And then it struck him how very much like life falling snow could be. It looked great at first glance, but within minutes all you had left was yellow snow and gray streets. Nothing ever stayed pure and fresh—which was why he avoided romantic entanglements.
It wasn’t because the only woman he really wanted didn’t want him. No. All he needed was a warm body in bed every once in a while and he was good to go. It didn’t matter who she was or where he found her. Intimacy was overrated and overbearing.
Unfortunately, the more he told himself that…the less he believed it.
Chapter Two
Kiersten glanced in the mirror and smoothed her hair back out of her eyes with a trembling hand. Tonight, she was going to do something completely out of character. Terrifyingly so. When she had been sitting in the bleachers earlier, reflecting on the fact that today was supposed to have been her wedding day, she’d compared her life now to what she’d expected it to be. And quite honestly…it sucked. Pete was probably married to his skanky secretary by now. Blissfully and happily getting ready to raise cheating little babies to match their cheating, lying parents.
While she hadn’t even gotten laid since the break-up.
Today was supposed to have been her special day—the day she said I do. As the time had ticked down on Chris’s game, it also had ticked down on her contentment to just…be alone. Then it came to her—she didn’t have to be alone tonight. She could give a final fuck-you-Pete and sleep with the one man Pete had always been threatened by.
Garrett.
Pete would never know, but she would.
And it would feel good.
Now all she needed to do was tell Garrett.
She hoped she hadn’t misread the interest in his eyes. And hoped he wouldn’t turn her down. She was choosing him as her target because of three reasons. One? Proximity. He was coming to her place tonight anyway. Two? He used to have a crush on her back in high school and probably still wondered what it would be like between them, so less likely to reject her. And three? That whole secret fuck-you factor he would give her.
Maybe it was childish but so what? Pete had decided he loved to bang his secretary more than he loved Kiersten, so why shouldn’t she celebrate tonight with a little too much wine and a good bout of forbidden sex?
And hopefully some sore legs tomorrow.
Yeah. That’s so what she’d envisioned for this day when they had sent those save the date cards out.
Kiersten sent a quick goodnight text to Chris, who was sleeping over at his cousins’ house, and hurriedly brushed her hair. At most, she only had thirty minutes before Garrett arrived—and the furriness of her legs appalled her more than words could say. After a fast shower and an even quicker make-up session, she stood in front of her closet gripped with indecision on what to wear.
Could she really go through with this impetuous plan? Seduce one of her only friends?
When Pete had destroyed the tiny bit of faith she’d had in humanity, she had fallen to pieces. All her life, she had avoided relationships so Chris wouldn’t have a father figure enter his life and just as quickly leave. But then the one freaking time she trusted a man and let him in, he’d cheated on her with his secretary and they’d called the whole thing off.
She had been brokenhearted but Chris had been even worse off.
She would never do it again. Wouldn’t bring an unstable man into his life like she had before. She’d been right to avoid love. All the love she needed she got from her family.
But she wouldn’t think about that asshat Pete. She would drink with Garrett. Get a little stupid. Let loose. And have some casual, no strings attached sex. If she could do that with anyone in her life, it would be Garrett. He’d always been by her side, rooting her on.
Looking at her with those hot, blazing blue eyes that seemed to undress her without a simple touch. Her stomach tightened just thinking about him and that look. And given his years-long single status, he didn’t see
m to want a relationship any more than she did.
But what if he wanted more than she could give him? A series of pictures ran through her head of how he would fall in love with her and ask her to marry him. Have kids with him.
She shuddered at the mere thought.
Nah. He wouldn’t want that. He’d never even acted on his crush in high school, so how serious could it have been? Not once in all of their time together had he even given her a slight hint he wanted those things. Hot glances? Yes. Happily ever after? No.
He was like her. Independent. Unattached, and content to stay that way.
Marriage obviously wasn’t for the Worth children. The only one of them who hadn’t been messed up from their parents screwed up marriage was her older sister, Brianna. She was married with three kids. Her first husband had died, but Brianna had met another man she’d fallen head over heels in love with. Thomas Jones. Now they were married and happily living their normal lives in their normal house in their normal world.
Then there was her and Mike.
Mike didn’t spend more than a night with the same woman—if not an hour—and Kiersten refused to even try relationships ever again. She was broken. Unfixable. She didn’t want to get married, or even fall in love a second time. Didn’t want any kids besides Chris. She was fine alone.