My parents shot me matching smirks. But then Mom slowed down and tugged Midge toward the kitchen. “Come on, dear. Let’s put the decaf on and pack up a few plates of leftovers for Eddie and Alice.”

Those matching smirks only grew as they walked past me. Mom muttered something to Midge in Italian. I barely caught it but thought I heard such a cute couple.

Tabitha was still moving in the center of the room. I slowly walked toward her.

“You know,” she said, “this dance move was considered quite scandalous back in the day. Too much provocative hip action.”

“You would know, troublemaker,” I said.

Her double middle fingers had me laughing. The song started again. I grabbed her hand and began mimicking her dance moves as her eyes widened. She went still. I kept dancing, smile playing on my lips.

“Holy shit. Dean Knox-Morelli can do the twist?” she asked, shocked.

I turned her gently around and kept dancing. “I was a boxer, Tabitha,” I said softly. “I know how to move my body.”

She looked over her shoulder, dazed. “Physical prowess. Well-documented. I remember.”

My smile grew. “It was impossible to grow up in this house and not know how to do a lot of different types of dancing. You should see Rowan. He’s even better than me.”

Tabitha spun back around looking adorably pleased. “And we could have been dancing in swanky uptown clubs all this time.”

“I prefer dancing with only you.”

Her throat worked. “You’re amazing. An amazing…dancer.”

I made sure my parents were still in the kitchen, distracted. Then I looped an arm around her waist and tugged Tabitha against my chest. I bent her backward and kissed her. I didn’t know what came next for us. Didn’t know how many kisses we had left.

She sighed against my mouth. I was back to acting on pure instinct again, giving into pleasure like I was supposed to. This was certainly a pleasure—seeing Tabitha make my parents laugh and dance with flushed cheeks and move to music for no reason other than joy.

I ended the kiss reluctantly. “You’re amazing too,” I whispered.

We broke apart at the sound of my parents coming back into the room with decaf coffee.

“I, uh…think I’m an expert now,” Tabitha said, running a hand through her untamed hair. “Thank you for teaching me. I’m going to torment Dean with my sweet moves for the rest of the night.”

“Speaking of,” I said. “I should get this dancing queen home.”

“Please, stay for another few hours. I’ll whip up some desserts,” Midge said.

I kissed her cheek. “You’ve already done so much. Thank you.”