| |
“Mind if I teach you to two-step, ma’am?” Weston Stroh repeated.
Dani froze and everything in the bar—the rhythmic stomping the dancers, the thumping beat of the music, the jostling patrons making their way to the bar—seemed to fall into silence as she stared up in Weston Stroh’s cornflower blue eyes. She’d joked about sleeping with the rodeo rider, sure, but that had been an impulsive boast with no basis in reality. She’d merely meant to shut Alexis up for a second, Dani hadn’t had the slightest inkling that she would ever come face-to-face with the bull rider in real life.
“Well?” Weston asked, his face hopeful. The sound in the bar thumped back into Dani’s consciousness as she shook her head quickly to try to align her perspective back up with reality.
Weston Stroh, gorgeous cowboy and rodeo star, was gazing down at her, hand outstretched and expression hopeful. How could she possibly say no?
“Okay,” Dani accepted, hoping her voice stayed calm. She slid her small brown hand into Weston’s large, pale one and he began to lead her toward the crowded dance floor.
“Wait!” Dani had forgotten about their drinks and purses. “Sorry,” she gestured back toward the table with her free hand, “I’m supposed to be watching our stuff—”
Weston laughed a low, raspy chuckle. “You’re fine, ma’am,” he assured her. “This is Sagebrush, Wyoming. If any fella tries to steal your purse or drug your drink, he’s gonna find himself face to face with a bar full of angry cowboys.”
After a moment of residual panic, Dani squeezed Weston’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled onto the dance floor. As they started to position themselves at the end of one of the lines of dancers, the song reached a crescendo with a crash of symbols and a new one—a bluesy two-step number—kicked in.
Weston stepped in front of Dani, his right hand resting lightly on her slender waist. “Song’s changed,” he said simply. “This next one’s a two-step. Do you know how to two-step, ma’am?”
“Danica,” Dani said, raising her voice to be heard over the music.
“What’s that?” Weston asked, leaning in.
“My name is Danica,” she shouted into his ear. Weston was so tall that Dani, who always considered herself of an average height, had to stand on her tiptoes to even get close to his ear. “Or Dani. I also go by Dani.”
“Nice to meet you, Dani,” Weston said. “I’m—”
“Weston Stroh,” Dani finished for him, liking the way his soft blue eyes widened in surprise at her recognition. “I saw you ride tonight.”
“You did, huh?” Weston looked down at her thoughtfully. “And what did you think?”
“I thought you were incredible,” Dani answered, shocked by her own honesty. Back when she used to flirt with guys, back before Mikhal, she’d always used a combo of witty banter and playful teasing, but whatever this thing with Weston was, it was already much more than silly flirting.
This was something else entirely.
“May I?” Weston asked, sliding his right hand more firmly around her waist and taking her right hand in his left.
Dani nodded and Weston pulled her toward him. The noise of the music and heat from the dancing crowd was stifling, but Dani was only aware of Weston’s body where it pressed against her—her hand, her waist, the way his sculpted chin grazed the top of her black braids as he whispered instructions to her.
“Step with me now,” he said, his breath ghosting down over her forehead. “Quick, quick, slow, slow. Get it?”
Dani nodded. “Keep talking me through it? Just a few more times?”
“Of course,” Weston said, and Dani swore that she could hear a smile in his voice. “Follow my lead. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Again, quick, quick, slow, slow.”
Weston kept counting to her with his rough, soft voice as he guided her around the dance floor.
“Quick, quick, slow, slow,” Dani whispered, in time with Weston’s instructions and guidance. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Alexis, Kelsey, and Tami gaping at her, their pretty faces wearing identical expressions of shock.
Dani shot them a wink before Weston swirled her away again.
“You got it now?” Weston asked and, when Dani nodded back, he grinned widely. “Good. Now hold on.”
With a flick of his guiding hand, Weston twirled Dani out away from him, ducked her under his arm, then pulled her back in, this time cradling her back to his chest. “Was that all right?” he whispered into her ear.
His arms were wrapped around her, hands resting over her own. She was positive that he could feel her heart hammering in her chest and desperately hoped he would chalk it up to the exertion of dancing an unfamiliar dance with an unfamiliar partner.
“That was great,” she finally answered, glancing back up over her shoulder at him. “Where did you learn to do that?”
Weston shrugged. “Everyone in Sagebrush can two-step, Dani. There’s not a lot else to do. Want to try something else?”
Dani most definitely did.
Moving with surprising grace for someone of his size, Weston twirled her and spun her, flipped up over his back and finally, when the song was winding down to its final notes, he dipped her so low that her black braids brushed the dance floor.
Time froze for a moment, and Dani held this moment for all eternity: held firmly in Weston’s strong arms, her chest rapidly rising and falling from the intimacy of the dance, her big brown eyes gazing up into his soft blue ones. She could’ve stayed there forever.
