Marriage: Impossible (Voretti Family Book 1) (7 page)

“Uh huh.”

His back to her, Sean pulled on a shirt.

“Anyway,” Ty said, “I called to give you guys a heads up. It’s time to hop in the truck and get back to San Diego.”

Guilt jammed her heart into fast forward. How did he know—

Now
she
was the one overreacting. Her brother couldn’t possibly have detected that she and Sean had shared a bed from their sixty-second conversation. “Oh yeah, funny man? Why is that?”

Sean turned to face her, eyes narrowed at the phone.

“Because.” Ty had gone from his normal good-humored tone to something verging on euphoric. “The day after tomorrow, I’m getting married.”

K
ERI
GRINNED
AT
the mechanic in the greasy coveralls, even thought he was too busy working on Sean’s truck to notice. She couldn’t help it. She was so full of happiness, it was spilling out of her.

Her brother was getting married! And, though she and Sean hadn’t had time to talk about the status of their relationship, what with rushing to the garage to get the truck, obviously they were getting serious. Things couldn’t be working out any more perfectly.

Well, there was one tiny improvement that could be made—Sean could be kissing her.

She fit herself to his side—easy kissing range. At least, she tried. Every single muscle in his body was contracted, so that she might as well have been cuddling up to the cement wall behind her.

“Sean?”

No response. He was glaring at the mechanic like he’d caught the guy keying his truck.

Typical guy. That beat-up truck was his baby, and he didn’t want anyone else touching it.

“You know—glaring at him isn’t going to make it go any faster.”

“I’m not glaring.”

The mechanic looked up, noticed Sean’s oh-so-friendly surveillance, and dropped his wrench.

“You’re making him nervous.”

“He’s nervous because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“Uh, sir?” The mechanic called across two empty bays rather than coming any closer.

Sean grunted an acknowledgement.

“I tried to patch the tire, but it still has a slow leak. You want me to put on a new one?”

“Yes.” Somehow, Sean transformed that single syllable into a deadly threat.

“Okay. I’ll, uh, get started, then.”

She examined Sean more closely.

Patient presents with shortness of breath, clenched jaw, and darting gaze.

How had he gotten so tense so quickly? She wanted to get back to San Diego to congratulate Ty, too, but it was hardly the end of the world if they arrived half an hour later. It was like Sean’s body had gotten so used to taking on stress that it had become his default response to any situation.

“Come inside with me. There’s bad coffee in the waiting room.”

His gaze didn’t budge from that poor mechanic. “You go ahead. I’m gonna keep an eye on this guy.”

“He’s changing the tire, not building a rocket. We can watch from that nice big window, so that we’ll know the second your truck is ready.”

“I—”

She lowered her voice to a sexy whisper. “I promise to make it worth your while.”

Come on. You know you want to.

Finally, he turned toward her. “All right.”

It only took a dozen steps to reach the waiting room. But when they crossed the threshold into the air-conditioned coolness, she knew she’d won a huge victory.

Sean sat beside her and drank bad coffee and spoke idly about trading the truck in for something with better gas mileage and whether oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were better than oatmeal raisin cookies and a military thriller he was reading.

This
was what she wanted. To sit next to him and talk about anything and everything. To know that she could do the same tomorrow and the next day and the next.

She wasn’t giving Sean up. He might not be her husband yet, but he was hers. It was just a matter of making it official.

*

For a few minutes, in that air-conditioned waiting room with Keri, Sean had managed to forget the disaster that was waiting for him in San Diego. When she smiled at him, he forgot his own name.

But that blissful oblivion never lasted. And when the knowledge of his fuck-up returned, it was that much worse, like his subconscious had added on extra guilt to make up for the lost time.

He had to get back to Ty. Now.

He clenched the wheel of his truck and tried to vaporize the semi in front of him with the power of his glare. If it couldn’t go faster than forty miles-per-hour, what was it doing on the highway?

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” Keri asked.

“Positive.” She might not have thought twice about hopping into bed with him, but he’d been in the car with her enough times to be all too familiar with her I-won’t-go-more-than-five-miles-per-hour-above-the-speed-limit rule.

