She nodded. “I should have. Only...”
“Go on,” he repeated.
“Only, you are a gorgeous, successful man. What sane woman wants to tell you she wasn’t worth hanging on to by any man she’s ever dated?”
“You don’t believe that, do you?”
She shrugged. “Not really.”
“Wherein lies the problem. Have you ever considered that there were other reasons why your relationships don’t work out?”
McKenzie took a deep breath, stared out at the pond. “It really is beautiful here, isn’t it?”
“Is that how you deal with things you don’t want to deal with? Change the subject?”
“You want me to go into the details of my breakup with Clay? Or give you all the details of my breakup with Paul?”
“It’s not on the top of the list of conversations I’d like to have with you, but if it would help you to talk about it, I’m game.”
Why was she getting upset with him again? She’d spent the entire day planning to let him know how much she regretted their disagreement the night before.
She winced. “I don’t want to talk about any man but you, Ryder. I want to talk about us, about what’s happening between us.”
His lips pressed to a thin line.
“Don’t confuse this weekend with something real, McKenzie. You’re on the rebound and that makes everything feel more intense.”
She opened her mouth to correct him, but he pulled her to him, silencing her just as she realized someone was nearing the gazebo.
“Is everything okay?”
Reva! McKenzie should have known the photographer would want photos at the gazebo and creek.
Rather than answer her cousin with words, because words failed her, McKenzie placed her hands against Ryder’s cheeks, stood on tiptoes and kissed him.
Because if she couldn’t tell him with words how she was feeling, maybe she could show him.
* * *
It’s for show, Ryder reminded himself.
That was the only reason McKenzie was kissing him. Because her cousin, Jeremy and the photographer had walked up on their discussion, and true to everything about this weekend for McKenzie, she didn’t want there to be the slightest dark cloud on her cousin’s big day.
Ryder should care that he was being used, should pull away. He did care.
But this was what he’d agreed to.
For all intents and purposes, he had agreed to be used.
So, he kissed McKenzie back as if he believed she was kissing him because she wanted to kiss him rather than to reassure their audience who might have picked up on their tension.
He kissed her as if the sweetness with which she caressed his face was a true lover’s touch.
“Ahem,” the photographer interrupted.
Ryder’s gaze locked with McKenzie’s, he waited for her to pull away from him. Slowly, she did so, her eyes hazy, her lips plump from their kiss, as she turned toward her cousin.
“Oh, sorry. We just needed a few minutes to ourselves. You know how it is.” With that, McKenzie grabbed his hand. “We’ll get out of the way.”