Dirty Country Love: A Step-Brother Romance Novella by Candy Quinn Page A

‘cause I’ll handle it all,”
he said with a playful wink.
    Wait, he knew how to dance? !
    It was one thing for him to be polite to her, but him knowin’
how to dance was somethin’ she couldn’t have even dreamed
about.
    “I can probably make due,” she said with a bit of a
grin. Sure, dancin’ alone in her living room wasn’t bound
to be the same thing, but she wasn’t going to concede defeat on
that, not at all.
    The music was upbeat and cheerful, and in no time Damien led her
out into a dance.
    He was big, bulky and broad, but none of that stopped the man from
moving in time with the music, leading her in a dance as if he knew
it almost as well as he knew fightin’. And each time she
thought she had the measure of him, he upped the ante. He lifted her
hand up over her head and spun her about before grasping her about
the waist again.
    “Makin’ due,” he reiterated with a grin, seeming
to be enjoying himself immensely as they came together tightly for
one section.
    She could feel other people’s eyes burnin’ on them,
watching as they danced together. She was havin’ way too much
fun to be bothered by that, though, and instead she found herself
nearly double over, gigglin’ as he dipped her low and then
pulled her back to his chest.
    He felt so warm against her, his power radiating out of him.
    All those sculpted muscles put to use making him nimble on his
feet, and able to move her with such effortless grace. Where other
men made a show of attemptin’ to lift their ladies a half foot
or so, Damien hoisted her up over his head as if he was totin’
his own feather-stuffed pillow!
    “Like dancin’ with a winged angel,” he declared
with a cheery grin.
    She’d have brushed it off as silly flattery, but not from
Damien. He’d never been the type, and instead it made her heart
sing. The music came to a stop, and the band announced they’d
be back in ten minutes.
    “Think we can grab a drink?” she asked, her hand on
her heaving chest as she still tried to catch her breath, her
laughter makin’ it near impossible.
    “We’d best,” he said, putting a hand on her
lower back and guiding her slowly towards the refreshment stand, “I
don’t want you wearin’ out on me before I get a few more
hours of dancin’ in.”

Chapter 11
    By the time they stumbled into the farmhouse it was late, and
Britney was definitely stumblin’. Not just figuratively.
    She laughed, her head a lil’ light from the spiked punch at
the party, and Damien followed behind. He was cheerful and laughing
too, but as always, he was a rock, keepin’ her steady with his
arm about her as they entered into their old home.
    “That was… the finest night I ever did have,”
Damien declared brightly.
    Her hair was tousled from the dancin’ and the bike, her
dress a bit wrinkled, but she’d never felt better in her life.
It was like all her cares and worries had just disappeared, and it
was just the two of them, enjoyin’ one another.
    There weren’t much better in life than that, and she clung
to him a little tighter. Not just for the stability, but for the
warmth and comfort of his strong body.
    “I can’t believe you know how to dance.”
    He chuckled deeply and ran a hand back over her hair, brushing it
back and restoring some order to it as he looked down upon her.
    “A man’s gotta cut loose and have some fun now and
then, even in the big city,” he said with a bright grin, his
hand resting upon the back of her head as his other palm came to stop
upon her hip. That look of cheerful joy slowly shifting to something
else. “You looked radiant out there. The finest lady in the
whole dance, by far.”
    “Damien,” she murmured, her face flushing a bit.
    He always had a way of makin’ her feel a little shy, like
she wanted to please him. He always had, even before, when he didn’t
care much for her.
    But now, it was easy to make him see her as somethin’ else,
and she wasn’t used to gettin’ what she wanted, not