Seducing the Bridesmaid (Wedding Dare, #3)(12)

Julie gave her a look like she was crazy. “I am enjoying myself. Taking care of people makes me happy.”

Yeah, but who’s going to take care of you? Regan didn’t say it, because she knew Julie would just laugh her off. But she watched her best friend rush out of the gym, and she worried.

She kept running for a while after Julie left, her thoughts circling totally unhelpfully. It was only around mile four that things started to fall into place. The scavenger hunt would be pairs of people searching for whatever the hell Kady had come up with on the list. So she’d dress to kill and work at catching Logan’s eye for a little alone time. From there, it’d be cake.

If there was one thing Regan knew how to do, it was sway a man into seeing things her way. And right now, her way included Logan and a date.

She slowed to a walk and then stopped altogether. After wiping the sweat off her face, she headed out. A shower and a full-on primp was on the books, so she’d need all the time she could spare.

When the elevator opened on the floor below hers, she almost cursed aloud—she wasn’t the vainest creature on this planet, but if you walked out of the gym looking pretty, you were wasting your time there. She hadn’t planned on giving anyone a good look at her sweaty self.

Obviously she should have taken the stairs.

Then Logan stepped into the elevator and she wanted to curse even more. This was not the impression she’d planned on making when she said she was going to catch his eye. Frustrated, she pasted a smile on her face. “Logan. Fancy meeting you here.”

He frowned for half a second, as if he didn’t recognize her. Then his hazel eyes widened. “Regan. Nice to see you. Going down?”

Only last night on Brock. She looked away, wishing she could banish memories of him as quickly as they popped into her head. “Nope. Up.” She took in his rumpled clothing—the same clothing he’d been wearing last night. “You look like you’ve been getting into some trouble.”

“Nothing like that.” His smile was nice, though she couldn’t help comparing it to a certain Southern boy’s. “I was up late working.”

Well, hell. She had to admire a man who had that kind of commitment to his business. Working late nights was the name of the game for most of her week—the Chinese takeout down the street from her apartment knew her by name and order before she even opened her mouth.

What had Logan been working on? She started to ask, but the elevator dinged again, opening on her floor. “This is my stop.”

“It was nice talking to you.”

She backed through the doors. “Maybe we can talk more during the scavenger hunt.”

“That’d be great.”

As the doors shut, she sagged against the wall. So much for leaving him wanting more. She should have taken off her tank top before she left the gym so she didn’t look like something an alley cat dragged in. Then at least he would have been distracted with all the skin she’d have been showing and ignored the rest of her. Even as she considered it, she wondered what the hell she was stressing about? As she walked into her room, Regan yanked out her ponytail holder with more force than strictly necessary.

She wasn’t a precious little princess who dressed up so men would tell her she was pretty and fall at her feet. She wore the clothing she did for her, and because it was just another kind of armor. Like it or not, people judged her on the way she dressed, and failing to look professional could cost her a client.

If seeing her in some sweaty gym clothes was enough to make Logan blow her off, then he was an idiot.

Still… No reason to give him another reason to think twice.

She dug through her suitcase, coming up with a dress she’d bought a few weeks ago that hugged every curve. The texturing changed it from skanky to sexy, but it didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. Combine it with a killer pair of heels and Logan would have to be dead not to sit up and take notice of her.

…

Running into Reed didn’t do a damn bit for Brock’s mood. He’d wanted some time alone to stew about what happened last night, to finally put it out of his head. It had been obvious when he saw his friend leaning against the side of the building that he had something on his mind. They weren’t the types to pour out their hearts, but a man wore a certain look on his face when dealing with woman problems.

Low and behold, he’d been as snarly as Brock had ever seen him. “Told you she was trouble.”

Yeah, he had. And Brock had ignored the underlying advice to steer clear of her before, and he was going to keep doing it. “Trouble is a significant underestimation.”

Reed glanced at him in surprise. “Did you swallow a dictionary last night?”

Christ. “I can use words longer than one syllable when I put my mind to it. When did everyone start thinking the opposite?”

“You mean, when did you start giving a shit?”

“That, too.”

Reed shrugged. “Maybe it’s the altitude.”

“Altitude indeed.” He wished he could blame last night on something so simple, but it’d be a dirty lie. He’d been on the losing side as soon as he followed Regan out of the bar. “Any man with half a brain would give that woman and her fool heels a wide berth.”

“I’ve never known you to shy away from a challenge. Hell, you jumped off that cliff at the rock quarry when we were thirteen even when Colton refused to.”