Falling for the Groomsman (Wedding Dare, #1)(10)

She pressed her fingers against her lips and looked at him with wide eyes. “Yeah, it is. This wasn’t on my list.”

“Your list? What list?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Christine, I—”

“Tyler? Is that you?” his mom called out, her voice creeping closer.

Cursing inwardly, he turned and greeted the interruption with a false smile. “Yeah, Mom. Over here.”

He looked over his shoulder at Christine as he walked away. She stood there watching him, still looking as kissable as she had before he’d touched her. The whole time he chatted with his mom, he could think of nothing more than ending the conversation so he could finish what he’d started with Christine. The second she headed back inside the bar—with his assurances he would soon follow—he turned back to Christine. “Okay. What list were you—?”

She was gone.

Not again. Why were they always running from each other? His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was from a number he didn’t recognize. He swiped his finger across the screen and scanned it.

That was a mistake and won’t be happening again. I suggest we keep our distance from each other from now on. All my love…to your parents. —Christine

His fingers tightened on his phone. How did you get this number?

I’m a journalist. I can get anything, anywhere. But I’m going to bed. I find myself suddenly exhausted. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. It was…kind of fun, I guess.

He rolled his eyes. Bullshit. Pure and complete bullshit. Three more seconds and you would have been screaming my name while you came, and you know it.

No. I don’t.

She was in denial if she thought she could convince him he hadn’t turned her on just now. He knew the signs of arousal when he saw them. Flared pupils. Soaring pulse. Short breaths. They’d all been there.

She was playing hard to get, plain and simple. She had a plan. Probably that list she’d mentioned. Knowing her, she’d laid out every step of her seduction plan, or something else she’d investigated perfectly before he arrived.

Question was, did she really want to get caught?

He slid his phone back into his pocket without replying to her last text, adjusted his pants—which were now way too tight—and headed back into the lounge. He’d played a few games of seduction a time or two himself, and now?

He had a plan of his own.





Chapter Five


The next afternoon, Christine slammed the flowers that Julie had assigned to her into the vase on the table, muttering under her breath. She was in Spago helping Julie get ready for the event tonight, and her mood was sour. After her kiss-and-run play she’d pulled on Tyler last night, he should have come pounding on her door. Or he should have at least replied to her teasing text, for the love of God. Begged for her to come back down with him so they could talk. Something. Anything. But instead she’d gotten radio silence.

So much for her Get payback on Tyler plan.

What he had done to her in Mexico shouldn’t matter after all these years…but it did. Seeing him again had brought new life to all those angry feelings she’d had for him. Was it so horrible that she wanted to show him how desirable she was now? Then when she hooked him…she’d stop and walk away.

Just like he’d done to her.

Of course, she hadn’t been planning on actually kissing him, but at least she’d gotten to cross an item off her list: kiss a stranger in public. Sure, he wasn’t technically a stranger, but this Tyler was dominant and brooding. He wasn’t the Tyler she’d known in Mexico.

It should have counted as a win…and yet she hadn’t been able to resist poking the bear after she’d fled the scene. She’d gotten his number from Kady, and she’d taunted him. Insinuated he’d been lackluster at best. She’d gotten nothing in return.

Had she won that battle? Hell if she knew.

She’d done some more reading research this morning, a romance book where the heroine seduced the hero for revenge, and according to the book, she’d done the old bait-and-switch properly. And if she couldn’t count on Seducing the Hot Enemy for tips, she was screwed with a capital S.

He should have been desperate for her. Needing her. Not ignoring her.

Maybe she’d done it wrong. Oh well. She had to move on. Keep working on her sex list and forget all about him. If she passed him in the hallway, she would smile politely and keep on walking. No more kissing. No more desire.

No more Tyler.

If only she could stop thinking about him.

She jammed another set of flowers into another identical vase and Julie cleared her throat. “Is there something you’d like to talk about?”

“What?” Christine stuck another set of flowers into the next vase. “No. Why?”

Julie eyed her and straightened the flowers Christine had just finished arranging. “You’re upset about something and taking it out on the poor flowers. If you need to talk, I’m good at listening. You don’t have to beat up pretty flowers to prove it to me.”

“I don’t need to talk.” Christine sighed and filled another vase, setting them in place more gently this time. Earlier, she’d come in to find Julie and Mister Danger himself, Reed, in a very compromising situation. Like, a hand-up-the-skirt type of situation. “If anything, I’d like to talk about safety and ladders. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”