“I’m not saying that means he’s a total jerk. He did give you an amazing compliment and cut Vanessa off at the knees—something I would have paid money to see—but you can’t sit around here waiting.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Aimee threw her head back against the couch. “But that kiss! It was…ugh. Just…”
“I know, I know. The toe-curling kind. So you’ve said.” Torie patted Aimee’s knee and stood. “But you now have a choice. Stay here and dream about another kiss or get up and get dressed and go dance away your worries with cute cowboys.” She winked. “You know what I would choose. I’m gonna finish getting ready.” She spun on her heel and headed to her room.
How was Torie not completely ready? Not a blond hair was out of place, and her almost-no-makeup face was flawless. Aimee groaned again and pitched forward, face-first, into a throw pillow. She thought back to Tess’s wedding. Was that really only a week ago?
It wasn’t a dream. Dane had kissed her. He had made Vanessa stomp out of the room like a ticked-off middle schooler. It was the best night of Aimee’s life. But much like Cinderella in reverse, he’d disappeared from the wedding reception not long after their kiss and she hadn’t heard a word from him since. But what did she expect? It wasn’t like they were dating. Before the wedding, they’d seen each other at a few wedding-related events. Of course, every time she heard Dane’s voice or saw him enter a room—felt his presence was more like it—her entire body warmed and her heart did a weird little dance. She had had no illusions of him reciprocating those feelings, but then he kissed her, and the whole world tilted.
She shook her head, rattling those thoughts away. Of course he didn’t feel the same way about her. He was just being nice. She’d poured her heart out to him about Vanessa like a sap, and he simply did a generous, noble thing to make her feel better and put Vanessa in her place. God bless him for that.
Torie poked her head out of her room. “Are you still sitting on that couch moping?”
“I’m not moping! I’m…thinking.”
“I saw your face. You were moping. Get going, girlfriend. Dancing cowboys await.” She flashed a grin and went back in her room.
“Ugh, fine.” Aimee tossed the throw pillow from her lap to the end of the sofa. “If I must!” she shouted as she stomped to her own room.
“You must!” Torie shouted back. “And find a good attitude. Boys don’t like a grouchy girl.”
“Whatever!”
Aimee closed her door and laughed in spite of herself. Torie was right. It was time to stop pining over Dane and what barely happened between them and move on. Besides, now that Ben and Tess’s wedding was over, it wasn’t like they’d ever see each other again. She pulled her favorite top and skinny jeans from her closet and smiled. Yes, it was definitely time to have some fun and forget about Detective Dane Scott.
***
The pulse of the music thumped her insides before they even stepped through the door. Aimee was feeling worlds better after a shower and some primping. She even let Torie style her hair and do her eye makeup for her. For a cop, Torie sure had a girly side. One Aimee believed she liked to show on the weekends because during the week she had to fight so hard to live in a man’s world. Torie worked to make sure her looks didn’t keep her from climbing the ladder at work, or be the reason she was promoted. It was a tough Catch-22 and a big reason Aimee admired Torie. As they made their way into the Rusty Spur, Torie’s favorite cowboy hangout, Aimee, as usual, was more than happy to live in Torie’s shadow. Men flocked to her like bees to honey, something Torie handled like an expert, but something Aimee had little experience with. She was fine to let men fall all over Torie while she sat back and relaxed.
While Luke Bryan sang about his kind of night, Aimee followed Torie to a table near the back wall. Perfect. She could watch people and chill without too much fear of being approached. It’s not that she wasn’t up for finding a nice cowboy to date, she simply didn’t handle the club scene as well as Torie did.
As she hung her purse on a chair, her insides turned warm and tingly. Not unlike how she felt whenever Dane was around. Her eyes roamed the room and, like a tractor beam, his baby blues sucked her right in. She plopped her backside in a chair with a thud, her mouth falling open.
Seriously?
“What? What is it?” Torie sat down next to her, watching her with wide eyes.
Aimee chewed the inside of her cheek and turned to her friend. A chuckle bubbled in her throat but she swallowed it down.
“It’s him. He’s here.”
“What? Who?” Torie had to yell to be heard over the music.
“Detective Boy. He’s right over there.” Aimee tried to point with just her eyes.
Torie looked in Dane’s direction without any subtlety whatsoever. Her eyes
rounded, then she chuckled.
“What in the world is so funny?” Aimee didn’t keep her annoyance from her tone.
“You mean the drop-dead gorgeous guy over there in a black Stetson and cowboy boots is Detective Boy?” She shook her head. “Well, now I understand why he’s invaded your dreams for a week. I’d let him invade mine any day.”
Aimee swatted her friend’s arm. “Nice. Real nice. Fat lot of help you are. What is he doing here?”
“Well, he seems to be quite the cowboy type, and there aren’t that many true country bars around here. I don’t find it that weird. I see a lot of the same people every time I’m here.”
“What am I going to do?”
Torie shrugged. “Why not ask him to dance?”
“Are you high?”
“No, but thank you for asking. Hey, you wanted to see him again… Well, here he is.”
