Falling for the Groomsman (Wedding Dare, #1)(44)

“You’re so good to her,” she said, her gaze latched onto him.

I could be good to you, too, if you gave me the chance. “Isn’t that what all brothers do? Spoil their sisters?”

“I know mine does,” she agreed. “But a little birdie told me you’re quite an excellent dancer because of a bet gone bad.”

He watched Kady, wanting to cross the room and shake her until she promised to never tell anyone else his secret again. He’d been forced to take ballroom dancing lessons in college, when he had made a wager that his football team would beat his buddy’s team…and lost. The cost of his losing had been six months of ballroom dancing with a bunch of old women.

He’d gotten damned good at it, truth be told, but by the time he was finished, he’d never wanted to see a dance floor again. “I made her swear not to tell anyone about that.”

Christine snorted. “I’m not just anyone.”

“Yeah, I guess not. Did she tell all of you?”

“I don’t think so.” Christine smiled. “We were alone when she told me, anyway. It was over a container of Chunky Monkey, after a particularly painful breakup.”

He fisted his hands. “Whose? Hers, or yours?”

“Hers. I told you. I didn’t have anyone serious.”

He swallowed the words trying to escape. He wanted to be her first serious man, damn it. “So she told you about my secret because some jerk broke her heart?”

“Yep.” She laughed. The sound made his heart soar. He loved her laugh. “We called you Tiny Dancer for a week after that conversation.”

Fucking A. “Yep. I’m going to have to kill her. Right before her wedding, too. What a tragedy.”

She laughed again. “What? It’s cute.”

“A baby or kitten is cute.” He crossed his arms. “Me dancing with a geriatric patient on a Friday night isn’t. Neither is you laughing about it afterward.”

She tapped her fingers on her knee. “I bet she was hot though, wasn’t she? A little spitfire of an old lady.”

He burst into laughter, remembering the little old lady he’d danced with every week. She used to bring him cookies, and knit him scarves with matching mittens. “Oh my God, no.” He pictured her hitting on him and burst into laughter again. “Just…no.”

She joined in. “That bad, huh?”

“She was the sweetest thing ever,” he managed to say. “Not a spitfire at all.”

“I bet.” She smiled up at him, and he smiled back. God, she made him so happy. Around him, he stopped worrying about everything and just…lived. “You liked her, didn’t you?”

He rubbed his chin. “I did. She was nice to me.”

“I’m kind of jealous of her.”

“Why?” he asked, watching her. The idea of her being jealous of an old lady was preposterous to him. “You’re much prettier, I promise. And your ass is much—”

“It’s not that,” she said, smiling and waving a hand dismissively. “She got to dance with you before you hated it. I won’t get that chance today. I won’t get to dance at all.”

His breath punched out of his lungs. “I would’ve danced with you tonight, just so you know. Because it’s you, I would’ve. But if anyone else asked, I’d say no.”

That was the closest he could get to admitting he had feelings for her without some sign from her that she maybe cared about him, too. He needed something. Anything. Their gazes collided and didn’t let go. This moment, this conversation, scared the hell out of him. Almost as if he’d admitted something he shouldn’t have.

Or…maybe it was the opposite.

Maybe it was because he admitted something he should have admitted long ago.

Finally, she broke off the connection and looked back out at the floor. Her cheeks flushed red, and her pulse raced at the base of her throat. “Now I’m even more angry at myself for falling down that hill than I was before. I would have liked that very much.”

Damn it. How could he hear that and not give her what she wanted?

“Well in that case…” He held out his hand, knowing as he did so he offered her more than a simple dance. He offered her himself. “May I have this dance, Red?”





Chapter Sixteen


Christine didn’t know what to do with the Tyler standing in front of her right now. He was charming and the look in his eyes changed while saying sweet things. Really, really sweet things. Now he wanted to dance, after he just finished telling her how much he despised dancing?

That had to mean something.

Whatever it was, it made her pulse race and hands tremble. If she dug into it like she would with a story she was presented with, she would have the answer within seconds. But this wasn’t her job, it was her life. Right now reality was scary as heck. Way too scary to jump in with both feet looking for answers she may or may not want to find.

God, she was supposed to be avoiding him now. But she didn’t want to. She wanted to be in his arms and dance with him. No matter what happened, that wouldn’t change. She liked him. Somewhere along the way, she’d fallen for him all over again.

Thoughtless. Careless. Unavoidable.

She looked up at him, her heart wrenching at the warm look in his bright-green eyes. How could she have gone so wrong? “I can’t. Doctor’s orders. My doctor gets cranky when I don’t listen.”