Really close.
“What’s on your mind?” East asked her. He moved her body with his as he kept perfect time with the music. Of course he was amazing at dancing as well as everything else.
She shrugged, and he pulled her a little closer. “Tell me,” he insisted.
“Just how there are a ton of women looking at you right now. Wanting to be where I am.”
He shook his head. “They’re looking at you,” he whispered.
She scoffed. “I’m your buddy’s baby sister, remember?”
“Yeah, I do, which is why I can’t hold you the way I really want to right now. But it doesn’t change my response.”
“They’re looking at you, East, not me.”
“You’re the epitome of what every woman wants to be.”
“Have you lost your mind? I’m pretty sure my mom would disagree with you.”
He just smiled, and then he did pull her closer. But just for a moment, a silent stolen moment that was theirs, one that no one would be able to recognize. Then they were back to a platonic distance.
But when he twirled her out once, then tugged her back, her smile turned into a full on laugh.
“You make me lose my mind constantly, actually,” he said when she was once again at a close stance with him. “You’re interesting, Nat. Smart and tough and so damn stubborn and mouthy I want to smack your ass so hard sometimes…” He spun her out again, and again she twirled, feeling her dress float around her. Then he pulled her back, and that smile was still plastered on her face. “Your laugh is the best sound, and your smile takes up your whole face. That’s not awkward. That’s beautiful, and like it or not…” The music came to an end, and he dipped her down and whispered her in ear, “You’re all woman.”
When he let her up and everyone clapped for the band, he nodded once and stepped away from her.
“Thank you for the dance,” he said and turned to walk away.
Once again, East was never alone long. Natalie stood there, swallowed up by a crowd that deemed her invisible. His eyes had made her feel anything but.
Maybe it was just a magic power he had with women. Because just then, she didn’t feel like Lemon-Anne St. Clair’s awkward disappointment of a daughter. She felt…seen. In a way that only he could see her. And even though this was all pretend, and everyone in here knew they were just two friends that argued more than they got along, she had a feeling that she might never feel this seen again.
And that made her chest constrict.
For tonight, she wasn’t dating, wasn’t her mother’s daughter, she was just Natalie. Dancing with the town bachelor. Because he chose her. And because she’d worn the kind of dress that deserved to be twirled.
She’d soak it in for tonight. Tonight might be all she’d ever get of this level of passion, this desire—she knew it was unsustainable and it wasn’t real, but she wanted to cling to it while she could.
Just tonight…
She would let herself slip free from the weight of what she wasn’t…and just be.
Be herself.
Be in East’s arms.
Be happy.
Be enough.
Chapter Eight
East unlocked the front door of his home and ushered Natalie inside.
“So this is the great Easton’s house,” she said with a sly smile.
“You’ve been here several times,” he said, shutting the door behind him.
“Yes, but never at night,” she said. Clearly that third glass of champagne had hit her. She wasn’t drunk, just a touch tipsy. “We all but snuck away from the bachelor-bachelorette party.”
“Naw, it was winding down. And there was no way I was letting a pretty thing like you go home alone.” He winked at her. Great, now he was flirting like an idiot.
“Oh, how many women have walked these halls…” She walked with her arms outstretched, fingers skimming the sides of the hallway as she made her way toward his bedroom.
“None,” he said honestly, walking behind her.
She turned to face him, her face a picture of surprise. “I beg your pardon?” she asked and shoved her glasses up her nose. My God she was fuckin’ adorable, with her pink pouty lips and big eyes staring at him. She was also sexy as hell.
“I’ve never brought a woman to my home before,” he said. And it was the truth.
Natalie looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “How can that be?”
He shrugged. “My home is personal to me,” he said honestly. It had never crossed his mind to bring a woman here. He’d had sex in lots of places, public and private. But never once in his home or his bed.
Ever.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed weird.