That Summer Night (Callaways #6) (24 page)

Not that it should matter to her. They were two ships passing in the night. By morning, all evidence that they'd ever been in the same hemisphere would probably be gone.

She found that thought a little disappointing, but she forced a smile on her face. She'd brought Reid to the wedding so everyone would believe she was okay and happy. She couldn't defeat that purpose by looking glum or worried.

Her smile continued through a flurry of photos taken on the steps of the church with the bridal party and various family shots. Finally, she was done. She walked over to Reid, who was chatting with her cousin Lauren, an attractive twenty-nine-year-old news reporter.

Shayla had never been particularly close to Lauren, who was five years older than her, but she'd always admired her ambition and work ethic. Lauren had spent most of her twenties doing on-air reporting from small towns, to medium towns, and finally to San Francisco. She'd always enjoyed Lauren's stories of adventure and dating. Now, however, she felt a little jealous at the fact that Lauren had gotten Reid to smile. She shouldn't be surprised. Lauren had always had a way with men.

"Sorry to leave you on your own so long, Reid," she said as she joined them.

"No problem. Lauren was keeping me company," Reid told her.

"We were talking about my favorite bar, the Cadillac Lounge," Lauren added. "I thought Reid looked familiar, and it turns out we've both been in the bar a lot in the last few months. My friend, Kelly, is a waitress there, and Reid's friend, Jared, is the owner."

"Yes, I know." She wondered if they'd made a date to meet up at the bar later or next week or whenever. "We should probably go to the reception," she said, unable to keep the sharp edge out of her voice.

"We'll talk again soon, Reid," Lauren said with a flirtatious smile. "Maybe I'll see you at the bar."

"Good chance of that," he replied.

"Looks like you made a friend," Shayla said, unable to keep the edge out of her voice.

"A very pretty friend."

She shot him an irritated look. "You're supposed to be my date, you know."

He raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

"Don't be ridiculous. But if you're flirting with my cousin, my family isn't going to believe you're with me."

"I don't think you have to worry about your family. Your grandmother told everyone I was your boyfriend. I think she's convinced your parents we're close to making our own walk down the aisle."

She stopped walking. "Seriously? Why didn't you stop her?"

"She's a sweet old lady, and I didn't want to upset her."

She supposed she should be happy about that, but now she was going to have to answer a lot more questions. "Fine, I'll deal with all that later."

"Good idea. Next week you can tell everyone I'm a jerk, and you dumped me."

"Right. That's what I'll do. It won't be that difficult to say actually."

The scowl returned to his face. "What's the problem, Shayla?"

"Nothing."

"If you say what you want, you might get it."

She thought about his suggestion and decided to take him up on it. "Fine. I don't want you to flirt with Lauren tonight or anyone else for that matter."

He stared back at her, a serious gleam in his eyes. "Then I won't. I'm all yours, Doc."

She licked her lips, wishing that were actually true. On the other hand, if he were all hers, would she be able to handle him? She was used to being in control, but with Reid there was no chance of that happening. And that was both a terrifying and exciting thought.

"Let's go to the reception," she said, turning away from his gaze. She had the feeling he could read her mind, and if he really wanted to give her what she wanted, how would she be able to say no?

* * *

Despite Reid having told her he was all hers, Shayla found herself watching him from a distance on more than one occasion. Every time she left him to do some bridesmaid's task, someone from her family came over to talk to him. Now, it was Aiden, who had slid into her empty chair and engaged Reid in conversation. The two men were joking and laughing, and why wouldn't they get along? Reid was a lot like the men in her family.

She stopped at the bar to grab a glass of champagne, even though the last thing she needed to be doing was drinking.

"Your boyfriend is hot," Emma said, joining her. "Why have I not heard about this guy before tonight? It seems strange, since Reid and Robert are brothers."

She wasn't surprised that Emma would be the first to interrogate her. Her sister loved putting puzzles together, and clearly she was not buying their story.

"It's a new thing," she said, sipping her champagne.

