His belt buckle pressed against her—right where her belly button was—and so did something else . . . Oh! Beau had an erection right out here in the middle of the dance floor. Should she put some distance between them? She didn’t want him to feel embarrassed.
He pressed himself against her.
Not embarrassed.
Her heart pounded. When had her fingers started raking his hair? And why had her chin lifted as if she wanted to kiss him right here in a flagrant display of public affection? They’d stopped moving entirely now. No more shuffling. The world had shrunk to just the two of them. Alice was frozen except for the beating of her heart, which seemed to have slowed. In fact, everything seemed to have slowed.
Beau’s lips parted, Alice rose on her toes, and then his mouth was on hers.
She was spinning again, even though they hadn’t moved an inch.
Not only had Allie not pulled away at the feel of his embarrassing amateur-hour-on-the-dance-floor boner—hadn’t had one of those since high school—she was kissing him. In front of people.
With tongue action.
This was the same song that the Baxter Brothers had so badly butchered on New Year’s Eve. He remembered it well, because it had been such a humiliating evening. But right now, while kissing the hell out of Alice Martin, the hurt he’d been carrying since that night felt just plain silly. He’d been a teenager. Why would she have wanted to dance with him? What had he been hoping would happen?
This. He’d hoped this would happen. He’d fantasized about kissing her.
It seemed so ridiculous now. This never ever in a million years would have happened then. It was happening now though. And he never wanted it to stop.
Alice broke the kiss. “You asked me to dance to this song once.” The words came out in a rush. “Do you remember?”
Jesus. She remembered the night, and she remembered the song. He hadn’t been expecting this. He swallowed a lump in his throat. Maybe she was going to apologize. He hoped not, because she didn’t need to. “How could I forget? I thought I was such a man that night.” He laughed. “Until you turned me down.”
He hoped she could see that he wasn’t still sore about it.
“What do you mean? I figure you made at least ten dollars off of it.”
This was confusing as hell. Ten dollars? For what? “Pardon?”
“I saw your friends holding up dollar bills. Did you do it on a dare? I mean, don’t get me wrong. It was a long time ago, and I’m not upset. I’m just curious.”
Good Lord. What was she talking about? He hadn’t known anyone had held up dollar bills. If it had happened, Allie had misinterpreted it. “I wasn’t a part of anything having to do with a bet or a dare. If anybody was placing bets, it was probably over whether you’d say yes. None of my pals expected a college girl like you to say yes to me. And I went straight home after you turned me down, to avoid all the ribbing. Hardly even glanced at those losers.”
Allie looked as surprised as he’d ever seen anyone look.
“So . . . You really wanted to dance with me? You weren’t making fun?”
“Allie, I would never make fun of you. Ever. My God, woman. I could never hurt you. And also, I don’t think you see yourself the way everybody else sees you.”
“No, I don’t think you see me the way everybody else sees me.”
He’d heard enough. He grabbed her and kissed her again. And she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. They didn’t stop until someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Bryce wore a big old smile. “Dude, the song ended. And, any minute now, Tony is going to tell you two to get a room.”
Alice’s cheeks were bright pink.
Bryce laughed as they all walked off the dance floor together. “I can get another ride home if I need to.”
Beau looked at his brother—kept his face straight, but Bryce got the message. Yeah. You might want to do that. Because he was definitely going to take Alice home. He needed her mouth on his in a bad way. This past week that they’d been separated had been torture.
“I’m heading out in the morning,” Bryce said. “And then I need you to come to the Rockin’ H and help me out on Wednesday. Ford said he could spare you for a couple of days.”
Bryce was really leaving. Tomorrow.
But Beau would still rather hang out with Alice tonight. He could see his brother’s ugly mug later. Heck, he saw it every time he looked in the mirror.
“I’ll head up to the dude ranch on Wednesday. And I swear to God, if you’re singing trail riding songs while prancing about on a pony—”
“First of all, I don’t prance. And also, it’s worse than that,” Bryce said. “I’m helping get the place ready for Brittany Fox’s wedding.”
Good Lord.
Also, good Lord—the wedding was next weekend. That meant his and Allie’s contract would be ending soon. Too soon.
They went back to Alice’s table, where JD and Gabriel had joined the group.
“It sure was fun to watch you two dancing,” Claire said, pouting. “It’s been forever since anyone has spun me around a dance floor like that.”
“Let me finish my beer,” JD said. “Then I’ll take you for a spin.”
“Thanks, JD,” Claire said. “Who has little Brianna tonight?”
“My folks are visiting,” Gabriel said. “They insisted JD and I get out and have some fun.”
“And where’s Ford?” Beau asked Claire. “Babysitting?”
“Not that I know of,” Claire said. “He’s supposed to be at home with Rosa.”
“So . . . he’s babysitting.”
“No. Babysitting is something people do for other people’s kids, and they get paid for it. Ford is at home being a parent.”
Maggie nodded her head. “Dads don’t babysit. They parent.”
“And that’s true if there’s two dads, too,” JD said.
“But speaking of babysitting,” Claire said with a grin at
