Plus, I needed the distraction. Last night I’d been hanging out with Rex when he dropped the bombshell on me that he was attracted to me. Although flattered, I was also a little freaked out. I wanted to continue our friendship but I didn’t want to lead him on. So I’d told him about Vaughn and how I was still trying to work through getting over him.
In answer Rex insisted we stay friends. That he could wait for me.
He’d sounded sure.
I was not so sure.
Jessica led them through the hotel to the ballroom where the reception would be hosted. As soon as we stepped through the double doors, I envisioned how Jessica had described it would look on the day, and I knew it was going to be spectacular.
“I can’t believe you’ve managed to pull a wedding off in three months. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“No, it shouldn’t,” a wry, familiar, sexy voice said from behind them.
As my heart began to pound a mile a minute, I turned on my heel to face Vaughn. He wore his usual tailored suit, his hair perfect, everything perfect.
My body reacted to him, memories of our night together washing over me.
God damn it!
I hated that he could make me feel that way.
It’s just physical attraction. Nothing more.
His gray eyes were so hard to read. I wished I knew what was going on inside his head.
Oh yeah, sure, just physical attraction.
“I’m surprised Vivien managed to pull it off,” he finished, interrupting my inner war with myself.
Vivien, I knew, was the hotel’s main events manager and Jess’s wedding coordinator.
“I thought you employed only the best,” I said, mostly to make him look at me.
And then I wondered why I wanted that, because his gray eyes seared into me with carnal knowledge. I’ve seen you naked, his gaze said.
Well you did want to be able to read his mind. Be careful what you wish for.
I ignored the shiver that whispered down my spine.
“Miss Hartwell.”
Back to Miss Hartwell, are we? Great. Well, I can play that game, too.
Even though I could feel it happening, and I disliked myself for it, I turned into a sullen teenager on him. “I’m surprised you came back. We all thought you’d left. Permanently.”
“Wishful thinking, Miss Hartwell?”
“I don’t care one way or the other, Tremaine.”
“Too busy with the new boyfriend.”
“What?”
“You mean Rex?” Jess said.
Vaughn raised an eyebrow. “His name is Rex? As in T. rex?”
Cooper coughed in an effort to swallow his laughter and I shot him a dirty look before swinging it toward Vaughn. “Rex like the Hollywood actor Rex Harrison. And he’s not my boyfriend.”
“Yet,” Jess added. “He told her last night that he wants to be. He intends on being very persistent.”
“Did we switch personalities or something? Usually, I’m the one that doesn’t know when to shut up.”
“Oh, so you’re aware of that flaw.” The jibe came from Vaughn. Surprise, surprise.
“Oh, really? You want to go down that path? Because we’d be here all day listing your flaws.”
“Flaws? What flaws? I’m perfect.”
“Perfect asshole, you mean.”
He looked at Cooper and Jess. “All I heard was I have a perfect ass.”
My friends tried to hide their smiles and failed. So he was being cute and funny. I could fight my smile.
“You just brought me here to torture me, didn’t you?” I said to Jess as Vaughn and Cooper walked ahead of us.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I know. I just . . . had to see something for myself.”
“What? That all the hostility between you is masking an epic love?”
I shot her a look. “No.”
“You told Rex you couldn’t date him because you still had feelings for Vaughn. I’m just helping you out. I mean, you have to be around the guy to work out what you want.”
“It’s not about working out what I want. It’s about working past it because he doesn’t want me.”
“Oh, please. He’s like that kid at recess punching the cute girl on the arm every five minutes. He likes you. He just doesn’t know what to do about it.”
“If that really is the case, Jess, I’m not interested. I’m thirty-four. I’m not wasting my time waiting for him to grow up. I just need to move on.”
“Just here to slow down the proceedings as usual, Miss Hartwell?” Vaughn called back to me.
Jess threw me a knowing look and then hurried to catch up with Cooper. Vaughn waited for me, and Jess and Coop seemed to deliberately wander out of earshot.
“Why is it you’re such a jackass to me?” I asked.
Something flickered in his gaze. Something like guilt. “Because it keeps you at a distance,” he answered with startling honesty. “And I like you at a distance.”
In that moment I almost hated him.
Was Jess right? Did he actually care about me? If that was true . . . then wasn’t that worse? That he could care about me but still not want to be with me because I wasn’t good enough for him?
Anger swirled with passion, lust, and other devilish things inside me. I stepped into his personal space, our lips merely inches from one another, and his attention dropped to my mouth with hot focus. I ignored the impulse to kiss him. “Cowardice is such an unattractive quality in a man,” I whispered, and his gaze flew to meet mine. The steel in his was much too hot. I thought I even saw sparks in them. Flints of anger.