He wanted to jam the accelerator to the ground. To fly down the road fast enough to escape his thoughts. But he couldn’t risk it. Not with Keri in the truck.

“Let me know if you change your mind.” She slipped off her shoes and curled into the bucket seat like it was a lounge chair and she was ready for a nap.

Sean’s gaze caught on her legs, visible from thigh to ankle in cutoff jean shorts she’d paired with a black tank top, and missed his chance to pass the semi.

Watch the road, asshole.

He hated that he couldn’t stop thinking about her, even as he was speeding back to San Diego, where his best friend was about to make the biggest mistake of his life. He hated how calm and unaffected she was about their disaster of a marriage. But he couldn’t say any of that, so he went with the one safe thing. “Aren’t you worried? Ty is getting married. Out of the blue.”

“He sounded happy.” Her smile turned wistful.

Damn
. Why was he looking at her again? “Maybe he’s happy now. But what about next week? Or next month?”

Another helping of guilt piled on top of him. He’d had a chance to prevent this. If he hadn’t been so distracted by Keri at the club, if he hadn’t had so much to drink, if he’d said the right things to Bri, none of this would’ve happened. “They can’t have been dating long. I didn’t even know Ty was seeing anyone until last week. He never even mentioned her name.”

“Oh my God! I can’t believe I was so distracted I forgot to ask her name!”

Distracted?
More like she’d been freaked out. Hearing Ty’s voice, even from six hundred miles away, had been enough to remind her she didn’t belong in a hotel room with Sean.

He swallowed the disappointment he had no right to feel, clenching the steering wheel so he wouldn’t do something monumentally stupid like pull her toward him and try to change her mind. He was glad she was realizing how wrong he was for her. It would make it easier to sell her on a quickie divorce.

“And now Ty won’t answer his phone. I’ve called twice and texted five times. He’s probably holed up somewhere with his mystery woman.” A dreamy smile took over Keri’s face.

More like Ty was at the Double Down, drunk off his ass because he was taking another shot every time he thought about the fact that he was marrying the wrong woman.

Sean had to convince Ty to call this sham of a wedding off, or he wasn’t going to be able to live with himself.

As if she’d heard his thoughts, Keri’s smile faded. “I wish…” She broke off, blinking rapidly. “My parents would be so happy.”

His chest contracted, like it always did at the faintest hint she might be upset, and no power in the world could keep him from touching her. He took one hand off the wheel and threaded his fingers through hers.

He wanted her closer, but he couldn’t risk that. This was about comfort, nothing else. “I know, Ker Bear. I’m sorry.”

The car accident a year and a half ago had been one of the worst times of his life. He’d hated that he’d been so far away from Keri. He’d even thought about taking extended leave, but he couldn’t find a way to justify it. He wasn’t family. He wasn’t her boyfriend. So he’d had to content himself with letters and emails and all-too-infrequent phone calls. It hadn’t been enough. Not when he’d known how bad she was hurting.

She squeezed his hand. “Most of the time I’m fine. But then something like this happens, and I can’t help thinking about how my mom would drag me to ten different stores so we could find the perfect dresses and my dad would have everyone laughing hysterically at his speech at the reception. They would be so happy that Ty found the right woman.”

As badly as he wanted to comfort her, he wouldn’t lie. “I wish your parents were here. But more because I know they’d talk some sense into Ty.”

Her hand slipped from his as she turned to face him straight on. “What are you talking about?”

“The only reason for Ty to marry some random chick he just met is if—” He cut himself off.

“If?”

If he’s desperate
.

“You know.” Sean was such a coward that he couldn’t even make himself say the words.
He
was the reason his friend was desperate enough to marry a virtual stranger. He hadn’t been there for Ty—not when it mattered. Months of physical therapy had taught his buddy to walk again, but he would never run. He could never go back to the job he was meant to do. He would never be the man he’d been. Sean had taken all of that away from him.

His ribcage cinched around his lungs. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

She sighed, like he’d disappointed her. “What
do
you want to talk about?”

He fought the urge to pour out every one of his poisonous feelings. To show her everything and beg her to fix him. “It’s…uh…nice outside.”