Their conversation was interrupted by someone asking Torie to dance. Big surprise. As her friend smiled and stood to take the cowboy’s hand, Aimee blew out a huge breath. What in the world was she supposed to do now? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a woman ask Dane to dance and he obliged. Jealousy ripped through Aimee until she saw red. But what did she expect? He was a heart-melting vision, and it was only a matter of time before someone snagged him. Her heart battled her head in a massive throwdown. Her head said to walk away, but her heart said she wanted to be the one doing the snagging.
***
Dane spun the woman in his arms without effort. He’d been dancing since he was in grade school, country dancing even before then. As pretty as the lady was who’d asked him to dance, every fiber in his being was in tune to the redhead sitting all alone in the corner looking like she was ready to spit nails. He was surprised no one had asked her to dance yet. Although with that look on her face, she was far from approachable. Any man with sense would know not to mess with that vibe. Of course, he wasn’t just any man.
He’d done nothing but think about her since the wedding. Heck, if he were honest with himself, he’d been thinking about her long before that. She consumed his thoughts, as well as his dreams.
“Ouch!” The woman in his arms yelped.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’am. My fault.”
Had he faltered and actually stepped on her foot? He’d never done that in his life. Of course, he’d never had the kinds of dreams about a woman before like he did about Aimee. And it scared him like nothing else. His instincts said to run, but everything else in him kept drawing to her like a moth to a flame. Flames. Just like her hair. He shook his head. What was wrong with him? Every thought led back to her, every feeling.
He hadn’t called her all week, because he wasn’t exactly sure what to say.
Hey, sorry about running out on you after that earth-shattering kiss. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since then.
Yeah, that would be super smooth. A fine idea. No matter how he played it in his head, he couldn’t come up with a single scenario or conversation that sounded right. What had started out as a gesture to make her feel better and best her high school enemy had ended up rocking his world. He hadn’t been the same since.
He snapped
out of his trance when he heard his dancing partner say, “Sure, why not? But watch your toes.”
A feather could’ve knocked him over when Aimee said, “I think I can handle him.” She cocked her head to the side, stepped into his arms, and said, “I’m just wondering if he can handle me.”
Dane returned her embrace and two-stepped them around the dance floor. His mind had yet to catch up with his body on what had just happened. Aimee had cut in on his dance and faced him head on, while he’d been woolgathering about her. He chuckled. The woman was a walking puzzle. Easy to fall for, and for him, dangerously so.
“What’s so funny, Cowboy?”
“You never cease to amaze me.”
“Is that so? You’re a bit of a surprise yourself.”
“Really? How you figure?” The twang in his voice came out on nights like this, when he knew he could be himself. Otherwise he tamped it down for work. The guys teased him enough already for being a country boy.
“Well, I ‘figured,’” she matched his twang on the word, warming his insides and making him smile, “you for liking country things because of the boots and belt buckle you’re so fond of. I never saw you for a true, all-out cowboy though. Are you from the south?”
“No, ma’am. But my parents are. I was raised, for the most part, on a ranch in Northern California. My parents still have their Texas drawl, so it rubs off on me from time to time.”
“I see.”
He pulled her closer and spun her around. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and he knew she thought of their kiss just as he did.
“It seems we keep ending up dancing every time we see each other,” Aimee said.
“There are worse ways to spend your time.”
She smiled, causing his insides to churn even more. “So, do you frequent this establishment often?”
“Is that a formal version of a cruddy pick-up line?”
She laughed. “I guess that was a version of, ‘You come here often, Cowboy?’”
“I like to come here from time to time. San Diego isn’t known for its cowboy population, but there are some places I can cut loose and be myself.”
Her face turned serious, her eyes tender. “You can’t be yourself otherwise?”
What made this woman look right through him and cut straight to his very soul? He cleared his throat. “I’m a cop. Small-town country boy doesn’t fit that image too often.”
“Really?” She looked genuinely surprised. “What about the whole John Wayne, tough cowboy thing? Wasn’t the old west the original sheriff’s domain?”
The song changed, and Brooks & Dunn started singing about a neon moon. He shifted their movements to the slower beat of the song without losing a step. He couldn’t help but get lost in the pools of green that were her eyes and the old west image that swam within them. It wasn’t difficult to picture her in a flowing dress of that time period, her hair piled up with curls cascading down. He liked that image. He liked that image a lot.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
She grinned, obviously pleased with herself.
A constant puzzle, this woman in his arms. One minute like a shy teen upset by her high school nemesis, the next a feisty woman unafraid of cutting in on a dance to face the man who’d all but disappeared on her after a megawatt kiss.
Dane wanted to spend every waking moment trying to figure out the puzzle. But that meant taking another chance on feelings he’d tamped down for a long time. Risk things he vowed he’d never risk again. And that made him want to run like the devil was at his back.
Chapter 3
A haunted look clouded Dane’s eyes, but the song stopped before Aimee could ask what was wrong. He stepped away and dropped his arms, leaving her cold and missing his embrace.
“Thank you for the dance, ma’am,” he said as he tipped his Stetson.
“I believe I asked you to dance—sort of—so I should be thanking you.”
