Falling for the Groomsman (2 page)

Chapter Two

Close to an hour later, Christine leaned back in her chair and fiddled with her wineglass. She glanced over her shoulder for what had to be the millionth time before looking back at her best friends. The girls were all arguing over some nonsense or another, but Christine was clueless. Normally, she would have been right there with them, fighting over…

What were they talking about, anyway? They could be telling her she was winning the Pulitzer Prize for her upstanding investigative journalist abilities, and she wouldn’t have heard a single word. Her mind was still stuck on Tyler Dresco and all the memories he’d brought back with him in that stinking hallway.

Now all she could think about was Mexico, and all of the intense emotions that went with that vacation. It had been three months after a drunk driver had killed her parents, and she’d been a shell of the girl she’d once been. She hadn’t even
wanted
to go, but Kady had insisted she should. Insisted she needed to live, and stop crying herself to sleep every night. She had reluctantly agreed, and tried to act as if she were having fun for the sake of her friends.

Tyler had seen through her act.

Regan, New York City headhunter and her Tri Delt sorority sister, leaned close, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You know how you haven’t told anyone else you’re moving to Maine? We’re all together, so now might be a good time.”

Christine sighed. Regan had a point, but it just didn’t seem right to draw attention to herself when it was Kady’s big week, let alone during the bachelorette party. Right before a wedding was not the time to make a huge formal announcement about moving away. It wasn’t even all that important, really.

Maybe she’d tweet about it…
Hey… Surprise! Moving to Maine. Come visit me sometime!
Wait. Was that more than one hundred and forty characters?

She sighed. “I’ll tell them after the wedding is over, but before we all leave. I don’t want to take attention away from the blushing bride.” Christine smiled at Kady as she animatedly talked to Julie. They all looked so happy, her news could wait. “But enough about me. How are
you
doing?”

“Great.” She made a show of looking around the bar. “But considering the man candy wandering around here, I’m about to get a whole lot better.” Regan popped a mint in her mouth and asked, “Are you excited to be going back home, living on your own for once?”

Of course her attempt to divert the attention from a topic she didn’t want to discuss failed with Regan. It always did. “Yeah. I went from living at home with my parents and Jake, to college with you girls, to rooming with Kady in San Francisco. Then, when she moved here to be with Colton, I actually
came
with her, which is crazy, too. Now I’ve got a crap roommate who is anything but my friend, and for the first time in my life, I’m going to be alone.” Christine shrugged. “For once, that doesn’t sound so bad. It’s time for me to try it out. Start over and all that crap.”

“Understandable.” Regan nudged her with her heel. “But if you ever want me to fly up for a good Chunky Monkey binge night, you know I’m your girl. I’ll be the closest one to you once you move.”

“Deal.”

Regan sipped her drink. “How does your brother feel about you coming back?”

“He’s happy about it. He’s not the same Jake he used to be, not after the war, but he sounded excited about it.”

Now that he was a civilian again, Jake worked at a private security agency called Shillings Agency. He’d gotten out of the marines only recently, after injuring his leg. He wasn’t the same man anymore. He was quiet. Reserved. Serious. Not even remotely similar to the daredevil he used to be. And he definitely wanted his big sister to come back home.

He was finally getting his wish.

Christine brushed her hair over her shoulder, using the opportunity to peek backward again. She couldn’t concentrate on these things when at any second, a green-eyed, brown-haired, smooth-talking devil could walk through the door. She hadn’t really thought about him much at all over these past eight years, but now that she’d seen him again? She couldn’t think of anything else.

How utterly
irritating
.

“Holy crap. Why is Tyler wearing that god-awful shirt?” Regan whispered to Christine. “It’s got tropical flowers on it, for the love of God.”

Christine blinked and yanked herself out of her head, scanning the room with a racing heart. “Huh? He didn’t have it on earlier. Where is he? I don’t see him.”

“I know. But now I
know
you saw him already.” Regan looked at her skeptically. “I’d suspected as much, considering the way you’re acting. So, how did it go?”

