Falling for the Groomsman

by Diane Alberts

  She made a weird choking sound, and she burst into hysterical laughter. “Oh. My. God. You should s-s-see your face right now!”

  She pealed off into another fit of laughter, clutching her stomach and rolling over onto her side, her knees bent in the fetal position. He let go of her, frowning down at her back. Guess he could rule out any sprains in her knees or her back. He rocked back on his heels and studied her, not sure what to say or think right now. “You find this funny?”

  She rolled his way again, looked at him, and laughed even harder, tears streaming down her face. “Y-Yes, I find this funny. I tried to run away and fell down the freaking hill with no shirt on in the freaking woods, and you’re acting like…like…” She dissolved into laughter again, but managed to finish off with, “Like I’m dying or something.”

  His lips twitched, and son of a bitch if he didn’t start laughing, too. He fell back against a tree, banging his head in the process, and she laughed even harder at that. He did, too. Fuck, he didn’t even know what they were laughing at anymore, but it felt good.

  He never laughed like this. It wasn’t…him. Or was it? Maybe he’d forgotten who he really was, over the course of the years. He remembered laughing his ass off with her in Mexico, too, those rare times when she’d managed to actually have fun.

  By the time they both wound down and could breathe again, the sky was even darker and she was still half dressed, lying in the dirt with an injured back. He stumbled to his feet and held his hand out for her. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and dressed.”

  “All right.” She struggled to sit up. “I’m ready. Honestly, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry so much.”

  He studied her furrowed brow, knowing she was hurting somewhere even if she wasn’t willing to admit it, and rubbed his aching head. “Just let me check you over real quick anyway. For my own peace of mind.”

  She gave a small nod and slid her hand into his. Once she was on her feet, he ran his hands over her body, checking for any contusions or broken bones. When he reached her leg, she stiffened. Going slower, he skimmed his fingers over her left ankle.

  “Ow,” she hissed, clenching her teeth tightly at his touch. “That hurt.”

  He nodded, squatting in front of her ankle. He squinted in the dim light, but even with more shadows than sun behind him, he could see it was swollen. Already, it had turned a nasty yellowish-greenish shade. He probed it gently, wincing when she cried out.

  He reached behind him and grabbed his backpack, and pulled out a thermos of cold water. “We need to get ice on this, and it needs to be elevated.”

  She dropped her head back against the tree she rested her weight on. “Crap. Any chance we can find ice in the woods?”

  “Not really.” He pressed the cool thermos to her ankle and glanced up at the sky. It would be dark within the hour. Reaching into his pocket, he held his phone up to the sky. No signal. Of fucking course. “Do you have your phone on you?”

  “Yeah.”

  She reached into her shorts pocket and held it out for him. It took a second for him to confirm what he already suspected. She didn’t have any signal, either. He sighed and handed it back. “Nothing.”

  She pinched her lips together when he probed at her ankle again. “Now what?”

  “The way I see it, we have two options.”

  When he didn’t continue on, she raised her brows at him. “And they are…?”

  “Either sit here and set up camp, hoping someone comes and finds us, or I carry you and we’ll try to cover as much ground as we can before night falls—and then we set up camp. But either way, I think we’re sleeping under the stars tonight.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Out in the open? Where any wild animal could stumble upon us in our sleep? Aw, heck no. I have no intention of being served up for a family of bears as the main course. We walk.”

  They could walk all she wanted, but they would still be sleeping under the stars. He refrained from pointing that out, though. Let her be in denial if she wanted. “Don’t you sleep outside when you’re on assignment?”

  “No.” She shivered. “I avoid assignments that involve the great outdoors for long periods of time. I tend to stay in the U.S., because I hate sleeping outside. Me and Mother Nature are not friends.”

  He laughed. “All right. In that case? Let’s try to cover as much ground as we can.”

  “Who knows? Maybe we didn’t travel as far as you think we did.” She nodded decisively, as if her saying as much would make it true. “Let’s walk.”

  He cocked a brow. “You’re not walking. I am.”

  “I can do it.” She stumbled forward and hissed. She glanced at him, her face way too pale for his liking. “Then again, maybe not.”

  He managed to catch her before she hit the ground again. “Are you done trying to show how independent you are yet? Because I’ll be damned if I let you hurt yourself just to be stubborn again. Maybe I’ll have to come up with my own nickname for you, then.”

  “Like what?” she snapped.

  He swung her into his arms. “Like Patient McClumsy.”

  A small laugh escaped her. “Oh, shut up,” she said through her teeth. Tears shimmered in her eyes, and she clung to his biceps. “But yes, I am done being clumsy. Beam me up, Scotty.”

  He set her down slowly. “Lean against the tree for a second,” he murmured, knowing she was in pain and embarrassed and hating it. “I need to go grab the rest of my stuff.”

  She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes, nodding. After retrieving his thermos and all the other scattered items from the ground, he put his shirt on and studied her. Her face was pale, and judging from the way she pinched her lips together, she was in pain. His gut tightened. He hated seeing her in pain. If only he could take it away.

  He tended to her wounds silently, neither one of them breaking the silence. When he was finished, he kissed her bare shoulder and helped her pull her shirt over her head.

