Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2)(6)

Reed’s eyes narrowed on Julie and admitted Brock had a point. She’d started shifting on her feet like she stood on hot coals. Her fluttery hand gestures were growing more dramatic by the second. As if on cue, he watched as her hand covered a momentarily distracted Logan’s room key where it sat on their shared table, and slid it neatly into her purse. Reed’s entire body tensed.

“Told you.”

“It’s not f*cking happening.”

Brock checked his watch. “You better work fast. Women with plans wait for no man.”

“Says the expert.”

“Hate to brag.”

Goddammit. How the hell had he ended up at some ritzy resort wearing loafers, lusting after some sorority girl? Just this morning, he’d fallen into bed at 3:00 a.m. after his SWAT team, of which he’d recently been promoted to commander, performed a middle-of-the-night arrest in the College Park section of Atlanta. He’d been filthy, exhausted, and slightly more jaded than when he’d left the house that morning. Just the way he liked it. He was here because his best friend was getting married; otherwise he wouldn’t be within ten feet of this many suits.

He owed Colton. That’s why he was here. Since he didn’t have the ability to articulate how much the other man’s friendship had meant to him all those years ago, he would grin and bear the endless parade of hors d’oeuvres and stock market talk.

And come hell or high water, he’d have the girl.

As Reed’s mind began formulating and discarding different ways to keep Julie from her obvious plan to sneak into Logan’s room later in the evening, apart from threatening Logan with bodily harm that is, his cop’s sense began picking up on other dramas playing out in the lounge. Tyler, the bride’s brother, had fallen deathly silent upon walking in, eventually grumbling some excuse to leave. Sophie, Colton’s little sister, had cast a couple nervous glances toward Logan before slipping out of the restaurant like a ninja. The best man looked too tired to even notice. That made him feel marginally better about him rising to the occasion with Julie, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

A flashy brunette entered his line of vision, interrupting his train of thought. She looked almost as out of place as Reed felt, her expensive clothing and citified demeanor belonging far away from the mountains of Colorado. When the newcomer smiled up at him, Reed tossed a quick look over her shoulder and watched Julie tense. Good. She wasn’t as indifferent as she let on.

Reed raised an eyebrow at the brunette. “Can I help you?”

“I’m Regan. You don’t know me but I’m about to become your favorite person in the world,” she said without disrupting her smile. “Give me your room key.”

“Come again?”

“It’s not for me. Although you should be so lucky.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and held out her hand. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Brock, edging in between them, held his hand out toward Regan. “It’s nice to meet you, sweetheart. I’m Brock.”

“There’s nothing sweet about me,” she responded with a mocking smile, then looked back at Reed. “You’ve got five seconds. Five…four…”

“Women with plans,” Brock muttered beside him.

Reed reached into his pocket and drew out the key. Eyes narrowed, he dropped it into Regan’s palm and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t like having orders tossed at him, but he was curious.

“Good choice,” she threw over her shoulder as she clicked away on her sky-high heels.

Reed and Brock watched in silence as Regan joined Julie and Logan’s conversation. With an arm draped over Julie’s shoulders, she appeared to be regaling them with a funny story. Reed couldn’t help but smile when her fingers slipped inside Julie’s purse and replaced his room key with Logan’s, just in time for her story to wrap up. Without a backward glance, she sailed off toward the bar.

“That’s one hell of a woman,” Brock remarked beside him.

“Careful. She’s trouble.”

“Uh-huh. The good kind.”

With a shake of his head, Reed turned his attention back to Julie, trying to decide how he felt about being on the receiving end of a seduction meant for someone else. She held a fresh glass of champagne in her hand and she’d started squinting at Logan as if she couldn’t see him quite clearly in her tipsy state. Why he found that trait…insanely cute…he couldn’t begin to imagine. What he didn’t find cute at all was the way she’d begun swaying toward Logan, using his arm for balance.

She’d clearly reached her limit for the night and Reed didn’t take advantage of women. But the alternative was someone else taking advantage of her, and he couldn’t allow that either. He’d let her come to him in the dark, thinking he was Logan. Then he’d erase Golden Boy from her memory completely.

When Julie said her good-byes and left the lounge, anticipation heated his belly. He tossed back the remaining third of his beer and headed for his room. To wait for his girl.





Chapter Five


Julie’s bare feet sank into the carpeted hallway as she crept toward Logan’s room. Halfway there, she’d noticed her lack of footwear, but for the life of her couldn’t remember taking off her heels. And in her happily buzzed, slightly groggy state, going all the way back seemed like an awful lot of effort. Julie cast a look over her shoulder, looking for—what? Was she hoping someone would stop her? Give her an excuse to turn back?