Take You Dancing – Jason Derulo
Pull up, skrrt skrrt on your body
Performin' just like my rari
You're too fine, need a ticket
I bet you taste expensive
Pouring up, up by the liter
If you keep up you's a keeper
Tequila and Vodka
Girl you might be a problem
Run away, run away, run away, run away
I know that I should
But my heart wanna stay, wanna stay, wanna stay, wanna stay now
You can see it in my eyes
That I wanna take you down right now if I could
So I hope you know what I mean when I say
Let me take you dancing
Two-step to the bedroom
We don't need no dance floor
Let me see your best moves
Anything could happen
Ever since I met you
No need to imagine
Baby all I'm asking
Is let me take you dancing
Pull up, skrrt skrrt on your body
There's just us two in this party
That Louis, that Prada
Looks so much better off ya
Turn me up, up, up by my waitress
Know we not in love, so let's make it
Tequila and Vodka
Girl you might be a problem
Run away, run away, run away, run away
I know that I should
But my heart wanna stay, wanna stay, wanna stay, wanna stay now
You can see it in my eyes
That I wanna take you down right now if I could
So I hope you know what I mean when I say
Let me take you dancing
Two-step to the bedroom
We don't need no dance floor
Let me see your best moves
Anything could happen
Ever since I met you
No need to imagine
Baby all I'm asking
Is let me take you dancing
If you know what I mean
Let me take you dancing
Two-step to the bedroom
We don't need no dance floor
Let me see your best moves
Anything can happen
Ever since I met you
No need to imagine
Baby all I'm asking
Is let me take you dancing
Oh Baby, oh Baby
If you know what I mean
Unbelievable! She had almost gotten a proposal. What had Colin been thinking? Why had he ruined everything for her? She was doomed to be stuck with her family forever.
"Wait!" The carriage came to a stop and the door was wrenched open to reveal Colin. "Penelope."
"I do not wish to speak to you." She was so furious with him. This was all too much, especially after what she had overheard last season.
"Please! Let me in." The desperation in his voice, coupled with the earnest expression on his face caused her to relent slightly and sit back on the seat to allow him in. She just hoped this wouldn't be another regret. A part of her was curious as to how he would explain himself.
The carriage began its journey once the door was closed. "We will stop at Bridgerton House first." She had to work on what steps to take next now that she had even less of a chance of finding a husband than before.
"Yes, Miss." At least someone followed her instructions.
"What do you want?" She could not bring herself to be remotely civil to him. He was supposed to be her friend. Tonight's actions had hardly been those of a friend.
"Did Lord Debling propose?" How could he even ask that? What gentleman would propose after a scene like that?
"What business is that of yours?" She felt her rage increase a notch.
"I need to know. Did he propose?" Clearly he had not witnessed her discussion with Lord Debling after he had so rudely interrupted their dance. If only her mother had missed it as well.
"It is odd. When I asked for your help in finding a husband, I did not realise you might try to deny me one as well." She felt like such a fool accepting his offer of help in the first place.
"It is my business because I care about you." Well, he had a funny way of showing it. "You cannot marry that man." Why not? He was the only one who had even come close to proposing. "He will leave you and he is too particular." She already knew this. "And he is… He is just not right for you, Pen." Who was right for her then? These were all just excuses, many of which he had already stated. Repeating them did not allow them to make any more sense.
"He did not propose." Enough of this. "In fact, he rejected me because of you." Normally she was rejected due to her family's antics. "Because the scene you caused led him to believe you have feelings for me. An idea so preposterous, I do not know what to do besides laugh." Especially when he never missed an opportunity to remind her that she was only his friend. "Now, will you please let us ride home in silence and leave me alone." She was worn out from the drama of the evening.
"I cannot." What else could he possibly have to say? He had already repeated a number of reasons for which marrying Lord Debling was a mistake and they hadn't made sense the first time, let alone the second time. She did not need to hear them for a third time.
"Please!" She just wanted some peace before her mother got home and reminded her of all the ways she had failed in securing a husband. No doubt her mother had compiled quite the list by now. Not that she had ever thought Penelope would be anything more than a spinster in the first place.
