Thunder Canyon Homecoming / A Thunder Canyon Christmas: Thunder Canyon Homecoming

Corey’s smile confirmed that he’d caught her slip, but thankfully, he didn’t call her on it.

“What do you say?” he prompted.

Erin knew that to refuse again would only succeed in making a big deal out of something that shouldn’t be. After all, it was just a dance.

So she took the hand he offered and let him lead her away from the table. Though her heart was hammering furiously against her ribs, she decided that there really wasn’t any danger in spending time with Corey on a crowded dance floor.

The minute he put his arms around her, she realized she was wrong. Because every fiber of her being was acutely aware of his nearness and every nerve ending in her body was suddenly humming.

She should have guessed that he’d be a good dancer. Contrary to her earlier teasing remark that she feared for her feet, he moved smoothly and confidently around the dance floor. No doubt he knew all the right moves in any situation, but despite that warning to herself, it required no effort on Erin’s part to follow his lead, nor was it a hardship to be held in his arms.

She saw Erika and Dillon dance by and was grateful for the distraction. “They look so perfect together,” she murmured.

“I’ve never seen my brother so happy,” Corey admitted to her. “It almost makes me forgive him for pulling up stakes and moving to Montana.”

She tipped her head back. “Almost?”

He shrugged. “A Texan is always a Texan, regardless of where he parks his horse.”

The mental image of a horse tethered outside of the medical clinic made her lips curve.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, lingered. Her breath caught.

“You have a beautiful smile,” he told her.

Immediately, her smile faded.

“Why do I make you so nervous?”

She couldn’t—wouldn’t—tell him that it was her own response to him that made him nervous. Instead, she said, “Because I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Right now, just a dance.”

“And later?”

His smile was slow and filled with sensual promise. “Why don’t we figure that out later?”

“If you’re looking for a good time while you’re in Thunder Canyon, you should be looking in Trina’s direction,” she told him.

“You don’t think we could have a good time together, darlin’?” The challenge was issued in that same lazy tone that skimmed over her like a caress.

“I’m sure we could,” she replied honestly. “But I’m not the type of woman to go home with a smooth-talking stranger.”

He pulled her closer so that her thighs were aligned with his. They were more swaying than dancing now, and the light brushes of his body against hers felt disturbingly like foreplay.

“I’m hardly a stranger,” he said.

“I just met you yesterday.”

“And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since then.”

She wasn’t entirely sure she could trust what he was saying. Because while he sounded sincere and the look in his eyes confirmed that he felt at least a hint of the same attraction that had her whole system tied up in knots, she couldn’t help but feel that Corey Traub was the type of man who had a line for every occasion—and a woman in every town he’d ever visited. She’d be a fool to fall under his spell, and she was already halfway there.

He dipped his head toward her, his dark eyes sparkling with a hint of playfulness. “So tell me, are your toes black and blue yet?”

“You know they’re not,” she said.

He grinned, and again her breath caught. Damn. The man’s smile was a seriously dangerous weapon.

“So why do you sound annoyed?” he teased.

“I’m not annoyed,” she denied.

But she was wary.

Corey could see that in her eyes. And he couldn’t blame her. She was probably used to being hit on by guys who wanted nothing more than to get naked with her, and although Corey wouldn’t deny that idea appealed to him, he was trying not to objectify the woman who was obviously a close friend of his new sister-in-law.

Sister-in-law.

The word echoed in his mind, made him shake his head.

Erin raised a brow.

“I was just thinking about the fact that I’m dancing with the most beautiful woman at my brother’s wedding,” he answered the unspoken query, “which made me realize that Dillon is actually married.”

“Is he one of those guys who swore it would never happen?”

“I don’t know if I’d say that, but he and his first wife divorced after their son died and he never gave any indication that he was looking to settle down ever again. And certainly no one expected that, when he came to Thunder Canyon to fill in for Marshall at the resort, he would fall in love and become a husband and a father only a few short months later.”

“Especially not Erika,” Erin noted.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I think she fought against falling in love again even more than he did.”

“She had reason to be wary.”

“I guess she did,” he agreed. “And so did he. How about you?”

“What about me?”

“Why isn’t there anyone here with you tonight?”

“I didn’t see any point in bringing a date when I would only neglect him to perform my maid-of-honor duties.”

Which answered his question without actually telling him whether or not she was involved with anyone right now. He decided to trust the reports of the local grapevine and assume that she was currently unattached.

But there was something else he was curious about. “You’ve known Erika for a while?”

“Since I moved here in the summer.”