Her Best Friend's Wedding. Abby Gaines
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clenched her fists at her sides. “I don’t want to run with you.” She might as well go back to bed with a bowl of granola.
“Like you said, you need to work off last night’s calories,” he said. She sucked in her stomach out of reflex, and glared when he chuckled. “Don’t you think it’ll look suspicious if you cancel out because Daniel’s not coming?” he continued.
“I’ll be canceling because I don’t want to run with you.” But he had a point, dammit.
And he knew it. “Where are we going?” he asked.
Sadie looked past him. “I’m heading down Arlington and around the reserve.”
“Works for me,” he said. “Maybe we should come back along the Parkway.”
That would add another twenty minutes; she’d be unlikely to survive. “I don’t have time. Mom has me down to peel about a thousand potatoes for the potato salad.” She clasped her hands behind her head and twisted from side to side.
“Okay, Arlington is fine by me. It overlooks the lagoon and I like a nice view when I run.” His gaze took in her curves, accentuated by the exercise.
“Don’t you have stretches to do?” she snapped.
“I’m stretching my imagination.” He lingered on her legs.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll take your suggestive remarks too seriously? I seem to recall you warning me off you.”
“I’m not worried after last night,” he said. “It’s obvious I’m not the one you’re interested in.”
Her face on fire, she bent to adjust her shoelace. Then without another word, she started running. A purely symbolic gesture, since Trey caught her up in a few easy strides.
Her burst of speed lasted all of a hundred yards.
“Something wrong?” he asked when she slowed.
“You go on ahead. I’m taking it easy today.”
He matched her pace. “I can do easy.” As they passed a wrought-iron fence, he pointed at the lawn beyond. “One of my teams laid that a few weeks ago.”
“Very nice,” she panted insincerely.
“Not the best time for sowing grass, but the Colberts were adamant they want the best lawn on the street for the Fourth. Of course, so were the McIntoshes down the way. Who am I to deny anyone the lawn of their dreams?”
“You’re…a prince,” she managed to say.
He turned around and jogged backward while he surveyed her. “Pooped already?”
She shook her head.
He shrugged and turned the right way around. “I’d better call Mrs. Colbert this morning, tell her to get some water on that grass,” he mused, his tone as even and unhurried as if he was standing still.
“Why are you being so chatty?” Sadie snatched a breath before she continued. “You haven’t said this much to me ever.”
“I’m lulling you into a false sense of security before I start grilling you about Daniel.”
She grunted and put on a spurt of speed.
Trey waited until Sadie slowed down again—about half a minute—before he launched into the conversation he really wanted to have.
“So, you were dating the doctor.”
She stared straight ahead, mouth grim, cheeks flushed pink with exertion. They’d been running—if you could call it that—for about three minutes.
She shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. “I thought we were dating,” she said. “Turns out we were just seeing each other.”
He scratched his head. “I’ve never understood how women can get that so wrong.”
She glared at him.
“Did you sleep with him?” Trey asked.
Sadie stopped running. “As if I would sleep with some one I wasn’t even dating.”
“You wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake.”
Her chest heaved. He couldn’t tell if it was emotion or exhaustion. Either way, it drew his attention to her figure, which, he admitted to himself for the tenth time since she’d arrived on Friday, was sensational from top to toe.
“You still like him,” Trey said, “even though he’s dating Meg.” He almost wished Daniel was here now, to see Sadie bright red, dripping perspiration.
“Of course I like him,” she said. “He’s intelligent, funny, charming, sensitive—”
He stuck a hand over her mouth, and whatever accolade she intended next came out a muffled “umph.”
“You like him too much,” he said calmly.
He felt a puff of breath against his palm. He dropped his hand.
“Meg’s with Daniel right now. I accept that,” she said.
“So you don’t plan to come between them?”
“Of course not.”
But he’d seen a flash of guilt in her eyes. “What are you planning?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me,” he demanded.
“Stop ordering me around. I’m not your sister.”
“Tell me, please,” he said. “Put my mind at rest, so I don’t have to warn Meg to be on her guard.”
She paled, which at least reduced the redness of her face. Then she said, “If anyone’s going to get hurt, it’s Daniel. And you know it.”
“Meg seems as serious as he does.”
She blew out a breath that would have lifted her bangs if they hadn’t been plastered to her forehead. “History suggests that in a couple of weeks, Meg will have moved on.”
“Ah, I get it.” He adopted a high voice, in imitation of her. “I know you’re upset, Daniel, but I’m here for you.” Caught up in his role-playing, he grabbed her hand and looked deeply, soulfully, into her eyes. She had nice fingers, even when they were sweaty. Nice eyes, too. The light hue reminded him of blue delphiniums.
She wrested her hand away. “Don’t be such a jerk.”
“Daniel dumps you for Meg, and you’ll take him back when she’s done with him. Don’t you think that’s kind of pathetic?” he asked.
She stiffened. “Scarlett O’Hara spent her whole life pursuing a man who’d chosen someone else, and she’s one of the strongest women in literature.”
He snorted. “As in, she’s not real. And if you’re suggesting your crush on Daniel compares with some Southern belle fighting to save her ancestral home from marauders…”
“Now you’re being pathetic.” Sadie poked his chest, which was just about the most annoying thing she could have done. “Look, Trey, you might think it’s pathetic to want Daniel after Meg breaks up with him, but I’m not used to being handed whatever I want. I don’t get to go through life flirting and smiling and having people favor me for my good looks.”
“Meg is your friend,” he reminded her, even though she’d neatly summed up some of the most irritating things about his sister.
“And I adore her. As does everyone else. With the possible exception of you.”
Damn, how had Sadie picked up on that, when he’d barely seen her in years? “Don’t try and deflect attention from your scheming,” he said.
“Meg gets an easy ride in lots of ways, but she’s had tough