Air. Yeah. Okay, he could talk now. "They said I could bring a date."
Date.
Now she looked as if the air had left her side of the house, as well. "Thanks, but I wouldn't be comfortable, given what Kurt did." She rubbed along the scrape on her arm from the purse-snatcher's yank. "You're sweet to offer, and I will most definitely be waiting up for you."
Waiting up? Now didn't that distract him from plans for the wedding? Probably exactly what she'd intended. He strode forward, careful to keep his steps slow and unthreatening.
He stopped in front of her and tipped her chin. "What he did. You didn't do anything."
"That's exactly right. I didn't do anything. I'm having to come to peace with the fact that I didn't figure it out and stop him sooner."
He let her words rattle around in his head for a minute until he determined there wasn't a thing he could say to reassure her. Any talk would just lead to more depressing conversation, and hadn't she said often enough she wanted more smiles? Fair enough.
He could deliver.
Bo tapped her nose. "Chicken."
"What?"
"You heard me. You're a big chicken."
Uh-oh. No smile. She steamed, even stomped her foot as she stood—and looked damn cute doing it. "I'm thinking of your friends and not ruining a special day."
"They're good folks. You won't ruin a thing."
She folded her arms over her chest in a last-ditch huff. "I don't have anything to wear. I just brought shorts and a khaki skirt, and that's not nearly formal enough for a wedding."
"Naked sounds good to me, well, except I wouldn't want all those crewdog pals of mine drooling over your fabulous rack."
She blinked twice, fast, startled, then snorted on a laugh. "I'll never understand how you manage to make piggish comments sound funny and complimentary all at once."
"It's a rare gift I have." He winked.
She rolled her eyes. "You're so full of it."
"That I am." A screw-up bad boy to the end. He'd heard it since childhood. "Darcy and Max aren't formal. Their wedding's going to be laid-back, and I do mean seriously laid-back. They specifically stated, beach wear and a smile when they called a week ago.
Definitely no gold-embossed invitations for the two of them."
"How romantically impulsive."
"Actually, they've been engaged for nearly two years."
"Wow, that's a long time to wait."
Darcy had wanted Max to be sure since he'd been engaged before and the woman was murdered. Darcy's dangerous job as a military pilot didn't offer safe guarantees of a stress-free happily ever after.
How damn strange that it was Max who'd nearly died when the OSI agent had been undercover with them on the mission in Rubistan. Max had been a major player in investigating who on the base was leaking information to Kurt Haugen.
The reunion after they were released had been an odd mix of rejoicing and tense emotions. For once, he'd been glad he didn't have a family to meet him when he'd stepped off the plane. Well, actually, he'd been carried off the C-17 on a litter because he was too drugged up on painkillers to walk.
Maybe he was wrong to take Paige to the wedding....
Nah. He trusted his friends to welcome her if she came with him.
He slid his hands down her arms and let them rest on her hips, increasing the intimacy of their touching boundaries to date. Early foreplay that tormented him, sure, but the payoff would be big. "Come with me, please."
She swayed forward, just enough for their h*ps to meet, and no way would she miss how much he wanted her.