Dancing Shoes and Honky-Tonk Blues

by MCLANE, LUANN

  His dark eyebrows shoot up and he looks impressed. “You’ve been up here hunting?”

  “Oh Lordy, no . . . summer camp. I was a nerd, Danny, not an athlete like you. Don’t know why I let my brother talk me into doing this dance competition.” I shake my head. “I have two left feet.”

  Danny glances down at my cowboy boots. “Doesn’t look like it to me.” His eyes meet mine. “And you sure don’t look like a nerd.”

  “I was in high school but you probably don’t remember that.”

  He leans back against the railing and then says, “Let me guess. I ignored you and you had a crush on me.”

  “Yeah, me and just about every other girl at Misty Creek High.”

  “Yeah, well, those glory days are long gone,” he says dryly. “Instead of the hotshot hometown hero I’m just a mechanic. Sorry if I was an ass to you in high school. I was pretty danged full of myself, but I was just a big fish in a small pond.”

  Suddenly some of the pieces start to fall into place and it ticks me off. “Don’t even tell me . . .” I narrow my eyes at him.

  “What?”

  I grip the railing next to him. “That you believe you’re not good enough for Julia Mayer anymore.”

  “Now, what makes you think somethin’ like that?” he scoffs with a wave of his hand but his gaze shifts from mine. Just then the breeze kicks up and ruffles his hair, making him look younger and almost vulnerable. Intuition tells me that I just hit the nail on the head.

  “I can read between the lines, Danny. There was something going on between you two. I think you just might have been tryin’ to make her jealous by flirtin’ with me.”

  “Oh, come on . . .” he says with another wave of his hand but there’s a little color on his cheeks that tells me I’m on to him. “I was flirtin’ with you ’cause you’re a pretty woman, Abby.” Then he frowns and says, “But you sure made it clear down at the shop that I didn’t have a chance. Was it the grease on my hands?”

  “You gotta be kiddin’ me,” I sputter hotly but he gives me a level look that says he’s dead serious. “Okay, to tell you the truth, I was givin’ you the cold shoulder because . . . oh, this is stupid . . . because you didn’t even know my name back in school when I would have swooned if you had just said hello.”

  He gives me a grin. “Ah . . . so a little payback.”

  “Yeah, well, somethin’ like that. But let me make it crystal clear that a hardworkin’ man is damned appealing in my book.”

  His grin deepens, showing a cute dimple in his cheek. “And sexy?”

  “That too,” I assure him but feel heat creep into my cheeks. I hope he thinks it’s just the cool breeze making my face pink.

  “See, I’m hittin’ on you and Julia is nowhere in sight, Abby.”

  “Yeah, but you’re thinkin’ about her. She’s the one you want, not me. Admit it.”

  Danny shrugs his wide shoulders and gives me a look that has me almost swallowing my gum. “Maybe . . . maybe not.”

  “You two were joined at the hip in high school. Prom King and Queen. Y’all were the perfect couple. What happened, if I’m not bein’ too nosy?”

  He pauses for a moment and then sighs. “Everyone thought I was going to go on with a football career at some fancy college but I was just too small. Nobody would give me a serious look. I thought about walking on to a Division Two school but my family didn’t have the money for college and I sure didn’t have the grades for an academic scholarship. Julia suddenly decided that we should date other people and I chalked it up to the fact that I was no longer good enough for her. The damned woman has always been high maintenance and wanted a college frat boy on her arm. I felt like I couldn’t compete.”

  “She’s a hairdresser, Danny. We’re all hardworkin’ small-town folks. Nothin’ wrong with that!”

  “Damned straight,” he says with a grin and gives me a knuckle bump.

  “She seems to want you back now.”

  He sighs and then says, “Yeah, well, I guess I have a big chip on my shoulder about the whole thing.”

  “So you’re making her squirm a little.”

  He looks out over the hills for a minute and then turns his gaze back to me. “Maybe that’s what I’m doin’,” he admits with another shrug. “But I don’t want a woman who . . . what do you girls call it?”

  I frown for a moment and then ask, “You mean settle?”

