Page 45 of The Trouble with Runaway Brides

She walks around the table until her chest is right up against mine. “It’s none of your business. Remember? ‘Let’s break up so we don’t hate one another. After college, we’ll get back together.’ So what I do isn’t your business.” She jabs a finger into my chest, and I grab her wrist, lowering it.

“That was before you kissed my cousin.”

She yanks back her arm. “Let it go. I was drunk, and I missed you. If you bothered asking, you’d know what really happened.”

“There aren’t any questions that need to be asked after I find out you kissed my cousin,” I enunciate clearly.

She stares at my mouth. “Just do your job and leave your opinions to yourself.”

She stomps through the door, but before she can turn the corner, I say, “It’s on you if you show up with a rash because you’re too insecure or embarrassed to tell him about a common allergy. You shouldn’t have to be his perfect little bride.”

She stops for a moment, then walks out.

Once again, I feel like an asshole the minute she walks away from me. I have to get myself together. This whole thing is making me into someone I’m not.

Fifteen

Kenzie

The next morning, I stomp my way over to Blake’s hotel room and pound on the door. “Blake! If you do not open this door so I can see you alive and well, I’m going to pull the fire alarm.”

There’s laughter on the other side and I grow angrier. Eventually the door flies open, and Geoff is standing there in a towel. His salt-and-pepper hair matches the trail of hair heading south.

“What kind of welcome is that?” He holds out his arms, but I bypass them, storming in to find Blake in bed under the sheets.

I turn and close my eyes. “Tell me you have clothes on.”

“No, but you were about to get everyone in this hotel in a hissy fit from your screaming and pounding, so we had no choice but to answer. Give me a second.”

I face the wall while a million questions float through my head. “I don’t understand. When did you get here, Geoff?”

“A couple days ago. I’m here as long as Blake is since I can work remotely,” he says. “And may I say it’s cold as fuck and nothing like New York City here, contrary to what Blake told me you said.”

“Have you two just been in bed the whole time?”

“Pretty much,” Blake says. “You can turn around now.”

I do but cover my eyes and slowly look through the cracks between my fingers until I see it’s safe. Blake is in sweats and Geoff must have gone to take a shower because the bathroom door is shut now.

“I can’t believe you. I’ve been so lonely,” I say.

“Didn’t Will arrive the other night?”

“He did, but he took the red-eye back to Arizona. Said he probably won’t be able to get here until a week before the wedding.”

Blake’s face transforms into that expression that makes it clear he’s thinking, What a douche. But he says, “Well, after the whole scene you and Lance made that day with the itinerary, I figured you needed some space to explore this.”

My head rears back. “Explore what?”

“You and him. Is it really over?”

I scoff. “It’s been over since my freshman year in college.” I sit in the chair in the corner of the room and cross my legs. I’m wearing a pair of gray pants and a long-sleeve shirt with a vest.

“I like this pared-down version of you.”

I touch my hair, that’s pulled back into a ponytail. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”

He shakes his head. “It just seems to suit you here. You look like you belong.”

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