Christine shifted in her seat. Regan didn’t know about her and Tyler. No one did. It was their dirty little secret. So what was Regan hinting at? Christine smiled. “It was fine. Why wouldn’t it be? We barely know each other.”

That much was true. They just knew what each other looked like naked, is all.

“You tell me,” Regan said, watching Christine too closely. “Every time someone mentions him, you tend to zone out and pretend he’s not real. Now that you’ve seen him, you’re acting like a space cadet. Something’s going on.”

“My distraction has nothing to do with him.” Christine forced a smile. “I’m just tired.”

“I know a good remedy for
tired
,” Regan said, using air quotes around the word “tired.” “Want me to share it?”

“Does it involve a hot man and a bed?” Christine asked, biting down on the corner of her lower lip to keep from laughing, since she knew it almost certainly did. “Because that’s totally on my list.”

“Ah, yes. The sexy list of ‘things to do while unemployed.’”

“I’m not unemployed,” Christine whispered, peeking at Kady. “I just didn’t start my new job yet. Thanks for the help, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it,” Regan said, waving away the fact that she’d helped Christine get her new job. “Back to the fun stuff…let’s talk about the party train you have planned. It’s about time you started living life instead of reading about it.” Regan leaned closer, her expensive perfume wafting over. “But as far as my earlier remedy goes? The bed’s optional.”

Christine laughed. “I’ll make a side note on my list.”

Julie came back in the room leading a wide-eyed woman by the arm who looked a lot like Colt, Kady’s soon-to-be husband. She had to be his little sister, Sophie. She carried herself with the same determined manner, and squared her jaw in the exact same way Colt did when he was dead set on winning an argument. But Christine saw the way her eyes flitted about the room and recognized the signs all too easily.

Sophie was
nervous
as hell.

“Hello, I’m Christine,” she said, smiling and reaching out to squeeze the other woman’s hand. “Your brother told me so much about you.”

Sophie smiled shyly. “Don’t believe everything you hear from him.”

“Honey? I’m a journalist. I fact-check everything,” Christine said with a wink.

Kady looked past Christine toward the entrance, let out a little squeal, and took off. If she was excited, it meant the men were here. If the men were here…

Tyler was behind her.

Had he been angry when he returned and found her gone? Or had he been relieved not to have to act all compassionate toward a woman he would rather not deal with?

Lifting her glass, she chugged the rest of her champagne. She wouldn’t turn around and check him out. She wouldn’t take a look at all the things she’d been remembering since she crashed into him, like how huge his biceps had felt. Or how soft his hair had been. Or how her stomach had tightened when her breasts had brushed his chest and—

Argh. She was doing it again. Thinking about him.

Time to stop. Maybe she should cross something off her sex list tonight. Find a stranger to make out with. That shouldn’t be too hard…but it wouldn’t happen if Tyler was in the same room. She’d be too busy trying not to
look
at him.

Regan leaned forward in her seat. “All right, tell me about these groomsmen so I can decide which lucky one gets to see me naked.”

Christine stiffened.
Not Tyler. Not Tyler.

Just because she didn’t want him and he didn’t want her didn’t mean she wanted him with someone else. Yeah, super logical. But it didn’t matter if the logic didn’t make sense. She didn’t want to watch him hanging all over someone else, like, ever.

He could become a priest or something. That wasn’t asking too much.

When it came to men, Regan was everything that Christine wasn’t. Confident. Assertive. Fearless. Christine had no problem asserting herself professionally, or channeling confidence and bravery when necessary to get the story, because when it came to the job, she always knew what she was doing.

Personally? Yeah. Not so much. But hey, at least she was
aware
of her faults. She also spent way too much time playing
Flappy Bird
, loved all things Kardashian, and thought man had never actually walked on the moon. Oh, and she drooled when she was drunk, too. Apparently, she could add selfishly not wanting to see Tyler happy with anyone else, even though she didn’t want him, to that list.

She could live with that.

“So, who wants to bag a groomsman with me?” Regan asked. “Don’t leave me in this alone.”

