Flight Risk (Antiques in Flight) (21 page)

“Oh no.” Em groaned, smacked her forehead with her palm. “She’s morphing into Bad Girl Baker. Somebody stop her.”

Em wasn’t far off. Part of it was anger that Frank had actually spent an evening try to sweet talk
her
sister, enough for Em to call him handsy—a protective instinct kicking in—but part of it was something a little more self-gratifying. Callie felt old emotions rushing in to fill empty spaces, and those old emotions whispered
revenge
. Maybe it had been thirteen years since Frank Winston had made her feel like dirt, but revenge sounded really,
really
good.

Callie smiled wider, flashing her teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You shouldn’t go. You’ll end up doing something stup—” When she glared at him, Trevor searched for a better word. “Er, ill advised.”

Callie shrugged, practically giggled as her mind whirled with ideas of revenge. “It’ll be fun.”

“Trevor, you have to go with her and protect us all.” Em nudged Trevor with her elbow. “You’re the only one who can get through to her when she’s in BGB mode.”

Bad Girl Baker. Callie had missed her. The feelings of strength and purpose. New optimistic Callie was happier, but she missed this edge. This sharpness. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Yeah, you need an armed guard,” Trevor muttered.

Callie’s smile didn’t dim, and she sipped her pop thinking about all the ways to enact revenge on Frank. If he so much as laid a hand on Em that wasn’t expressly required by his groomsmen duties, well, he wouldn’t be able to walk out of Pilot’s Point.

“Who is this Frank guy, anyway?” Shelby asked.

“Just an old friend.” Callie laughed at her own joke and Shelby’s confused look.

Em cradled her chin in her hands. “Callie, you’re scaring me.”

“Oh, don’t be scared,” Callie replied. “I’m reformed, remember?”

“You don’t look reformed,” Trevor offered between bites of sandwich. He nudged her with his hip. “Go with me. It’ll be fun. I’ll keep you out of trouble.” He smiled and looked better than he had in days.

“Sure.” It would be nice to do something with Trevor again. Get away from AIF and spend some time together. Maybe it was a dangerous line to walk, but barely being a part of his life wasn’t really any better than the risk.

If letting him think he’d keep her out of trouble made him happy, it was just another benefit. Maybe with BGB taking charge, she and Trevor would finally get all the weird stuff between them out of their systems.

After she crushed Frank Winston under her heel, of course.

Trevor pulled up to Em and Callie’s cabin feeling oddly nervous. Like one might feel on a first date.

This wasn’t a date, of course. It was two friends attending a wedding together. Not to mention, he was still kind of pissed at Callie for talking to Shelby about his decision to stay or go. Added to that, she’d all but been avoiding him for weeks.

As he stepped out of the car, he wasn’t thinking about being pissed. He was thinking about dancing with Callie at the wedding.

He knocked on the door, straightened his tie, and tried to remember he wasn’t eighteen and this wasn’t prom.

No answer. Frowning, Trevor tried to doorknob and it turned easily, so he let himself inside.

“Callie?”

“Sorry,” her muffled voice called from deep inside the cabin. “I’ll be out in a second.”

“Okay.” Damned if he could shake the teenage feeling of sick nerves. What was there to be nervous about? Other than the very real possibility Callie might throw a punch tonight or worse, but he’d gotten her out of tricky situations before.

A door creaked, and when Callie stepped into view, the words rushed out of Trevor’s mouth before he had a chance to put any finesse on them.

“Holy shit.”

She grinned, sauntered toward him. “You know, Trev, that was the
exact
reaction I was hoping for.”

Trevor had to clear his throat, had to look somewhere other than the dangerous dip of her dress.

She cocked her head as she pulled some big, silvery bracelet over her hand. “You okay?”

“Fucking fantastic.” He eyed a spot on the ceiling, refused to look away from it.

