The Luna He Shouldn’t Want

Chapter 6. Dance with me

Selene

The music shifted. Slower like smoke curling through velvet. The kind of song that seduced moments without permission. I inhaled sharply when Dominic extended his hand towards me again, his gaze low.

“Dance with me,” he said.

Not a question, a quiet demand.

I hesitated, heart thudding in my chest like it wanted out. The air between us buzzed with something I didn’t have a name for. I should’ve said no at that moment, but I slid my hand into his.

His palm warm. Strong. Too steady for someone who seemed to carry such storm beneath his skin.

He guided me back to th heart of the courtyard. The other guests danced and jumped, all glitter and hushed laughter, but non if it mattered. The world thinned until it was only us, Dominic’s hand pressed to the small of my back, mine resting awkwardly on his shoulder, our body held in dangerous closeness.

“You’re stiff,” he murmured, low and amused.

“I’m dancing with a stranger, so obviously”I replied tightly.

“You don’t seem afraid though.”

“I am,” I admitted.

His grip tightened almost tightly. “Of me?”

Of myself, I wanted to say. Of what this meant. Of how my heart had been hammering against my ribs ever since.

Instead I said “of whatever this is.”

He didn’t respond. Not with words. He moved slow, smooth effortlessly guiding me with every shift of his body. It wasn’t the kind of dancing I was used to.

Our steps weren’t perfect, but our rhythm matched. Everytime I try to pull away he matched my distance, never letting me stray too far.

“What are you thinking?” He said after a long silence.

“That this feels …dangerous”

His lips lifted slightly. “It is “

He spun me gently, and for a brief moment, I was I was breathless, his hands caught me again before I even finished turning, locking me against him with possessiveness that made my skin pickle. I made sure my gloves are perfectly well.

I don’t even know your name,” I lied.

“And yet here you are,” he murmured back, voice brushing against my ear like a touch.

I detested how my body reacted Goosebumps all over my body. My hands trembled. I wasn’t the kind of girl who melted into stranger especially ones who reeked of power and secrets. But I wasn’t melting.

I was burning.

“You shouldn’t look at me like that, I said voice small.

I had no idea I would be one of those girls those girls who would not resists Dominic just like that gossip says.

“Like what?”

“Like you know me.”

He leaned in breath warm against the curve of my jaw “maybe I do.”

“That’s not possible.”

He smiled “maybe you remind me of someone,” he said, but it sounded like a lie.

Or maybe the truth he didn’t want to say.

For a moment the wieght of everything I’d buried rose to the surface. The ache the exhaustion of playing safe. Of letting other people control my life, my story, and my every step.

“You’re okay you’re not looking too well ?” He asked, eyes searching.

I blinked to quickly “why do you care?”

“What?” He said with shock. He paused “I don’t know. I just do.”

There was no charm in his voice. No effort to impress me. And that was the most disarming part.

“Sorry, I’m not used to people asking that”

Dominic’s fingers slipped slightly, brushing the sensitive skin bay the back of my waist. No improper, but intimate enough to make me inhale sharply.

He noticed “I can stop.”

“Don’t.” That was so fast I didn’t know what it came out. I stared at his chest ashamed of how easily I said it. But he didn’t mock me. He just nodded and kept leaving.

The moon deepened lower in the sky, silver light catching in the planes of his face. I realized I was staring.

“You keep looking at me like you’re waiting for something,” he said to me.

“I dont even know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re living.”

I let out a soft humorous laughter “you call this living?”

“You call it hiding?”

I looked away.

The song end ended. I expected him to let go.

He didn’t.

“Do you want to get some air?” He asked.

The question felt simple but it wasn’t.

He let me away from the crowd, even this time I didn’t resist.

The courtyard faded behind us as we wandered down a winding stone path lit only by flickering lantern and the moon. The music became distant.

We didn’t speak to each other, we just walked. The silence between us wasn’t awkward, it was taut, heavy with things neither us dared not say aloud. Every few steps, his fingers bushed mine, like he wasn’t quite ready to let go.

We stood near the edge of a garden, beneath the arched trellis wrapped in the wild roses. The petals were white, luminous in the dark. I leaned against the cool iron frame, letting the night air calm my flushed skin.

Dominic stood a few feets away, his hands tucked in his pockets, but I could feel his gaze on me. Watching me like I was a puzzle he hadn’t solved yet. Or maybe like he already had, and he wasn’t sure what to do with the answer. Something like that.

“You’re quiet now,” he said.

“I’m thinking,”

“Dangerous habit.

I gave a hal-smile. “You should try it sometime.”

He chuckled softly.

“Do you do this often?” I asked.

“Do I do what often?”

“Go to parties?”

“Not often.” He said.

“Dance with girls at parties and drag them off into moonlit gardens?”