Authors: Kelly Jamieson
Oh. She took a breath. Oh dear.
“You helped us out last night,” he said.
She drew back and stared at him. “Help?” Did he mean she helped him and Nick? That was…
“At the police station.”
“Oh! Oh yeah. Well.” She shrugged.
Tyler’s hands slid lower on her hips, his fingertips resting on the curve of her butt. Heat pooled between her thighs at the sexy touch.
“Um. So. Speaking of last night. Do you often take the blame for things that aren’t your fault?” she asked him.
His thick gold brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
He moved them out of the path of a tipsy couple with gentle pressure on one of her hips.
“I mean, like last night, when you tried to take the blame for stealing the fire truck.”
“We didn’t steal it. We were just taking it for a ride. We were going to bring it back.”
She arched a brow. “Remember when you totaled your parents’ car? When you were seventeen?”
His eyes grew wary. “Yeah.”
She watched him, and he watched her back, moving to the music on the dimly lit dance floor, surrounded by twinkling white lights and flowers, and vocal harmonies and words about love and courage and strength. Her fingers moved on the warm skin of his neck above the collar of his shirt. “You didn’t do it,” she said quietly.
He bent his head closer to hers. “Sure I did. Got in a shitload of trouble over it too.”
“Avery did it.” She met his blue gaze. “I know she did it. Why did you take the blame?”
He swallowed. His eyes shifted away from her, then back. “She’d been drinking that night.” His voice hardened. “She shouldn’t have been driving, the stupid idiot, but thankfully she didn’t kill anyone else. Or herself.”
Tyler apparently had wrapped the car around a tree and walked away from it. But Kaelin had always known the truth, though it was another of those secrets that was never spoken of.
“She came running home in a big panic. She would have been in way worse trouble than I was,” he said gruffly. “I was sober. So I walked back to where she’d crashed and told everyone I was driving. Everyone just chalked it up to me being stupid and reckless.”
Her heart expanded in her chest until she thought she couldn’t breathe, and she leaned in closer and tightened her arms around him in a squeeze. “You’re not such a bad boy,” she whispered in his ear.
He hugged her back, his arms crushingly tight around her, his face pressed to her hair. “Yes, I am. Don’t even think otherwise. Please.”
She didn’t understand that, didn’t know what he meant, only knew that she was very likely falling in love with him all over again.
Which scared the hell out of her.
Margot wanted to slap Jean Griffin.
She stared coolly back at the other woman. Jean loved to gossip, and even though she apologized for telling Margot what she just had, Margot knew she took great delight in doing it.
“Les works the front desk here at the hotel,” Jean continued gleefully, all but rubbing her hands. “He was working the night shift last night. That’s how he saw it.”
She had to shut this rumor down, but how? Her mind spun in circles. She just didn’t even know what to say to Jean. Boys will be boys? How about that. No? Her stomach churned. When Ken heard this he was going to flip. After what had happened ten years ago? God.
But she pasted on her usual smile, that one she was so good at after all these years. “Oh for heaven’s sake,” she said lightly. “Has he nothing better to do with his time than spread silly rumors like that?”
“I just thought you should know. Before someone else tells you. You know how some people like to gossip.” And Jean moved on to talk to some others. Probably to spread the rumor, the silly bitch.
Margot bit her lip and searched the wedding crowd for her husband. The room looked lovely, though she would have added more flower arrangements and she knew that Forget Me Not Florists had a gorgeous backdrop that looked like a starry sky, which she’d seen at the Bickfords’ daughter’s wedding. It was lovely, but Kaelin had gently reminded her that Avery wanted just a few simple decorations.
There was Ken. Should she tell him? Or should she take a chance that nobody else would be interested in such gossip and it would just die away? She downed the last of the champagne in her glass, now too warm to really taste good.
And where was Tyler, the subject of the gossip? Her eyes roamed the room again. Tyler sat alone behind the head table, leaning back in his chair looking all handsome and lazy and…alone. This would be a good chance to talk to him, to talk about what had happened, perhaps to prepare him for the rumor that might be circulating even now.
“Margot.” She turned. Ken stood there, tight lipped. Shit. She closed her eyes.
“You heard.”
