Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [57]
The delight in Tori’s eyes and the way she nearly bounced on her toes as she talked about her favorite holiday traditions merely made the entire night that much more perfect. It was almost too easy to forget the cameraman, or the interested people all around them, who knew full well that a reality show was taping in their midst.
“I wonder what on earth all these people are thinking,” Tori said softly as they danced, as if she’d read his thoughts.
Then again, considering they were being whispered about by practically every person in the place, maybe it wasn’t so surprising. “I have no idea. Maybe they’re thinking that we’re a runaway royal couple, mingling with the commoners for an evening.”
She rolled her eyes. “No fairy-tale princesses for me, thankyouverymuch.”
“You look like one,” he said, staring into her eyes to convince her of his words.
“Maybe Cinderella.”
“She was my favorite.”
“Mine, too.” Smiling, she tucked her head back onto his shoulder, and her body even tighter against his, letting him lead her.
Drew wasn’t much of a dancer. He’d certainly never had lessons. As a kid, food had been much more of a priority for him and his sister than Boy Scouts, sports, dance lessons or anything like that. And the biggest social events he’d attended in recent years had been around huge bonfires with tribal leaders in foreign countries. The dancing hadn’t much resembled this.
Somehow, though, he and Tori made it work. They were perfectly in sync, every turn, every dip, every step.
Like making love while fully clothed.
“We have an audience,” she said after the music changed, segueing into another slow, sultry number that kept them there, swaying, alone in the world they’d created.
“Uh, no kidding,” he said with a chuckle, glancing at their ever-present chaperone, Sam, the cameraman.
“I meant other than the camera.”
Following her stare, he noticed many of the other partygoers watching them from around the dance floor. Then he shrugged. “They know we’re part of a reality show.” Rolling his eyes in disgust, he added, “They probably think it’s one of those ridiculous dating things where perfect strangers try to make other people fall in love for the sake of money or greed. That’s the absolute dregs of the reality-show world.”
Tori shivered a little, and Drew noticed someone had opened a door leading to an outside patio. He drew her closer. “You okay?”
She nodded, not saying anything, just burrowing closer to him. He kissed her temple, for once not giving a damn what the TV audience would make of it two months from now. “You warm enough?”
Another nod. Then after a long pause, she took a deep breath and looked up at him with a smile.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Dancing. I had a feeling I was going to like your kind of dancing in public.”
“My kind of dancing?”
“Uh-huh. Proper and acceptable. But still kinda wicked, like making out while upright, only without the kissing.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he admitted. Then, remembering their impromptu dance lesson last Sunday in the greenhouse—as she obviously was—he added, “I’d like to try your kind of dancing sometime, too.”
“Maybe you’ll come visit me in Tennessee and come to the honky-tonk with me some night.”
Drew pulled away slightly to stare down at her. “Tennessee? You really think that’s where you’ll be?”
He was asking her more than that—much, much more. Judging by the sudden confusion in her eyes, she knew it, too.
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I don’t know much of anything these days.”
“You’ll know. And I’ll be right there beside you when you figure out where you want to go when you leave this place. It’ll be forward, I have no doubt about that. You’re too strong to take a step back.”
“I