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Or someone.
“What is she doing here?” Hallie seethes, confirming my suspicions about who she saw.There’s only one woman who can piss Hallie off with just her appearance, and that’s Shay.
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly.
“Really? You have no idea? Did you bring her?”
And there it goes…Our civil little bubble popped.
“Seriously? You’ve seen me almost the entire day, Hallie. Where did I stash her? In my pocket?”
The annoyance radiates off her body like a furnace. “Anything is possible,” she mumbles, but with a little less venom behind it. Apparently, she realizes I didn’t invite my ex-wife to my best friend’s wedding.
With a sigh, I spin her around so she’s no longer facing the woman she despises. Shay was the mean girl in school and knew exactly how to push everyone’s buttons. Well, she knew how to piss off the girls. She had a way of wrapping the boys around her pinky finger, which is a big reason why she was so unpopular amongst the females in our school. Shay was gorgeous and knew it. She used her looks to get whatever she wanted.
Or whoever she wanted.
And even though I saw the vulnerable side a few times throughout the course of our marriage, she’s still the same stuck-up, petty, incredibly catty woman she was in high school.
“She’s coming over here, isn’t she?” she grumbles.
“Oh yeah.” I take the opportunity to pull her even closer, our chests pressed firmly together. “We should kiss.”
Hallie sputters, choking on air. “What?”
“It’ll detour her from coming over here and talking to us. You better make it quick. She’s almost right behind you,” I challenge, holding her ice-blue gaze.
Before I’m able to prepare for the assault, she goes up on her tiptoes and slams her mouth to mine. Any hesitation I feel at kissing Hallie flies out the proverbial window the moment her hands move to my neck, her fingers dancing at the nape and driving me wild. I coax open her mouth and catch the wine on her tongue, practically getting drunk myself on her taste.
The kiss doesn’t last nearly as long as my body begs for, and when she pulls her lips from mine, shock is registered on her face. “Umm,” she says, clearing her throat. “Is she still back there?”
“No, we’re clear,” I reply automatically.
Hallie’s gorgeous blue eyes narrow. “You didn’t even look.” Before I can open my mouth, she spins around and looks, confirming the fact my ex-wife was never really behind her. Shay is over by the bar, giggling and flirting with one of the assistant coaches on the high school football team, who was unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. “Really? Was she even heading this way?”
I shrug and paste on my best innocent smile.
“You’re unbelievable,” she grumbles, dropping her arms. “It wasn’t even a good kiss,” she adds, lifting her chin and shoulders in defiance.
Leaning in, I whisper, “Liar.” And with a wink, I turn and walk away, leaving her standing in the middle of the dance floor. I can feel her daggers, as well as the eyes of practically everyone else at the reception, on me as I go, but I refuse to look anywhere else but straight ahead until I reach my table and take a seat.
It’s not the first time we’ve kissed. A couple years ago, with Shay bothering us at Shiner’s, she laid one on me and scrambled my brain. Much like she has tonight.
“Why were you kissing my sister?” Gabe asks when he’s finished his dance with Blair and rejoins me at the table.
“She kissed me,” I reply, fighting the smile threatening to take over. Of course, I might have strongly suggested it, but I’m not telling him that. Instead, I watch as she walks over to where she left her wineglass and chugs the contents.
“You two have the weirdest relationship.”
“There’s no relationship. She’d rather castrate me with a dull butter knife,” I quip, even though my statement holds a lot of truth.
Gabe pulls a traumatized face. “True.”
“All right, friends, I’m taking my wife away to the cabin,” TD announces as he approaches the table. “You’ve got this, right?”
I nod, knowing what he’s referring to. I promised them I’d help get a few things cleaned up after the last guest leaves, and then finish with the big stuff tomorrow. Since my house is behind theirs and just down the block, it’s no hardship for me to hang around and clean up the yard a bit. Plus, I’m the best man, so this goes with the territory. “Of course.”
TD nods and glances over to where Ellie is hugging Brody and Morgan. “They’re both still planning on staying here, so you don’t have to worry about anything inside the house. Just make sure no food is left outside and all the lights are off.”
