There was no way Kat would give him a second look and he knew it, hence the games.
“You doing okay?”
Would everyone just stop asking him that? Sure, he was having some kind of internal crisis right now. But he didn’t need people noticing. This would pass.
“Is it Wendy?” Kat prodded.
He stiffened. This was certainly not about Wendy. He’d been honest when he’d told Leo that nothing good would come from spending time with that woman. She loathed him. Somehow, somewhere along the line, he’d offended her.
Heck, he didn’t know her well enough to decide if her grudge against him had something to do with the games he’d played to get Leo to admit he had feelings for Kat.
Could that be it? The only way she would have heard about it would be through his cousins, so maybe not.
Wendy did seem to have a great deal of loyalty when it came to her family and friends. He wasn’t sure how close Wendy had gotten with his cousins’ significant others but anything was possible. Maybe all he had to do was apologize…
Wait, what was he thinking? He didn’t do anything wrong. He’d never tried to steal Kat’s affections. He’d merely suggested to Leo that he’d willingly sweep Kat off her feet if Leo wasn’t man enough to do it himself.
He scowled and Leo grunted something under his breath. That was enough to force Tripp to focus again. “I’m fine. Just distracted.” Before Kat could suggest it had something to do with Wendy, he muttered, “And no, it has nothing to do with Wendy Scott, so just drop it.” He gave Kat a hard look, to which Leo grumbled something else that sounded suspiciously like ‘watch it’.
The conversation shifted quickly away from him and to other matters.
Leo draped his arm around Kat’s shoulders and pulled her close. “We decided that we’re doing a coed bachelor and bachelorette party. Seeing as the bride and groom have made this whole wedding a group affair to begin with, we thought we’d stick with that theme.”
Tripp sat up a little straighter. He hadn’t been paying all that much attention to the remaining plans until the day of thewedding. If he were honest, he figured all these group activities were what he had to expect. The bachelor party would include people who weren’t part of the wedding party. There would be more men and women than those they’d all been hanging out with.
More men, specifically.
More men who could catch a certain infuriating southern girl’s attention.
After that little stunt she pulled, she didn’t deserve to have a fun night out. She deserved a little payback. The woman didn’t understand just how bad it was that she’d poked this bear. He didn’t know what he’d do, but he did know it would be epic. Wendy would regret the day her path crossed with his.
The sensation of that kiss still lingered on his lips as he got to his feet and gathered his things. He might be a masochist because despite the pain her words inflicted, he wanted more.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
This was bad.
So, so bad.
Wendy groaned, placing her forehead in her palm as she rested her elbows on the counter.
Forty-eight hours should have been enough time for her to forget what had transpired between her and Tripp. What more did she need? Seriously!
It wasn’t just the guilt she felt over how she treated him after she’d been the one to initiate the kiss. She’d put him down. Made him feel useless. Until she met Tripp, she would have never done something like that. He managed to bring out the worst in her. While that was bad enough in and of itself, it didn’t hold most of her attention.
There was another issue that made her hate herself even more.
She’d lost count of how many times she’d allowed herself to relive that kiss. The way his lips had felt against her. The wayhe’d clung to her. The way she’d held onto him like he was life itself.
Was this how Olivia felt when she’d been with him? Wendy couldn’t fault her best friend for falling for a guy who was bad news.
Falling for a guy.
Sheesh. She was weak. When had she become soweak?
The door to the shop opened and she forced a happy smile as a couple entered. They looked young enough to be about her age and the way the girl looked at the guy said it all. Infatuation. The attraction between the two of them hummed in the air. It didn’t sizzle like what Wendy had felt for Tripp. It was sweeter. Softer.
And… boring.
