Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) (32 page)

The rest of the swimmers in the pool had stopped what they were doing. Silence hung over the swim center like a bad omen, waiting to see what happened next.

Dylan started shaking. He pulled the towel closer, tried to stop the spasms turning his muscles to jelly. He knew what was happening, but he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. He looked around. He needed to get away, find somewhere to sit until the worst of it had passed.

Annie grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him away from the pool. She pushed him into a room, said something to another person, then closed the door.

She pulled a dry towel out of a bag and started rubbing Dylan’s hair. “We need to get you into dry clothes.”

The door opened and someone walked inside.

“They’re not your style, but they’ll have to do.” Jeremy dumped a pile of clothes on the table beside Dylan. “Arms up.”

Dylan frowned at Jeremy until he realized what he was doing. “I can change…myself.” He was shaking so much that he could hardly talk.

“If I believed you I wouldn’t be standing here. Arms up.”

Within minutes, Jeremy had stripped Dylan’s wet t-shirt off his body. Annie dried him as best she could, then pulled a clean sweatshirt over his shoulders.

Dylan was still dealing with the shock tearing through him, when Jeremy leaned down and looked him in the eyes. “We need to get your wet shorts off. Annie’s going to turn her back, but unless you want her helping you, you’re going to have to help me. Do you understand?”

Dylan nodded. He didn’t wait for Annie to live up to her side of the bargain. With Jeremy’s help he stood up, dropped his pants and dried himself off. The thick sweatpants Jeremy pulled over his hips were warm and comfortable.

As soon as his sweatpants were up, Annie threw a pile of towels on the seat for him to sit on. She found some socks from who knew where, and pulled them onto his feet. More towels ended up on the concrete floor. He had no idea where they’d gotten so many towels from, but he was glad they weren’t wet.

The door opened and another lifeguard brought in two heat packs. “Put these under his armpits. Is he okay?”

Jeremy nodded. “Getting there. How’s Frankie?”

“The ambulance has arrived. The paramedics are assessing him before they take him to the hospital. He was lucky your friend was here to save him.”

Dylan knew luck had nothing to do with it. After everything that had happened to him, he knew there were some things no one could explain. There was a reason he’d come to the pool, a reason Logan had convinced him to stay, a reason he’d been standing in clear view of Frankie, a reason he’d dived into the water to help a kid that meant the world to him.

“Leave us alone.” Annie’s soft voice cut through the last shred of dignity he had.

Dylan’s eyes filled with tears. He let go of the heat packs, lowered his head and tried to hold back the flood of emotion threatening to bury him.

Annie stood in front of him and pulled him into her chest. “It’s going to be okay, Dylan.”

Some part of his brain realized she was wearing a sweatshirt. He wrapped his arms around her body and held her close. Tears fell down his face. When everything got too much, when he couldn’t see beyond the next few minutes, he held Annie closer.

He didn’t know how long he held her for, but gradually his tears stopped. Annie kissed the top of his head and stepped away. She passed him a handful of tissues and he blew his nose.

“How do you feel?”

“Drained. I’ll be okay. Thank you.”

Annie smiled. “I’ve got to look after my boss. If anything happens to you, the next owner of the warehouse might increase my rent.”

Dylan’s lips twitched. “I’m disappointed. I thought you were perfect.”

“Perfect? Wow, you must be the only person in the world who thinks that.”

“Thought.” Dylan watched a slow grin spread across Annie’s face.

“Perfect is perfect. You can’t take it back, even if it wasn’t true.”

Dylan looked at where he was sitting. They were in the party room, surrounded by everyone’s presents and left-over food. Bags of clothes had been stacked in the corner while everyone went swimming. At least he knew where Jeremy and Annie had found all of the towels they’d wrapped around him.

Annie passed him a glass of orange juice. “I know it’s full of sugar, but you need sweetening up.”

Dylan took the glass and emptied it in a few gulps. “It wasn’t so bad.”

“Best medicine you’ll ever find. Do you mind if I open the doors now?”

Dylan shook his head. Annie turned away from him, her wet sweatshirt the only clue to what had happened. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve meeting Annie, but he did know one thing. He had some serious thinking to do.

And if he didn’t act fast, he had a feeling he wouldn’t get the chance again.

Chapter Twelve

Annie held her bowling ball close to her chest, drew her arm backward and stepped forward. Her ball spun down the lane, sweeping to the left and demolishing all ten pins. She turned around and grinned at her coach. “I believe that’s called a strike.”

“You’re too clever for your own good,” Brad grumbled. “Next time I want you to hook the ball in the opposite direction.”

Annie saluted Brad, then picked up her ball when it popped out of the machine beside her. “You’re not going to win, you know.” She knew her chance of winning the game was slim, but she’d take any psychological advantage her enthusiasm could find.

“You really think you can win?”

“I know I’ve got a chance. A good chance.”

Brad raised his eyebrows. “Not quite so confident now, Annie?”

Annie decided he was going for his own psychological advantage. “Don’t you have any shame? You’re trying to psych out your own teammate.” She grinned at him. “It won’t work. I’m impervious to your subtle tactics.”

“How about this then…” Brad picked up his bowling ball and walked toward her. “If you win this frame I’ll pay your entry fee for our next tournament. If I win, you go out for dinner with me tomorrow night.”

Annie blinked. Had Brad just asked her on a date? He had, but not in a straightforward, definitely ‘no’ kind of way.

“I take it your silence means you won’t take the bet?”

Each time Brad asked her out she felt bad saying no. He was a good guy. He had an interesting job, loved animals, spent each Sunday afternoon with his mom and dad, and liked kids. He was the most perfect man she knew. But he wasn’t perfect for her.

“How about we change the prize? Whoever loses has to buy the winner a hot chocolate from the café here.”