Torie walked up and bumped Aimee’s hip. “Hey there. You two sure know how to cut a rug.”
Aimee rolled her eyes, covering a flutter of panic in her gut. Every time she introduced Torie to a guy, his radar left her own vicinity and glommed onto Torie’s right away. It didn’t bother her with most guys, but she wasn’t quite ready to face the “Torie test” with Dane.
“Hi, I’m Torie. Aimee’s roommate.”
Too late.
“Dane Scott.” Dane stuck his hand out to shake Torie’s. And then the strangest thing happened. He turned his attention right back to Aimee and acted as if Torie was…well…normal.
“You wanna come sit with us for a bit?” Torie asked him. “Or do you have some hot date waiting for you somewhere?”
Aimee tensed at Torie’s question. She hadn’t once thought Dane might be here with someone.
Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.
He chuckled and actually blushed. What man blushed? It was one of the hottest things she’d ever seen.
“’Fraid not. I came with my friends John and Katie.” He jutted his chin towards a couple snuggling at a table in the corner. “They have a little one at home and don’t get to go out much. They said I could tag along. But by the looks of it, I’m quite the third wheel. So I believe I’ll take you up on that offer. If that’s okay with you.”
He looked to Aimee for approval. She nodded. “Sure.”
“Can I get you ladies a drink first?”
“That sounds great. Thanks,” Torie sing-songed before Aimee could answer.
Dane took their drink orders then headed to the bar. Torie grabbed Aimee by the arm and led her to their table. “You have exactly thirty seconds to tell me everything!”
They reached their table and sat down. “What are you talking about? We’ve been dancing for a song and a half. How much do you think happened in that short amount of time?”
“Tons can happen in that amount of time, my friend. Tons. Besides, I see the way you two look at each other. I thought the dance floor was gonna go up in flames.”
Aimee rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You’ve never been one for drama. Why now?”
Torie giggled.
“Or giggling. What in the world is wrong with you tonight? I might need to start looking for a new best friend.”
Torie swatted Aimee’s arm as Dane set their drinks down and occupied the chair next to Aimee. His long legs stretched out in front of him, he took a swig of his drink.
“So, Aimee tells me you’re a detective.” Torie leaned on the small table, casual and comfortable with herself, as always.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Torie’s a cop too,” Aimee offered, wanting to be a part of the conversation. For a second, though, she feared Dane might just be a late bloomer when it came to realizing Torie’s beauty and she’d now handed them the perfect intro for getting to know each other.
But Dane simply nodded and said, “That’s cool.”
No looking Torie up and down to evaluate whether she could really pull off the job, as most men did. He looked back towards the dance floor. Calm, cool, and collected, without a care in the world. His head bobbed a little to the beat of the music, his hat tipping up and down.
Aimee took a sip of her drink as Torie was once again whisked away to the dance floor by some handsome stranger. She shook her head.
“I don’t know how she does it.”
“How she does what?” Dane turned and looked at Aimee.
She’d said that out loud? Uh-oh. Unfortunately, she had a knack for voicing things she meant purely for her own mind, and it got her into trouble more often than not.
“Oh, nothing.”
The corner of Dane’s mouth lifted a bit, enough for the slightest dimple to appear. “I have a feeling that anything you think or say has meaning behind it, Aimee Jansenn.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and took another sip of her drink.
“That blush you’ve got going tells another story as well.”
A full-on, sexy, heart-st
opping grin now on his face, he sat forward, putting his elbows on the table, bringing his face not terribly far from hers.
Their tiny corner of the club was getting desperately hot.
“Now, what is it that Torie does you can’t seem to understand?”
Aimee’s heart raced in her chest and not from the question he was asking, but rather the closeness of him once again. Their kiss flashed through her mind and although sanity told her to not want another one, the rest of her said otherwise.
She blinked away the image. The man had to power to rattle her brain in ways she’d never experienced before. A question. He’d asked her a question. Right.
She took a deep breath. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, and since you’re male I’ll assume you have, Torie is quite beautiful.”
He looked to the dance floor where Torie now spun away from her dance partner and back again, her hair flowing and her smile bright. His attention back on Aimee again, he said, “She’s attractive. What’s that got to do with anything?”
Stumped again, Aimee stared at him. She’d heard people describe Torie as gorgeous, stunning, sexy, hot—you name it. But never attractive. Attractive sounded so…boring.
Aimee shook her head.
“What? What’d I say?”
“I just don’t know how she handles all the attention. I’d like to say it would drive me crazy, but I’d be lying if I said that sometimes that kind of attention might be nice.”
Dane’s jaw clenched and he sat back in his chair as if putting distance between them was a good idea. “What kind of attention do you mean?”
His demeanor was still playful, but with an underlying tension. Why?
“I don’t know… I’m not saying I want men drooling all over me or anything.” She brushed the condensation on the outside of her glass with her thumb, mentally berating herself for thinking out loud again and introducing this line of conversation. She could feel Dane’s eyes on her, waiting for her to continue. She shrugged. “Just the occasional reminder that there are people who actually find me attractive would be nice.”
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