Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2)(23)

He cleared his throat, the words “in the water” hitting a little too close to home after his and Julie’s episode at the hot springs mere hours ago. “Could be the altitude.”

“Altitude,” Brock snorted. “More like attitude. Let me tell you, I’ve been getting more than my fair share of that.”

“Told you she was trouble.”

“Trouble is a significant underestimation.”

Reed glanced at Brock in surprise. “Did you swallow a dictionary last night?”

Brock looked affronted. “I can use words longer than one syllable when I put my mind to it. When did everyone start thinking the opposite?”

“You mean, when did you start giving a shit?”

“That, too.”

Reed shrugged. “Maybe it’s the altitude.”

…

Julie mounted the treadmill and tightened her ponytail so hard she winced. Her fingers stabbed the buttons, entering a punishing pace and time for herself to contend with. Good. She needed her butt good and kicked. Maybe if she’d had the foresight to work out yesterday morning, she wouldn’t have been so tense she lit up like a Christmas tree around Reed Lawson.

The smug, irreverent son of a—

No. Her speed-walk sped up into a run. She wouldn’t let one albeit incredible night with Reed turn her into an irritable, insulting person like him. That simply would not do. She’d followed him into the woods like a lamb to slaughter, planning on ridding herself of the inconvenient yen he’d plagued her with. It was her own stupid fault if she’d expected him to soften up a little afterward. They hadn’t even had sex, but it certainly felt like they’d been as intimate as two people could be. Her inexperience must have been glaring. Hugging the man as though he were the only shelter in a storm. After only reaching third base.

Honestly, Julie.

Truth was, she didn’t reveal her grief and vulnerability regarding her sister to many people. Hated the idea of someone taking pity on her. She’d dealt with enough of that after Serena’s death. Perhaps his response had been abrupt, slightly harsh, possibly inappropriate, but at the very least it had been honest. If Serena was the perfect one, what does that make you? She suspected Reed had no clue how squarely on the head he’d hammered her biggest insecurity. The very same question she’d asked herself throughout her life. One she didn’t have an answer to. For a brief moment, she’d felt as if he could see her. See the horrible guilt and vulnerability she usually kept hidden so well underneath a mask of perpetual perkiness.

Sometimes the burden of it felt like concrete blocks on her shoulders. As the younger sister by five years, she’d grown up abhorring responsibility. Assuming Serena would handle anything and everything like she always did. Without complaint. Julie had flitted off to college with visions of toga parties dancing in her head, leaving her sister with the mighty tasks of catering to their parents’ constant whims, running various charities, learning the family business. Julie had never even given it a second thought. She’d wanted to discover herself, as far away from Georgia as she could reasonably get.

The single time Serena decided to blow off her responsibilities and go water-skiing with her friends at the lake, she didn’t make it home. Her sister had always gone out of her way to help people. Make them feel important. Loved. So when her sister had left a bonfire to retrieve her sweater from a friend’s docked boat and slipped and hit her head on the dock, why had no one gone to check on her for over an hour?

None of it was fair. None it made sense. If anyone deserved to pay for being selfish and irresponsible, it had been Julie. Not her sister.

Why wasn’t it me?

She’d spent four years of her life trying furiously to make up for it, all the while knowing nothing she did could take away the emptiness that went along with every thought of Serena. Her mother grieved to this day, wearing black and carrying around a picture of Serena with her, tucked into her handbag. Julie didn’t blame her. How could she? But she’d be lying if she said it didn’t weigh on her heart. Watching her mother break down every year when the anniversary of Serena’s death rolled around, seeing her father flounder helplessly with no idea how to comfort his wife, ensured that the pain remained fresh.

Last night, she’d revealed a major part of herself, the pain of losing her sister, to Reed. Combined with the intensity of their physical encounter, she’d felt close to him, even if just for the moment. So she’d reached out for him afterward, assuming he felt it, too.

Wrong.

If he came on to her again, she needed to remember how she’d felt when he shattered the notion that they were connected in any way. Yes, they’d been engaging in a temporary fling, but his words had been crude and uncalled for. She’d been hurt by them. Not an acceptable reaction when she’d gone into the encounter expecting only sex.

Now if she could just stop thinking about the way he’d touched her and every deliciously naughty word that had come out of his mouth, she’d be in excellent shape. Or maybe if this yearning, unfulfilled feeling would go away, which she suspected was a product of him refusing to put himself inside of her. Julie groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to focus on the pounding rhythm of her feet on the treadmill.

“Should have known you’d be up early, putting all us regular humans to shame.”

Julie opened her eyes to the sound of Regan’s voice. “It’s not early if you never went to sleep in the first place.”