She laughed, a sound low and throaty, almost like she’d started smoking again. Oh, she had something up her sleeve. Except there was no sleeve on either nicely toned arm. “There’s no chance in me convincing you BGB is a bad idea, is there?”

“It’s just for the night. Enjoy her while she lasts. I’ll shut her down in the morning.” She walked past him, close enough he realized Callie Baker was wearing perfume. It had to be a first.

When she passed him, he couldn’t keep his eyes on the ceiling. The dress was something black and lacy that clung to every angle and curve leaving very little to the imagination, especially the way she was sashaying around in black high heels. The neckline of her dress plunged low, and the skirt ended well above her knees. It showed off every last asset Callie had to offer, and Trevor was having a hard time hearing anything beyond the roaring in his ears.

Even her face was made up to look sexy. Her makeup was dark, smoky almost. Some time between yesterday and this evening she had gotten bangs. Long bangs that swept over her forehead, almost long enough to cover her eyes.

She looked like something on the cover of a dark, racy magazine. If he was going to make it through the night without having to hide behind things, he was going to have to stop looking at anything on her except the top of her head or maybe the points of her elbows.

She stood there, letting him drink it all in with an amused smile on her face. Trevor let out a long, slow breath.

“Ready?” she asked, feigning innocence.

“Not remotely.”

That had her laughing. “Come on, now. Don’t want to be late.”

Trevor tried to focus his mind on something else, but he came up blank as he followed her out to his car. Twice his eyes wandered down to her ass, and twice he had to mentally slap himself. Not the time. They had a wedding and reception to sit through, and he didn’t really want to spend the majority of that time trying to adjust himself.

Trevor started the car, gripped the steering wheel, and kept his eyes on the road. In fact, that would be his inner mantra for the drive.
Eyes on the road.

“What exactly is all this trying to prove?”
Eyes on the road. Eyes on the road. Eyes on the road
.

“I’m not trying to prove anything.” She crossed her legs and Trevor jerked the wheel when his tires hit the gravel shoulder.

“You okay to drive?”

“Yeah, just fine. You are very definitely up to something. Why don’t you tell me so I can tell you how stupid you’re being.”

“I’m not being stupid.” Some of the breezy casualness was out of her voice, which helped ease at least some of the tension in his shoulders.

“Is this all some sort of elaborate plan to get Frank back for what he did to you? Because this obviously isn’t all about protecting Em. If you haven’t noticed, she’s a grown woman.”

She crossed her arms under her chest, which pushed her breasts up against the skintight fabric.
Eyes on the road. Eyes on the road. You’ve seen plenty of breasts in your life. There are nothing special about those. Kind of.

“Just because I want to look decent at a wedding in which many of my exes will be in attendance doesn’t mean I have a plan. I’m going to keep an eye on my sister and have a free meal.”

Trevor snorted. “You don’t just look decent.”

“I don’t?”

“No, you look evil.” Her smile spread slowly and Trevor had to jerk his eyes to the road again.

“I like that.”

“It’s been a long time since we were sixteen. Can’t you cut the guy some sla—”

“I don’t care how old we were. He talked me into having sex for my first time after my grandma dies, and then he breaks up with me about five minutes after it’s over. Sorry, even sixteen isn’t an excuse for being that big of an asshole.”

“Maybe not, but I broke his nose over it.”

“Yeah, you
. You.
Not me. I didn’t do shit except let my friend stand up for me. Well, tonight it’ll be me breaking his nose. Figuratively, of course.”

Trevor sighed, momentarily sidetracked by her words enough to fight the distraction of her body. “Please do not get arrested for assault tonight. I don’t have the pull I used to at county.”

She leaned over, patted his cheek. “Oh, don’t you worry. Frank’s just going to get a taste of what he missed out on. Is that so wrong? And it’ll keep his slimy paws away from Em.”

“I don’t know if it’s wrong, but is it necessary? You’re hot without the skimpy dress and all the shit on your face. You’re happy, aren’t you? Happiness is supposed to be the best revenge.”

