Cold Feet in Hot Sand (7 page)

Five

Heart going a million miles a minute, car going only marginally slower, Deanna hurried through town. She made a left down one of the streets that would take her back to the hotel. It seemed like years since she’d driven this route in reverse. She’d been grinding her teeth then, ready to choke Nick for being such an idiot. Who was the idiot now?

Kristina would make it back to the hotel first, and Deanna had no doubt every wedding guest and family member would know the truth before long, but the sooner she caught up, the sooner she could try to do some damage control.

Damage control? Yeah. Anything she did or said would be, at best, about as effective as a Dust Buster after a tornado. Damage control was what she’d gone to do this morning. The end result? This mess.

What did I do? What did I do? Jesus Christ, what did I do?

She thumped the heel of her hand on the wheel and resisted the urge to break down crying with shame and frustration. She couldn’t explain why it had happened, why she’d
let
it happen. Worse, she couldn’t even begin to tell herself she hadn’t liked it. Of all the reasons this whole thing made her sick to her stomach, that was among the worst. It was wrong, but in the moment, it had
felt
right.

I fucked my sister’s fiancé. I fucked my best friend. And I don’t even have the decency to tell myself it wasn’t some of the most amazing sex I’ve ever had.

Deanna’s stomach twisted tighter and her heart beat even

faster as she pulled into the parking lot. She parked, killed the engine, and hurried toward the hotel lobby. The elevator took her up to the floor where everyone in the wedding party was staying, and as she rushed past all the other doors, she silently prayed her sister would be willing to speak to her at all, never mind hear her out.

Deanna stopped in front of Kristina’s door. Steeling herself, holding her breath, she tapped her knuckle. The sound echoed through her consciousness, reminding her of the moment she’d knocked on the door of Nick’s empty motel room.

I should have taken that as a sign and just let it go. I should have come back here. Damn it, why did
—

The door opened, and Jess, one of Kristina’s bridesmaids, stood on the other side. Her expression instantly turned to steel. “Kristina doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“I need to talk to her,” Deanna said.

“No,” Jess said. “You need to get out of here and leave her alone.”

Deanna barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. “This is between Kristina and
—
”

Kristina shoved past Jess. Deanna stumbled back a couple of steps into the hall, and Kristina followed her.

“What is wrong with you, you fucking whore?” she screamed. “Were you just waiting for the opportunity
—
”

“I wasn’t waiting for a damned thing,” Deanna threw back, glancing from side to side as other guests opened their doors and peered out of their rooms. “Kristina, I’m sorry. I don’t know how many times I can say that. I never meant for this
—
”

“You didn’t mean for it to happen.” She rolled her eyes and waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You two were having an innocent conversation, and he just accidentally put his dick in you.”

Deanna struggled to keep from getting any more defensive than she already was, or getting impatient. Her sister had every right to be this angry.

“I’m sorry, Kristina,” she said. “I… there’s nothing I can say to justify it, but
—
”

“Oh, you’re right about that,” Kristina snarled. “What the hell,
Dee
? Your marriage falls apart, so you have to break mine up before it even starts?”

“I didn’t break a damned thing up. He’s the one who left.”

“And you sure didn’t wait long to jump his bones, did you?” She took a step toward Deanna and narrowed her eyes. “Bet you were just waiting for him to do that, weren’t you? Or did you put the bug in his ear in the first place?”

Deanna’s jaw dropped. “You really think I would sabotage your relationship?”

Kristina folded her arms across her chest. “Up until an hour or so ago, I didn’t think you’d fuck my fiancé, so let’s just say I’m keeping an open mind.”

Deanna somehow found some air to pull into her lungs. “Kristina, it was a mistake. I swear, I did not go over there intending to do anything except talk to him.”

Her sister gestured dismissively. “Road to hell, good intentions. Whatever.”

“What is going on here?” Mom materialized beside them and looked at Deanna. “Did you talk to Nick?”

“Oh, she talked to him all right,” Kristina growled. “Didn’t you?”

Deanna looked away. “Kristina, I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” Mom asked. “Deanna, what’s going on?”

“Tell her,” Kristina said through her teeth. “Or should I?”

“Tell me what?” Their mother’s gaze shifted back and forth between her daughters. “What on earth is going on?”

Deanna looked at Kristina. “Look, we talked, and he explained why he left. He had
—
”

“What the fuck does it matter why he left?” Kristina screeched. “You think I’d even want to think about marrying him now that he’s fucked my goddamned sister?”

