The moment he’d seen those feet hanging off the tailgate, he’d known it was Tulsi lying in the truck on the side of the road.
How he’d once adored those weird little feet. He’d loved to get them in his lap after he and Tulsi went riding, to feel her cold toes warming between his fingers and to watch her size five’s disappear into his large hands. He could still remember the way she’d moan when he’d massage the curve of her arches, still see that smile that dimpled her cheeks as she’d lean in to whisper that he had magic hands. And then she would kiss a trail from his jaw to his lips and the foot massage would end with his tongue slipping into her mouth and her hands sliding up the front of his shirt, and in minutes, he would have Tulsi naked on the old mattress they’d smuggled out to her parents’ cabin, making love to her until she cried out his name in her sweet, sexy voice.
Pike’s eyes squeezed closed as a fresh wave of pain flashed through his chest. He didn’t want to remember anything about Tulsi, but he couldn’t forget a moment of that perfect spring, no matter how hard he’d tried.
“Fuck,” he cursed beneath his breath as the pain intensified, until if felt like an animal was sharpening its claws on his heart.
“I know you hate these things, but you have to relax,” Mia said, mercifully misunderstanding the reason for his foul mouth. “We’ll get through the schmoozing tonight, and then it will be all fun and games until the wedding. I promise.”
“Right.” He didn’t know how he was going to get through the next seven hours, let alone the next seven days. The urge to turn tail and run was almost all-consuming, and nothing but a once in a lifetime event, like his baby sister’s wedding, could have convinced him to stay in this town a second longer.
“How many people are going to be here again?” he asked, trying to concentrate on something other than memories of Tulsi’s fingers digging into his back and her body tight around him.
“Two hundred,” Mia said, hurrying on when he cussed again. “But a lot of them are people we went to school with. Just think of it as a high school reunion with more autographing involved.”
“Sounds fucking awful,” Pike grumbled as Mia parked the car.
“Watch your mouth, Cranky.” Mia punched him in the arm, but Pike didn’t flinch. He welcomed his sister’s abuse. Maybe physical pain would keep his mind off of the miserable situation in his chest.
“Seriously, Pike, some of Dad’s friends are here, too,” Mia continued. “Don’t embarrass him, okay? Just play nice, drink a reasonable amount of champagne, and enjoy the fancy snacks. It’ll all be over before you know it,and we can go have nachos at my place. Ugly Ross and Sawyer are going to the store to pick up beer and poker chips so we can play cards.”
“Ross and Sawyer, that it?” Pike slammed out of the door, waiting until Mia joined him before starting toward the striped tent set up beside the oldest part of Old Town.
Mia nodded. “Yeah, Bubba’s not flying in until the morning of the wedding. I asked Tulsi, but she has to get Clem ready to go to camp tomorrow.”
Pike’s jaw clenched at the mention of Tulsi’s daughter, but he managed to keep his voice neutral. “That’s all right. I’m not going to be up to a big crowd after this nightmare anyway.”
This time, Mia pinched him. “Be nice. Last warning. And put your smile on before we go inside.”
Pike grimaced down at his sister, earning himself an amused snort.
“Pretty,” she said wryly. “Now I see why you couldn’t find a date for the wedding.”
Pike grunted. “I didn’t want a date. I wanted to spend time with you, you abusive jerk.”
Mia’s eyes softened. “Aw, I love you, too, big brother. And I appreciate you doing this so much. I promise not to hit you any more tonight.”
“But no guarantees on tomorrow?” Pike asked, offering her his arm.
“You know I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” she said with a wink. “And I’ve only got a week to get in enough abuse to last me until Christmas.”
“Animal.” He smiled as he led her inside and began pressing hands and pretending to enjoy himself. He loved that his sister was back to the feisty woman he remembered, not the shattered person she’d been after her last relationship. Pike had only met Sawyer briefly, but he could already tell the man was a solid guy, devoted to Mia’s happiness, and so in love he couldn’t keep a smile off of his face for more than a minute at a time.
Pike remembered what that felt like. There had been a time when smelling Tulsi’s shampoo on another woman in the grocery store had been enough to put a goofy grin on his face and have him reaching for his phone to text something sickening about how much he missed her. That first summer, he’d spent every moment they were apart plotting ways to make sure they never had to be apart again, pining for the girl he was sure he was going to marry, while Tulsi had been busy sleeping with another man. Not even a man, a nineteen-year-oldboyat the camp where she was working, a fucking asshole who’d bailed after getting her pregnant and hadn’t been seen or heard from since.
Pike didn’t talk to Mia that often, and even more rarely about Tulsi, but the subject of Tulsi’s single-motherhood had come up throughout the years. He knew Mia had been the one helping with the baby’s feedings when she and Tulsi were rooming together at Baylor, and that Tulsi had done without things she needed for years so she could pay for diapers, food, and toys for Clementine. Mia had loathed men on Tulsi’s behalf for years, but Tulsi refused to go after the deadbeat who’d knocked her up for child support, insisting she didn’t want help from a person who didn’t care about her or the baby. The way Mia described it, it sounded like Tulsi had loved the guy and been hurt that he didn’t love her back.
That was what had torn Pike up the most, realizing that while he’d been aching for Tulsi, she’d been falling for someone else. It had made him feel like the world’s saddest fool, and ensured he’d kept his heart locked away ever since. Something that pathetic couldn’t be allowed out of its cage. His heart was too stupid to fall for one of the beautiful, famous, accomplished women he’d dated the past few years. No, if set free, it would go running back to Tulsi, like a dog eager for another whipping from the only master it had ever known.
“Don’t you think so, Pike?” The fifty-something brunette leaning across the autograph table giggled, drawing his attention back to the present, and the cleavage hovering inches from his face.
“I try not to think.” Pike winked, deciding even flirting with a woman old enough to be his mother was better than letting his thoughts dwell in the past. “At least whenever I can get away with it.”
“Oh honey, I totally understand,” the woman said, brown eyes crinkling at the edges as she laughed. “And if you’d like help not thinking while you’re here, I’m at the country club pool almost every day in the summer. My name’s Gina and I’d love to buy you a drink, hear all about your big adventures.”
“Tempting offer.” He passed the picture he’d autographed across the table, noticing with a flash of disgust the wedding ring on the woman’s left hand as she picked it up. “But I’m busy with my sister’s wedding. She’s got me booked solid. No time for anything else.”
Pike shifted his gaze to a bearded man wearing a faded Cardinal’s jersey standing behind Gina, dismissing her without another word. It wasn’t the first time he’d been hit on by a married woman, but it still got to him. Didn’t anyone take their promises seriously anymore? And a marriage was more than a promise, it was a vow. That ought to mean something, and people should think long and hard before they violated something sacred for a roll in the hay with a stranger.