  “Yeah.” He looks serious for a minute but then gives me a lopsided grin and says, “I ain’t as good as I once was.”

  I shake my head and chuckle while thinking that Danny Becker still sets my panties on fire. But I’m not about to go mooning over a guy who is smitten with someone else. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. The air is damp and chill, making me shiver even though I’m wearing a jean jacket with a turtleneck sweater underneath.

  “I’m sorry, Abby. I’ve kept you out here in the cold jawing your ear off. Why didn’t you just tell me to shut up?”

  A lock of his hair falls over his forehead, and his eyes are as blue as a cloudless summer sky and I’m thinking that Julia Mayer is a dumb-ass.

  “What’s that look for, Abby? What’s on your mind?”

  “You wanna know the truth?”

  He nods.

  “Julia is a dumb-ass.”

  He throws his head back and laughs. “I could just kiss you for that.”

  I must be looking at him like a bear lookin’ at honey, because his blue eyes darken and he goes real silent. He steps a little closer and like a little hussy I close the rest of the gap and Lord knows where this nerve came from, and my mama would box my ears, but I pull him close and whisper, “Then do it, Danny Becker.”

  Danny’s gaze lowers and then lingers on my mouth, making me swallow. When he lightly traces my bottom lip with his fingertip my eyelids feel heavy and flutter shut. A heartbeat goes by and then I feel the slight pressure of his mouth on mine. His lips are warm . . . just slightly moist and oh so soft. The very tip of his tongue touches mine, sending a slow tingle all the way to my toes. Tender and sweet, it’s over all too soon, leaving me a bit breathless and wanting more.

  Danny pulls back a fraction and grins at me. “Maybe we should just forget all about high school and start from here.”

  “Oh, high school isn’t somethin’ I want to relive, believe me,” I tell him with a shy nod. He laughs, thinking that I’m joking, and I let him think that I am but in reality I’m dead serious. I also remember the wistful longing in his eyes while he was looking at Julia, so I’m not convinced that he’s over her.

  “What?” Danny asks, angling his head. “You’ve got that look on your face again like you think you know somethin’.”

  I’m thinking that he kissed me out of curiosity or maybe in an effort to get his mind off of Julia Mayer, but I just give him what I hope is a saucy smile and say, “A girl’s gotta have a few secrets.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ll just have to make it my goal to find ’em out.”

  “That and winning the fifty grand, right? I think you have a good chance at it.”

  He cocks an eyebrow and says, “Man, winning the money and the girl . . . think I could be that lucky?”

  “You are so full of it, Danny.” I shove him on the shoulder.

  “So I’ve been told. But hey, remember that this thing is a reality show and on the Comedy Corner Network of all things. It’s safe to say that we can expect the unexpected. This might not be about who is the best dancer, Abby.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you watch much television?”

  “No . . . I mostly rent movies,” I admit.

  He inhales deeply. “Reality shows are all about shocking the contestants and the audience to get ratings. Be prepared.”

  “Be prepared for what?”

  “Anything.”

  I shiver again but this time not from the cold. Just what in the hell am I doing up here on this mountain kissing Danny Becker and putting my tush on a reality TV sh
ow?

  “Let’s get you inside before you catch your death of cold. You checked in yet?”

  “No.”

  “Come on, I’ll show you where to get your keys and then help you bring your stuff in. I’m guessing you brought every article of clothing you own, right?”

  “How’d you guess?”

  “I’ve got two older sisters. I know how the female mind works.”

  “So you got us all figured out, huh?” I ask as I follow him through the far door on the other side of the deck. As we pass by the big picture windows I peek in and see more activity inside.

  He laughs as he pushes the door open for me. “I know how . . . just not why.”

  “I suppose if we understood the opposite sex it would take some of the fun out of the chase,” I say breezily as if I know of such matters. I’ve dated here and there but I haven’t had a steady relationship or ever felt as if I were in love.

  “So true,” he agrees.

  I’m starting to think that maybe I’m learning the fine art of flirting. Who knew I had it in me? I give my hair a little flip for good measure and manage to elbow him in the gut. “Oh . . . sorry!” I gush, noting that he has rock-hard abs.