“What the hell was he doing?” Ken barked. “Does he have no sense whatsoever? He leaves town with a huge scandal hanging over his head—”
“Nobody knew about that,” she interrupted automatically.
“We knew about it! You’d think he could keep his pants zipped for one weekend, for Chrissake. And with Nick again…” Hs voice trailed off and he glared at her. As if it was her fault.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she began, but he was furious, and she had to admit, she felt a small frisson of annoyance, too, that this had to happen at Avery’s wedding, when she’d had all those hopes for how this was going to go. Instead, typical Tyler, he’d come home and gotten in trouble again. She had to admit, for a moment she shared that same thought—could he not just have been on his best behavior for one weekend?
She watched Tyler finish his beer, rise out of his chair and cross the dance floor. He stopped beside Nick and Kaelin and looked down at her with such warm affection, Margot’s heart stopped.
Dear god. Not Kaelin. Her fingers flew to her mouth.
Fear and dread gnawing at her insides, she continued watching as Tyler and Kaelin moved together, dancing to the slow song in an intimate hold, body pressed to body, her arms looped around his neck, gazing up at him, his hands low on her hips. Emotion swelled inside Margot, a complex mix of joy to see Tyler smiling like that with such tenderness and happiness, fear that he was going to break Kaelin’s sweet heart, and longing for something she couldn’t even name.
“I want him out of here,” Ken snapped. “Before he ruins Avery’s wedding.”
She turned to her husband with dismay. “No. Ken. Not tonight. I’m sure it was nothing, truly.”
This couldn’t be happening all over again. She’d buried her anger and resentment toward her husband for how harshly he’d reacted last time with Tyler. Or, she
thought
she’d buried her anger and resentment. It was starting to seep up to the surface, resurrected by her disappointment that this wedding wasn’t apparently going to be the family reunion she’d longed for. She didn’t want to blame Ken for it all. Lord knew, she’d done her part, enabling Ken in his authoritarian discipline, trying to make everything look good on the outside, trying to make their family appear all perfect and loving, when the reality was, things were a big mess. She’d always thought she was doing the right thing, keeping Ken happy, trying desperately to keep their family together, but now… She pressed a hand to her aching heart. She did not want to live this all over again.
“It doesn’t matter if it was nothing!” he said, the words stiff and tight. “What matters is that people are talking about it!”
“Oh, for—” She curled her fingers into her palms. “You don’t know that!”
“Of course I know it! You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, we might as well get up to the microphone and announce it to the whole wedding.”
“It doesn’t matter.” But it did matter. To him. She sighed. Maybe she could talk to Tyler alone. This time she’d handle things, and she’d handle it differently. “I’ll talk to him.”
She set off across the dance floor, her high heels clicking on the parquet floor. She paused beside Tyler and Kaelin. “Tyler.”
Tyler and Kaelin moved apart to look at Tyler’s mom, standing beside them on the dance floor. Her cheeks were red, her eyes snapped and she glared at him. Was she angry because they were dancing together?
“What, Mom?”
Mrs. Wirth glanced at Kaelin and frowned. “What are you doing, dear?” she asked.
“Um…dancing.”
“Never mind.” Mrs. Wirth waved a hand. “Tyler, I need to talk to you. Alone.”
He lifted one eyebrow and released Kaelin, the song ending just then anyway.
“Go on,” Kaelin said with a smile, though a feeling of dread crawled over her skin. She watched them walk away, Mrs. Wirth’s posture stiff, her steps in her high heels urgent, Tyler’s gait loose and easy as he sauntered beside her. They moved to one side of the ballroom and were almost immediately joined by Tyler’s dad, who folded his arms across his chest.
Nick came up behind her and set his hands on her waist. “What’s going on?” he murmured.
“I don’t know. But she looks pissed.”
Nick sighed. “She’s always pissed at Tyler about something.”
“What on earth could he have done? We were just dancing. You don’t think she could possibly be upset about him dancing with me, do you?”
“Not out of the question.” They watched her gesturing, looking as if she was nearly yelling, though they couldn’t hear anything from where they were. “But it looks like a little more than that to me.”
“Um. Yeah.” Her heart rose to her throat as she watched. She tipped her head to look up at Nick over her shoulder. “What should we do?”
