"Why, Ridge Lockhart." She cocked her head, and sailed him a grin. "Are you afraid to be alone in a small space with me?"
"Hell yes." He laughed.
"Because of last night?" she whispered.
His eyes turned somber. "Last night shouldn't have happened."
"But it did."
"We could pretend it didn't."
She stared him squarely in the eyes. "Could we?"
"I can if you can."
"I can't."
"Me either," he admitted.
Wow. They stared at each other, still suffering the aftershocks.
"Are you nervous?" she asked.
"About?"
"The best man speech."
"No. I give speeches to large groups all the time."
"Look at you, Big Wheel." Her heart skipped at the idea of him in full command of a stage. Truth was she couldn't imagine him not being in full command of anything. Well, he did have his fumbles now and again. He wasn't completely a superhero. She nodded at his left hand. "You're still wearing Casey's wedding ring."
"I tried soap. Didn't work."
"Panicking yet?"
"I don't panic."
"Ever?"
"It's rare," he said coolly.
"I dunno. It felt like you were a little panicky at the altar."
"Nope." He pressed his lips together, suppressing a grin.
"You wouldn't admit it if you were panicky."
"Now you're catching on."
"Want me to help you get that ring off?"
"Would you?" Relief lightened his eyes.
"Can't have Casey mad at you, can we?" She held out her hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"My truck."
To her surprise, he didn't ask why, and sank his hand into hers. Trusting her? That was new. Ridge Lockhart didn't trust anyone. But his skin was on her skin, lighting her up like fireworks.
Kaia dropped his hand, explained, "We don't want to give people something to talk about."
"No," he agreed.
She went ahead of him, moving around the parked cars until she got to her Tundra. She unlocked it, found her purse, dug around inside for dental floss.
Silence settled over them. They could hear the festivities over at the barn, conversation, laughter, the band tuning up.
"What's the dental floss for?" he asked.
"Watch and learn." From her oversized purse, she also dug out a Swiss Army knife and a small emergency sewing kit.
"You don't have to help me," he said. "I could figure this out for myself."
"I know that." She looked at his sexy mouth and tried not to think about kissing him. "Finger."
"What?"
"Give it to me."
"You know you set that up perfectly, but I'm not going there."
"I didn't mean . . . oh gosh . . . I guess that did sound suggestive." Do not blush. She was not going to blush. Her cheeks burned. Dammit.
He eyed the knife, the sewing kit, and the dental floss. "What? Are you going to cut my finger off and sew it up with dental floss?"
"I'm not even answering that."
"So . . . what's the knife for?"
"Cutting the floss, the little metal cutty thing came off the roll."
"And why do we need dental floss in the first place?"
"Stop asking questions and trust me. Can you do that?"
Trust was not his long suit and they both knew it. Slowly, he extended his little finger. "Be gentle. My pinky is in your hands."
In the dome light, she cut the dental floss, and threaded it through a needle from the sewing kit. "Hold still," she said. "I don't want to poke you."
"Talking dirty again?"
"Hush." She was blushing once more, but hey, at least she had an olive complexion and the flush wasn't so easy to detect. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. Remembered his kisses. Her head hummed just thinking about it.
"Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"
"Ridge!"
She could feel his stare burning into her as she slipped the needle underneath Casey's diamond wedding band. Then she wrapped the waxed string around his finger all the way up to the knuckle. Winding it snuggly, but not so tight as to cut off his circulation. Beginning at the bottom of his fingers, she unwound the floss, the ring moving up the string along with the unwinding.
"Look at that." He sounded amazed. "It's working."
"Was there any doubt?"
"You know uncommon things."
"I do."
"Part of your Native American secrets?"