“I’ll point out that you’re pretty affected by the skimpy dress and the shit on my face. And, yes, I am happy, but it’s really not enough unless I rub it in his face, is it?”

“It should be enough.” Trevor pulled into the parking lot of the church, dread and arousal fighting for prominence.

“It’s not.” She stepped out of the car, and it was like stepping back in time. She was someone he didn’t know what to do with, someone he desperately wanted to help, but didn’t know how.

As the fighting gleam of BGB took over, Trevor had a very, very bad feeling.

Chapter Sixteen

Callie definitely underestimated the challenge of enacting revenge. Especially revenge she hadn’t totally formulated in her head before she’d arrived at the reception. No matter how many times she’d tried to put together a fully thought out plan, nothing really gelled.

She powered forward. Looking really hot was the first step, and Frank approaching her had been the second. His eyes weren’t on Em, and that was the important thing. Maybe Em
could
take care of herself, but she was too nice to be forceful about it. Callie didn’t have that problem.

Now she was stuck standing around listening to Frank feign heartbreak over his recent divorce, which, according to most sources, was completely fictional.

She believed small town gossip way more than she believed Frank Winston.

Callie sighed and looked down at her drink. Now that they were in the midst of the reception and everyone around her was having fun, she felt foolish. If happiness was the best revenge, she was failing because she didn’t feel happy. She felt sleazy.

She snuck a look at Trevor who was smiling and laughing with a small group of people from high school who’d left Pilot’s Point. Figured. He would gravitate toward that crowd. Then there was Em on the dance floor with Pete, laughing at his awkward movements. Pete might be a wuss, but he was keeping Em occupied and out of Frank’s line of sight.

Everyone was having fun, enjoying themselves, not worried about high school hurts or slights. And she was standing here with some creep who kept staring at her chest while trying to drum up some sympathy from her.

He seemed to really think he had a shot of getting her to have sex with him again, and that was almost laughable enough to put a smile on her face. She looked at Trevor who was smiling at some blonde she didn’t recognize. Any threat of a smile immediately vanished.

Frank was droning on about his job, how wonderful it was, all the while not-so-subtly inching closer. Callie forced a smile, but her eyes drifted to Trevor. This time, his eyes met hers. She tried to keep the smile in place, but it faltered.

God, she was an idiot.

Callie turned her attention to Frank and tried to get a word in edgewise so she could make her escape. This wasn’t worth it. No matter what he’d done to her so many years ago, it didn’t matter. He was a pretentious, blabbering idiot. Her life wasn’t perfect, but it certainly didn’t revolve around what Frank had done to her.

When he put a hand on her shoulder, let it slide down her arm, Callie had the very real sensation of wanting to gag.

“There you are, sweetheart.” Trevor’s arm came in, slid around her waist and pulled her close and away from Frank.

Callie tensed a little, but then smiled up at him. He always knew right when to swoop in, didn’t he? Part of her wanted to be irritated by that, but he felt too good next to her to manage it. Besides, she’d been failing at making her own escape.

Frank’s prominent nose wrinkled at Trevor’s appearance.

“Heya, Frank,” Trevor greeted cheerfully. “Your nose healed just right, didn’t it? Can’t tell it was ever broken.” He tapped his own nose with a grin Callie had to match.

“Steele.” Frank sneered his greeting. He obviously held a grudge too.

“I’m going to have to steal my date away for a bit.” Trevor aimed his smile down at Callie.

Frank studied Callie, Trevor’s arm intimately linked around her waist. “Date?”

“Didn’t you see us sitting together?” Callie leaned into Trevor, amused at Frank’s irritation. Apparently he’d really thought he had his mojo working. Maybe there was a little sliver of revenge for the taking after all.

“I thought you two were just friends.” Frank took a long drink from his glass, his eyes searching the room as if he was already planning his next conquest.