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Something happened to Jaime ten years ago, though. A BASE jumping incident where his friend got hurt and could no longer play hockey. After that, Jaime stopped his extreme adventures. A daughter came into the picture. His former coach passed away and left him a whole-ass hockey team. Play-time ended.
He still looked like a bad boy, though. Very bad.
“No. It’s not that.”I can’t breathe. She set down her suitcase. “Can you unbutton me, please?”
His gaze flicked to the back of the house, where he had a clear view out the sliding glass doors to the wedding party and all their guests. When his attention came back to her, he said, “Turn around.”
She got the strangest shiver at his commanding tone and found herself instantly obeying. Once she had her back to him, he gently brushed aside the strands of hair that had fallen from her bun. His touch was light as a silk scarf, and it teased her skin.
“How many do you want me to undo?”
“Just enough so I can breathe.” The fabric bunched across her back as he wrested the lace-covered buttons free of their tiny hole. Heat from his broad chest made her tingle as if she’d just come in from the cold.
“There you go.” His fingertips brushed the bare skin between her shoulder blades. “Looks uncomfortable.”
“Yeah. It’s itchy.” His nearness made her uneasy, so she turned back around and reached for the suitcase. “Anyhow, thank you.” She needed to get past him, but he wouldn’t budge. “I’m sorry, but can you excuse me?”
“Where you headed?”
“I don’t know.”
“I was sent to look for you.” He studied her. “Ian said you might run.”
“Did he tell you why?” She realized how belligerent she sounded, and that wasn’t fair. Her fiancé’s bad behavior wasn’t this man’s fault. “I’m sorry. I’m not myself right now. But yes, I’m leaving. Though I don’t know what he expected you to do about it. Drag me by my hair?”
Those sensuous lips split into a naughty grin, his teeth extra white against all that facial hair. “Do youwantme to drag you by your hair?”
“Okay, heartbreaker.” It was starting to come back to her now, how Jaime affected her. A memory popped up out of nowhere. The one time he’d come back east to go sailing with Ian, she’d been waiting at the harbor. Her breath caught just looking at him standing shirtless at the bow. Her boyfriend was lean, but Jaime—God, the man was big, muscular, and imposing. When Ian introduced them, they’d hugged, and she remembered the way his bare skin smelled after swimming in the ocean and drying off under a hot sun. “Listen, there’s nothing you or anyone can do to make me go through with this wedding, so can you just let me go, please?”
Still, he didn’t budge. “What do you want me to tell him?”
She wasn’t about to air their dirty laundry. “Nothing. He knows.”
The smile faded into a look of concern. “You’re seriously not going to marry him?”
She visualized walking down the aisle, toward the man she thought she’d known inside and out. But her brain kept flipping to scenarios of Ian’s gaze darting around to see if anyone was near, silently opening her parents’ laptop, and transferring money out of the account.
She could see her mom in the kitchen making dinner for whoever happened to be visiting that day. Her dad was likely checking someone’s tires or grabbing his screwdriver to fix a bicycle. “My parents are the best people I know.”
He watched her carefully before giving a slow nod. “Yes. They’re good people.”
“How could anyone hurt them?”
“I don’t know.Hassomeone hurt them?”
One hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Fifteen thousand of her parents’ hard-earned money. Seven grand for this wedding. The amount was unfathomable. “I have to go. I have to think.” She had to make sense of this. She moved around him, hurrying down the porch stairs and along the slate walkway.
Now what? Where do I go?She couldn’t fit the strap of her purse on her shoulder because of the puffy sleeves.Dammit. Sun burning the top of her head, her body prickled with perspiration. Her skin itched, and she wanted to scream, but that would just draw attention.
A wall of heat came up beside her, and Jaime pulled the luggage handle out of her hand. “Where we going?”
She looked up and down the street. Nobody was home, of course. Her neighbors were sitting in her backyard, waiting to see the little girl who used to have a lemonade and cookie stand exchange vows with the boy who used to deliver their newspapers. Her friends were here, and they’d all grown up with Ian, too. None of them could give her a ride.
“Did you know he gambled?” She tried again to hoist the purse strap onto her shoulder, but it flopped right back down to the crux of her elbow.
“Yes.” He said it carefully, his tone cautious.
“Did you know because you gamble, too, or because he borrowed money from you?”
