Strong Enough (Meet Me in Montana 4)

“No, ma’am,” Blayze said as he looked back at me. “Do ya? Have a boyfriend?”

I laughed and then gave him a fake pout. “I do not.”

“Great!” Blayze shouted.

“Blayze Shaw!” Lincoln stated in a quiet voice. I guessed that she was trying not to wake the sleeping baby in her arms.

Blayze looked back at Lincoln and shrugged. “I’m not gonna call dibs on her, Momma…ain’t no one else interested in her, though.”

I felt my mouth drop open as I blinked rapidly a few times. “Out of the mouths of babes,” I whispered as Kaylee, Ty, Tanner, and Timberlynn all tried not to laugh.

Dirk stepped forward. “Now hold on a minute, Blayze. I was getting ready to ask Miss Merit to dance.”

“Uncle Dirk, no! I was getting ready to ask her to dance!” Blayze stated as he removed his little cowboy hat and readjusted it on his head. He looked ready to fight. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. And it was just my luck that only a seven-year-old was interested in me.

I looked at Lincoln, who motioned toward Dirk, clearly trying to tell me to dance with him. I shook my head. There was no way I’d dance with Dirk.

“I’m probably safer if I take my chance with the kid,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Dirk laughed, and then took my hand and pulled me up. “Come on, Merit. Let’s show everyone the proper way to dance.”

“Um…” My mind instantly went foggy from his touch. I couldn’t think of any words to say. More importantly, I couldn’t make my mouth tell him no. And my body, well, she had other things on her mind as well. Betraying bitch. Did she not remember he called me another woman’s name while we were skin to skin in my parents’ hay loft all those years ago?

“Have fun!” Kaylee called out as I looked back over my shoulder at the entire Shaw clan. They all wore cheeky grins on their faces.

Then I saw Kaylee hand Blayze what looked to be money and pat him on top of his head. Holy shit, the Shaw family were conniving.

“I think that was a setup,” I said, as Dirk led us to the dance floor.

“What?” he asked as he looked back at the group.

“Kaylee just handed Blayze money! Did she pay him to flirt with me?”

Dirk frowned. “Why, that little bastard. I paid him twenty bucks to flirt with you.”

I felt my eyes go wide. “You did what?”

He looked down at me and winked. My knees felt weak, and my heart began to race in my chest. Dirk Littlewood certainly had a way of making me feel discombobulated—still, after eleven years.

“You wouldn’t talk to me, Merit. I knew if I asked you to dance, you’d say no. So if I had Blayze flirt with you, Lincoln would be all for us dancing together to give Blayze the idea I was interested in you. He’s a little girl crazy.”

I stared at him, confused. “You only wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes, you wouldn’t talk to me on New Year’s Eve, and every time you see me in town since then, you avoid me like the damn plague.”

I hated how hurt I felt by his admission. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Dirk wouldn’t be interested in anything but making himself feel better about that night.

“There’s nothing to talk about, so if you don’t want to dance, we can simply walk away from one another.”

He frowned, then pulled me into his arms. “We’re dancing, Merit. Then we’re going to go somewhere and talk.”

I felt my throat bob as I swallowed hard. “Go somewhere? I can’t, I’m on a date.”

He laughed as he spun me around and then guided us across the makeshift dance floor. “With Channing? The guy who left you for his ex?”

“Excuse me, I told him he could dance with her.”

“And that was what, an hour ago? Has he come back for you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How do you know how long ago it was?”

He shrugged, then pushed me out and spun me again. Dancing with Dirk had always been so easy. We had practically grown up teaching each other how to dance. He was the first boy I ever two-stepped with, and I was positive I was the first girl he’d ever danced with, period.

“I was watching you,” he admitted.

I huffed. “Stalker much? That explains why I had a creepy feeling someone was watching me.”

He winked. Again. And my heart jumped…again. Damn him.

The song changed, and a slower one started. Dirk smirked and drew my body closer to his. The scent of his cologne filled my senses, and I found myself inhaling the smell of leather and the outdoors. I nearly sighed and melted into him, but I didn’t. I wasn’t that easily swooned. Or was I?