"I cannot." This man was impossible. What had gotten into him? "Because … What if I did have feelings for you?"
"What?" She could not have heard him correctly. Or perhaps he had misunderstood what she had meant by Lord Debling's assumption.
When he got down on his knees before her, she wondered if she was having a bizarre dream. "I have spent so long trying to feel less, trying to be the kind of man society expects me to be. And for a moment, I thought I had succeeded." Been there, done that. At least from a woman's point of view. She had always preferred the version of him that had laughed good naturedly when her bonnet had knocked him from his horse. "But these past few weeks have been full of confounding feelings. Feelings like a total inability to stop thinking about you. About that kiss." She definitely had to be dreaming or was kissing her that bad? "Feelings like dreaming of you when I'm asleep. And in fact preferring sleep because that is where I might find you." So kissing her wasn't bad? "A feeling that is like torture. But one which I cannot, will not, do not want to give up."
No, she could not believe him. Not after all this time. He had never shown any interest in being anything but a friend to her. "Please. Do not say things you do not mean." She did not want to encourage any spark of hope. She had suffered through enough rejection for one evening.
"But I do mean it. It is everything I have wanted to say to you … for weeks." Was this what his odd behaviour at the previous ball was about?
"But … Colin, we are friends." He kept telling her they were friends. When had that changed?
"Yes, but we … Forgive me. Umm, I do not know what I was thinking." He backed off.
If he changed his mind again and went back to calling her his friend, she would push him from the moving carriage. "But I'd very much like to be more than friends." She had only been wanting that since they had first met. "So much more."
He slowly moved closer, searching her eyes to be sure she wanted this. When their lips met she felt a spark run through her entire body. Unlike their last kiss, this was urged on by a hunger that she had not known she had. When they came up for air she ran her hand through his hair urged on by his ecstatic expression. She had the briefest moment to revel in the fact that she had brought that look to his face, before he moved back for another kiss. His hand gripped her waist as he scorched a trail down her neck with his lips.
She watched mesmerised as he slid the sleeve of her dress down her shoulder before moving back to nibble his way down her neck. His hand cupping her breast covered by a dress she would never be able to wear again without feeling the heat of his touch. Covering his hand with her own, she never wanted him to stop.
So she was surprised when he did stop. Following his gaze she felt his hand run up her calf, gathering her dress as he moved higher. She was going to combust if this got any hotter. He paused, looking to her for permission to continue. She had no idea what more there could be, but she did not want him to stop.
Nodding, she felt his hand move around to the inside of her leg and inch higher whilst he kept eye contact. She had no idea what to expect but the shock of his fingers entering her gave way to a pleasure she had never known as they moved in an unfamiliar rhythm which brought forth a moan from deep within her. He shot her a saucy smirk before he moved back to her neck while his fingers continued their magic and she clung onto him for dear life.
Knock. Knock. Oh God, they had arrived at Bridgerton House. She had lost track of where they were, let alone the journey to get there. "Colin. We are at your house."
He seemed to have been as distracted as she was. "Oh God. Could the carriage driver not keep on driving?" The absurdness hit them both as they burst out laughing.
"Do you think anyone saw us? I was not paying much attention to anything." That wasn't exactly true. She was paying attention to the waves of pleasure he was drawing from her body.
Colin studied her for a moment before moving in for another kiss and moving her sleeve back onto her shoulder and re-arranging her hair to a slightly less messed up arrangement.
"What are you doing?" He was reading her like the open book she was. It was as though he came to some sort of a decision and climbed out of the carriage. "Colin?" Had she behaved so scandalously only to have him walk away from her?
But then he stopped and held out his hand to her. "Are you coming with me?"
"What?" She must look a mess. "But your… Your family will see me?" Not to mention her body was still pulsing from what they had just been doing.
"For God's sake, Penelope Featherington. Are you going to marry me or not?" She had dreamed of him asking her to marry him but the reality of it actually left her speechless. The only dark cloud on being proposed to by the man you had been in love with for years: How was Eloise going to take the news?