Dane spun the woman in his arms without effort. He’d been dancing since he was in grade school, country dancing even before then. As pretty as the lady was who’d asked him to dance, every fiber in his being was in tune to the redhead sitting all alone in the corner looking like she was ready to spit nails. He was surprised no one had asked her to dance yet. Although with that look on her face, she was far from approachable. Any man with sense would know not to mess with that vibe. Of course, he wasn’t just any man.

 

He’d done nothing but think about her since the wedding. Heck, if he were honest with himself, he’d been thinking about her long before that. She consumed his thoughts, as well as his dreams.

 

“Ouch!” The woman in his arms yelped.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’am. My fault.”

 

Had he faltered and actually stepped on her foot? He’d never done that in his life. Of course, he’d never had the kinds of dreams about a woman before like he did about Aimee. And it scared him like nothing else. His instincts said to run, but everything else in him kept drawing to her like a moth to a flame. Flames. Just like her hair. He shook his head. What was wrong with him? Every thought led back to her, every feeling.

 

He hadn’t called her all week, because he wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

 

Hey, sorry about running out on you after that earth-shattering kiss. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since then.

 

Yeah, that would be super smooth. A fine idea. No matter how he played it in his head, he couldn’t come up with a single scenario or conversation that sounded right. What had started out as a gesture to make her feel better and best her high school enemy had ended up rocking his world. He hadn’t been the same since.

 

He snapped out of his trance when he heard his dancing partner say, “Sure, why not? But watch your toes.”

 

A feather could’ve knocked him over when Aimee said, “I think I can handle him.” She cocked her head to the side, stepped into his arms, and said, “I’m just wondering if he can handle me.”

 

Dane returned her embrace and two-stepped them around the dance floor. His mind had yet to catch up with his body on what had just happened. Aimee had cut in on his dance and faced him head on, while he’d been woolgathering about her. He chuckled. The woman was a walking puzzle. Easy to fall for, and for him, dangerously so.

 

“What’s so funny, Cowboy?”

 

“You never cease to amaze me.”

 

“Is that so? You’re a bit of a surprise yourself.”

 

“Really? How you figure?” The twang in his voice came out on nights like this, when he knew he could be himself. Otherwise he tamped it down for work. The guys teased him enough already for being a country boy.

 

“Well, I ‘figured,’” she matched his twang on the word, warming his insides and making him smile, “you for liking country things because of the boots and belt buckle you’re so fond of. I never saw you for a true, all-out cowboy though. Are you from the south?”

 

“No, ma’am. But my parents are. I was raised, for the most part, on a ranch in Northern California. My parents still have their Texas drawl, so it rubs off on me from time to time.”

 

“I see.”

 

He pulled her closer and spun her around. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and he knew she thought of their kiss just as he did.

 

“It seems we keep ending up dancing every time we see each other,” Aimee said.

 

“There are worse ways to spend your time.”

 

She smiled, causing his insides to churn even more. “So, do you frequent this establishment often?”

 

“Is that a formal version of a cruddy pick-up line?”

 

She laughed. “I guess that was a version of, ‘You come here often, Cowboy?’”

 

“I like to come here from time to time. San Diego isn’t known for its cowboy population, but there are some places I can cut loose and be myself.”

 

Her face turned serious, her eyes tender. “You can’t be yourself otherwise?”

 

What made this woman look right through him and cut straight to his very soul? He cleared his throat. “I’m a cop. Small-town country boy doesn’t fit that image too often.”

 

“Really?” She looked genuinely surprised. “What about the whole John Wayne, tough cowboy thing? Wasn’t the old west the original sheriff’s domain?”

 

The song changed, and Brooks & Dunn started singing about a neon moon. He shifted their movements to the slower beat of the song without losing a step. He couldn’t help but get lost in the pools of green that were her eyes and the old west image that swam within them. It wasn’t difficult to picture her in a flowing dress of that time period, her hair piled up with curls cascading down. He liked that image. He liked that image a lot.

 

“Well, when you put it like that…”

 

She grinned, obviously pleased with herself.

 

A constant puzzle, this woman in his arms. One minute like a shy teen upset by her high school nemesis, the next a feisty woman unafraid of cutting in on a dance to face the man who’d all but disappeared on her after a megawatt kiss.

 

Dane wanted to spend every waking moment trying to figure out the puzzle. But that meant taking another chance on feelings he’d tamped down for a long time. Risk things he vowed he’d never risk again. And that made him want to run like the devil was at his back.