A low clap startled Dani out of her reverie. Then the clap grew louder and louder. When Weston finally pulled her out of the dip, Dani saw that every single person in the barroom was staring at them, clapping wildly.
“That’s our hometown boy, Weston Stroh, and his lovely lady friend, setting the dance floor on fire!” the DJ announced over the sound system.
Dani flushed at the attention as her friends screamed wildly at the mention of her.
“You can see Mr. Stroh trying to clinch the Cowboy Days championship at the rodeo all weekend long,” the DJ continued, even as Weston was good-naturedly waving at him to knock it off. “What’s tomorrow looking like, West?”
“I’ll tell you,” Weston shouted back at the DJ, cupping his hands around his mouth to be heard over the screaming of his fans. “If you promise to start the next dang song!”
The DJ laughed and gave Weston a double thumbs up.
“All right, y’all, all right,” Weston laughed. “I’ve pulled a pretty good bull. He’s a strong one, been a good point getter this year. Watch me hang on for dear life! Now start the song, Austin.”
Austin started the song and the crowd rushed back into formation for the next dance, another group line dance.
“You wanna learn this one, too?” Weston asked, but Dani shook her head. After that two step with him, Dani had doubts that she’d even be able to walk straight, let alone dance.
“I think I need to sit this one out,” Dani admitted. She hesitated for a moment, then added, “Do you want to come sit with me and my friends?”
“Sure,” he quickly agreed. “Are they all as nice as you?”
Dani laughed. “Oh honey. You have no idea.”
Much to Dani’s surprise, her friends and Weston got along beautifully. They all sat and talked and drank—except for Weston, who made it a habit not to drink when he was competing—and entertained a never-ending stream of fellow rodeo cowboys and fans parading past their table, stopping to chat with Weston and meet his new friends.
Every so often, Weston would lead Dani back out to the dance floor for another song, and usually her friends joined them, finding themselves with a bottomless supply of willing dance partners. Alexis, in particular, looked like she’d won the sexy cowboy lottery.
“You are my very favorite friend,” Alexis shouted, as she whirled by Dani and Weston, on the arm of yet another partner. “Thank you, Dani!”
Finally, the bar lights flipped on and the DJ came back over the loudspeaker. “All right, cowboys and cowgirls, this is the last dance. Pick your partners carefully, drain those drinks and close out your tab because when the song ends, y’all need to get the heck out.”
The announcement was met with a series of jeers and catcalls, which seemed to be standard closing procedure at Carl’s Saloon.
Alexis rushed over to Dani, just as the last song ended and Dani was collecting her purse. “Girl,” Alexis gushed. “Can you get a ride home with your new cow-boyfriend? I’ve got other places to be.”
Alexis winked at her and Dani groaned. “Did you really find someone to go home with? Already?”
“Yep,” Alexis laughed. “And you know what that means?”
“That you’re a huge slut?”
“Quiet, you,” Alexis mocked glared. “It means that you’ll have the room to yourself. If you know what I mean...”
Dani knew exactly what she meant.
Ten minutes later, Weston’s truck idled in the parking lot of the Dusty Spur Inn as Kelsey and Tami leaped out of the bed of the pickup.
“Thanks for the ride, Weston!” Tami shouted, waving through the window.
“We’ll see you at the rodeo tomorrow!” Kelsey blew them a kiss and dashed after Tami toward their shared room. “Don’t stay out too late, Dani!”
Dani sighed. “So, those are my friends,” she said lamely, but Weston just laughed and came around to the passenger door to open it for her.
“They’re nice girls,” he told her, offering her his hand and then giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Dani stared down at his hand, how effortlessly their fingers intertwined.
Weston followed her gaze. “Is that okay?” he asked softly.
Their feet crunched on the gravel of the parking lot as he escorted her to her motel room.
“It’s okay,” she replied too quickly. “Actually, I was wondering...”
“Yes?” They were in front of her room, Room Thirteen.
“Alexis is out tonight and she’s my roommate, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted...” Dani’s voice trailed off. She wasn’t used to doing this and the three beers she’d had at Carl’s weren’t lending her nearly enough courage.
She looked up and Weston was looking down at her, his expression strangely sad. “My apologies, ma’am, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your offer.”
Dani flushed with shame. How had she read this situation so incorrectly? “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“No, I’m sorry, Dani—”
“I should turn in,” she interrupted, fumbling hastily with her room key.
Weston was silent for a moment then, just as her key clicked in the lock, he said softly, “Will I still see you at the rodeo tomorrow?”
Dani smiled, hoping to keep the disappointment and embarrassment from showing in her eyes. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Good night, Weston.”
“Good night, Danica,” he said, and then he was back in his truck and then gone, leaving Dani alone in the empty motel parking lot.