You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This by Karenna Colcroft Read Free Book Online

there.”
    “We did.” She sobered. “He asked me last night to partner with him in a competition next weekend.”
    “Nothing like leaving things to the last minute,” he said. “What did you tell him?”
    “I’ve decided to try.” She leaned back and crossed her legs. “It isn’t a big deal. He helps organize a charity thing every year, and that’s what he needs a partner for. He does it to honor his sister, and I think that’s a good reason and I want to help him. He and I are used to dancing together for class, anyway.” She paused. “Besides, a few people have asked me lately why I don’t compete anymore. Maybe that means it’s time I try again.”
    “I hoped you’d decide that at some point.” He gave her a gentle smile. “You miss Scott and you think you can’t partner with anyone else. That’s okay, but you need to give yourself a chance.”
    “Yeah.” Her eyes grew moist, and she impatiently brushed a hand over them. “We lost him almost a year ago.”
    “I know. Do you think you’re ready to compete again?”
    Tears trickled down her cheeks despite her efforts to stop them, and she decided she didn’t care. “I love dancing, and I’ll never give it up completely. Not after you pushed so hard for me to go back to it.”
    “Just being a friend.”
    She chuckled. “Yeah, a good friend. I’m glad I started dancing again, and I want to try this competition. I’m just not sure about partnering with someone other than Scott. He and I—when I danced with him, we weren’t two people dancing together, you know? We were one being.” She shook her head. “Okay, that sounded totally dorky.”
    “But accurate. That’s what dancing’s like with the right partner.” He stroked her cheek with a fingertip, taking away some of the moisture. “You might find that again, honey. You’ve told me about dancing with Stefan. When you talk about him, you sound like you feel the same way as you did with Scott.” He paused. “I’m proud of you for giving this event a try. I think you should do more with dance than just teach.”
    She snuggled against him. “At least teaching introduced me to Stefan.”
    He smiled. “I’m glad last night went well for you. Want to watch the show with me?”
    “Yeah.” Watching other people dance might take her mind away from the memories of Scott, the memories that had just brought her crashing down from the high of her time with Stefan.
    They ordered pizza and ate while they watched the show Merit had taped the night before. Then he decided they should watch the previous week’s show, even though he’d already seen it. By the time Merit finally shut off the TV, Erin’s eyes had begun to droop, and her mind had filled with images of other people’s dancing instead of her own. Which had doubtlessly been Merit’s intent.
    ~***~
     That night, she slept much better. She woke the next morning looking forward to that night’s class, where she and Stefan would see each other again. Slight disappointment in not hearing from him the day before niggled at her as she went through her normal workday routine. She ignored it. He said that he’d call her, but maybe something had come up.
    It was Thursday. She would see him. That knowledge kept a silly grin on her face most of the day.
    When she arrived at the studio that night, Stefan’s car already sat in the lot, and when Erin entered the building music filtered down the stairs from their instruction room. The song they’d danced to in Stefan’s living room.
    Smiling broadly, she hurried up the stairs. She found Stefan in the middle of the room, moving through the steps of the dance alone. When she entered, he grinned and held out his hands to her. Without hesitation, she joined him, immediately finding the beat and following his lead perfectly.
    He twirled her and then himself. Moved them through the basic West Coast Swing steps, and then into variations she hadn’t done since her last competition. Recognizing