It’s a different story on our side of the dance floor. I know I’m a good dancer, and Elle’s an even better one, so her sexy moves inspire me to be my best. I catch people watching us move together. Yeah, take notes people. This is how it’s done.

When the music finally slows, I’m so charged up that my nerve endings are sparking. There’s an awkward moment when Elle asks if I’d rather sit the slow stuff out but I answer her by pulling her into my arms.

I shake my head at her slowly as we start to sway. “You’re not getting away from me.”

“Who said I wanted to?”

The corners of my mouth turn up. I’m liking this. There’s a feeling in the air, a current of possibilities as Billie Holiday serenades us under the golden light. I’m just buzzed enough to feel reckless but not wrecked, and I’ve got the most beautiful woman in my arms. I’m liking this a lot.

She trails her fingers up the buttons of my dress shirt and tugs on my collar which pulls the shirt open where I’ve undone a few buttons. “Hey, where’s your bowtie?”

I nod back toward our table. “In my jacket pocket. Why? Are you missing it?”

“Nope. Not one bit . . . I like your sleeves rolled up. You and your sexy, strong arms.”

“You know I wasn’t teasing earlier, right? You’re the most beautiful woman here.”

She grins. “Well, except for the bride of course.”

“Bride, what bride?”

She pushes me on the shoulder and gives me a side look. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you were working on getting laid tonight.”

“Hmmm,” I say as I slowly spin her around. “What if that wasn’t all I wanted?”

“You know you don’t have to work it so hard with me, right? Just say the word . . .”

“What fun is it if you haven’t worked for it . . . earned it?”

“Earned? Let’s not even go there . . . I owe you so much. Everything really.”

Leaning into me, she rests her head on my chest and I hold her tighter as we take small steps.

I don’t know if this weird feeling comes over me because I’m in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by people I don’t know, or that we’re dressed like movie stars at a premier—but I feel like I’ve stepped into a different reality. I close my eyes and rest my chin on top of Elle’s head, trying to get my bearings. She holds onto me tighter as if she senses I need reinforcement.

I have a dreamlike image behind my closed eyes and I see myself running at a steady pace through an endless, dimly lit tunnel. I can feel my chest rise and fall, the pounding of my feet on the unpaved ground and my laser focus as I look ahead trying to see the end of the tunnel and finally find my destination.

My eyes pop open and I take a sharp breath. It all hits me hard. For two fucking years I’ve been running . . . running away from who I was but never certain where I was going. But right now I can feel the surge of relief from figuring out the answers to what I’ve been searching for. I’ve finally arrived where I’m supposed to be. It’s like that goddamned tunnel ended at the doorway to this ballroom and there was Elle, lit from behind like a vision, waiting for me.

I pull back from Elle, intending to ask her to come with me out to the patio so we can talk, but her attention has shifted to her ex and his girl as they dance not far from where we stand. She looks distressed.

“Elle, look at me,” I instruct as I skim my fingers across her lower back.

She glances at me briefly and then her focus moves back to DD and Pinchy.

I cup her chin in my hand. “Come on. He isn’t worth your attention, Elle. Stop looking at him.” I run my thumb across her chin and she sighs.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes grow wide as she studies me. “Yes?”

“Repeat after me . . . He is nothing, Paul is everything.”

She gives me a coy smile like she thinks I’m playing with her. “He is nothing. Paul is everything.”

I tip my head back and look down at her with narrow eyes. “Say it like you mean it.”

“He is nothing, and Paul is everything!” She smiles. “And for the record, I knew that already.”

I nod. “Good.”

“I was just remembering something I’d rather forget, but that’s all gone now.”

I watch her gaze move over my face, down to my chest, and then back up to my eyes.

“What?”

“The way you’re staring at me. I remember that look.”

“You do?”

“Yes. You look like you want to kiss me.”

I take a deep breath as I study her lips, imagining how they’ll taste. I bet they’ll be sweet as all hell. She breaks my concentration by biting her lower lip.

“Well?” she asks, her eyes searching mine.

I nod and take a deep breath. “I do.”

She blinks and tries to pull back but I hold onto her tighter.

Her eyes become stormy. “Please don’t tease me with this again, Paul. I don’t think I can take it.”

“Do I look like I’m teasing?”

She studies me and the longer I don’t back down the more she relaxes into my arms.

“You have to know that I’ve always wanted to kiss you . . . and I’m not talking about just the affectionate kind of kiss,” I whisper as I run my hand up the back of her neck until her head is cradled in my hand.

Her lips part as her gaze searches mine. “Really?”

I answer by pressing my lips against hers and the feeling is perfect. Once the kiss starts I immediately know that all bets are off. I just let go of the edge of the cliff and I’m flying.

Judging from Elle’s reaction, she’s flying with me. This is way different than that first kiss we shared on my bed. With this kiss we’re sharing each other’s secrets, and while people continue dancing around us, we’re in our own world.

Damn, how I love her in my arms. Her soft lips are full and lush, and move perfectly with mine. I feel her fingers slide up the base of my neck and bring me closer—every part of her is projecting heat as she presses against me: her breasts, the rest of her body, but most of all her lips. The intensity of her passion is wild, like any minute she’ll forget where we are and her hands will be all over me.

Maybe I’m okay with that. Who am I kidding, I’m more than okay with it—it’s exactly what I want.

When we finally pull apart to breathe she gives me the most blissful smile, like she’s coming down from an orgasmic kiss.

“Epic,” she says.

“Epic,” I agree.

I look up and notice the ex glaring at me. Giving him the most shit-eating, satisfied grin I’ve got, I run my grabby hands down over her curvy hips, then rest them just above her ass.

How that asshole could have given this woman up will baffle me the rest of my life. He’s the Grand Poobah of idiots. Seriously, when you look up idiot in the dictionary, his picture should be there.

Leaning closer to her, I press my lips to her ear and whisper, “Poor Pinchy, I think DD is jealous that you’re mine.”

She laughs so loud it’s kind of a shriek and then looks over at the ex and Pinchy, and back at me. “You’re right,” she says as she bites my earlobe and grabs my ass.

I love this girl.

“So am I yours? Really, Paul, or is this for show?”

I give her what I’m pretty sure is a smoldering look. “Let me get you home and show you. It’s time to blow this popsicle stand.”

She glances back at our table with an ecstatic grin. “Let me grab my purse.”

Something occurs to me and I turn to her. “Stella won’t write you off if we leave a little early?” Frankly I don’t give a shit about bailing early, but I don’t want Elle to lose her best friend.

She shakes her head and winks. “Nah, we talked in the bathroom after dinner. She said that with someone as hot as you, she couldn’t believe I’d lasted that long. We understand each other. Just give me a minute to tell her that we’re leaving.”

I nod and she dashes off. As I watch her disappear into the crowd by the main door I feel someone brush against me.

I turn to see her ex. Judging from his point of focus he was watching Elle hurry through the room too. He has a smirk on his face.