A strange elation twisted through him, triggering a lifting sensation throughout his whole body—as if all the things that had dragged him down in the past eighteen months were losing their weight and slowly drifting upwards. The sadness he’d expected to keep on hitting him throughout the day was still notably absent, and instead there was a weird sense of rightness about being here.
With her.
Catching her giving him a quizzical look, he was just about to ask if she wanted to take another walk outside so they could hear each other speak when Jack and Amber walked past them and onto the empty dance floor. Noticing their presence, the DJ cued up a new track as a surge of guests crowded into the room, evidently following the happy couple in to watch their first dance as husband and wife.
Max found himself jostled closer to Cara as the edges of the dance floor filled up and he instinctively put an arm around her to stop her from being shoved around, too. She turned to look at him, the expression in her eyes startled at first, but then sparking with understanding when he nodded towards a gap in the crowd a little along from them.
He guided them towards it, feeling her hips sway against his as they moved, and had to will his attention-starved body not to respond.
Once in the space, he let her go, relaxing his arm to his side, and could have sworn he saw her shoulders drop a little as if she’d been holding herself rigid.
Feeling a little disconcerted by her obvious discomfort at him touching her again, he watched the happy couple blindly as they twirled around the dance floor, going through the motions of the ballroom dance they’d plainly been practising for the past few months.
Had he overstepped the mark by manhandling her like that? He’d not meant to make her uncomfortable but they were supposed to be there as a couple, so it wasn’t as though it wasn’t within his remit to act that way around her.
Ugh. There was no point in beating himself up about it. He’d just have to be more careful about the way he touched her, or not, for the rest of the evening.
As soon as the dance finished, other couples joined the newlyweds on the dance floor and, spotting Cara, Jack broke away from Amber and made his way over to them.
‘Cara, I’m so glad you made it!’ he said, stooping down to pull her into a bear hug, making her squeal with laughter as he spun her around before placing her back down again.
Cara pulled away from him, her cheeks flushed, and rubbed his arm affectionately. ‘Congratulations. And thank you for inviting us. It’s a beautiful wedding.’
‘I’m glad you’re having a good time,’ Jack replied, smiling into her eyes. ‘Want to dance with me, for old times’ sake?’ he said, already taking her arm and leading her away from Max onto the dance floor. ‘You don’t mind if I steal her away for a minute, do you, Max?’ he tossed over his shoulder, plainly not at all interested in Max’s real opinion on the matter.
Not that Max should mind.
Watching Cara laugh at something that Jack whispered into her ear as he began to move her around the dance floor, Max was hit by an unreasonable surge of irritation and had to force himself to relax his arms and let them hang by his sides instead of balling them into tight fists. What the heck was going on with him today? How messed up was he to be jealous of a new groom, who was clearly infatuated with his wife, just because he was dancing with Cara? It must be because the guy seemed to have everything—a wife who loved him, a successful career with colleagues who respected him, Cara as a friend...
The track came to a close and a new, slower one started up. Before he could check himself, Max strode across to where Jack and Cara were just breaking apart.
‘You don’t mind if I cut in now, do you?’ he said to Jack, intensely conscious that his words had come out as more of a statement than a question.
Jack’s eyebrows rose infinitesimally at Max’s less than gracious tone, but he smiled at Cara and swept a hand to encompass them both. ‘Be my guest.’ Leaning forward, he kissed Cara on the cheek before moving away from her. ‘It’s great to see you so happy. You know, you’re actually glowing.’ He slapped Max on the back. ‘You’re obviously good for her, Max. Look after her, okay? She’s a good one,’ he said. ‘But watch your feet; she’s a bit of a toe-stamper,’ he added, ducking out of the way as Cara swiped a hand at him and walked off laughing.
Turning back, Cara fixed Max with an awkward smile, then leaned in to speak into his ear. ‘Sorry about that. I didn’t want to admit to the truth about us and break the mood.’
Max nodded, his shoulders suddenly stiff, surprised to find he was disappointed to hear her say that her glow was nothing to do with him.