"He's not at all like the nerds you usually date."

She would have liked to argue that point, but she couldn't. "Not at all," she agreed with a little sigh.

Emma gave her a sharp look. "Okay, now I think I'm wrong, which is unusual, since I am rarely wrong. I thought he was just a cover so you wouldn't have to answer questions about Colombia, but you like him. You actually like him, don't you?"

She couldn't say he was just a cover, since that would defeat the purpose of him being a cover. And she couldn't say she didn't like him, because Emma wouldn't believe her.

"I'm going to take your silence as a yes," Emma said.

"Take it any way you want," she said, draining her glass. "I'm going to rescue Reid."

"Are you sure it isn't the other way around?"

She set down her empty glass on the bar. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'm still not buying your story. Robert is missing. You show up with his sexy brother, who also happens to be ex-military, and from what I could Google on my phone, quite the hero."

"You looked him up? When?"

"When I went to the ladies room ten minutes ago."

"It's my business, Em. I don't need you in it."

"You're my little sister. Of course I'm in your business."

"I'm a grown woman and a doctor, I can take care of myself." She started to walk away, but Emma put a hand on her arm.

"Shayla, where's Robert?" Emma asked abruptly.

She stared back at her sister. "I don't know."

"He's in trouble though, isn't he?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "Will you let go of my arm, please?"

"In a minute. You're in trouble as well, am I right?"

"I'm fine. I'm handling things."

"Reid is helping you," Emma said, making it more of a statement than a question.

"Yes," she answered, deciding to tell at least that little bit of truth.

Emma nodded. "Good. He looks like someone who can handle a problem. But if you need more help, you know we're all here for you."

"I don't want to involve the family in this. Please don't tell anyone what I said."

"Only if you promise to call me if things get out of control."

Things had been out of control for a while, but she didn't want to get Emma worked up. "I promise. It's really all about Robert, Emma. He's the one I'm worried about, not myself."

"Okay. I hope he's all right."

"So do I. May I go now?"

"Can I give you some advice first?"

"Can I stop you?" she asked with a sigh.

"Be careful."

"I'm being very careful."

"I'm not talking about whatever is going on with Robert; I'm talking about your heart. I have a feeling that guy over there has broken a lot of hearts."

"You don't have to worry. It's not like that with us. I'm not going to give him my heart."

Emma didn't look like she believed her. "For all you act like you're all brains and no emotion, we both know that's not true Shayla."

"I know what I'm doing," she said, hoping that was true. "And right now all I'm going to do is rescue Reid from Dad," she added, seeing her father sitting down at the table with Aiden and Reid. "God only knows what he'll say."

"Let Reid handle it."

"Why?"

"Because you need to know if he can."

She looked into Emma's eyes and knew exactly what her sister meant. "I would only need to know that if we were really dating."

"Still…"

"What are we talking about?" Nicole interrupted.

"Nothing," Shayla said hastily, sending Emma a pointed look.

"Good," Nicole said. "Because Megan wants one more photo of all the bridesmaids in front of the cake. She promises this is the last photo."

"Okay," Shayla agreed, giving Reid one last look. He was laughing at something her father had said.

"He's fine," Emma said, sliding her arm around Shayla's waist. "And you're the worst liar in the family."

"I already knew that," she said.

"You do like him, don't you?"

"I really wish I didn't."

"I know that feeling. Falling in love is scary stuff."

"I'm not going to fall."

Emma smiled. "I have a feeling that's already happened."

"Let's go take that picture," she said. "Today is about Ria and Drew, not about me."

* * *

Shayla didn't catch up to Reid for another twenty minutes as one photo turned into two. Then there were toasts followed by the traditional toss of the bouquet and the garter.

As Shayla lined up with the other single women, she saw Reid talking to her sister-in-law, Sara. Sara had baby Chloe in her arms, and Reid was smiling at the happy child.

