Falling for the Groomsman (Wedding Dare, #1)(3)
Now all she could think about was Mexico, and all of the intense emotions that went with that vacation. It had been three months after a drunk driver had killed her parents, and she’d been a shell of the girl she’d once been. She hadn’t even wanted to go, but Kady had insisted she should. Insisted she needed to live, and stop crying herself to sleep every night. She had reluctantly agreed, and tried to act as if she were having fun for the sake of her friends.
Tyler had seen through her act.
Regan, New York City headhunter and her Tri Delt sorority sister, leaned close, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You know how you haven’t told anyone else you’re moving to Maine? We’re all together, so now might be a good time.”
Christine sighed. Regan had a point, but it just didn’t seem right to draw attention to herself when it was Kady’s big week, let alone during the bachelorette party. Right before a wedding was not the time to make a huge formal announcement about moving away. It wasn’t even all that important, really.
Maybe she’d tweet about it… Hey… Surprise! Moving to Maine. Come visit me sometime! Wait. Was that more than one hundred and forty characters?
She sighed. “I’ll tell them after the wedding is over, but before we all leave. I don’t want to take attention away from the blushing bride.” Christine smiled at Kady as she animatedly talked to Julie. They all looked so happy, her news could wait. “But enough about me. How are you doing?”
“Great.” She made a show of looking around the bar. “But considering the man candy wandering around here, I’m about to get a whole lot better.” Regan popped a mint in her mouth and asked, “Are you excited to be going back home, living on your own for once?”
Of course her attempt to divert the attention from a topic she didn’t want to discuss failed with Regan. It always did. “Yeah. I went from living at home with my parents and Jake, to college with you girls, to rooming with Kady in San Francisco. Then, when she moved here to be with Colton, I actually came with her, which is crazy, too. Now I’ve got a crap roommate who is anything but my friend, and for the first time in my life, I’m going to be alone.” Christine shrugged. “For once, that doesn’t sound so bad. It’s time for me to try it out. Start over and all that crap.”
“Understandable.” Regan nudged her with her heel. “But if you ever want me to fly up for a good Chunky Monkey binge night, you know I’m your girl. I’ll be the closest one to you once you move.”
“Deal.”
Regan sipped her drink. “How does your brother feel about you coming back?”
“He’s happy about it. He’s not the same Jake he used to be, not after the war, but he sounded excited about it.”
Now that he was a civilian again, Jake worked at a private security agency called Shillings Agency. He’d gotten out of the marines only recently, after injuring his leg. He wasn’t the same man anymore. He was quiet. Reserved. Serious. Not even remotely similar to the daredevil he used to be. And he definitely wanted his big sister to come back home.
He was finally getting his wish.
Christine brushed her hair over her shoulder, using the opportunity to peek backward again. She couldn’t concentrate on these things when at any second, a green-eyed, brown-haired, smooth-talking devil could walk through the door. She hadn’t really thought about him much at all over these past eight years, but now that she’d seen him again? She couldn’t think of anything else.
How utterly irritating.
“Holy crap. Why is Tyler wearing that god-awful shirt?” Regan whispered to Christine. “It’s got tropical flowers on it, for the love of God.”
Christine blinked and yanked herself out of her head, scanning the room with a racing heart. “Huh? He didn’t have it on earlier. Where is he? I don’t see him.”
“I know. But now I know you saw him already.” Regan looked at her skeptically. “I’d suspected as much, considering the way you’re acting. So, how did it go?”
Christine shifted in her seat. Regan didn’t know about her and Tyler. No one did. It was their dirty little secret. So what was Regan hinting at? Christine smiled. “It was fine. Why wouldn’t it be? We barely know each other.”
That much was true. They just knew what each other looked like naked, is all.
“You tell me,” Regan said, watching Christine too closely. “Every time someone mentions him, you tend to zone out and pretend he’s not real. Now that you’ve seen him, you’re acting like a space cadet. Something’s going on.”
“My distraction has nothing to do with him.” Christine forced a smile. “I’m just tired.”
“I know a good remedy for tired,” Regan said, using air quotes around the word “tired.” “Want me to share it?”
“Does it involve a hot man and a bed?” Christine asked, biting down on the corner of her lower lip to keep from laughing, since she knew it almost certainly did. “Because that’s totally on my list.”
“Ah, yes. The sexy list of ‘things to do while unemployed.’”
“I’m not unemployed,” Christine whispered, peeking at Kady. “I just didn’t start my new job yet. Thanks for the help, by the way.”
“Don’t mention it,” Regan said, waving away the fact that she’d helped Christine get her new job. “Back to the fun stuff…let’s talk about the party train you have planned. It’s about time you started living life instead of reading about it.” Regan leaned closer, her expensive perfume wafting over. “But as far as my earlier remedy goes? The bed’s optional.”