HIS POSSESSION

4.Do you dance?

"You could've at least told me." She continued on the phone with Becca.

"I thought you were having fun. Besides, I was tired. Call me when you get home so I can get the door for you, the door bell at your place is broken again." With that, Becca ended the call.

Emma stared at her phone. Her friend had actually left her. She looked around the reception. People were still dancing. Music filled the hall, glasses clinked, and the entire place seemed alive.

She'd come here with one goal: to prove to Derek that she was fine. But somewhere along the way, she'd forgotten about Derek.

For the first time all evening, she actually felt like having fun. She turned. Matteo was already walking back toward his table. The same table he'd been sitting at when she'd first caught him watching her.

She watched him sit down, then she looked at the dance floor. An unusually mischievous thought crossed her mind. She'd planned to have a little crazy fun with Becca before going home but Becca was gone.

That didn't mean the night had to end. Emma smiled to herself before she walked toward Matteo.

He looked up when she stopped beside his table.

"Hey."

His eyes moved over her face, a faint smile growing on his lips, "Hey."

She glanced toward the dance floor, then back at him.

"Do you dance?" She asked.

His eyebrows lifted, "I can."

"Okay." She shrugged playfully then held out her hand. "Come dance with me."

For the first time that evening, Matteo looked genuinely surprised. That wasn't the Emma he knew. The Emma he knew was shy, and frequently anxious or nervous, and often kept to herself. He just realised that this version of Emma standing in front of him could only be unlocked when you talked to her.

He couldn't be happier with his decision to finally show himself to her.

"Are you sure?" He had to ask.

Emma smiled, "No. Not really." She laughed softly. "But I suddenly feel like doing something crazy. Something fun."

His gaze lingered on her outstretched hand. Then he took it. "Okay then, let's do something crazy."

Drew, Matteo's assistant took his glasses off, wiped them briefly and put them back on just to confirm what he was seeing. His boss was dancing. He snorted a laugh. Who knew his boss couldn't dance.

Derek was talking to a friend when he looked at the dancefloor that was drawing people's attention. He saw Emma dancing with a man. He couldn't see the man's face because he was standing behind him but he wondered who it was and wondered why they were giving audience to Emma.

****

"That was fun!" Emma giggled when they left the hall to go outside.

"Yeah, it was." Matteo smiled, happy she was excited.

"And did you see Derek's face? He couldn't believe I was dancing with someone tonight. Like it was written all over his face..." Emma stopped to take a deep breath to calm her excitement. "...Thank you." She told Matteo who just smiled, happy that she was smiling again.

"So, you're headed home now, yeah?" He asked and Emma nodded. "Can I drop you off?" He wanted to spend more time with her and make sure she got home safe. They had lost track of time and it was getting a bit late.

"..." Emma opened her mouth to answer, but the music coming from the wedding hall suddenly changed.

She turned toward the sound.

"Urgh! Why didn't they play this while we were still on the dance floor?" she pouted.

"You know it?"

"You're asking if I know the song?" She laughed. "When I was younger, I was in the drama club, and we had to rehearse a lot of dance scenes to songs like this. Now I know how to dance to this classic, but there's never anywhere to dance to it."

Matteo smiled.

"We could dance it here? You don't have to be on the dancefloor to dance."

"Right?" Emma smiled and kept her purse on the hood of the car behind them, hurrying back to him. She paused when she got to him, having just realised. "Do you even know the dance?"

"I'm pretty sure I do," He smiled proudly and she rolled her eyes, not quite believing him. "May I?" he asked, wanting to show her.

Emma wondered what he meant.

May he what?

Before she could ask, he gently placed a hand around her waist and brought her closer. She held her breath for a moment before she looked up at him.

His eyes were softer than before, and it felt nice to look into them. She felt her stomach turn with a feeling she couldn't describe with anything other than nice.

It felt nice.

That was all she could think. She had craved this feeling while she was still with Derek for so long that she'd forgotten it was even possible to feel it. Matteo started swaying with her softly to the music.

He did know how to dance to the classic.

Tears formed in her eyes, but she didn't want him to see them. So, she closed the respectable distance he'd left between their torsos and rested the side of her face against his chest. She took in a deep breath. He smelt so good she didn't want to ever move her face away.

Matteo inhaled softly. He was tempted to lean in and bury his face in her hair, her beautiful dark hair, but he held himself back and just continued dancing with her.

The night breeze suddenly came and she sheltered back against his chest till it stopped, and thought it was a light breeze, it messed with her hair a little.

Matteo reached for her face and slowly and gracefully, he moved all the hair In her face behind her ears. Emma looked up while he was doing that and their eyes met. Her eyes were glassy from the tears she refused to shed, but she thought his were beautiful.

She wondered what he even was. When she first saw him earlier, she was sure he had to be a worse human being than Derek with how stern and rigid his face was. But now, all of that was gone. All she could see now were soft eyes, a sweet face, and a cute smile. Was he even the same person?

The music stopped abruptly, making them both look towards the hall. Emma immediately pulled away from him.