  She turned her face away from him. “This isn’t your fault, you know. So don’t even think about apologizing for it.”

  He blinked at her. Where the hell had that come from? She’d been the one to fall down the hill. He hadn’t pushed her. So why the hell would he apologize to her? He swept her into his arms. “I wasn’t going to. You still think I’m that guy who panics and runs. I’m not.”

  She shrugged. “To me, you’ll always be him. Nothing you do or say will erase that from my mind.”

  “I’ll have to try my best to make it up to you from now on. To make you stop living in the past, and start living in the now.” His arms tightened around her. “And Red? When I want something, I get it.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I fear you’re in for a disappointment this time around. I’m not up for grabs.”

  “You were a few minutes ago when I was—”

  “That’s different.” She looked up at him, her gorgeous eyes stopping him in his tracks. “What we did back there was just sex. Really, really amazing sex. But sex nonetheless. It doesn’t mean you have me. It was just a way to scratch an item off my list.”

  He flinched, even though he’d known she would say that. She was determined to keep him at arm’s length. “Tell me about this list.”

  “No.” Her fingers flexed on him. “And you can’t make me.”

  The hell he couldn’t. Reining in his temper, he took a deep breath. “Fine. Tell me this, then: Do you believe in second chances?”

  “I think it depends on the situation.” She stared off into the distance, her hand wrapping around the back of his neck. “But I could use a few of them myself.”

  He latched onto that statement, hungry for anything about her. Anything she didn’t tell other people. He’d never met a woman so closed off to talking about herself as her. “What would you do over?”

  “I…” She cut herself off, her fingers softening on him. He held his breath, certain she was going to push him away again. Refuse
to answer. But she opened her mouth again. “When my parents died…” She looked away from him. “I didn’t take their last call because I was angry with them. Want to know why?”

  His heart broke for the pain she must be feeling, still, to this day. “Red…”

  “I was mad because they wouldn’t send me more money for food. I’d blown through my monthly allowance in two weeks, and wanted more.”

  “You were a kid. You didn’t know—”

  “You’re right. I didn’t.” She took a deep breath and rested her head on his shoulder again. “But I’d still like a chance to do it all over again. To answer my stupid phone and tell them I loved them one more time before it was too late.”

  “I get that.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “But they loved you. You know that, right?”

  She nodded against his shoulder. “I do.”

  “Why did you go to Mexico right afterward like that?” He shifted her weight. “It was three months, but you were still a wreck. You didn’t seem like you really wanted to be there at all.”

  “That’s because I didn’t. But if I didn’t go, the girls would have canceled their plans for me, and they were so excited about it.” Her shoulders went tense. “I was going to go home and hang with my brother, but they suggested they do the same. Go with me. I couldn’t make them cancel their plans for me, so I acted as if I wanted to forget and have some fun.”

  That made sense, knowing what he knew about her. She was the type of woman who put the needs of someone she loved before her own. He nodded. Time to change the topic. “Wait. You have a brother?”

  “Yeah.” She grinned. “You didn’t know that?”

  “Nope.” He gritted his teeth. How did he not know that about her? He should have tried to find out more about her long ago. He shouldn’t have tried to shove her away in the past. “Speaking of which, I’d like a few do-overs myself.”

  “Let me guess,” she said sarcastically. “Mexico?”

  “Yeah, but not what you’re thinking.” He took a deep breath. Should he open himself up to her like this? Why the hell not? It’s not as if she’d get more angry at him than she already was. “I would never have left like I did, if I could go back. I’d have held you all night long, as close as I could. I would have known you had a brother, damn it. Is he older or younger?”

  “Younger.” She reared her head back and blinked up at him, her mouth open. “But w-why would you care about that stuff? We haven’t exactly kept in touch over the years.”

  “It’s what I should have done, and if I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing except instead of running…I’d have stood firm. I wouldn’t have given up so easily.” He met her eyes. “Maybe we would have even been together.”

  “I don’t believe you.” She pressed her lips together and shook her head for good measure. “If you regretted it every day, why didn’t you come see me one of the many times you came back to the U.S.? Try to win me over? I mean, I really haven’t seen you at all.”

  “I did, once. When I came home a year after Mexico, I passed by a restaurant, and you were inside. I saw you and some brown-haired guy sitting close and talking and laughing, so I backed off. He had his arm around you, and you were resting your head on his shoulder. You looked so…so happy.” He met her eyes, unable to believe he was admitting this shit to her. “I couldn’t bring myself to walk through that door when you were happy and with someone else. What happened to that guy?”

  She bit down hard on her lip, not dropping his gaze. She didn’t show much emotion, or at least not that he could read, but she dropped her lids. “Did he have tattoos all down his arms?”

  “Yes.” Tyler hugged her tighter to his chest as he stepped over a log. “Who was he?”

  She opened her mouth, closed it, and let out a little sound that might have been a moan. “My brother I was just talking about. He was in the military, and he’d gotten in some trouble back home. He’d just signed up with the marines, and we were saying good-bye before he went to boot camp.”

  Relief hit him hard and fast. “Oh.” He stepped over a fallen branch. “Shit.”

