Page 36 of Almost Not Quite Engaged

This round goes to Katy.

Chapter 15

The Fairy Tale

ZANE

Maui

I hear Nate before I see her.

“Well, it’s about fucking time. Even though Mom met her this morning, I swore she was fake. Goddamn, man...” He turns back into the villa. “Zane, your piece of ass is here. And she’s way hot. I mean highly fuckable.” The groom-to-be, ladies and gentlemen.

I close my eyes for approximately one second. “Let’s be a little less rape culture at your wedding, what do you say?”

Mom runs to the door waving her arms. “Shh! Language! Nate, stop talking like we’re a family of truck drivers. Someone could hear you from the hotel. You’ll embarrass Katy and then she’ll leave us.” Us. Not me, us.

“No one else is here, Mother. We have all the villas. And she’s highly desirable with consent, of course.” He looks at me sheepishly and I nod.

I’ll give Nate this much, he’s not wrong. She’s in this vintage Hawaiian print thing that should look kitschy and instead looks like she bought it specifically to make me insane. Birdie is already lifting her arms to get the full view of it. Kat is tolerating this with the patience she probably reserves for people she’s decided to manage rather than fight. I charm and manipulate . She has a whole different way of working a room, but always in control.

I lean against the doorframe and watch her work the room. Nate guides her inside and I pull her back before she gets too far.

“Nice outfit.”

“Shut up.”

“I mean it.” My hands move down her arms, back up to her neck. “You have good shoulders.” I lean close enough that nobody else can hear.

“I don’t remember agreeing to shoulders.”

She keeps her voice very level. “I don’t plan to wear this again. So, if it rips…”

“Is that a challenge?”

She purses her lips and raises her eyebrows, and I slide my hand down to the top of her ass and give it a pat that is small enough to be deniable and large enough to make my point. “Challenge accepted.”

Why am I flirting with this infuriating woman who seems to have no direction in her own life but plenty of opinions about everyone else’s. Am I just shameless and she’s the sexy body standing near me and I can’t help it? Before either of us can do anything about that or understand what the fuck is happening, a blur of ocean blue ruffles comes at us at full speed.

“O. M. G.!” Each letter gets its own moment.

She sticks her hand out to Kat. “I’m Stacey. I’m the bride. I’m aglow. Can you tell? Of course you can. It is so so so special to meet you. My heart is bursting and I get to share it with you.” She pulls Kat in for a hug and squeezes her tight. I smile and nod as Kat pretends she’s enjoying it. “You are pretty. He was right about that. We hear Zane’s nutty about you, and he kept you all to himself. Selfish Zane. You big silly.”

Kat turns and looks at me with an expression of pure pleasure. “Yeah. You big silly.”

I’m going to pay for this later. I can already see her filing it away.

Stacey puts Kat in a sorority death grip of wrapping her arm around her elbow and squeezing like it’s affection, it’s so she can’t escape. She looks over her shoulder and I open and close my hand with a bye-bye wave. She’s guiding her towards my dad and talking without pause. I catch fragments.

Caribbean blue. Tri-Delt. And something called a blasty blast.

I watch Kat’s face do the thing I’ve noticed she does when she’s performing, which is keep everything slightly warm and bemused, never fully committing to an expression. It’s like no one notices when her eyes go dead. Better than I expected at this but Kat Taylor has been unexpected since she got in my car.

My phone buzzes.

KAT: flying home right now if I have to go to the Tri-Delt sleep over. Not happening

I look up. She’s still talking to Stacey, not looking at me, the picture of faux engaged attention.