A Promise Worth Honoring (Promises Collection) (4 page)

Capturing her gaze, he licked his lips. Did he dare kiss her now? Again? Or could he go even further, and pronounce his ever-growing feelings. “I want this…”

She bit her lip and leaned in. “If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to get through the rough patch and go after it. Whether it’s winning a pageant, or—”

Kissing you
. “Overcoming claustrophobia.”

She smiled in a way that made his heart sing. In time to the music, he continued to tango around the room, his body upright with hers and separated above the waist while below the hips, they entwined in footwork that seemed
impossible to maneuver, but somehow worked.

“Beautiful form, Garrett. You’re a natural, like your father.” Ms. Aubrey patted him on the shoulder. “Now, to the basic frame’s beginning, let’s add a
corte
.”

After two more hours, his calf muscles cramped like he’d climbed stairs leading to heaven, and his once-dry tee shirt clung to his chest in a sticky sweat. But, coming off an eight-hour shift and five hours of dance lessons, he didn’t dare stop moving for fear he’d fall down.

Where Maggie’s palm rested on his bicep, she squeezed. “You’re doing wonderful. This week was tough, but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else as my partner.”

A splash of warmth doused his already heated body, not from exertion but from something deeper. Maggie in his arms, his right hand on her lower back, feeling her breath on his face, her eyes sparkling up at him like when they’d first pronounced their best friend status. Her soft gaze infused him with desire he’d never dreamed possible and held a hint of something foreign, something he wanted to explore. Something like her awareness that he loved her as more than a friend.

Ms. Aubrey clapped twice and the dancing halted. She waved a hand at the water dispenser in the corner. “Since Maggie’s the reigning Miss Safe Haven, I’d like her to share why she decided to enter the pageant.”

Whereas Maggie had been on the ground and digging in the dirt at the beginning of the week, today on stage she spoke eloquently and moved as if riding on a cloud intent on hovering over
nearby Copper Mountain. She neither swayed, nor fussed nervously, but addressed the group with ease like the mayor or town pastor.

Before his eyes, he saw her in a new light—his angel—and he wanted to follow and never look back at his old life.

She clasped her hands and directed her gaze at him. “Some people think I partake in the pageant for the money, scholarships, or to please my mom. And in part, that’s true. I’ve already received my degree in biology and have been accepted to the University of Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, and will start next quarter. But after I graduate, I’d like to travel Europe, maybe work as a veterinarian there....

“Oh, nice...” Ms. Aubrey turned the music off.

“But there’s more to the story. When I was a little girl, my father was stationed overseas. When he’d return home, he swept me into his arms, swung me about, and called me princess.” Her voice roughened and she took a sip of water. “Then he died.”

Garrett’s heart pinched along with his throat and eyes. They’d both lost their fathers, honorable men.

“But I was no longer that little girl who could so easily get lost in dreams or ever be his princess again. Keeping myself locked in a sort of fantasyland, filled that void each time I imagined myself his princess. Then my mother suggested I enter the competition to become Miss Safe Haven. I knew I had to learn to dance and excel in school. I had to get involved with the community. But more importantly, I learned life is too short not to be happy.”

Ms. Aubrey wiped her tears and Garrett sniffed his away. How had he been so self-centered to have never known the truth? Never realized the pageants helped
Maggie smile through her loss. She, too, used her skill to please others. He needed to be more like her. Work harder at what he wanted.

“Thank you, Maggie. What a beautiful story of self-motivation and evidence of why you continue to reign as Miss Safe Haven.” The music volume increased. “Now, let’s get back to tango. Everyone look to your left.”

With hesitation, Garrett looked and locked his stare on Emily’s gaze.

“Now, switch partners.”

# # # #

One dance with Emily. A single dance…

Maggie had known the switch was coming for Garrett. She was expected to share a dance with each male in the room prior to competition, so of course Garrett would have to dance with each female. She shouldn’t be worrying about him dancing with Emily. Except, when his head tipped back on occasion and he openly laughed, a nervous tremor riddled her body. Maggie assumed that, given how easily Emily straddled his leg, she already knew him and his body in a way Maggie did not.

Emily glared at Maggie, fluttered her eyelashes, and released a flirtatious laugh.

Maggie gripped her partner’s hand to reign in her composure, but through no fault of her partner, who excelled at the tango, her heels felt more like clogs.

Ms. Aubrey clapped. “Return to your original partner.”

Garrett’s hand found hers and he squeezed without breaking step or form. He immediately said, “I was wrong about why you entered the pageant. I’m sorry about your father.”

“Neither of us complain about what we can’t change. But, visualizing has always helped me overcome my fears. Too bad, I can’t get
you
and Emily out of my mind.” She forced her lips to lift. What had Emily said to Garrett to keep his feet so light that not once had he stumbled, bumped, or stepped on her? Maggie’s feet, on the other hand, throbbed.

The music peaked and, suddenly, Garrett’s cheek landed against hers, his rough skin pulling a
sensual gasp from her throat. Together, they tangoed to the opposite side of the mirrored room.

“Dancing with her is easy because I don’t care about her the way I do you.”

Music to her ears, and heart, and all the spaces in between. The molecules that made up her soul resonated from his words. “But I want you to be like that with me. Here. Now. Fluid like…” she almost said lovers.

But they were not, and had never been. They were friends, she reminded herself, who’d barely shared a single kiss days ago. As soon as the contest was over, she’d return to school for four more years.

Garrett would eventually pass his firefighter exam and be locked to this town forever. Abruptly, he lowered her so she slid down his masculine frame, which flowed against her torso like muscular cobbles beneath a river’s current. In one sharp movement, he lifted her upright and curled her back before she, once again, jolted upright to straddle his supportive thigh. “One more day with you, and we will put to shame every couple in this room.”