  Danny rubs his stomach with a good-natured grin. “I’ll live.”

  I’m thinking that I really like him. I hate that we’re going to be competing against each other.

  “What? You have a frown on your face again.”

  I shrug. “This is going to be hard competing against people that I know and care about. I hope that it doesn’t get ugly.”

  “It’s bound to, Abby. Just be prepared and watch your back.”

  I think he’s teasing but when I see the serious look on his face my eyebrows shoot up. “You think anyone from the little ole town will try to get down and dirty?” I’m thinking of some of the contestants and can’t imagine it, not even Julia Mayer.

  “Human nature can get pretty danged weird, especially when there’s fifty thousand dollars at stake. It’s bound to get crazy and that’s just what Comedy Corner is banking on. Remember that, Abby.”

  “Lord have mercy. Just what have we gotten ourselves into, Danny?”

  “I don’t really know but you can bet your bottom dollar that Misty Creek will never be the same.”

  4

  Starting from Scratch

  I’m sort of in a daze while Danny shows me where to register and pick up the key to my room. He helps me drag in all the stuff that I’m sure that I won’t need but he’s teasingly good-natured about it. When it starts to rain he insists that he will bring in the last load so I won’t get wet and I’m thinking again that Julia Mayer is a complete idiot for letting him get away. Yeah, Danny might not be able to keep her in diamonds and pearls but he seems to be a hardworking, good-hearted man and in my way of thinking that’s worth more than a million bucks. Oh my, and for a man who’s so big and so strong he sure has a tender way with a kiss.

  This gets me thinking about the kiss and I’m reliving it in my mind when he enters my room with two bulging duffel bags. His dark hair is damp, making it curl up a bit over the collar of his brown Carhartt jacket.

  “Where do you want it?” he asks.

  Oh, that’s a loaded question. Something naughty comes to mind, making a hot blush creep up my neck. Good God, just what is this man doing to me? “Just toss it into the pile,” I request and point to the mound of stuff in the far corner of the room. He handles the bags with masculine ease and a little sigh escapes me.

  “You okay?”

  “Just a little tired,” I lie and fake a yawn. In truth, I’m more revved up than Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the starting line, making me wonder if I’ll ever sleep again.

  “I could use a nap, too.”

  I nod to him and I guess it’s all this talk about sleeping that has me flicking a glance over to my huge bed. Something suddenly hovers in the air . . . and I can’t quite put my finger on it but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the lights suddenly dimmed and Luther Vandross music started playing in the background. I guess this is what you call sexual tension, but since I’ve never been in a hotel room with a man I just kissed before, I’m not exactly sure. Well, actually, I’ve never been in a hotel room with a man at all. This makes me feel a little awkward and unsure of myself . . . Wow, like that’s never happened before.

  I’m silent long enough that Danny clears his throat, breaking into my crazy train of thought, and says, “Well, I’d best be goin’. My bed is callin’ my name.”

  “I hear ya,” I tell him, trying to sound calm, cool, and oh so casual when of course I’m none of those things. Now, if I were a self-assured, sexually confident . . . Oh, hell, if I just had the nerve, I’d give him a saucy smile and tell him that this bed is calling his name. But of course I don’t. Just telling him to kiss me was way out of my comfort zone and I really can’t believe that I did it.

  I make a big show of yawning and stretching and end up losing my balance. “Whoa!” I fall sideways onto the bed with an unladylike grunt, one big bounce and two little bounces. Rolling to my back, I squeeze my eyes shut in total humiliation. “Now, just how am I ever going to learn to do the tango? I’m just about the biggest klutz on the face of the earth. Lord have mercy, I pity the dance instructor who gets stuck with me.”

  “I don’t think getting stuck with you would be such a hardship, Abby.”

  The low timbre of his voice washes over me like warm summer rain and I slowly open my eyes. The heat in his gaze makes me swallow hard. I realize that I’m lying here like an open invitation, and I swear I’d move . . . but when my brain tries to tell my body to roll from the sprawled-out position my legs refuse to listen. Move, legs, you look like a hussy, I silently scream, but my body feels like a pat of butter melting into a hot frying pan. Danny takes a step toward the bed and my heart starts beating so hard that I think it might just jump right out of my chest.

