Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
When he took her into his arms, she held herself stiffly against him. Don’t make a fool of yourself.
“Relax, Angel. Concentrate on me. They say dancing is like making love—you can tell how well you will be together by dancing with your paramour.”
“Really? No pressure here now,” she muttered, trying not to fall over her own feet. “I’m used to doing the chicken dance with toddlers.”
“I appreciate you distinguishing between dancing with me and your kiddos,” he said with twinkling eyes. “I do a pretty mean chicken dance.”
Colt flapped his elbows up and down as if he were a rooster boogieing down. When he rocked his head back and forth as if he were going to peck something, Harper burst into laughter and relaxed against his chest.
“That’s my girl,” he praised her.
The couple swayed to the music. Harper rested her cheek on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Strong and steady, each thump made her wish to freeze time to stay in his arms.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” Colt asked, rubbing one hand up and down her spine.
“Now? I mean—it’s early. You’ll miss out on time to talk to everyone.”
“I’ll talk to our crew soon and everyone else… I don’t care if I talk to them or not. I’m not here for my old classmates.”
He came to see me. The thought ricocheted inside her brain. No one had ever been more interested in her than everyone else. Quickly, she forced herself to remember he was attending because the group had pinky sworn an oath to make it to this reunion.
“Rio and Beau are handsome, but I don’t swing that way, and Amber and Maisie chose their Daddies a long time ago. Just like you belong to me. I’m glad to see our friends but you are why I’m here, Angel.”
“You’re better than the band. They should send the band away and let you entertain us,” a strident voice observed beside them.
Harper turned her head to see Miranda swaying to the music next to them. She did not have a dance partner.
“You don’t mind if I cut in, do you, Harper?” Miranda moved to insert herself between Harper and Colt.
Colt did not cooperate. He simply turned Harper so his back faced the interrupting woman. “Melinda, you’ll have to find another dance partner. Harper’s mine.”
“Miranda,” the woman corrected him with a glare.
“Excuse us,” Colt requested and danced smoothly away from the disagreeable woman.
Harper glanced over her shoulder to see Miranda standing stock still in the middle of the dance floor. What had she thought would happen? If Miranda wasn’t already her enemy, she was now.
“I hope she doesn’t create a problem for you,” Colt said.
“She’s already a problem for everyone. If there are any daycare centers left that she hasn’t been thrown out of, I’ve probably lost a toddler. That’s okay. I have a waiting list.”
“Of course you do. I’d want to be one of your students.”
“You might be a bit biased.”
“Maybe. I also know how much you care for those kids.”
“I do. I missed them on Friday.”
“Have you thought about expanding?” he asked.
“I have. I even contacted a property owner to see if he would sell me a small section of the land he has up for sale. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to divide the property and I couldn’t afford the whole parcel of land.”
“Hmm. That was disappointing. It was the perfect location?” he asked.
“The best one ever. But let’s not talk about that now. Can we just dance?” Harper asked, leaning back to look directly into his eyes.
“Of course. We dance pretty well together. I’m taking that for a good sign,” Colt said, waggling his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Oh, you!”
A few seconds passed and she couldn’t keep from asking. “That’s not really true, is it?”
“We’ll find out,” he said softly and kissed her temple.
CHAPTER 12
Taking the keys from her, Colt opened the door to Harper’s apartment and ushered her inside. His hand lingered at the small of her back as if he didn’t want to lose contact with her. When he hung up her keys on the small rack in the short hallway, she knew he had paid attention to how she did things.
As he turned back to her, Harper surprised even herself by asking, “Can we sit down on the couch?”
“Of course.” Colt shrugged out of his suit jacket and threw it over a chair, tugging his tie off as he settled on the sofa.
She waited until they were settled before saying, “I don’t want to be your girlfriend, Colt.”
“No? What do you want to be?” he asked with a completely neutral expression.
“Your Little girl,” she blurted.
“Okay.”
“That’s it? Okay?”
“That’s on my list to discuss before I make love to you.”
“You have a list?” she asked, relaxing a bit.
“I do. On my phone.” Colt pulled the device out of the interior pocket of his jacket and held it up to his face to open the screen saver.