Brad shook his head. “When are you going to admit that you like me?”

Annie’s heart sank. They’d had a similar conversation a while ago and had agreed to be friends. So far, it had worked fine. Until tonight. Dinner with a friend crossed the line into date material. She got ready to tell Brad there was no way she’d have dinner with him. She looked into his eyes, saw the mischievous gleam, and knew he was teasing her.

Brad laughed. “You’d better sit down and watch perfection in motion.”

Annie rolled her eyes and moved away. Brad wasn’t short of self-confidence, either. With the kind of smooth action that only came from hours of practice, his ball flew down the lane, obliterating every single pin.

“Lucky break,” Annie said.

Brad grinned. “You’ve been spending too much time with your friends in The Bridesmaids Club. You need to practice more if you want to beat me.”

Annie stood up. “The game’s not over, yet.” Brad bowed to her superior knowledge and sat down. She focused on the pins, visualized what she needed to do, what the end result would look like. Her arm rotated backward, she took three steps forward…

“I’m dating someone.”

Annie’s bowling ball dropped out of her hand. It wobbled in the lane, spun to the right and landed in the gutter. She stuck her hands on her hips and turned to face Brad. “Why didn’t you tell me about your girlfriend before I was halfway through my shot?”

“Timing is everything,” he smirked.

“Remember that when you’re on a date.”

“You’re so witty.” He laughed at the frown on Annie’s face.

She should feel relieved, even happy for Brad. But right at the moment she was annoyed that she’d probably given him an easy victory.

“I’m going to be a gentleman and offer you another shot.”

All of the nice things Annie had been thinking about Brad a few minutes ago, disappeared. “I don’t need a sympathy turn.”

Brad picked up her bowling ball and handed it to her. “There’s no sympathy involved. I want to beat you fair and square. If I don’t even things up, you’ll think of something worse to do to me.”

“Do you mind if I watch?”

Annie turned around. Her night had just gone from bad to worse. She hadn’t seen Dylan since Sunday afternoon. He looked good, too good for a night at the local bowling alley. He must have come straight from work. His charcoal suit and deep blue tie stood out amongst the jeans and sweatshirts everyone else was wearing. But he didn’t look uncomfortable. If anything, he looked as though he was planning on staying, even if Annie didn’t want him too.

Brad stepped forward and shook Dylan’s hand. “Nice to see you, again. I’m trying to convince Annie to take another shot.”

“I don’t do sympathy shots,” she said.

Dylan looked between her and Brad. She hoped he didn’t think there was anything going on between them. Because there wouldn’t be anything going on between her and Brad. Ever.

She frowned at the grin on Brad’s face. “My coach has got a girlfriend. He didn’t tell me until I was about to send my ball down the lane.”

“I thought it was exceptional timing. You forgot to add the piece about me betting a dinner date with you that I’d win the game.”

Annie gripped her bowling ball tighter. She didn’t know what had gotten into Brad, but his mouth was running away with him. Maybe love was making him crazy. Whatever it was, he had to stop. Now. “I didn’t take your bet. And besides, you weren’t serious.”

Brad wasn’t listening. “Are you going to bowl or stand there arguing with me all night?”

Annie didn’t want to be doing anything with Brad all night. Or Dylan either. Both men sat down at their booth and watched her. Brad had a smug smile on his face, Dylan looked…intense. If she wasn’t careful, she’d send another ball into the gutter.

With more luck than good management, she sent her sympathy bowl spinning along the lane. It knocked out the first pin, took out all of the pins on the left-hand side, but left the ones on the right standing to attention. Damn.

“Your concentration wouldn’t be a little off would it, Annie?”

She looked at her coach. He was sitting beside Dylan with a satisfied smile on his face. He thought he’d won the game, but Annie had other ideas.

“My concentration is never off.” She gripped her ball tight, then relaxed her fingers. She balanced the weight in her hand, rotated her wrist slightly, adjusted her grip. This time she focused all of her attention on the remaining pins.

She didn’t hear the other pins in the alley fall to the ground, or the whoops of laughter coming from the people beside her. She was totally focused on what she needed to do. She took a deep breath, brought her arm back, then stepped forward. Her ball shot down the lane, clipped one pin, then sent the rest flying. The shot was bittersweet. Brad still had a chance of winning the game.

Dylan didn’t say a word when she returned to the booth. He hardly said a word for the rest of the game. Annie kept pounding down the pins and Brad kept goading her until she was ready to scream. She’d never played so badly, never wanted a game to end quite so quickly.

Brad tutted as her last ball careened down the lane. “You really need to trade your bridesmaids’ dresses for bowling shoes. All of the silk and satin has gone to your head.”

Annie knew what she’d like to do with one of those dresses. At least her imagination could make her smile. Her score had been pitiful, the worst she’d had in a long time.

Dylan pushed his empty coffee cup away and stared at Brad. “That’s the end of the game. If you want more practice, I’d be willing to play against you.”

Annie nearly warned Brad not to underestimate Dylan. But Brad had already accepted his offer. While Dylan swapped his expensive leather shoes for four dollar bowling shoes, Annie ordered the biggest hot chocolate the café sold. While she was waiting for it to be made, she walked across to Dylan and asked him if he wanted anything.

“How about the same bet you had with Brad?”

Annie frowned. “The one where I had dinner with him if he won the game? But I didn’t agree to it.”

“Will you agree to it now?”

Annie was confused. “With Brad?”

Dylan shook his head. His face softened and a smile tilted his lips into something dangerous. “With me.”

Annie thought it was in her best interest to remind Dylan that he didn’t want to spend time with her, just in case he’d forgotten. “You don’t like me.”

“I never said that. I like you…too much. Is beating Brad worth spending time with me?”