Some Dances Are Goodbyes

Penelope “Penny” Vale lives for discipline. Ballet is her world, her oxygen—and with a scholarship, a coveted solo in the spring showcase, and a sweet boyfriend by her side, everything looks flawless from the outside.
But pretty doesn’t mean perfect. And lately, nothing feels right.
Tyler, her boyfriend of a year, is kind… until he's not. Not when he's too busy charming the girls who whisper behind Penny’s back. Not when he stops seeing her struggle. She tells herself it’s fine—until his older brother returns.
Asher. Four years older. Battle-scarred and silent. Discharged from the Navy after a mysterious injury he won’t talk about. He calls her “princess” like it’s a curse, and looks at her like he’s trying not to want her.
They can’t stand each other.
But when Penny’s ankle shatters just before her biggest performance, she’s sent to the family’s lake cottage to rest—alongside Ty, his friends, and Asher. What should have been a quiet recovery spirals into chaos: betrayal, buried attraction, and the kind of late-night confessions that can ruin everything.
She’s supposed to be healing.
Instead, she’s falling—for the one person she was never supposed to touch.
“You don’t even like me,” she says, voice low, like it’s safer in the dark.
Asher doesn’t look away. “No,” he murmurs. “I don’t.”
She swallows, heart pounding. “Then stop looking at me like that.”
He takes a slow step forward. “Like what?”
“Like you want to kiss me.”
His jaw flexes. A pause. The air between them feels electric.
“Wanting,” he says, voice barely a whisper, “was never the problem.”
“Then what is?”
His gaze drops to her lips, then back to her eyes.
“You're not mine.”
Another breath. Another heartbeat.
“But God, Penny… I wish you were.”