Seducing the Bridesmaid (Wedding Dare, #3)(17)

“Lured? Really?” Okay, so that wasn’t strictly accurate. It was hard to lure someone anywhere when they’re wrapped around you like a deranged spider monkey.

She gave herself a shake. This wasn’t about him abandoning her to die. No, this was about him throwing down a gauntlet. He thought he could put her in her place? Fat chance.

She had bigger fish to fry.

But if it made Brock feel better to think he’d one-upped her this time, he could just go on thinking that. And she’d do her damnedest not to dwell on the fact that he’d just given her one of the best orgasms of her life.

She straightened her dress and turned a slow circle. He’d only taken like five steps to get back here. It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out which way he’d gone. Regan turned around again. Or it wouldn’t be hard if she were an expert tracker-slash-zombie-killer like Daryl from The Walking Dead.

Which way was the path? She turned a slow circle, trying to figure out where Brock had gone. All she had to do was take that first step, pick a direction and walk. It was easy. It wasn’t like she was in the wilds of upper New York State.

Oh my God, I’m going to wander for hours and end up dying ten feet from safety because that * left me here.

“Lord, woman, the path is right here.” Brock stalked back through the trees, and she had to clasp her hands behind her back to keep from throwing herself at him and begging him not to leave her out here alone again. He stopped a few feet away and narrowed his eyes. “Are you okay?”

Not even a little bit. She couldn’t tell if her hands were shaking so hard that they were making her shoulders shake or if that was her entire body struggling not to cling to the safety Brock suddenly represented. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be okay? It’s not like I can’t Google Maps my way to safety.”

She knew her fear of the forest was unnatural; she still couldn’t stop her body’s shaking. She had to get out of here right now, or she was in serious danger of bawling in front of Brock.

Over her dead body.





Chapter Six


Brock stepped closer to Regan, moving slowly so as not to spook her further. Because she was spooked. Her eyes were a little too wide and her entire body was shaking so hard he could see it from here. “Sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m here.”

If he’d stopped to think before storming off to make his point, he would have realized there was a reason she hated the woods beyond her being a city girl. City girls turned up their noses at places like this, but they didn’t jump at little noises or panic at the thought of moving off the path.

Stupid of him to miss that.

He touched her shoulders, giving her the chance to move away, but she only took half a step closer. “You left me out here.”

So f*cking stupid. “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t know which way to go and—“ She snapped her mouth close and took a shuddering breath. “I’m fine.”

She was a hell of a long ways off fine, but now wasn’t the time to point it out. “Why don’t we get you back to civilization?”

“God, yes.”

He slipped his arm around her shoulders, ready to catch her if she stumbled in those ridiculous heels, and guided her back to the path. She didn’t relax until they left the trees completely, her shaking lessening and then disappearing altogether. She took her next few steps a bit quicker, moving out from beneath his arm. “I’m okay.”

Did she realize how many times she’d said it? He didn’t think so. A woman like her wasn’t going to respond well to coddling, but he also couldn’t leave her alone when she was in such an obviously fragile state of mind. Truth was he didn’t want to leave her just yet. So he went with the most blunt approach. “What do you need?”

Regan blinked, seeming to come back to herself a little. “To sweat until I feel in control again.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest one particular activity that would fit the bill, but he couldn’t do it. Brock might want to get inside her again more than was healthy for his state of mind, but he wasn’t the type of man to take advantage of a woman so clearly off her game. So he put a check on his dick and went with a safer question. “Do you run? Or are you one of those prissy-pants elliptical users?”

Her eyes flashed. “I can run you into the ground, Scarlett.”

There was the spitfire he knew and enjoyed. He grinned. “Prove it.”

“Gym. Fifteen minutes.”

“Done.” He watched her walk away, glad to see some of the swing back in her step. Shaking his head, he headed to his room, happy for the excuse to change out of these damn clothes. But he’d been informed by both Colton and Kady that they expected him to dress like a grown-up, not in the faded jeans and T-shirts he favored, for the duration of the week. It was a relief to throw on some basketball shorts and one of his favorite old T-shirts, and head to the gym.

He found Regan already there, dressed in a pair of those tiny black shorts that were designed to bring a man to his knees, and a tank top. She nodded briefly at him. “Let’s do this.”

“So serious. You really need to learn to loosen up.”

As expected, she bristled. “And you could stand to loosen up a whole lot less.” She hesitated, some of that vulnerability showing on her face. “Do you care if I plug in my music? I can’t run in silence.”