Her brows rolled to shadow her disbelieving eyes. “How can you be so sure? The others will be practicing all night, and you have to return to work.”

With the flip of his wrist, he spun her from his arm. He reeled her back into his clutches, his sparkling gaze burning into her. With his palm’s pressure steady on her shoulder, he guided her this way and that. “Don’t ever doubt how powerful is my desire to see your needs met.”

Blood rushed to heat her face and she tripped over her own foot.

He caught her mid-fall, letting her hair sweep the floor for two beats before lifting her to a stand. His footwork kept perfect tempo with the next beat. “Keep moving… even the worst mistakes are unnoticeable to the common eye. Emily was a mistake. You’re not.”

Her lip quivered and, though her knees weakened, he kept her moving, kept proving he’d mastered the dance. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure. We’re inseparable. Where you go, I follow. Where I lead, you’re right there beside me, telling me to keep going. All the bumps and bruises make us stronger. Better.” His grip tightened even more. “Love doesn’t lie.”

Did he love her?
She blinked to keep her tears fanned and swallowed over the pain-filled lump in her throat.

He lowered his head until full lips partnered with hers, and in that sweetest surrender, her best friend became more. A partner that danced with her in a tango of taste and touch most masterfully skilled. He made her forget about beauty pageants, or exes, or college, or ever leaving Safe Haven.

The music rose to a crescendo while his palm’s pressure and release guided her from the windowed wall to the mirrored sides. Finally, in a graceful dip, he supported her arched back, his arm muscles not revealing a single tremor. While her chest rose and fell, she accepted she was more, that he did in fact love her.

The music faded.

“Last rehearsal will be tomorrow. On Saturday, we’ll meet at the fairgrounds. Stage one. Class adjourned.”

# # # #

With Maggie beside him, Garrett barely made it to the truck, down the street, and through his house’s front door without begging her to kiss him a hundred times over. Now, his shirt was unbuttoned and she admired his chest.

More than anything he’d ever celebrated, he wanted her quaking fingers against his skin, her lips never disconnected from his. To hear her whisper those three little words. To forever change friendship into something epic. “Are we moving too fast?”

Her fingers shook against his face then lowered. She slipped her palms across his pecs, riding his skin until his shirt puddled on the carpet at his feet. “Not fast enough.”

With determined steps he walked her backwards toward the shower, intent on washing away any remaining trepidation. Because once they crossed the line from friends to lovers, things between them would change. That was certain. “I don’t want to do anything that will ruin our friendship.”

Her kisses turned desperate. “I trust you. Nothing can destroy what we have.” Her garments fell into a soft, colorful pile, so only her bra and panties, which were as delicate as her touch, covered her honeyed skin.

He gasped and strained to talk. “Mags, things can only get better. I promise. So much better.”

Inside the bathroom, she slipped free both of their remaining clothes. “But we’re heading in opposite directions. I want to travel and you want to stay here.”

He nibbled down her neck, letting her supple skin imprint on his lips and her subtle acquiescence overtake his soul. Blood pounded in his ears, beat against his ribs, and filled every square inch inside him to near bursting. The thought of ever being more than an arm’s length away from her sounded like a cruel crime. “Maybe firefighting isn’t for me. But right now, I’d say we’re on the same page.”

She was right, though. Their goals had always differed, with her wanting to see the world and his world existing among the rolling oaks and lazy Cosumnes River, he also understood her dreams would take him far from the woman he loved. Maybe, he needed to seriously reassess his goals. “I guess if it’s important enough, we can both take time to figure stuff out.”

She laced her arms around his neck. “Right now, I never want to leave this moment.”

With his ear pressed against her neck, he listened to the steady rhythm of her heart and imagined a similar beat beachside on the white sands of Bassin d'Arcachon, the sea teasing him to enter her harbor with each successive wave. Maggie’s pulse, the ebb and flow of her swaying hips encouraged him to place a hand there. He held her upturned gaze, loving in a way he’d only imagined she regarded him, and stroked a slow hand across her cheek. “I love you, Mags.”

On tippy toes, she kissed him hard, her open mouth and fingers working his neck muscles and tense shoulders from a solid to a liquid. 

The shower spray fogged the mirrors—either that, or steam wafted off them given the way she slinked her calf around his thigh. His lids lowered and he held her sexy gaze.

She stepped inside the shower, the steamy spray turning her blonde hair dark and spilling down flesh that embodied all he’d ever wanted in a woman. She reached out for him to join her, hands shaking in evidence of how much she wanted him. “I don’t want anything to change between us. Not in a bad way.”

At the swift pain in his heart, he stepped inside, his gaze darting to the open glass door that would soon close them inside a new world. He shouldn’t promise what he couldn’t control, but damn if he had the power to stop the rush from overtaking them both. “We won’t let anything come between us.”

A long stroke of her palm glided down his cheek and rested on his chest, and she melded her body against his. Inside the cramped space, her palms worked the lavender suds across his chest and shoulders.

His gaze feasted on the angel that was Maggie and his mind traveled to a new dimension. When she rolled her finger over her bottom lip, he kissed her there.

“We don’t have to take this any farther.”

Heated further by the water spray, nothing he wanted more than to be as one with her. Agreeing would cost him that honor, but he nodded. “I know.”

She sighed and held his gaze. Her palm trailed down his chest and paused to rest at his hip before sliding lower. “Let’s take this slow…”

Like a zephyr, her soft voice calmed his raging heart until he slid the shower door closed. “That’s exactly what I plan to do.” 

living someone else’s life.”

–Steve Jobs