Page 94 of Dirty Little Mistake

He shook his head. "I didn't tell him, I swear, but..." My brows pulled together. "Don't be mad at her. I think she maybe thought she was helping me."

"Who?"

"Harlow," he said. "I told Harlow. I really didn't think she'd tell him, though."

"I'm not mad." I traced patterns in the damp sand with my toe, watching the waves erase them. "I just want things to go back to normal. Where we are all friends."

Trystan's hands found my hips, his fingers splaying possessively as he pulled me against his chest. "I don't want to be your friend."

"Not you." A smile tugged at my lips despite everything. "I want you and Owen to be friends again, and I want us all to be able to breathe the same air without that awkward tension filling every room."

His thumb brushed circles against my hipbone. "It will come again." The setting sun caught his eyes. "Once Owen meets someone, he'll let this all go."

"And you? Can you let it go?"

His forehead dropped to mine, his breath warm against my lips. "I can. I can do anything for you."

Chapter 46

Trystan

The wedding reception pressed in around me—a suffocating maze of clinking glasses and too-loud laughter. Every face I passed was wrong. Not her. Not her. Not her.

Through gaps in the crowd, I caught glimpses of my brother spinning his new bride across the dance floor. Their joy was infectious, spreading through the room like champagne bubbles. But watching them only highlighted the hollow ache in my chest, the weight of chances I'd nearly lost. For the first time ever, I could see myself waiting at the altar from my bride—for my Camryn.

The music shifted into a slower melody. Bodies swayed, couples drew closer, and I saw her. Cam. The sight of her hit like a physical force, stealing my breath. She stood at the edge of the crowd, one hand absently toying with the stem of her champagne glass. The way her ocean blue dress hugged her curves had me biting my bottom lip as I pictured ripping it off her.

God, she was beautiful. And terrifying. Looking at her now, I could see every possible future stretching out before us. Every way, I could lose her again. Every way, I could finally, finally get it right.

She hadn't noticed me yet. I had a moment to drink her in—the way her hips moved to the music, like no one was watching, made my pulse quicken. After three hours of polite small talk and mandatory photos, this was the first time I'd felt like I could breathe all day.

Her eyes found mine across the room, and everything else fell away.

I slipped behind her, my hands finding her hips. "You look so fucking beautiful," I purred against her ear as my fingers tightened around her hips, and I tugged her flush against me as her hips swayed with the music. "And I really want to kiss you." Her body melted into mine. I pressed my lips to the sensitive spot just below her ear. "Do you want to get out of here and get some fresh air?"

"Yes." Her shoulders relaxed like she'd been holding the weight of the world. "I need a break from peopling." Camryn was a people person, a social butterfly, but it was obvious she was overwhelmed right now. She'd come here a few days ago as Owen's girlfriend, and now she was mine, and that left a lot of questioning and judgmental looks from friends and family. Technically, we'd never publicly dated, so no one knew the background story between her and me.

What pissed me off the most was that she was taking the brunt of it, not the one who cheated on her. Then again, they didn't know that because she wouldn't tell them. She'd said it wasn't anyone's business. She was trying to be the bigger person, but it infuriated me that Owen allowed people to think this was her fault.

I laced my fingers through hers, and the crowd seemed to sense our need to escape, parting just enough to let us slip through.

The cool night air hit us when we pushed through the doors. Music became muffled, replaced by the distant rhythm of waves. Cam's shoulders dropped on an exhale that seemed to come from her soul.

"Watch your step," I murmured, leading her down the wooden path.

The wood gave way to sand gradually, like the beach was reaching for us. When Cam's bare feet hit the sand, she curled her toes into it with a soft sound of pleasure that shot straight through me.

I spun her around and pulled her into a hug.

"It's so quiet out here." She nuzzled against my chest, voice soft. "It's nice."

My fingers combed through her hair, soft strands catching the moonlight. "It's been a long day."

"It's been a long week."

Sand shifted beneath my feet as I turned toward the shoreline. "You want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

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