Lovely Trigger (Tristan & Danika #3)(28)

I was so involved with this thought process that it took me a moment to realize who else was so glaringly missing.  “Did James and Bianca ditch out on the rest of their own reception, already?”

Frankie laughed.  “I would bet a lot of money that they’re off in the forest somewhere having a quickie.  James is a kinky f**k, but they’ll be back.”

We continued to watch the dancing crowd.  “Who is that Marnie and Judith are assaulting on the dance floor?”

Frankie squinted, then started laughing.  “That’s Jackie’s dad.  Marnie is making it clap for him.  I think Jackie was right.  They’re going to give that poor man a heart attack.  And get a load of Lana and Akira.  They’re making out like teenagers.  God, that guy is huge.”

“He’s hot,” I added.

“So is Lana.  And this is the first time I’ve met her brother, Camden, but he’s smokin’.  This tent is chock-full of hot people.”

“True.  Some good dancers too.”

Finally, I saw Tristan re-enter the tent.  He stopped at the entrance, scanned the crowd, and zeroed in on me.  The second his eyes touched on me, he started striding towards our table.

“Did you two, uh, work out whatever that was you two were having?  Was it a fight?”

I couldn’t quite hide my wince.  “Yeah, I guess we worked it out.”

“So you finally had a good talk?  You both disappeared for a while.”

“I guess.  You know how we are.  It’s complicated.”

“Complicated.  Now there’s an understatement of epic f**king proportions.”

I had to laugh.  She wasn’t wrong.

And that’s how Tristan found us as he approached, laughing and relaxed.

The relaxed part went a bit south as he sat right next to me, and I instinctively started to tense up.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Frankie told us with a grin.  “I have some freaking to do on that dance floor.”

“Who the hell calls it freaking?” I called to her back, but she just kept walking.

It wasn’t easy, but I made myself turn and look him in the eye.

I’d likely be mortified in the morning over what we’d done, but I thought the entire thing was too new for my shocked mind to react appropriately.

His face was sober.  “We need to talk.”

That surprised a laugh out of me.  “We just tried that.  Didn’t exactly work out.”

“I wouldn’t say that.  I’d say it was cut short.  I’d like to try again.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.  “I bet you would!”

Finally, his solemn face cracked into a smile.  I had to clench my fists to keep from touching one of those calamitous dimples.  “Well, yes, of course I would.  God, Danika, I’ve missed you, even just to see you laughing again.”

I looked down at my hands, the laughter dying a bit.  “I think you’re right.  I think you’ve always been right.  We should be friends.  I miss that, too.  I know you’re worried that I’ll never speak to you after this—after that little scene back in the forest, but you don’t need to worry.  That was insanity, and it does not need to happen again, but we can be adults here.  I…won’t be a stranger when we get back to town.  I’ll give you a call.  We can sit down for coffee, or, you know, something.”

There was a very long pause on his end, and I wondered which part of what I said was eating at him.

He didn’t address that though, instead said, “Do you mean it this time, or are you just blowing me off like last time?”

I sent him a rueful smile.  I hadn’t meant it last time, and I had blown him off.  But I found that, shockingly, I’d had a real change of heart.  “I mean it this time.”

I did mean it but, while I didn’t avoid him for the rest of the weekend, I also made sure our contact was limited.  It was necessary.  I needed time to think, to have a battle plan before we started to transition into this friendship idea.

We’d been at war for way too long for me to delude myself that a battle plan wouldn’t be necessary, even when we were playing nice.

I was packing to leave for home, the happy couple already having ditched the party and jetted off to God knew where, to do God knew what kind of kinky shit, when I noticed something odd.

My perfume was missing.  I did a quick search of the bathroom, but there weren’t that many places it could have gone, and I’d thought the small bottle was sitting right on the counter.

I was annoyed.  I loved that perfume, and it wasn’t cheap, but I shrugged it off.  Some lost perfume was really the least of my problems.

Tristan managed to corner me one last time before I took off.

The wedding’s location was remote, and so all of the guests had been flown to the nearest airstrip, and driven in limos the rest of the way.  I couldn’t even wrap my mind around how expensive that must have been, but there was no doubt that James could afford it.

Even so, people were sharing rides to the airstrip and planes to their various destinations.  It only made sense.

Tristan and I hadn’t flown or driven in together, even though we’d come from the same place.