He tried to act like a loner and a hard-ass, but there was a whole lot of love inside Reid. He just kept it bottled up most of the time. His relationship with his family had probably started the cycle of self-protection. He couldn't care too much in case someone didn't care back. And Lisa had finished that cycle, destroying his love with the worst kind of betrayal. It was no wonder that Reid trusted only a few people, people that had already proved they would die for him, just as he would die for them.

But he needed to be able to trust beyond his band of brothers. She wondered what it would take to make that happen.

Probably more time than she had. Tomorrow Reid would be off to save Robert. They might never see each other again.

The thought made her feel a little sick.

"Ladies," Ria said, grabbing the microphone from the band. "Are you ready?"

Shayla was pushed to the side as Lauren joined the crowd.

"Gotta get a good spot," Lauren said with a wide smile.

"Have at it. I am not interested in catching the bouquet."

"Still all work and no play, Shayla?"

She shrugged.

"I like your guy," Lauren said. "Is it serious?"

She started to say no, but for some reason the word would not come out of her mouth. "It might be," she said instead, knowing it was a little green-eyed monster who had made her say that.

"Well, good for you," Lauren said, but there was a gleam of disappointment in her eyes. "Let me know if you decide to throw him back into the pool. I haven't met a single guy like that in a while."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a man's man and a woman's man. You're lucky, Shay."

"Yeah," she said, her gaze drifting back to Reid. He was watching her now. She wondered if he was worried that she might actually catch the bouquet. Then there would be even more questions.

She turned back to the stage as the drumroll began. A moment later, the bouquet sailed straight towards her. The beautiful flowers would have landed in her hands if Lauren hadn't snatched them away from her at the last moment.

"Sorry, Shay," Lauren said, with absolutely no apology in her eyes. "I'm older than you. I need this more than you do."

"It's fine. I hope it brings you luck." As long as that luck didn't include Reid, she was good.

Shayla walked toward Reid, but he was being hustled onto the dance floor by her brother, Colton. Joining them was her oldest brother, Burke, several of her cousins, and a bunch of Drew's friends from the Coast Guard.

After peeling the garter off Ria's leg, Drew gave a happy grin and used the garter like a sling shot to fling it into the crowd. A couple of the guys jumped up to catch it, but Colton came down with it. He promptly put it around his bicep and announced to the ladies that he was available.

Amid the laughter, Reid came over to her. "Your brother went for that like a hungry dog after some meat. Is he that interested in getting married?"

"No, but Colton likes to win."

"I think you could say that about a lot of your family members," he said dryly.

"You've been a really good sport tonight, Reid."

"And you've been gone a lot," he said pointedly. "You missed your father's interrogation, although I saw you out of the corner of my eye having some champagne at the bar. Why didn't you rescue me?"

"I thought you could handle my father."

"He's an interesting guy. Loves to tell a story."

She smiled. "He does. I actually didn't rescue you, because I have trouble lying to my father. I start with the best intentions, a resolute spine, a stiff jaw, and then he looks at me and I crumble. It's terrible. Do you know how many times I took the fall for Colton? Who, by the way, could make any lie sound like the truth."

Reid smiled at her. "You do tend to show your emotions in your eyes."

"I do? No one has ever told me that before."

"Maybe no one looked closely enough."

She caught her breath as her heart began to beat faster the longer he looked at her. "So, anyway…" She searched for a subject change that would direct his gaze somewhere else, but she couldn't quite find it.

"Anyway," he repeated. "You owe me, Shayla."

"What do you want?"

"I'll have to think about it. I had to go through seven siblings plus grandparents plus significant others, all with questions about us. You've run up a good-sized debt, Doc."

"What did you tell them about us?"

"I stopped trying to tell them we were just friends after the third time someone laughed in my face. They all seem to think I'm special because you apparently do not bring many men around the family."

"That's true. But we both know why I brought you, and we shouldn't forget the real reason you're here." Her words took the humor out of his eyes.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten, Shayla. I know exactly why I'm here. But you still owe me." He leaned forward and pulled her hair aside to whisper in her ear. "And I am going to collect."