He moved forward and held out his arm. I slipped my hand around his arm and clung to it while he led me away. I felt like a princess being escorted through a ballroom. Plus as we walked, I could feel the pressure of his arm resting against my side. It was a pleasant sensation that made me want to press against him harder.
But unlike those witches back there, I had some self-control. Up to a point.
Once we got to the dance floor, Jessie turned to me. “Thank you.” He emphasized both words.
I laughed. “Did you really need rescuing from two tiny women?”
“God, yes.” He wiped his brow dramatically.
It seemed so preposterous. He was such a good-looking man. Surely women hit on him all the time? But he really did seem glad that I’d stepped in.
“I guess we should dance, since I apparently promised you we would.” He grinned at the excuse I’d made up. “I must’ve forgot asking you earlier when my life flashed before my eyes as you came round that bend.”
Smiling, I hit him lightly on the bicep, marveling at how firm his muscles felt. Jeesh, I was as bad as the evil stepcousins. No, wait, no one was that bad. “I wasn’t going that fast.”
“Still, you owe me a dance after your attempt on my life.” He took my hand and slid his other one around my back.
I stepped easily into his arms. It felt natural, somehow. “But I told them you owed me a dance.”
Jessie twirled me around the dance floor, seeming quite at ease for a man who’d self-identified as a nerd earlier. Or how had he phrased it? A nerd sometimes, or something like that.
Now he grinned at me. “I think you’re right. We’ll have to get our story straight next time.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I liked the way he said next time. I hoped I’d be seeing a lot of him this week. Him and the other two as well.
Speaking of the others, the one with the dark blond hair was approaching behind Jessie. Kincade tapped Jessie on the shoulder. “Mind if I cut in?”
Jessie gave me a good-natured smile, almost as if he’d been expecting the interruption. “Not at all.”
Kincade clapped his buddy on the back and then leaned closer and said something to him that I couldn’t catch. Then, as Jessie retreated, Kincade turned his attention to me.
“Wow.”
“Good wow or bad wow?” I said, even though his tone had been pretty clear.
“Definitely good wow. You look incredible, Maddie.”
Was it possible that a man who looked like he could be a movie star actually thought that? It somehow sounded as if he did. “Thank you.”
He grinned. “Not that you didn’t look good tumbling out of a golf cart, too.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “You guys aren’t going to let me forget that any time soon, are you?”
“Of course not.” He looked amazed that I’d even had to ask. Kincade was dressed differently than Jessie. A bit less formal. He had on dark gray pants and a matching vest. Under the vest was a purple shirt, but it was sort of a masculine shade of purple, if there was such a thing. Like somehow the purple was muted and had hues of silver in it. I couldn’t describe it very well, but somehow it suited him.
He moved differently than Jessie, too. More fluid. He led me easily around the dance floor. I’d never done much of this kind of slow dancing, but I was quickly learning that it was a lot easier if you had a partner who knew what he was doing. Clearly, Jessie and Kincade fit the bill.
When the music stopped, there was a minute while the string quartet changed the music on their stands. I looked up at Kincade—who still had his arm around my back. “What did you tell Jessie after you cut in?”
He cocked his head to the side, apparently intrigued by my interest. “Deep, dark secrets,” he said. “You’ll have to tell me some of yours before I share mine with you.”
That made me smile. He’d delivered the lines in a perfectly serious voice, but the twinkle in his eye gave him away. I wondered if he was a good poker player. Then a sudden memory started to surface, and I remembered something I’d read when I was checking out Doug’s groomsmen online. Kincade’s family owned a group of hotels and casinos. Kincade himself oversaw a good portion of the family business. I was really glad I hadn’t embarrassed myself by asking if he played poker!
Kincade cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows raised in a question. Oh, right. I hadn’t responded to him. “I don’t have any deep, dark secrets.”
“Yet,” he said, making me laugh again. But then he relented. “All right, I’ll tell you… I just told him that Brock had a table over by the pool.” He jerked his head in that direction, but I couldn’t see the other men because of the other couples on the dance floor.