“We are still not moving, and I just told you, he’s going to come after me. As fast as he can.”
His jaw locked. “Because he loves you so freaking much.”
“What?”
Nash sucked in a breath. Then let it go. He’d sounded snarly and jealous. His bad. Unfortunately, he was snarly and jealous, and dammit, had she just gotten more beautiful over the years?
He was pretty sure she had.
As he drank her in, she hopped off the motorcycle and hurried to stand right in front of him. “Let me be very clear with you.”
Great. She could be clear with him, and then he could break the news about the groom to her.
“Kurt Wellington doesn’t love me at all.” Her head tipped back. She was small. Always had been. Small. Delicate. Breakable. She barely clocked in around five-foot-three, while he was an easy six-foot-four. He outweighed her by a hundred pounds. Had, even when they’d been in high school. He’d been defensive line. She’d twirled a baton during halftime with the band, and one year that baton had been on fire because Delaney had wanted to?—
“Just what did Agnes tell you?” Delaney asked as her hands went to her hips.
Ah. Agnes. His sister had been the one to aim him when he’d been hunting for Delaney. “She gave me your location. Said I had to stop the wedding.” But, fun fact, that agenda item had already been on his list before he’d gotten the call from his sister.
“And that’s it?” Her voice rose. “She just said for you to stop the wedding?”
His arms crossed over his chest. “Was there more?”
“Yes, a lot more!” Her hands left her hips to fly angrily into the air. “I wasn’t sure if she got both texts. I barely had the chance to hit send on the second one before Kurt took my phone.” Her breath shuddered out. “The first text did have the address of the church. I know that one got through. I heard the little swoosh as it was sent. The first text included the time and date for the ceremony. And it said please stop the wedding. But I sent a second text explaining why and…” Her shoulders fell. “She didn’t get the second message?”
As far as he knew, nope, she had not. “Agnes didn’t know why you wanted out of your wedding. Just said that you needed help. Agnes was too far away, she couldn’t get here fast enough, so she called in me and my brother Ryan.” One shoulder rolled. “I was closer than Ryan, so that’s why I’m here.” I actually already intended to stop the wedding even before Agnes reached out to me, and I’m just trying to figure out how to explain all of this to you without causing a serious freakout.
“So…what?” Delaney took a step back. “It was between you and Ryan and…you like, drew the short straw or something and had to come charging in?”
More like he’d come flying in as fast he could, breaking every speed limit possible, his heart in his throat as he prayed that he’d get to the church before Delaney said “I do” to the dangerous jerk who would never deserve her. “Uh, yeah.” He sawed a hand over his jaw. “Something like that. You know, you could have just walked away from the guy. Probably a whole lot less dramatic than having me barge in and carry you away.”
Headlights appeared on the dark road, slicing toward them.
Delaney hurtled her body at him. She shoved into him, surprisingly hard for someone of her size, and his hands automatically curled around her.
“Hide!” Delaney gasped out. “We have got to hide!”
His motorcycle was already pretty well hidden. And he’d been sticking to the shadows, too. She’d been the most visible, especially since she still sported half of a white wedding dress. He whirled fast, putting himself in front of her and caging her between his body and the brick wall on the side of the gas station.
The headlights rushed past them. The vehicle never slowed. Correction, two vehicles. No, three. They all blazed past the shuttered gas station.
“I bet that’s him,” she whispered. “Kurt said he wasn’t going to just let me go.”
“Guess he wants you very badly.” Something Nash could understand. His hands were on her shoulders. Her scent—jasmine—teased his nose. “Guess he loves you, too.” The sonofabitch.
“No, he doesn’t love me.” Very definite.
In the dark, he frowned down at her.
“He wants to kill me.”
Nash’s body stiffened. Wait, hold up. Does she already know that her groom is?—
“Kurt wants to kill me,” she repeated. “As in, if you hadn’t come roaring to the rescue on your bike, I would have never lived past my honeymoon.”
He didn’t have a response. Mostly because there were some things he was not supposed to tell her. Confidential, classified things.
“You think I didn’t try to leave him?” Delaney fired at him.
