Page 4 of Keeping Guard
“Yeah, with this champagne. It’s not good to drink alone, you know.”
He did know that, not that it stopped him. Why wasn’t she afraid of him? She picked up a second, still-corked bottle, and held it out to him. “You can even have your own if drinking out of a bottle my mouth has been on bothers you.”
His gaze fell to said mouth. Negative. He’d have absolutely no problem putting his mouth anywhere hers had been.Situation dire!Time to retreat. He didn’t do brides, even ones with sky-blue eyes and lips made for kissing.
“Come on. Don’t be a stick in the mud.” She waved the bottle like it was a red cape and he was the bull.
Apparently, he was a bull because his feet took him to the edge of the boulder. “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Should I be?”
“No, but you can’t know that.”
She shrugged. “I figure the universe can’t be meaner to me today than it already has. And if it is, not sure I have it in me to care anymore.” She tipped the bottle up, chugging down more champagne like a pro.
As much as he wanted to leave, knew he needed to put this woman and her problems behind him, he couldn’t bring himself to go. Not when tears were pooling in her eyes and her lips trembled. Somehow, he knew she was trying hard not to cry in front of him.
So, despite hating brides, crying women, and champagne, he took the already opened bottle from her and brought it to his mouth. She was right. Daddy did go for the best. First time he’d actually liked the taste of champagne.
“You can’t stay down there if you’re going to drink with me.” She patted the space next to her.
Obeying, he pushed himself up. As they passed the bottle back and forth, he tried to imagine telling Jack that he’d spent the afternoon at a waterfall, drinking top-shelf champagne with a runaway bride who was wearing only a corset and veil. His friend would laugh his ass off, not believing a word of it, then say, “Good one, DD.”
“You want to hear my sad story?” she said after about five minutes, her words now a little slurred.
Not really. He was already on sad story overload, but he shrugged, letting her decide whether or not to share. He was a little curious, though.
“The man I was supposed to marry doesn’t love me,” she said, then peered up at him with those pretty eyes of hers.
“The woman I was supposed to marry didn’t love me enough.” That was what he’d finally settled on after Avery had called off the wedding. She had loved him, he was sure of that, but she’d needed all his attention on her, and that was more than he could give her.
“She was a runaway bride, too?”
“Not exactly. She called it off the day before the wedding.” Why was he sharing his shit with a stranger?
“Oh, I should have done that, but I didn’t know.”
“Know what?” He took the bottle from her and set it behind them, hoping she wouldn’t notice. She was buzzing pretty good already. Much more, and he’d have a sick bride on his hands, and that he definitely did not want.
She waved a hand in the air, almost slapping him. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t think my father loves me.”
“I know mine doesn’t.”
“My mother gave me away.”
“Mine died.” What was he about? It wasn’t that he was trying to one-up her, but he didn’t like her being sad, and maybe if she knew she wasn’t the only one bad stuff happened to it would help.
“That’s terrible. What happened?”
“My father killed her.” Right, he needed to shut up and stop sharing.
“Oh my God, really?”
“Old news. Tell me something good about yourself,” he said, needing to get this conversation away from his life story.
Instead of answering, she burst out laughing, laughed so hard she fell back on the rock. Yeah, she was buzzing all right. She was also more temptation than he’d ever endured, lying there in her sexy corset, her breasts almost spilling out, her tiara tilting to the left, and her black hair a sharp contrast to the white veil spread out over the boulder. A disheveled princess. Even the mascara streaking down her cheeks didn’t take away from her sexiness.
He tore his gaze away. Yep, he should have turned around, gotten in his car, and hightailed it away at seeing the shoes and stockings at the top of the trail. He didn’t even know her name, and she was getting under his skin. One positive, though. The ants had stopped biting.
