Huge Deal - Lauren Layne Page 0,77

line of sight.

It was only the change in music announcing Lara’s arrival that dragged Kennedy’s gaze away from Kate. He smiled, not only at the radiant bride in a simple white gown but at the dopey grin on Ian’s face.

“My eyes are definitely not watering,” Matt whispered for Kennedy’s ears only.

“Ditto,” Kennedy said out of the corner of his mouth, relieved that his weren’t the only eyes stinging with the threat of happy tears.

Lara reached the end of the aisle, pausing to hug her father, a tough-as-shit FBI agent whose usual scowl was nowhere in sight as he kissed his daughter’s cheek and handed her off to Ian.

Kennedy’s gaze caught on Kate once more as Lara stepped into place beside Ian, and he felt his heart crack at the expression on her face. Her eyes were wide and full of tears, but she wasn’t looking at Lara and Ian. Her eyes were on Lara’s father as he took his place in the front row beside Lara’s mother.

He knew that it was hitting her then, and hitting her hard, that her father would never be there for this moment in her life.

Oh, Kate.

Her bottom lip wobbled, and it took all of his self-control not to step toward her. Hang in there, love.

Kennedy was endlessly grateful for Sabrina in that moment. The other woman had noticed Kate’s distress and set a hand on her upper arm. Kate touched Sabrina’s hand with a grateful smile, then inhaled and turned her attention back to the bride and groom.

He didn’t. He kept his gaze on Kate, willing her to look at him. To lean on him, just a little.

She didn’t look his way the entire ceremony.

And even as one part of his heart soared for these two friends who’d just exchanged vows, another part of his heart broke.

Because he knew what he’d just witnessed: Kate Henley had shut down entirely, shutting him out in the process. For good.

29

Saturday, June 8

“Okay, if you’re not going to do something, I will.”

Kennedy didn’t look up from where he stared at his untouched champagne on the table. “Sabrina. You look stunning.”

“Save it,” she said, dropping into the chair beside him. “What are you doing over here?”

He flicked his gaze at her. “You thought I’d be doing the chicken dance?”

“That’s the Macarena. You can tell, because Matt’s right in the middle of it.” She pointed to where Matt was dancing his heart out, standing in between a laughing Ian and Lara, as they all did some ridiculous dance with their hands that Kennedy had maybe learned at one time but couldn’t be bothered at the moment to remember.

“What is going on?” Sabrina said, leaning closer to him. “Did you and Kate get in a fight?”

“A fight? No.” He lifted his champagne. “We’d actually have to speak to have a fight.”

“Yeah, I noticed you’re getting the cold shoulder. Who is that guy?”

“That one? Not sure. There’ve been so damn many,” Kennedy said, forcing himself to glance in Kate’s direction.

Sure enough, she was chatting it up with some beefcake of a guy. And actually, Kennedy did know this one. He’d met Lara’s cousin at the rehearsal dinner the night before. Sort of a douchebag, but Kate didn’t seem to notice. Or care.

Just like she didn’t seem to care that his assistant, Christian, was gay when she’d flirted with him. Or with Jarod Lanham when she’d laughed hysterically at everything the man said. Or that kid who looked all of twenty-three.

She wasn’t making a spectacle of herself. She wouldn’t have done that to Lara and Ian. But anyone who knew her well, as Kennedy and Sabrina did, knew that this wasn’t normal Kate. Her eyes were too bright, her laugh a little bit brittle.

Kennedy glanced at Sabrina and expected to see her watching Kate as well. Instead, Sabrina was watching him, her gray-blue eyes concerned. “You’re worried about her.”

He thought about denying it. Telling her to mind her own business. But Sabrina was important to him. They didn’t go back as far as she and Ian, and there’d never been any chemistry between them, but they’d clicked on a friendship level from the very beginning.

And right now, he needed a friend.

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m worried about her.”

“You care about her.”

He nodded again. Shrugged.

“No, I mean, you care about her, Kennedy.”

Kennedy looked at her. “Of course I care about her. I care about you. And Lara. And the guys, when they’re not being annoying.”

“And because I care about you, I’m going to call bullshit.