“I’m in,” Julie blurted. Christine shot her a surprised look. Of all people, she hadn’t expected Julie to jump in on the idea. Julie prided herself on being the quintessential Southern lady—not the type for a one-night stand. “We’re on vacation, right? I want to be seen naked, too.”

So did Christine. But it wouldn’t be with a groomsman, thank you very much.

As Julie and Regan sparred back and forth about the best man to pick, Christine tightened her fists in her lap, opening and closing them reflexively. She wouldn’t look. She would
not
look. Not until she was good and ready.

She scratched her head and without even realizing her intention…she did one of those “not looking” things where you peek over your shoulder nonchalantly as if you’re just curious about your surroundings and not looking for someone.

And she, of freaking course, looked straight at Tyler.

When she glanced back, her gaze latched onto Tyler’s within seconds. Oh my God, had he been
watching
her? As soon as their eyes locked, he winked at her. Hot damn, he looked good. Way too good. He wore the same suit he’d had on earlier, but if anything he looked even hotter. More irresistible than ever.

Same brown hair. Same green eyes. Same devastating effect on her senses.

She turned around, her pulse leaping at the eye contact. Holy crap. She was
so
screwed…and not in the literal sense. Why had she looked? More importantly, why had she glanced away like a scared little rabbit when she had? She wasn’t supposed to be nervous.

Bold. Confident. Free.

That was her.

She peeked over her shoulder again. He still watched her with a heat level in his eyes that made her toes curl in her red stilettos and her breath whoosh out of her lungs. This time, she didn’t back down. She held his gaze for so long she couldn’t believe her heart didn’t jump out of her chest like in those cartoons.

And this time? He broke the gaze first.

But the way he’d looked at her? Oh my God. It made her want.

“Looks like Julie’s made her pick.” Regan said while filling up her glass. “You sure about that one? He is tall, troubled, and dangerously sexy. Not your usual type.” She paused. “Although maybe he’s
exactly
what you need.”

Forcing her attention back to the girls, Christine ignored the urge to look at him again. Tyler’s name had come into play again as a potential target. This was ridiculous. What was even more ridiculous? She wanted to publicly claim Tyler just so no one else would. “I agree. He’s definitely the one you should pick, Julie. So that’s settled, right? I vote for a topic change.”

Regan and Julie exchanged glances. “No. It’s not settled,” Julie said as her gaze moved over the men. She lingered on a smiling black-haired man with an athletic build. “That one. Logan. Best man, so he’s obviously trustworthy. I’ll take him.” Colton’s sister, Sophie, choked on her sip of champagne. Julie reached over and patted her on the back. “All right, darlin’?”

“Never better.”

Regan nodded. “Driven, successful, total package. I can see why you’d want to go there. Wish I’d called dibs first, actually.”

“You guys aren’t really picking out conquests, right?” Christine asked, her mind still locked on the idea of claiming Tyler. “Can’t we just have a fun, relaxing girls’ weekend?”

“If you had the equipment, I’d consider it.” Regan waggled her eyebrows as she sipped her drink, then took in the men one more time. “All right, I’m staying away from Mister Danger.”

Christine easily located the groomsman Regan commented on. He glowered off into the distance, looking as approachable as an angry rattlesnake.

“Julie’s got her sights set on the best man.”

Ah, yes, the one who looked as if he belonged on a yacht or something else equally expensive.

“That leaves me with Kady’s big bro. I’ve always found him to be the sweet, strong, silent type.”

No. Just…
no
. “I don’t think he’s sweet at all,” Christine blurted out.

Crap.

“In that case, I’m
definitely
going with Tyler,” Regan said, her eyes on Christine. “I think he’s got a certain
je ne sais quoi.
Sophie? You getting in on this?”

Sophie’s reply was lost on Christine. As was the rest of the conversation.

Regan was going after Tyler, and Christine had no doubt in her mind she could succeed without a whole lot of effort. She’d bet her last dollar that with Regan, Tyler wouldn’t apologize afterward. He wouldn’t regret a darn thing. But
would
Regan actually go after him? She had always been uncannily adept at reading between the lines, and right now Christine was screaming to stay away from him…