over there for you so you can join them.”
“I would rather drag you out to the dance floor with me,” she said with perfect honesty.
He rolled his eyes, which made her laugh as she held up her purse. “Let me put this down and let Clint know I’m back upstairs, in case he doesn’t see us, so he doesn’t send out a search party.”
When she approached the table, Clint stood up with a look of apology. “Oh, Ali. This is Kirstin, Anne and Mette. They’re visiting from Denmark. We were just telling them some of the highlights of the area. We can go find another table, if you want.”
“You’re fine,” she assured him. “I’m going to dance with Xander for a few songs.”
A muscle flexed in his strong jawline but he only nodded and sat down again, immediately returning to the animated conversation with the Danish women, and Ali crossed the dance floor to find Xander.
She wasn’t at all sure why her heart was suddenly pounding and her mouth felt dry.
Chapter 27
Alison
His dancing had improved since high school, when he had been too self-conscious to enjoy himself much.
“You’ve had practice. Do you remember how hard we had to work on the dances when we were both inHigh School Musical? Every time I hear the main song, I have flashbacks to practicing in your basement.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me. That’s a period of my life I have tried to block out.”
She smiled as the band moved from a honky-tonk cover to one of their own ballads. After an awkward pause, he pulled her close to slow dance.
The heat of his body was seductive in the cool summer night, and she was suddenly intensely aware of the hard muscles against her.
