“But we’re not going to be there tomorrow.”
“I’m asking Conrad to meet him for me.” Trey looked up when he finished messaging, his expression changing in a split second. “Look at you.”
“Look at you,” she said, drinking in his jeans, that belt buckle, and a plaid shirt in green, white, and black. “Do you own anything but jeans and plaid shirts?”
He looked down at himself. “I don’t think so,” he said.
She laughed lightly and stepped over to him. He took her into his arms easily, and Beth’s throat narrowed. He’d said so many wonderful things to her, and all she’d had to say was she agreed.
“Who does your shopping?” she asked. “Be honest.”
“I’m going to plead the fifth,” he said, staying as serious as ever. “Did you like your wedding?”
“It wasn’t just my wedding,” she said. “I’ve had one before. Did you like it?”
“I did,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to her mouth. “As much as I thought I wouldn’t.”
“It was beautiful,” she whispered. “Thank you, Trey.”
“Mm.” He kissed her, and Beth let him dictate the speed and depth of the kiss, simply going along with him as she enjoyed the taste and feel of him. He accelerated things quickly, and Beth matched him stroke for stroke.
He broke away from her and pulled in a noisy breath. “We should go,” he said, stepping away from her almost violently and reaching for their bags. “Do you need anything else?”
“No,” she said, feeling a bit abandoned. She wasn’t even sure why. They weren’t going to sleep together tonight. He’d paid for a suite in a five-star hotel in Louisville, an hour away, but it had two bedrooms. One for each of them.
Her feelings stung when Trey grunted and headed for the front door without another word. She almost didn’t want to follow him. The wedding had been beautiful.Hewas beautiful, and she didn’t want the night to end like this.
She followed him and watched him put their bags in the back seat of his truck. “Hey,” she said gently. “What’s going on in your head?”
He barely looked at her. “Nothing.”
“You just ran away from me.”
Trey paused with his hand on his door handle.
“You aren’t going to open my door for me?” she asked. “Your wife?”
“I’m struggling with a couple of things,” he said. He still didn’t look at her. “I can open your door.” He went past her without looking at her and walked around the back of the truck.
Beth once again followed him and paused right in front of him. “Talk to me.”
Trey looked into the truck, not at her. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “Open the door for my wife, but I can’t kiss her the way I want. Carry my wife’s bag, but only to a bedroom where she’s going to sleep alone.” He shook his head. “It’s confusing. I get it. I know you’re not…I mean, you are. I don’t know.”
He pulled the door open further. “Can you get in, please? We still have a long drive in front of us.”
Beth got in the truck, and Trey closed the door. He walked away, but he didn’t come get in the truck. “Where did he go?” Beth asked. Should she get out? Go find him?
The seconds ticked by, and Beth did get out of the truck. Trey came down the front steps, saying, “Sorry. I left my phone charger inside.”
“I thought maybe you’d left.” She walked toward him. “I don’t want things to be awkward between us.”
He met her on the sidewalk. “I’m just going to need some time reconciling what I’m allowed to do with what I’m not.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
He reached her and cradled her face in one hand. “You light me on fire,” he said. “In case you didn’t know.”
Beth hadn’t felt attractive in a long, long time. Yet there was Trey, always telling her how beautiful she was and how much he liked her, her clothes, or her hair.