Deanna and her mother both sucked in sharp breaths. So did half the people leaning out of their rooms.

Mom stared at her. “Is this… is this
true
?”

Deanna folded her arms across her chest and avoided her mother’s eyes.

“You went to talk to him,” Mom said, adopting that quiet tone that had always preceded tirades when the girls were young. “You talked to him, yes?”

Deanna nodded.

“That’s not all you did,” Kristina said.

“Is that true?” Mom asked.

Closing her eyes, Deanna pushed out a breath. “I never meant for it to happen, and neither did Nick.”

“Things like that don’t just happen,” Kristi
na snapped. “You’re both sober and
you’re both goddamned consenting adults, so
—
”

“Yes, I know,” Deanna said. “And we
—
”

“You slept with your sister’s fiancé?” Mom demanded.

“
Ex
-fiancé,” both sisters said in unison.

“Why on earth would you do something like that?” Mom asked through clenched teeth. “Deanna, how could
—
”

“We were talking,” Deanna said, throwing up her hands. “We were talking, we were commiserating about how our relationships had fallen apart and how frustrated we were by things, and we just… we just got caught up in the moment and didn’t think.” She looked at Kristina, and her voice cracked as she said, “I mean it. I’m sorry. Neither of us expected it to happen, and afterward, he was as upset about it as I was.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” her sister snarled. “No wonder you were in such a hurry to volunteer to go ‘talk to’ him. And you two sure looked broken up over it when I ran into you.”

“For fuck’s sake, Kristina,” Deanna snapped. “We spent the entire walk back to the motel not even looking at each other because we both felt so
—
”

“Would you have told me if I hadn’t caught you?”

Deanna held her sister’s gaze, but she couldn’t answer. Hadn’t she and Nick agreed to keep this between them? But how could she expect Kristina to understand why?

“That’s what I thought.” Kristina spun around and started for her room, where her furious bridesmaids waited in the doorway.

“Kristina, wait.”

Her sister stopped and turned, glaring at Deanna.

“I know it doesn’t sound like it,” Deanna said softly. “But we were only going to keep it from you because we didn’t want to hurt you. We both regret it. More than you can imagine. But we
—
”

“You just regret getting caught.”

“No, that isn’t true,” Deanna said. “Just because we didn’t

tell you doesn’t mean either of us would have been able to sleep at night over this.”

“If you didn’t want to hurt me,” Kristina said, her voice wavering and her eyes welling up as fury gave way to the bone-deep devastation Deanna had caused, “you wouldn’t have had sex with my fiancé.”

With that, she turned again and stormed into her room. The door slammed shut behind her and her bridesmaids, and Deanna’s shoulders dropped.

Her mother glared at her. “You and I are going to discuss this. Now.”

Well, Deanna already felt like hell, so what was a little mother’s guilt on top of it? So, like a child in trouble, she followed her down the hall and into the room where they’d all comforted Kristina earlier today. Jesus, was that really today? Just a few hours ago?

Mom slid her key card, opened the door, and waved Deanna in. Once they were alone and the door was closed, sealing out anyone who might overhear, she looked at Deanna and demanded, “What in God’s name were you thinking?”

“Honestly?” Deanna released a breath. “We weren’t.”

“Well, that much is apparent.”

Deanna cringed, barely keeping herself from buckling under the weight of her guilty conscience.

“Just tell me what happened,” her mother said. “How it happened. I mean, not…” She waved a hand.

“I know what you mean.” Deanna closed her eyes and took a breath. “I really did go just to talk to him. And we talked. He practically begged me to just hear his side of the story, and when I did, I realized he had a lot of good points. I was going to come back here, sit down with Kristina, and try to mediate a little.” She looked at her mother. “But then we just kept talking. About him and Kristina, me and Jason, and I guess
—
”

“Don’t even tell me it ‘just happened’, Deanna,” her mother warned, stabbing a finger at her. “You’re both grown adults. These things don’t just happen.”

“No, they don’t,” Deanna whispered. “I accept full responsibility for it, and so does Nick.” She folded her arms across her chest and rocked back and forth from her heels to the balls of her feet, just trying to do something with all this restless energy. “We got carried away, and believe me, the second it was over, we both realized we’d made a huge mistake.”

“What I don’t understand is how you even got into that situation.” Her mother gestured sharply and released a huff of breath. “You were talking to him about his wedding to
your sister
, and…this happens?”