“The club loaned it to me. It was waiting for me on the plane.”
“Well, I’ll have to thank Simone later for doing such a great job. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you once I saw you.”
They swayed to the music, both expertly following the rhythm of the dance. Samuel spun Vanessa out, then reeled her back in, his fingers tightening at her ribs, before dipping her backwards and looking into her eyes. As he pulled her up, she giggled, her cheeks flushed red from the energetic dance moves. The sound of her laughter was intoxicating, giving him a better feeling than any alcohol he’d ever consumed.
“You’re really good at this; even better than I remember.” As soon as the words slipped from her mouth, her eyes grew round with shocked regret. He could tell she hadn’t meant to say them.
Samuel stumbled a bit, confused by her revealing statement. “What do you mean, better than you remember? You never mentioned knowing me. Have we danced before?” Vanessa stiffened in his arms as she bit her bottom lip, her eyes falling to the floor. “You have to tell me. Did we meet before the lounge on the island?”
“I didn’t tell you before because I thought I’d never see you again.”
“Well, now you have seen me again, so you have to explain,” Samuel pleaded, hoping that he wouldn’t regret what she was about to tell him. He didn’t have the best track record with meeting women in the city. More times than not, he would often forget about his nightly activities after one-too-many cocktails.
“We did meet before—two years ago on New Year’s Eve. Your friend, Wade McAllister, hosted the party. I was on holiday break from university, and my sister insisted that I go out with her. We were introduced and you immediately showed interest in me. We spent most of the party together, talking and dancing. By the time it was wrapping up, you were well-beyond drunk. I helped you stumble into a cab before taking another one home. I wondered and hoped you would look me up after, but you never did. I figured you must have forgotten the whole night.”
It was even worse than he could have imagined. He’d made a fool of himself in front of her. How stupid could he have been to have such an amazing woman right at his fingertips and blow it by drinking too much?
“I can’t believe I had the best night of my life and completely forgot it,” Samuel lamented.
Her jade eyes moved up to meet his, her hopeful look stabbing him right in the gut. “How do you know it was the best night of your life if you can’t remember it?”
Samuel reached out and placed his hand under her chin. “If it was with you, it had to be. I can’t make up for what I did back then, but I can promise you, while you’re with me during this trip, I won’t do anything so foolish again.”
He could tell she wanted to believe him. She relaxed in his arms as a smile formed on her lips. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I had been debating if it was a mistake to come here after I found out it was your birthday celebration. You’re a risky bet, Samuel Butler.”
“I know that, but I think if you give us a second chance, you’ll see the risk will pay off.” His mouth drifted down towards hers, the temptation to kiss her plump, red lips was more than he could resist.
Before he could close the final gap between them though, there was a burst of ‘Happy Birthday’ music and people started to surround them while singing the lyrics. Several of his friends pulled him away from Vanessa as a large cake carved into the number ’30’ was placed on a table in front of him.
Samuel blew out his candles as everyone clapped and cheered around him. He secretly wished that Vanessa would be open to giving him a chance to prove he could be the man she wanted and deserved.
The rest of the evening, friends paid court to Samuel, telling him that the beginning of his celebration was phenomenal and over-the-top and they couldn’t wait to see what was coming next. When they tried to pry him for information, he explained that it was going to be as much of a surprise to him as it was going to be everyone else.
Every time Samuel tried to spend some time alone with Vanessa, another friend would come up and interrupt them. He was grateful that at least she was willing to stay by his side, and didn’t use the endless rounds of small talk to dip away.
“Would you care to dance with me?” Nate Miller, an up-and-coming music producer, asked as he came up to stand in front of Vanessa. “You’ve been standing here for far too long, listening to these frat boys go on and on. You look bored as nails. I can change that right now.”
Samuel’s head snapped to the side, his eyes narrowing into slits. Even though Nate didn’t know that Samuel was interested in Vanessa, it didn’t make him any less jealous when the other man asked her to dance with him.
Having enough of the fawning and flattering, Samuel grabbed Vanessa by the hand and dragged her back onto the dance floor.
“I was wondering when you were going to do that,” Vanessa stated in a giddy voice. “I haven’t danced nearly enough tonight.”
“We should remedy that right now.” He gathered her into his arms, letting their bodies move together to the beat of the slow music. “Believe me, I didn’t want to listen to any of my friends any more than you did.”
“Then why did you?” she countered, with an arched eyebrow. “This is your party after all.”
“You’re right; I can do what I want, and what I want to do is spend every moment I can with you.”
“Just for the record, I wasn’t going to accept his invitation.”
“Good; I wouldn’t want to punch someone at my party and end a ten-year friendship, though I have a feeling you would be well worth it.”
The tempo of the next song changed to a faster beat, the bass thumping through their bodies, causing them to separate and change their dance moves to match the style of the pop music. By the end of the second song, their breaths were short and trembling.
Just as the song ended, Samuel reached over and pulled Vanessa towards him, brushing one of her chestnut curls out of her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. His gaze flickered to her lips, parted now as she took in deep gasps of air in an effort to catch her breath. It was all he could do to keep from leaning down to kiss her, but he knew it would be a mistake. Kissing her right now would ruin the tentative bridge of trust he was building with her, and for some reason, he wanted more than a one-night fling with Vanessa.
“I need a break,” she whispered breathlessly, stepping out of his arms and turning away.
Samuel followed her over to the bar where she asked for a bottle of Aqua Deco, and he did the same. They both took a drink of the cool water.
“Are my eyes deceiving me, or is Samuel Butler drinking water at his own birthday party? What is wrong with you? Shouldn’t you be drinking Macallan Single Cask like you always do?”
Samuel jerked his head to the side, irritated that someone was mocking him. It was made even worse when he realized it was Harry Belfour. The only reason he invited the other man to the party was because they had all the same friends. It also didn’t hurt that Samuel enjoyed showing off to the pompous jerk, who was more a rival than a friend when it came down to it. They competed against each other for everything. From cooking awards, to women, Harry loved to take whatever he could from Samuel.