“Ahem.”
Oh, crap. She’d forgotten about Maverick, standing there this whole time, and no doubt overhearing bits and pieces of their private conversation. “I don’t suppose you tuned all that out, did you?” she asked him.
“Nope.”
At his smug expression, she pressed her back straighter. Maverick Owens didn’t think she had what it took to enjoy herself on a ranch, and she’d like nothing more than to prove him wrong. She’d have a heart-to-heart with Reed, root for her best friend and the MOH to have a good time together, and put this country boy in his place.
“Looks like you’re stuck with me for the week now,” she said, matching his stance by crossing her arms.
“Awesome,” Andrew said from next to her. “I’ll go finish checking in and then grab our bags from the car and put them in our room. We’re in the main house, room number six. Meet you there in a few minutes.” He kissed her cheek and took off, leaving her alone with the one man on the planet she’d hoped never to see again, let alone be stuck with on the same property.
“I should go, too,” she said, more than ready to walk away.
“What’s really going on?” Maverick asked, always so suspicious.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a far greater chance of Andrew and me celebrating an anniversary than the two of you. You guys are like brother and sister.”
He knew. Of course he knew.
The man was annoyingly smart and intuitive and paid attention to everything around him.
“It’s none of your business,” Kennedy said. Especially since she was crashing a wedding and possibly stopping it from happening.
“Not true. The ranch is my business.”
“Okay, but I’m not. Just pretend you never saw me. It sounds like the ranch will be overrun with wedding guests this week, so you can focus on them.” She would be—at least in the sense of blending in. She bet there were daily activities, each an opportunity to sneak in a conversation with Reed and/or gather intelligence on the engaged couple.
His chiseled jaw tensed. “You’re really staying?”
“Yes.”
He looked further dismayed.
“What?” She objected to his visible malaise and put her hands on her hips in case her tone of voice wasn’t clear enough. What did her length of stay matter to him?
…
What indeed? Maverick Owens had planned to do what he always did when there were big events on the ranch: make himself as scarce as possible, keeping to the animals rather than the people. But five minutes in Kennedy Martin’s surprising presence had him changing his mind. Suddenly, there was nothing he wanted more than to once again ruffle her pretty feathers. In college she’d proven a worthy adversary, their competitions some of his favorite days.
He didn’t like feeling this way. Correction: he didn’t want to feel this way. This urgent desire to have some fun with her, to pick up where they’d left off all those years ago. That her caramel-colored eyes sparkled with intelligence and defiance didn’t help matters.
“Well?” she said, clearly impatient with his silence.
Which only made him want to stay quiet. She’d been a thorn in his side from the first day they’d met in Biology 101, always offering unsolicited advice and vying for the best grades. The only time she’d given him some peace and quiet was when he got a TA position over her. Yeah, she hadn’t liked that.
The antagonism between the two of them became something of a spectator sport, classmates taking bets on the country boy versus the city girl. But now they were on his turf, not the urban collegiate environment she’d thrived in.
“Fine,” she said, intruding on his memories. She struggled to lift one heel, then the other, from the confines of the damp grass, so he offered his arm for leverage before he could rethink it. She reluctantly wrapped her soft hand around his forearm and freed herself. Her touch warmed his skin.
“Fine?” When a woman said “fine” it meant anything but.
“That’s right. It’s clear we can’t remain in the same space together, so like I said, pretend you never saw me.” She took one step and almost sank back into the earth.
Impossible. He still saw her occasionally in his thoughts, even after all these years. “I hope you brought some appropriate footwear,” he countered, falling in step beside her. He didn’t want her to trip and dirty those nice white pants. Yeah, you do, the devil on his shoulder said.
“Don’t worry about what I did or didn’t bring with me.”
“I give consideration to every guest who stays on this property.” Technically, guest relations fell to his older brother Cole and sister-in-law Bethany, but Kennedy didn’t need to know that.
“Isn’t there a mule you need to see to?” she huffed out.
Eventually. Not while he had Kennedy exasperated. Which got him thinking further… “Jeans and cowboy boots don’t seem like your style.”
“You know nothing about my style.”
He knew something. In college, Mondays were black pencil skirts and heels, like she had a corporate job to go to after class. Fridays were casual pants and heels. On the occasion he ran into her over the weekend, she’d wear a flowery dress and heels. Not that he ever took notice of those things…much.
“I know the wedding we have scheduled this week is the reason you’re here.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Okay, I suspect that’s the reason, given what I overheard.”
She stopped dead in her high-heeled tracks. Pushed her shoulders back like that might gift her a few inches in stature. Nice try, but nope. She still came eye level to his chest. “It’s very rude to eavesdrop.”
“Is it eavesdropping if I’m standing in clear view a few feet away?”
“What exactly did you overhear?”
“You know the groom and…” He studied her pretty face. “You’re worried he’s making a mistake.”
Her lips parted in surprise, her head tilting a few degrees to the left. A couple of seconds of silence ticked by before she said, “Please disregard everything you heard.”
Something in her tone had him heeding her dismissal instead. “I can’t do that.”
“You mean you won’t.”
He ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t want any trouble, and he was certain he was looking at it. She hadn’t been invited to the wedding, yet here she stood. She and Reed obviously had history. The kind of history to warrant questionable, albeit compassionate behavior. She cared about people, always had, but what were her motives here?