He watched them unhappily.
Tyler leaned against the wall, looking careless and relaxed. He flashed a smile, but even from across the room, Kaelin could see how phony it was. Then he straightened. Stared at his parents. Said something to them. Mr. Wirth shook his head violently, and gestured toward the door.
“Dear god,” Kaelin breathed. “Are they kicking him out?”
“Can’t be.”
Tyler stood there for a few seconds longer, and Mrs. Wirth lifted a hand. This time it wasn’t entirely clear if she was pleading with him or telling to get out, but Tyler took a step back, then turned and started toward the nearest exit from the ballroom.
Now Kaelin turned fully to peer up at Nick. “What…?”
“I’ll go after him.”
“I’m coming too.”
“Kaelin…” He paused, then said, “Yeah. You come too.”
They hurried out of the wedding, now a song by Beyoncé getting everyone grooving on the dance floor. They passed Aunt Mona shaking her double Ds and exchanged a
yikes
glance.
Tyler was still at the elevator and they caught up to him just as the doors slid open. He glared at them. “What the hell are you doing?” he snarled.
They stepped in with him and Nick pushed the button for their floor.
“What the hell are
you
doing?” he asked Tyler back, his voice mild. “What’s going on, buddy?”
Tyler scowled. “Nothing.”
“What was your mom talking to you about?” Kaelin asked. She tried to take his hand, but he jerked it away. A flash of pain seared through her at his rejection. Oh boy. Once again, just because
she
was developing feelings for
him,
completely inappropriate feelings, didn’t mean that he was for her. She pushed away the hurt.
“Nothing.”
“Clearly it wasn’t nothing. For Chrissake, man, just tell us.”
The doors opened and they walked down the hall to the room. Tyler slid his keycard in out and out and opened the door, then pushed into the dark room.
Kaelin followed. The bed had been made and the room straightened. You’d never know what they’d done in that bed last night. Her stomach clenched and her fingers curled into her palms.
Tyler looked at her. “Go back to the wedding, Kaelin. You shouldn’t be up here.”
Her mouth fell open and she gazed back at him. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay! Jesus Christ.” He ran a hand through his hair and gave a harsh laugh. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
But she
was
worried about him. His cheekbones wore a flush of anger and his blue eyes glittered. His beautiful mouth was a thin line across his face.
“Seriously, Kaelin. Get the hell out of here.”
His words were like a slap and she jerked back.
“Tyler.” Nick’s voice cut through the tension. “What the fuck?”
“You want to know what’s going on?” The rage on Tyler’s face almost scared her and she took a step back, feeling as if a knife was turning in her chest. “Fine. I’ll tell you. There’s a rumor going around about me. About us.” He looked at Nick and gestured with his hand between them. Nick frowned. “About last night. About how we were making out with some slutty chick in the lobby of the hotel and took her back to our room.”
Kaelin gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes went wide and her head spun.
“That’s right,” Tyler said, voice still steely, turning back to her. “Apparently the front desk clerk was getting an eyeful. But he didn’t recognize you. So nobody apparently knows it’s you. And you’d better damn well hope it stays that way. Which is why I’m telling you, get the hell out of here now. Before this gets worse.”
Her chest burning, her throat aching, she just stood there. “Oh my god.”
“Your sweet and innocent reputation will be ruined,” he continued nastily. “You also better hope after seeing you in the same clothes as last night that Cop Boy doesn’t put two and two together and get four. Or should I say three. Ha.”
“Fuck.” Nick sat down heavily on the side of the bed. “Fuck.”
“We did that already,” Tyler said, heading for the mini fridge. “Several times.”
Kaelin looked at Nick, who held his head in his hands. Then he looked at her. “Kaelin. I’m so sorry.”
Sorry? Maybe she was stupid, but what was to be sorry for? If whoever saw them hadn’t recognized her, nobody was going to figure it out. Nobody would guess in a million years.
“Your parents don’t know it was me,” she repeated.
“Not a clue. My mom thinks we picked up a hooker or a dancer from the Pussy Cat Palace or something. They’re completely mortified and pissed off. So mad in fact, that they told me to leave before I ruin Avery’s wedding.” Bitterness edged his tone. He popped the top off a beer and gulped down half of it.