Stupid Love (Stumbling into Love 1)

“Yeah, but you weren’t serious when you asked me. It was for Danny’s benefit.”

“How do you know?” Yeah, maybe partly it had been, because I knew it would be more realistic and Danny would wonder what was going on with us, but I also maybe, a little bit, wanted to see Elijah dance. And maybe, a little bit, thought it would be cool to do something like that for him because I wasn’t sure a lot of people did things just because Elijah liked to do them.

“I…” He trailed off, giving me that penetrating stare. The one where I felt it worm its way inside me, trying to discover all the bits and pieces I didn’t give freely. Fucking Elijah. I thought maybe if he kept looking, he’d find things no one else did. “Were you serious? From the start, did you want to take the class with me, or was it about Danny?”

“Oh, look. Car’s here,” I said as a blue Honda pulled up to the curb. I opened the door and signaled for Elijah to get inside. When he stood there a moment, staring at me, I signaled again. “Get in, E. We’re gonna be late.”

He nodded, paused, then got in the car, with me right behind him. We were quiet during the fifteen-minute drive to where the class was being held.

There were about a dozen other people there. The instructor, a woman who looked to be in her fifties, with red hair and wearing a flowy skirt, stood by a sign-in desk.

“Come on,” Elijah said, and I followed him over. I watched as he wrote our names on the form, before moving toward the instructor—Susanne, her name tag read. “Hi. I’m Elijah Coleman. This is Shaw Hastings.”

“Oh, you’re the ballet dancer!” Her eyes sparkled, and I couldn’t help wondering how much she and Elijah had spoken when he’d registered us.

I was surprised when his eyes darted down, this bashful look on his face. “I haven’t danced like that in a long time.”

“So? You’re still a dancer.”

He looked up, and I couldn’t help but take him in, acknowledge the pride and want reflected in his gaze. “Yeah…yeah, I guess I am.”

It was a little weird, but in that moment I realized there was nowhere else I’d rather be, that I was really fucking glad I’d randomly looked up a class. Sure, I’d already thought that, but it wasn’t until then that I saw how important it truly was to Elijah, and it made this ache start deep in my chest. He was so damn passionate about it, and I wanted that, wanted to feel it for something.

They chatted for another minute, and then Susanne excused herself.

“I guess we should join the others.” Elijah nodded toward where everyone was congregating, before he began to walk over.

“Hey,” I said, against my better judgment. He stopped, turned, and looked at me. “I’m here because I want to be. It has nothing to do with Danny.”

Elijah’s eyes widened, and his lips parted. It was cute and a little funny. I would have teased him about it if I hadn’t just admitted something to him, so instead I walked over to the group. He followed along beside me as Susanne spoke about the class and the dance and how things worked. She gave us a brief history on the cha-cha, and then we were spacing out from other couples, with our partners, standing beside each other while Susanne rambled on and on.

There were steps forward and backward and slides, which we practiced on our own. I couldn’t stop my eyes from darting toward Elijah as he moved perfectly, shaking his hips as he went, in a way the rest of us weren’t yet. Not gonna lie, it was hot as hell, and he definitely would be better at this than me. But it was more than that. The way his brows tugged closer together when he concentrated and his lips pulled into a serious line, as if this was more than a beginning dance lesson, made it clear this meant something to him.

It was… Ugh, I liked seeing it more than I wanted to admit. He really had no business being so cute. It was annoying as fuck.

“Okay, let’s try the first couple of moves with our partners this time,” Susanne said.

Everyone turned to face their partner enthusiastically except us, because obviously, we didn’t. There was a look of trepidation on his face that I was positive was mirrored in mine. Now we had to work together and touch each other, and we weren’t supposed to like that.

I tried to lighten the mood. “Ew. Cooties.”

“Ugh. Whatever. Come here.” And it was Elijah who stepped toward me, who touched me first. The warmth of his touch seeped through my shirt, to my skin, and damn, why did I suddenly realize how good he smelled? Like cologne, but also cinnamon, which…I wasn’t sure where that had come from.