Dammit. None of this shit mattered.
Georgia fluffed up her sleek style into a tousled look. As if she’d just rolled out of bed after a bout of hot, hair-pulling sex. Tell would appreciate it.
She was wearing a sleeveless, form-fitting dress in a pale blue. With a modest bodice, the fabric was shirred from the empire waist to the froth of tulle at the hemline, two inches above her knees. With her funky platform heels in a blue cheetah print and a rhinestone clutch, she’d probably added fashion violation to her list of worries, which was already too long.
Seeing Deck for the first time since the dissolution of their marriage.
Seeing Tara-Lee, pregnant.
Seeing the girls in her class who hated her.
Seeing RJ’s friends.
The doorbell rang.
Georgia gave herself one last look and headed downstairs.
Tell hadn’t waited for her to open the door; he’d just waltzed right in.
And wasn’t it ironic he was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her, just like she’d seen in all those teen movies where the guy showed up to take the girl to the prom? To top it off, Tell had a look on his face she’d never seen on any man.
“My God, Georgia. You are a f**king goddess.”
“Thank you.”
He stopped her before she reached the bottom stair, setting his hands on her hips. He still topped her by a couple inches.
“What?”
“You look so damn perfect I’m afraid to touch you. Afraid I’ll muss you up.”
Her shoes dangled from her right index finger. She propped her forearms on his broad shoulders and let them hang between his shoulder blades as she rubbed her nose to his. “I love it when you muss me up. In fact, if you wanna ditch this whole reunion idea right now, I’ll take you upstairs and let you muss me up however you want. All night.”
Tell laughed. “Mighty tempting offer, hot lips. Now you gonna let me give you a proper kiss?”
“Please.”
His mouth came down on hers with more force than she’d expected. He dove in for a tongue-teasing, openmouthed kiss that utterly overwhelmed her. His fingers tightened on her hips. And he blew every one of her circuits.
Then he eased back and made her weak-kneed with his dimpled grin. “See? I didn’t muss you up at all.”
Not on the outside. But on the inside? Different story.
“You ready?”
“Just have to put my shoes on.” She used the newel post for support as she shoved her feet in the heels and checked out Tell’s attire.
A black western-cut sport coat worn over a pristine white shirt, a bolo tie at his neck. Jeans, boots and his black hat. Yummy. “You are quite the head-turner, Mr. McKay.”
“Thanks.” He seemed embarrassed by the compliment.
Georgia grabbed her clutch. As soon as they stepped outside and approached his truck, Tell apologized.
“I’m afraid we ain’t showing up to the school tonight in a fancy sports car. The only person I know who has one is Keely’s husband, Jack, and it seemed a little forward to ask to borrow it.”
She waited while he opened the door. Then he helped her into the cab. She wrapped her fingers around the braided leather strings of his bolo tie and pulled him closer. “I’m very fond of this truck. Especially after last night. Now I know it is possible to steam up the windows in July.”
Tell held her hand on the short drive to the school. She checked her reflection again, adding a coat of lip gloss.
The parking lot was nearly full, and her stomach tightened.
This was it.
As they walked up to the gymnasium doors, Tell casually asked, “You nervous?”
“A little. How about you?”
“Nope.” He tucked her hand around his bicep. “I’m with the hottest girl in our graduating class, who also happens to be the sexiest woman I know. I remember promising myself ten years ago that I’d show up at this reunion bein’ the envy of all the other guys.”
“Did that fantasy include making all the girls in our class take notice of what a gorgeous hunk of man you turned out to be?”
Tell grinned. “Busted.”
“Then it appears both wishes will come true, since I will be the envy of all the women.”
“And that would be different from high school for you…how? Didn’t everyone want to be you?”
She didn’t crack a smile.
“What?”
“That’s an ironic statement because I didn’t want to be me in high school.” She withheld a frustrated sigh. “Do you think that’s what tonight will be about? Just an exercise in our classmates going out of their way to prove how much they’ve changed?”
“Possibly.” He smoothed a piece of her flyaway hair back in place. “Isn’t that why we’re here?”
“Now that I am here, I’m wondering why I came. Can we just go? Out for dinner or something? I’ll buy.”
“No. But I promise we’ll leave if it sucks, okay?” He kissed her. “I like the coconut-flavored lip gloss.”
The registration table was directly in front of one set of doors. And who was manning the table? Denille Swedlund. A fellow cheerleader. An easy piece for any of the jocks, anytime they wanted—a fact Denille used to brag about to Georgia, staring with disdain at her purity ring. Denille had offered Deck a hand job—a fact Georgia had found out from Denille herself after Deck had taken Denille up on the skanky proposition.
Denille looked good—but Denille wasn’t scoping her out at all. Her gaze stayed glued on Georgia’s date. “My God. Tell McKay, is that really you?”
“Yes indeed. Nice to see you, Denille, you haven’t changed a bit.”
Denille preened and handed over his badge. “The number on the bottom is the table you’ve been assigned.”
Tell raised his eyebrows. “You’re kiddin’, right? About the assigned seating?”
“No. The committee thought it would be fun.”
The other woman at the table, Nicki DeSoto, was also ogling Tell. “Hey, Tell, remember me?”
“Of course I do, Nicki. We had geometry together. So I’m guessing, since you were good at math, you’re an engineer or something?”
Nicki laughed. “No. I’m married. Living in Lander.” She scooted her chair out and patted her rounded belly. “Our first baby is due in October.”
“Congratulations.”
Denille finally deigned to look at Georgia. She handed over the button and said coolly, “Georgia. You’re looking…well.”