Page 24 of Crashing the Altar
Turning to the man standing by my side, I prayed he would be able to forgive me.
“I’m sorry.” Wrenching out of his hold, I rushed up the aisle, only stopping when I reached the row where Tripp stood.
His jaw hung slack, disbelief etched across his face.
“You comin’ or what?” I challenged, one eyebrow arched. “Because I’m leaving with or without you, cowboy.”
Mac gave him a gentle shove. “Dude, what are you waiting for?”
That seemed to jolt him into action, and he pushed past Tucker to take my hand. He tugged on our connection gently before breaking out into a run. I matched his steps as we rounded the side of the house, ignoring my name being shouted by both my abandoned groom and my parents from behind us.
Tripp’s truck came into view, and I willed my legs to move faster, eager to get away from this disaster of an almost wedding, before anyone caught up to us and questioned my decision.
Was it impulsive to run off with Tripp and leave a man at the altar? Yes.
Was I sorry I did it? Hell no.
He might have come in at the eleventh hour and made a scene as he publicly declared his love, but in doing so, Tripp had saved me. I was never going to find happiness with Jake, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise. I would have spent the rest of my life miserable with a man I didn’t love—a man I couldn’t love because my heart already belonged to another.
Hitching up the skirt of my dress, I hopped into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut just as Tripp turned the ignition and stomped on the gas. I clicked my seatbelt into place as we peeled down the gravel path.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” Tripp huffed out on a laugh.
“Well, believe it, because we did.” I pulled the pins from my hair, running my fingers through the strands to mess up the curls as they fell around my shoulders.
“What do we do now?” He peeked at me quickly before turning his eyes back to the road.
The most insane idea floated to the front of my mind, and I blurted, “I think you owe me a groom.”
I yelped when he slammed on the brakes, the seatbelt cutting into my chest as the truck came to a sudden halt. When I turned to face him, his eyes were wild.
“Are you implying . . .”
Annoyance flared to the surface, and I snapped at him, “Oh, I know you didn’t show up all spiffed up like this”—I gestured a hand towardhis suit-clad form—“intent on crashing the altar without planning to offer yourself up as a replacement.”
Tripp gawked at me. “I didn’t—I thought—”
“You thought what? That after all this, you’d ask me out on a date?”
“Um, maybe?”
Clearly, he hadn’t thought this through, which was entirely out of character for him but would work in my favor. Catching my level-headed best friend off-guard meant I could pull him over to the dark side of spontaneity—a place where I thrived.
“Can you honestly tell me you need to get to know me better?” I challenged.
“’Course not.” Tripp scoffed.
“That’s the purpose of dating, right? Learning everything about another person to discover if you might be compatible in the long run. With the hope that somewhere along the way, love will blossom.”
He offered me a shrug. “Suppose so.”
“We’ve spent the last twenty-nine years doing that part. Why should I have to wait even one more second to be with you when you’re the only man I’ve ever truly wanted? Are you really going to deny me that?”
I was pushing that secret button of his. The one where he couldn’t say no to me, and his resulting grumble told me he knew it.
“Penny . . .” My name was drawn out in warning.
Bringing out the big guns, I batted my eyelashes at him. “Come on an adventure with me.”