He was worried she’d call him out on his pathetic attempt to change the subject, but to his surprise, she surveyed the scenery. “You’re right. It’s so beautiful, it’s a crime we’re stuck in here. Want to stop for a hike?”

He stomped on the accelerator. “Not right now.”

“Only for a few minutes.”

They didn’t
have
a few minutes. Didn’t she understand that? “I don’t want to be late.”

“We won’t be.”

“Yes we—”

“Pull over!”

“I’m not stopping to take a goddamn stroll when—”

“No—there’s something wrong! Stop the truck.”

She was right. That telltale wobble was back. “Shit. Not again.”

He guided the truck into the closest turnout.

It took all of five seconds to diagnose the problem. The left rear tire was flat. Again. The idiot at the shop had put the new tire on the right and the patched tire—which still had the slow leak—back on the left.

“We have
another
flat?” Keri came up behind him, bringing the scent of sunshine and happiness. Everything he didn’t deserve.

“No. We have the same flat.”

“But…I don’t understand. What happened?”

Simple. He’d been too distracted by Keri to keep an eye on the mechanic. “Never mind. I’ll take care of it.”

He dug out his phone and dialed the tow company. After five minutes on hold, listening to a cheesy dance song that made him want to punch someone, he finally got through to a human and explained the situation.

“Where’d you say you were?” The guy asked.

“Highway 395. Half way between the 89 and the 108.”

“You’re really in the middle of nowhere, aren’t’cha?”

“No kidding.”

“Hold on, now. No reason to get your panties in a bunch.” The guy laughed at his own joke while Sean did some deep-breathing exercises.

“I can send a truck, but it’s gonna be a while. All my guys are out right now. And you are in the middle of—”

“Nowhere. I know.”

“You want me to send a truck or not?”

“Yeah. Send a truck.”

“Okay. I’ll have someone out in about two hours.”

Sean’s carefully regulated breathing devolved into a wheeze. “Two
hours
?”

“Minimum. Hope you’re comfortable.” The asshole disconnected on a laugh.

Shit
. Two hours.

But what choice did he have? The compact spare tire would’ve been adequate to get him to a garage a few miles away, over slow city streets, but not over fifty miles of highway. Not with Keri in the truck.

Too late. You’re going to be too late again.

“Sean. You need to calm down.”

“I am calm!”

“You’re breathing funny.”

“No, I’m not.” He was. Like a rubber band was squeezing his lungs.

He looked away from Keri, at the rocky crags and mountains that surrounded the highway. He wanted to be out there, hanging on to the edge of a cliff by the tips of his fingers, the only sound in his head the rough beat of his heart.

“I think we both need to work some energy off,” she said. “Sounds like we have some time until the tow truck comes, so let’s take advantage of it.” She pointed at a rusted sign a few feet past his front bumper.

Willow Junction Hot Springs Trail. Two miles. Strenuous terrain
.

“Doesn’t a hike sound good?”

It wasn’t bouldering or skydiving, but if he could work his body hard enough, that voice inside his head would have to take a rest.

His ribcage squeezed tighter around his lungs, and he made up his mind. “All right.”

He was counting on a steep climb, but the trail started out flat. If he’d been on his own, he would’ve sprinted, but ditching Keri would be a dick move.

“Don’t let me hold you back,” she said. “I’ll catch up with you at the springs.”

“It’s okay. I’d rather hike with you.” The words came out automatically, but they were actually true. The steady cadence of her footsteps soothed him, and the soft lilt of her voice made him smile. Being close to her centered him better than an adrenaline rush ever had.

They wound through a grove of pines. Highway sounds were replaced by their footsteps, the soft rushing of a nearby creek, and a blue jay’s caw. Dappled sunshine fell through the pine needles, and Keri took his hand.

An emotion Sean was afraid to name rose in his throat. He swallowed it back, glad when the trail finally steepened and Keri unlaced her fingers, letting him go. He retreated into his body, thinking about nothing but the burn in his legs and the oxygen rushing into his lungs, sealing himself off from his mind and all the damage it could do.