Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding)(14)

“And Josh.” Jackson joined them, his hands tucked casually in his pants pockets. “Between Gavin, Allie and Josh.”

Eric jerked free of her hold, and for a moment she thought he might apologize for sinking low enough to criticize Gavin just to get to her. Then he glanced back and forth between her and Jackson, clearly picking up on the tension and enjoying it.

Bastard.

Eric walked away, smoothing out the shirt she’d wrinkled. She ignored the increasing stares from the handful of people close enough to have overhead their conversation.

She blew out a breath, wondering if she was better off leaving. Gavin and Allie wouldn’t be showing up here, that much she could guarantee, and she wasn’t so sure Josh knew anything if he was hanging around.

“What did you ever see in that *?”

“I was young and stupid,” she offered, wishing it were a valid excuse. But Eric was the last person she wanted to waste time thinking about right now, so she didn’t elaborate on her bad judgment.

Across the room she spotted Josh talking to his ex-girlfriend, Devon—the woman who’d sat beside Hayley in the church, though she hadn’t realized it at the time.

Talking to his ex was a little convenient, wasn’t it? She cringed the moment that thought went through her head. She wasn’t any better than Eric if she let herself go there.

She checked her phone again—no new messages—then decided to talk to Josh after all on the off chance he knew what happened to Gavin and Allie.

“He doesn’t know anything,” Jackson said when she made a move to go around him.

“Where are they?”

“He doesn’t know that either, but she left with Gavin.”

She felt Josh look in her direction, and would have walked over if not for Jackson standing in her way.

“Do you know where they’d go?”

Hayley shook her head.

“Would you tell me if you did?” When she didn’t answer right away, he sighed.

“He wouldn’t stay in town,” she offered. She knew that much. He wasn’t close enough to his family. That left her. If Gavin had plans to lay low in Promise Harbor, she would have heard from him by now.

“Where exactly does he live? Josh wasn’t sure.”

“Alaska.” But she couldn’t imagine him talking Allie into going all the way across the country when he’d just turned up out of the blue. And Allie had been too stunned at his arrival to have known he’d been planning on bursting in like that.

“Here.” Matt shoved a glass in her hand. “You’re going to need this. Eric’s dad is here and he’s talking to your boss.”

Hayley felt a migraine coming on. The last thing she needed was Eric’s dad demanding answers like he had any stake in the outcome. It was a wonder he hadn’t placed a call to the mayor.

Her mother had had a previous engagement that kept her from attending the wedding, and Hayley couldn’t have been more grateful for that. There would have been no dodging questions from her mother with the town’s most influential businessman looking for information.

She took a long, deep drink, nearly choking on the vodka. She peered into the glass. “Is there actually any orange juice in here?”

Matt shrugged. “I told them to make a double. You may need it if Mom calls you.”

“Great.” What she really needed to do was go before anyone else, especially her mother, tried to take advantage of her personal relationship with Gavin to satisfy their own curiosity.

“How’s Josh doing?” Matt asked.

“As well as he can be, considering his bride left him at the altar.” The last part was directed at Hayley.

She bristled at the implied accusation. “You’ll have better luck with that coaching job than waiting for me to apologize for my friend.”

“I’d settle for you sounding like you at least feel bad for Josh.”

“You’re up for a coaching job?” Matt interjected, trying to change the subject.

They both ignored him.

“He doesn’t exactly look torn up at the moment.” She nodded to where Josh stood with his head bent close to Devon’s. The comment was out before she could take it back, but the way Jackson looked at the pair made her think maybe she wasn’t reading too much into the situation after all.

As if he knew they were talking about him, Josh walked in their direction, and Jackson met him halfway. Hayley finished her drink, not even wanting to imagine how strange the rest of reception would be with no happy couple to celebrate.

“You’re with Jackson Knight, aren’t you?” A petite brunette with bottomless green eyes and a curvy figure that wouldn’t need a single Photoshop touch-up gave her a shy smile.

Matt made a small croaking sound, like maybe he’d swallowed his drink the wrong way.

“We’re not together, no.”

“Oh. Great.” She slid a finger down Matt’s tie, which Hayley had just noticed was covered in XOXOs. “Cute.”

Matt made another choking sound at the woman’s attention, staring after her when she approached Josh and Jackson. A moment later Josh left with Devon trailing after him—an interesting turn of events—and Jackson’s head snapped in Hayley’s direction.

Matt glanced at her. “Weren’t you two supposed to be watching each other’s backs?”

“I thought you said he could handle himself?”

“He can.” Her brother searched her face, but she wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “What did he do?”

Hayley took another sip and found her glass nearly empty. How had that happened so quickly? “He blames Gavin for what happened.” As if that much weren’t painfully obvious.

“Well,” her brother said cautiously. “It wasn’t exactly Josh who called things off.”

“I know.” She set her glass aside. “I shouldn’t have waited so long to tell Gavin about the wedding. I knew he wasn’t really over her, and Allie clearly isn’t over him.” She let out a breath.

“This isn’t your fault.”

“I know—”

“And I know you,” he interrupted. “You want to fix this the same way you want to fix Gramps and his house and everything else, and you can’t. Gavin and Allie and Josh will work it out on their own.”

Before she could respond to that, Jackson touched her arm. “Can I talk to you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He drew her through the crowd, not stopping until they reached the inn’s lobby.

A few people lingered nearby, but they didn’t pay any attention to either of them.

“You told that woman I was available.”

“You are available,” she pointed out, then shook her head. “Sorry, I was…” She trailed off, waving her hand between them. “This was a bad idea.”

“Apparently.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to clear the air here.”

“And doing a bang-up job of it,” he shot back.

“You’re unbelievable.” She whirled around, wishing she hadn’t bothered apologizing.

His hand snagged her wrist, dragging her back to him. Warm and solid, his chest moved with her, bracing her when she might have used the wall of muscle to push him back. His arms locked around her back, but then there wasn’t time to think about that. Wasn’t time to think about anything.

His mouth covered hers, the kiss exactly like he played the game he loved. Fast, hard and taking her by complete surprise. Smooth, hungry lips teased across hers, pushing deeper the second she dragged in a breath.

And god she needed to breathe—needed something to anchor her or she’d wind up swept away as she had years ago. She’d learned by accident that Jackson Knight knew how to kiss, but even that one time didn’t compare to the present.

Not when he cradled her jaw and slowed the kiss, his tongue sliding across her bottom lip and stroking the length of hers. She wasn’t sure when her fingers found their way to his shirt, but she slipped them beneath his suit jacket to get closer.

So much closer.

Seconds, maybe minutes later—and altogether too soon—he drew back after one more slow, soft pass of his mouth, but didn’t release her. His heart pounded furiously under her palm and he breathed as hard as she did.

“No one has ever kissed me like that,” she whispered. She hadn’t planned on saying it aloud, but once the words left her mouth, she was too caught up in the delicious high to care.

“Hayley,” he murmured.

She nipped his bottom lip, loving the way he said her name. She hadn’t planned on liking a damn thing about him aside from the way he played hockey, but the moment he climbed into that tree without complaint and without dropping a kitten with a vicious streak, she guessed there might be a bit to like after all.