Seducing the Bridesmaid (Wedding Dare, #3)(33)
“Would you have kept coming around if you had my number right from the start?” The question didn’t come across as flippant as he’d meant it but, damn it, her answer mattered nearly as much as her caring about his dating history.
“No.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe. I don’t know and that screws with my head, you know? I always know what I’m going to do before I do it, because I always have a plan. You weren’t part of any plan.”
And that had to scare the shit out of her. Regan was more of a control freak than anyone else he’d known. Being around him must have done a number on her. “Plans change. That’s life. It’s not always comfortable, but sometimes it’s for the best.”
“Not my plans. Not until you.” She shook her head. “I guess I just can’t quit you.”
Before he could comment on the sheer what-the-f*ckery of her quoting Brokeback Mountain at him, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. This was what he’d been missing ever since they went their separate ways yesterday. Regan, in his arms. She was wearing too many clothes, but he’d fix that in a second. Right now he was content to enjoy the strangely tentative way her tongue stroked his, as if she were memorizing his mouth.
She jerked back before he could really sink into the kiss—or move them toward the bed. Her eyes were wide and she had a look on her face he’d never seen before as she shoved out of his arms. Regan’s lower lip quivered. “I…I was wrong about you, okay? It’s more than the foundation, though that’s part of it. But I just…I can’t.” Then she was gone, sliding past him and out the door before he had a chance to respond.
“That went well.” He closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over his face. He hadn’t wanted to use the Blue Boat Foundation to get in good with Regan. That wasn’t why he spent so much time and funding keeping it running. He knew it accomplished a lot and did quite a bit of good, but he’d put it into motion for women like Reed’s mother. For kids like Reed had been. Not to get his father’s approval, or to get laid.
He couldn’t decide if it was a positive thing or not that she’d admitted to being wrong and then run, but he wasn’t going to chase her down. She knew the truth. The ball was in her court now.
Chapter Thirteen
Regan could barely string two thoughts together, which definitely made her a shitty friend because she was supposed to be paying attention to the rehearsal. She’d made it up the aisle with Reed, but she’d been too distracted by the presence of Brock behind her to even come up with a snarky comment about Reed winning Julie over.
Put shortly—she was a mess.
Brock wasn’t just the majority shareholder of the Blue Boat Foundation—he was the founder. And if the look on his face when he talked about it was any indication, it was a passion project. Considering she never would have pegged him as a man who felt passionately about anything, she was still trying to wrap her head around the whole thing.
But it was more than that. She’d had a hell of a time keeping away from him even before she knew the truth. How was she supposed to do it now? There was so much about Brock she found attractive, and the reasons they couldn’t be together kept going up in smoke.
Her conundrum wasn’t made any easier by the fact that her focus should really be on Kady and Colton as they spoke with the pastor about how the ceremony would go down tomorrow. She should be tearing up like Julie was, or at least looking happy like Christine. Instead, she was painfully aware of Brock standing next to Tyler and the distinct lack of laugh lines on his mouth.
Because he was looking at her.
Why should he be happy? She’d barged into his room, yelled at him, and then run away as soon as he gave a response. Like she was a little twit, throwing a tantrum because the world wasn’t the way she’d thought it should be.
Nothing was turning out like she’d planned.
“Then you’ll kiss your lovely bride, and I’ll pronounce you husband and wife.” The pastor smiled. He wore the expression well, as if he spent a lot of time grinning. And why not? A wedding was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of a person’s life and he got to witness them on a regular basis. That had to be pretty great.
And she was most definitely mentally wandering because she didn’t like feeling so out of her element.
She didn’t know what was going to happen with Brock and her. Rightfully so, since she wasn’t supposed to want anything to happen with them. It wasn’t part of the plan, and she was so damn tired of worrying about the plan. If she followed the mental checklist she’d created for her future husband, she’d end up with someone like Logan. Someone perfect and driven and so f*cking wonderful it made her teeth ache. A man like that wasn’t going to challenge her—unless she counted being dragged out into nature and forced into death-defying activities. He wasn’t going to call her on her shit, and he wasn’t going to make her want things she’d never really considered important. Things like fun. Things like laughter, and bickering, and outstanding orgasms in semipublic places. A man like Logan wasn’t going to curl her toes with a single grin, or call her a silly pet name like “darlin’” or any of the other things she so enjoyed with Brock.
All those things she’d thought to be of secondary importance suddenly didn’t seem so. Could she live without the surprises a man like Brock brought? Could she spend the rest of her life knowing exactly how each day would play out?