  “Yeah.” She rested her head on his shoulder again. “But, you know, I haven’t been a nun all these years. I have been with other men.”

  He stiffened, the relief going away in a blink of the eye. “I’d rather not think about that.”

  “That came out wrong. I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t a broken shell of a woman who couldn’t live without you because you left or anything. I was fine. Happy, even.”

  His arms tightened on her reflexively. “Don’t say another word, Red.”

  She looked up at him, her brow furrowed. “I’m trying to make you feel better.”

  He frowned down at her, jealousy ripping through him with sharp claws. “The idea of you with another man will never, ever make me feel better. You were supposed to be mine.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Christine rested her head on Tyler’s shoulder, not sure what to say to that. But really, what was there to say? He didn’t like the idea of her with another man? Well, great. She didn’t like the thought of him with another woman, but it didn’t mean anything. He was just stating the obvious.

  There couldn’t be anything real between them.

  Not now. Not then.

  Tyler made his way around a fallen tree that blocked the path they’d been following. She glanced up at him and flinched. Sweat streamed down his forehead and down his cheeks, and his face was red. He hadn’t complained one little bit about carrying her. Knowing him, he saw it as some form of penance for leaving her all those years ago.

  He was sick like that.

  She understood him so much better now than she had all those years ago. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he felt responsible for everything and everyone. He felt the need to make everyone happy and healthy and whole. When he failed or caused harm…he swallowed the guilt and kept it inside him forever.

  He grunted and stepped over a small boulder. The shadows were getting deeper by the second, and try as she might she couldn’t make out even a hint of the resort. He’d told her they wandered too far away, but she’d ignored him as she sought some solitude for her outdoor sex session. Stupid list.

  Now they were stuck out in the woods with no rescue in sight. More than likely, they would be setting camp for the night and sleeping in the great outdoors. Already, the mosquitoes had bitten every exposed strip of skin she had, and the temperature had dropped rapidly. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she’d make it through the night. Her idea of camping was the Holiday Inn Express, complete with feather pillows and a soft mattress.

  Not sleeping bags and rocks poking her in the butt.

  As if on cue, Tyler stopped walking and leaned against a tree. “I think we might need to stop for the night. I’m having difficulty seeing. I could wear a flashlight, but it’s still asking for trouble. If I step in a hole and twist my ankle while carrying you, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

  “That makes sense, I guess.” She wiggled in his arms. “Are we even heading in the right direction?”

  “I think so. We’re following the incline.”

  She nodded. “You should check your compass, just to be safe.”

  “I can’t.” He flushed. “I don’t have one.”

  “Seriously? I thought you had a survival kit in that thing.”

  “I do.” He lowered her to her feet. “But I lost my compass.”

  She put the bulk of her weight on her good leg and leaned against a tree. There was a good-sized flat clearing in front of them, which is probably why he’d chosen here to stop. “So you have condoms, but no compass? What else do you have in your bag?”

  “A lighter, a sleeping bag, water, and a few protein bars.” Her stomach growled at the mention of food, loud enough for the whole forest to hear it. “Which I’m guessing you’d like me to find,” he added subtly.

  She dropped her head
back against the tree. She couldn’t even muster up the strength to get embarrassed at her bearlike growling stomach. “Yes, please.”

  He chuckled and picked her up again. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait, what are you doing?” She clung to him. “I thought we were staying here.”

  “We are.” He skirted a huge boulder. “But over there, where it’s flat.”

  “I could walk there myself,” she said.

  “I know, Patient McClumsy. But I’m going to carry you anyway.”

  Of course he would, because that’s the kind of guy he was. Compassionate, bossy, stubborn, and irresistible. Once he reached the clearing, he stopped in the middle of it and set her down. She missed his warmth as soon as he let go of her. It might be June, but it was still Colorado. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “Thank you.”

  He bent down and yanked the sleeping bag out of his backpack, spread it out on the ground, and dug out a handful of protein bars. “Get in this and eat these. It’ll keep you warm while I set up camp.”

  She nodded, but looked off into the distance, keeping her weight on her uninjured ankle. “Uh…I have to go…you know…I have to go.”

  He looked up at her, his brow furrowed. “Go where?”

  “Oh my God. Shoot me now,” she said, fisting her hands.

  “I’m trying to—oh.” His eyes lit up with comprehension. He dug around in the bag a little bit, and handed her a roll of toilet paper. “Here.”

  She eyed his bag hopefully. “You got a toilet and a shower in there, too, Eagle Scout?”

  He laughed. “I wish. It’s not so bad, I promise.”

  “Maybe not for you,” she pointed out. “At least you get to stand. I have to squat with my bare butt hanging out like a white flag for all the forest creatures.”

  “At least it’s a hot ass.” He stood up and pointed over his shoulder. “I’ll go this way. You go that way. Don’t wander off, though.”

  “I don’t plan on it.”

  She bit down on her lip and limped toward the trees, her eyes on the darkness surrounding her on all sides. Was something out there, watching her even now? Plotting how best to attack, while she was at her weakest? She was obviously the easy prey. She’d be the first to go. Tyler would wrestle a bear with his bare hands.