Page 5 of Impulsive Saint
It was a bride. The long, white gown was a dead giveaway. She’d bunched the overflowing material in both hands, pulling it up to her shins so she didn’t trip as she ran. It was the sound of her flip flops hitting the pavement that had caught his attention. It was such a weird combination he couldn’t do anything but stare as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing because no, of course it wasn’t justabride. It wastheBride.
Ashtyn Echols.
Her white blonde hair was pinned back off her face with a damn tiara but it was falling down in loose curls as she jostled her way down the alley. He’d seen the wedding announcement in the paper and he’d seen the images of her passed around the office in the file for this job, but none of those photos did her justice. She had the same long, thin face, the same full, cupid’s bow lips that softened her razor-sharp cheekbones and jawline, but she was taller than he’d imagined. Still, she looked young, like a girl playing dress up in the oversized gown and crown, but even those gaudy monstrosities failed to take away from her natural beauty. The girl from the photos had been gorgeous but the woman that came to a sudden stop in front of him, panting for breath, her hair a mess of bouncing curls with sweat on her brow, was an absolute knockout.
It was Ashtyn Echols. In her wedding gown and flip flops. Running down the alley outside the chapel.
What the hell was going on?
He’d just opened his mouth to ask her that very question when she regained enough air to speak.
“Is that your motorcycle?” Her words came out breathy and low. She frowned and cleared her throat, then raised her chin and asked again with more confidence, “Does this motorcycle belong to you?”
“Uh… yeah.” He glanced down at the sleek black and chrome motorcycle that was his pride and joy as if he was seeing it for the first time. He chewed his gum for a long second as he stared at the pretty, wrecked girl and then shook his head. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on but…”
“What’s going on is that I needed to get out of there and then I come out that back door and bam, there it is, just like in all my dreams. Check one off the bucket list.”
Tyler raised an eyebrow, completely lost when she pointed at his bike again, “What?”
“The motorcycle. It’s just like I imagined. That’s got to mean something right? I mean, if I wasn’t doing the right thing then the motorcycle wouldn’t be here. It’s like a sign. This is the path I’m supposed to be on.”
He was beginning to worry that the Senator’s daughter had snapped. She wasn’t making any sense. He’d heard that the stress of undertaking a large wedding could tip some brides over the edge and Ashtyn Echols, for as much as he knew of her from the gossip columns and tabloids, had always been very calm and controlled. If she’d lost it, he had to find someone to help her.
“Look…” he said again but she spoke at the same time.
“Well?”
“Well what?” he shot back, still confused.
“Well, are you going to get me out of here or not?” She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips as if he was the one acting strangely.
Tyler opened his mouth, shut it again and shrugged.
Ashtyn blew out a rough breath and her face crumpled, all the false bravado of a moment ago, gone, “Please help me, I can’t get married today and I can’t face all of them right now. They’re going to come out here looking for me soon. They’re going to want explanations that I don’t have and my dad… oh God, I can’t deal with my dad right now. Please, just get me out of here. I’ll pay you…I’ll pay you whatever you want. We just need to go, now.”
It was the way her full bottom lip trembled that had him nodding his head before he’d even really thought it through. She was desperate, that much was obvious from the wild look in her eyes and her disheveled appearance.
He’d been late for the wedding but he hadn’t missed it, he realized. He hadn’t missed it because it hadn’t happened. And from the looks of it, it was canceled, whether the groom or the guests knew it yet or not.
He couldn’t imagine what the mayor could have done to make Ashtyn Echols call it all off. Had she caught him cheating on her? No…that couldn’t be it. He’d heard enough about the young politician to know that he wasn’t the kind to court a scandal.
From what Tyler remembered of the file, the mayor was a protégé of Ashtyn’s stuffy Senator father, the man he was grooming to follow in his political footsteps. This marriage was supposed to be the start of something much bigger, a run for office that might even reach the White House someday. A guy like that wouldn’t risk getting caught with his pants down on his wedding day, so something else must have sent the bride careening down a back alley like a hellhound was nipping at her heels.
He didn’t know what it was and now wasn’t the time to ask, but he knew it must have been something big.
Whatever it was, it had turned her into a runaway bride. And the runaway bride wanted him to put her on the back of his motorcycle and get her out of here.
Maybe he was a fuckup, just like everyone thought he was, but he couldn’t just leave a woman that looked like she’d been crying alone in an alleyway when she was begging him to take her somewhere, anywhere, else.
He ground his teeth together, smashing the last of the flavor out of his second piece of gum before turning and spitting it on the ground, “Yeah, okay. Get on, princess.”
Ashtyn’s eyes widened and he thought she was going to remark about the silly nickname but she only stared at him in shock, “Really?”
“Yes, really. You want to get out of here? Let’s go. Like you said, they’ll be looking for you, so time is of the essence here.”
Without waiting for her response, Tyler slid one leg over the bike. He flipped a switch to turn the battery on. When he glanced back at Ashtyn, she still hadn’t moved.
Shit. Maybe this was just another one of his bad ideas. He should probably go find someone to take her off his hands. Whatever had happened to send her running on her wedding day had clearly upset her and she was in no state of mind to go riding off on the back of a motorcycle with a man that was a complete stranger to her.
