“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. Can we get back on the road? At the rate we’re going we won’t even be in Miami until tomorrow afternoon.” She didn’t mean to come off sounding like such a bitch, but she couldn’t help it. Zach made her insides turn to mush and somehow prevented her from accessing the logical, reasonable part of her brain—the part she relied on to keep her from making a fatal political misstep.
“Yeah, sure.” He threw some bills down on the bar. “Want me to get our teas to go?”
“Fine. I’m going to hit the bathroom as long as we’re here.”
He nodded and she left him standing at the bar, eager to have a chance to regain her composure.
As she washed her hands in the bathroom sink, she took a good, long look at herself in the mirror. What was she doing in Nashville, Tennessee, with Zach Anderson? She should be in the Keys, making sure everything was ready for her brother’s wedding, not flirting with the man who broke her heart while she let him lead her around a dance floor.
The kiss he laid on her at the diner nearly knocked her off her feet, not to mention what it did to the blazing desire she’d buried deep inside when he called things off all those years ago. No matter how tempting it would be to give in to the undeniable chemistry that still sparked between them, she couldn’t. Her brother’s happiness needed to be her number one priority right now. And when she finished making sure his wedding was the most magical day of his life, she’d have to figure out her own future: take the promotion at work or turn her attention to her dad’s campaign. That left no time or room in her life for Zach.
Refocused, Reagan navigated through the late-afternoon happy hour crowd and out onto the sidewalk with Zach following behind. “Can we agree on no more detours?”
He caught up to her and took her arm. “Sorry. I was trying to show you what it would be like to have a little fun.”
She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “I know. It was sweet of you. But I can’t have fun. I can’t keep pretending that you and I never… that there was never something between us. That I haven’t thought about you, missed you, wondered what in the world happened to you over the years.”
She turned her back to him, curled her head down and rubbed her fingers under her eyes. “I need to get to that island. My family is counting on me. The wedding is supposed to be one of the best days of Teddy’s life.”
He gently twirled her around to face him. “I’m sorry, Reagan.”
A shiver raced through her. What in the world was she doing? She couldn’t let herself entertain the kind of thoughts she’d been having about Zach. How the feel of his chest pressed against hers made her toes curl. Or how the touch of his strong, capable hands on the small of her waist made her want to feel his fingers on every square inch of her body.
“Sorry about what?”
“All of it. I’m sorry I’m not the guy you needed me to be.” He didn’t meet her gaze, instead stared at a fixed point behind her. “And that I never was.”
She wanted to grab hold of his shirt and shake him, scream in his face that he had been the man she needed. But he’d given up too easy. Told her he decided he couldn’t hack the long distance thing, that he wanted to have fun before he had to grow up and be an adult.
When she decided she was ready for romance, she’d find someone who fit into her current life. Not someone who would give up so easily or take off on a moment’s notice. She needed a man capable of performing the balancing act she’d perfected so many years ago. If her dad’s campaign proved successful, she could end up daughter to the next Vice President of the United States. It wouldn’t do her father any good to have his daughter messing around with a vagabond photographer incapable of putting down roots.
Shaking her head, she dismissed the kind of thoughts she wouldn’t let herself entertain. “Let’s go.”
Zach kept step with her as she made her way down the sidewalk. “I surrender. No more fun. I promise.”
She stopped in her tracks. His jaw ticked and some sort of frosty shield slid over his eyes making her feel like a lot more than eighteen inches of concrete stood between them.
“That’s not what I meant.” She deliberately softened her tone. It wasn’t his fault she’d gotten herself into this mess. “I don’t expect you to totally understand. I really need to get to Miami.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He gestured to a tourist trap gift shop at the corner. “Did you want a T-shirt?”
“No, I can wait.”
“I guess that means you don’t mind my crabs.” His eyebrows lifted and the teasing tone returned to his voice.
Reagan couldn’t help but grin, even as she shook her head. “Yeah, maybe you ought to keep your crabs to yourself. A fresh shirt would be nice.”
“Here, you go ahead. I’ll be right there.” Zach handed her the keys before he ducked into the shop.
She made it to the car and slid into the passenger seat. While she waited for him to return, she reached for the cupcake box. It couldn’t be more than sixty-five degrees outside, but sitting in the backseat of a warm car hadn’t been kind to her desserts. Icing that had piled high on the remaining confections had melted a bit. Half of them sat lopsided, like a sugar-happy drunk had slopped goop all over the tops and called it good. Aw, crap. Let no good deed go unpunished. Reagan wondered whether she or the cupcakes would make it to Miami in better shape.
Maybe a little cool air would help. She turned on the car and angled the vent to blow into the box in an attempt to prevent a buttercream meltdown.
The sound of the door opening startled her.
“Any more casualties you need me to put out of their misery?” Zach asked.
“No. No more cupcakes for you. I can’t believe I didn’t think to take them in with us. They’re going to turn into a runny mess. I doubt they’re even still edible.”
Zach tossed a hot pink shirt at her then climbed in, shifted into reverse, and backed out of the spot. “It’s the thought that counts, you know. I’ll be sure to vouch for you when you hand them over.”
“Vouch for me?” Reagan leaned back against the passenger side door. “What makes you think you’re going to even see my family?” No way would she let him tag along. She’d stick with him until they reached Miami, then find her own way to the island. The last thing she needed was to show up with Zach.
“You don’t think Daddy Dearest would be happy to see me again?”
“What exactly do you have against my dad? What’s he ever done to you?” She was used to meeting people who were turned off by her dad’s politics, but with Zach it seemed more personal.
“Forget about it. Aren’t you going to change into the shirt I got you?” He cut across two lanes of traffic and gunned it onto the entrance ramp to I-40 East.
Reagan closed the lid of the box and reached back to set it on the seat behind them. She held up the hot pink tee and let her gaze flick over the slogan on the front. “’This cupcake found her stud muffin in Nashville, Tennessee?’”
Zach’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “Is that what it says? Darn, I thought I’d grabbed a plain one.”