  He wants me. Danny Becker wants me.

  I’m about to lose my virginity right here, right now, at the Rabbit Run Hunting Lodge. Well, okay, technically I’m not a virgin . . . there was that time with Jimmy Boone in the flatbed of his truck. We were fumbling and bumbling after too much of his granny’s homemade wine and it was over before I knew it . . . Oh, and I threw up afterward, making things worse. I tried to tell him it was the strawberry wine and not him but he would have none of it and our short-lived relationship was over. There were a couple of other close calls and near misses but until someone rocks my world I will think of myself as a virgin.

  I’m thinking Danny Becker could rock my world and he sure is looking at me like he wants to. But with a sudden frown he runs his fingers through his damp hair and blows out a sigh. “What’s goin’ on here, Abby?”

  I swallow. “Um, I think we were havin’ a moment.”

  Nodding, he jams his hands into his pockets, tilts his head to the side, and says, “Yeah, but why?”

  “Well . . .” I’m stumped by this odd question so I don’t answer, but he seems to be asking himself more than me, anyway.

  After clearing his throat Danny looks at me with serious blue eyes and says, “Look, I know that I’ve been comin’ on to you . . .”

  I hear a huge “but” and brace myself.

  “But . . . well, I don’t want to be a leftover crush from high school. In other words, I don’t want to be what I once was or have to answer for what I could have been.” Color goes to his cheekbones and he says, “I’m not making a damned bit of sense, am I?”

  After mulling this over for a moment I say softly, “Yeah, you are, Danny.” Scooting up to a sitting position, I take one of his big callused hands in mine. “I get it, Danny, and ya know what? Maybe we need to forget all about high school and start from scratch.”

  “Now, there’s a plan.”

  When he gives me a slow, sexy grin I try to focus on the point that I’m attempting to make but it takes me a second . . . oh yeah. “I need to get rid of this chip on my shoulder about being ignore
d and not going to the prom and all that.”

  He frowns. “You never went to the prom?”

  “Let’s not dwell,” I remind him.

  “Right. Well then, I need to get over Julia Mayer once and for all.”

  I look up at him for a moment and, well, damn; I can’t believe that I’m going to say this but I do. “Maybe . . . but then again maybe not. She’s not in high school anymore either, Danny.”

  “And your point?”

  Oh, this hurts but I feel that I must proceed. Schooling my features so that I’m not wincing I say, “Maybe she’s grown up. Realized the important things in life.”

  While shaking his head he withdraws his hand from my grasp. “Yeah, right, when hell freezes over,” he scoffs but something in his eyes tells a different story.

  It sinks into my brain that he’s been truly hurt by Julia and I do believe that he’s afraid to open his heart to her again. I feel a stab of disappointment when I realize that he’s still hung up on the damned woman. If I had it in me I’d pull him down on this here bed and make him forget that Julia Mayer ever existed. Of course I’m not exactly an expert in the art of lovemaking but I think I could wing it. I brave a glance up at him and think that maybe I’m on to something. Oh, but what if he called out Julia while in the throes of passion? Wow, that would really suck.

  But then again what if fate has thrown us together and I’m wasting a perfectly good opportunity to be with the man of my dreams?

  “Okay, I give,” Danny says, breaking into my thoughts. “I have to know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

  Get down here and let me make wild love to you until you forget that Julia Mayer even exists.

  Do I dare?

  Of course not.

  Instead, I open my mouth for another fake yawn. But just when I start my fake stretch, Danny tugs me to my feet and threads his long fingers through my hair. Cradling my head, he slants his mouth across mine and turns my fake yawn into a long, hot kiss. Until this moment I thought the whole weak-in-the-knees thing was a bunch of hooey but my legs feel as if they’re made of warm candle wax and I have to snake my arms around Danny’s neck for support. I curl my fingers into the soft dark hair at the nape of his neck and kiss him back like there’s no tomorrow.