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I couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry—I’m not gonna make this any worse for you than it already is.”

His shoulders relaxed, and a smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “Good. It’s bad enough that I’m wearing suspenders. Aren’t these on your Never Will I Ever list you put together in college? By law, these are strictly banned.” He hooked a thumb in one of the elastic bands and snapped it.

Rin turned to him, smiling. “Well, if I were still abiding by those laws, we’d have been over a long time ago. Dating an asshole was at the top of the list.”

“It’s true,” Katherine offered helpfully.

“It’s like I said,” Rin continued, “think of it like Halloween. See? All of us are dressed up, and this is just your costume.”

The second she touched his chest, he curved into her, his eyes warming and lips smiling. His hand slid into the small of her back to pull her to him. “Only for you would I wear a hat that makes me look like Jason Mraz on TRL, Cocoa Beach.”

I rolled my eyes. “That show has been off the air since 2008.”

“That’s funny, since that was the last time Jason Mraz was cool.”

Amelia’s face pinched in offense. “Sir, I will have you know that Jason Mraz is a musical genius, and not only is he still cool, but he is essentially the king of all singer-songwriters. That hat is an icon, and you should feel good—nay, privileged—to don a fedora worthy of comparison.” She pointed at him to punctuate her sincerity.

Court laughed and put up a hand in surrender. “All right, all right. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” she said curtly, folding her arms. “Apology accepted.”

Rin chuckled, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, taking the hat off him in the same motion. “Leave it here if you don’t like it. I much prefer your hair where I can reach it anyway.”

“Come here,” Katherine said, motioning to Amelia. “Let’s practice some more. I need to work on the promenade.”

“Okay,” Amelia answered, taking Katherine’s hand.

Katherine was, of course, leading. “And…rock step, triple step, step, step, triple step. Ba, pa, promenade, pop out, promenade.”

With every syllable, their feet moved in step with each other.

“You guys look great,” Rin said.

“I’m not doing that,” Court insisted.

She chuckled and leaned into him.

Katherine spun Amelia around, and Amelia couldn’t stop giggling.

“I hope you have on hot pants, Val,” Amelia said. “Otherwise, everybody’s gonna see your chonies.”

I popped my butt out and flipped my skirts to flash my tiny black shorts. “Bam!”

She feigned blindness. “Your heinie is too shiny!”

I laughed, spinning again. “I can’t believe this is happening. I feel like Cinderella on her way to the ball.”

“And you’ve got a prince waiting for you and everything,” Amelia said as Katherine pulled her into a slide, hands over heads to trail down their arms. Katherine yanked her for a spin, and Amelia squealed. “God, this is too much fun.”

I sighed, my smile faltering. “I’m not sure what this even is. Technically, I asked him out but then told him I wasn’t asking him out, and he suggested I come to the club. He might still expect me to ask him about Amelia’s fake article. I have no idea.”

Court frowned. “You don’t know whether or not it’s a date?”

“It’s complicated, Courtney.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Law of attraction,” Katherine said, triple-stepping, pulling Amelia in and pushing her out in counts of five. “Believe it’s a date, and it’s more likely to become a date.”

I laughed. “Who knew it was that easy? I’d have been believing Ryan Reynolds was going to date me for years.”

Amelia missed Katherine’s hand and stumbled backward with a whoop!

Katherine laughed, panting from exertion. “It’s gonna be fun, Val. And after tonight, it’ll be clear what he wants. You’ll know for sure soon enough.”

I humphed, but my cynicism was short-lived. A spark of anticipation took its place. Because I was about to see Sam on what might or might not be a date. Outside of work and in a club. A club with jazz music and swing dancing and drinks and my friends, even pouty Court and his suspenders.

And, if I played my cards right, I might get to dance with Sam.

If I never got another thing from him, I’d still die happy.

A half an hour later, we were climbing out of the cab and stepping onto the curb in front of Sway. Muffled, bouncing swing jazz couldn’t be contained by the building walls. An echoing bounce lightened my step as we made our way toward the line at the door. The whole lot of us was grinning with the exception of Court, who looked suspicious and mildly threatening.

“Ah, excuse me, miss?” a deep voice said, but we kept walking, never even considering we were being addressed. “You, in the red dress—Val?”

I stopped so fast, Katherine and Amelia bumped into me. I turned to find a bouncer with a clipboard waving me over. His jaw was shaped like a brick, and his head was bald as a cue ball.

My face quirked as I approached. “Yes?”