Chapter 25
25
Saturday
En route to Malibu, California
“We need to talk about tomorrow.”
“What about it?”
We’re in a helicopter, on our way to L.A.
And I’m running out of time.
She’s been uncharacteristically quiet this morning. Possibly because we’re on our way to the wedding, which starts in a matter of hours.
“You’ll need a place to stay in New York and I want you to stay with me. I want you to move in with me.” A week ago’s version of me would have run for the hills if anyone had suggested I invite a woman to move into my apartment. But this is the new and improved version of me. The one who’s so in love with this sullen little angel—my wife —I hardly recognize myself.
I didn’t plan to get married, of course I didn’t. Especially on the fly in Vegas. I was drunker than I should have been (but not that drunk). And when I saw that chapel and that Tiffany ring, wild horses couldn’t have dragged me away.
When I got down on one knee and proposed to her right there on the Vegas strip, people cheered. She laughed.
And she said yes.
None of it makes one iota of common sense. But common sense is rarely on the menu in Vegas. And when the girl on your arm is wilder than fantasies you never could have dreamed up, things are bound to happen.
“I already have an apartment,” she says, gazing out the window.
“In the Hamptons. And it’s the size of a broom closet. You need something in the city.”
“I’ll start looking for something on Monday.”
“I have five bedrooms, Lila.” I mention this because she’s obviously in a huff about something. Our hasty wedding, probably. Which, in the colder light of Saturday morning, was a fucked up thing to do. I have no remorse whatsoever—which is even more fucked up. The only downside I can see is that she seems to have a lot more remorse about the whole thing than I do. “You can have your own wing. You don’t even have to see me if you don’t want to.”
“Who gets to sleep in your room?” There’s a sassy bite to her softly-spoken question .
“You, obviously.” This has always been the issue between us. Other women. Who don’t exist. “What’s with the attitude?”
“What attitude ?”
“I’m not sure what I did wrong this morning, angel girl. You liked me last night.” I try to take her hand but she slides it away. I notice she’s taken off her wedding ring. “Where’s your ring?”
“In my bag.”
“Why are you mad at me?”
It’s easy to see that she’s debating whether to tell me or not.
“At least tell me what my crime is so I can get on my knees and grovel.”
Quietly, still refusing to look at me: “Maybe you should take someone else as your plus one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Bianca. Or maybe Jemma . I’m sure Kara would just love another date.”
Fuck. “You read my texts?”
A sulky pout and more staring out the window. “I woke up in the night. Your phone was lighting up. You’re obviously a popular guy. But of course I already knew that.”
“How far did you happen to scroll back, Sunshine, because if you did you would have noticed that I didn’t reply to any of those texts. And if you go past yesterday you’ll notice there are none. Because I delete them.”
“It hardly matters to me. You do you. ”
“”You do you’?” I exhale a disbelieving laugh. “Sure. Okay. I’ll do me. But just so you realize, doing me involves possessively escorting you to your friend’s wedding before taking you into my bed to ravage you all night long because by then I’ll have gone almost twenty hours without fucking you and I’m already wondering how I’m going to get through this entire wedding without tasting your sweet little pussy. And making my wife come all over my tongue like she loves to do.”
She almost winces at the word. “You’re a barbarian.”
“Professor Berserker, at your service.”
She rolls her eyes, but the light blush on her cheeks tells me she’s remembering that particular lesson.
“What do you want me to do, Lila? Apologize for relationships I had before I met you?”
“No.” Petulantly.
“Am I expected to be a fucking psychic or something? Here, let me pull my crystal ball out my ass and read you the future. I’m really good at it.”
“I don’t expect you to read the future.” Even more petulantly.
“Then what do you expect?”
She squares her shoulders a little and gazes down into the desert. “I expect you to get on with your life and I’ll get on with mine. We both knew this was a road trip and nothing more.”
Ouch. “Nothing more? What about crossing off every single thing on your bucket list? What about conquering your fear of flying? What about Aspen and the helicopter ride and all the lessons ? What about losing your virginity and having non-stop raw dog sex for days? What about drinking lusty mouthfuls of my hot cum and crying my name when you were coming so hard on my big fucking cock? What about getting married ? None of it meant anything to you?”
“Of course it did. But that doesn’t change anything. I didn’t expect this to last. I knew it wouldn’t before we started. We both did. We’ll just have to figure out how to have this ridiculous marriage annulled, and as soon as possible. It was a mistake, obviously. A foolish, drunken mistake.” Her eyes finally meet mine and the sadness in them is like a fucking spear through my goddamn beating heart. “It’s okay. People make mistakes all the time.”
I pound my fists on the arm rests. “It’s not okay! It’s far from fucking okay. And it wasn’t a mistake.”
She frowns at my outburst. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Acting like what? Like it means something to me? Because it does , Lila. It means something. In fact, it means everything.” Weirdly, it suddenly does.
But little Cold Heart over here doesn’t even hear me. “It means we had a good time. Which is now almost over.”
“Fuck that, Sunshine. It’s not over. Not for me. And not for you either. I know you. I know more about you than most people you’ve known for years do, admit it. You’re my wife now.”
Her eyes are wide, but then her resolve clicks back into place. That same shield she held in place when we first met. I was able to break through it, with fun and lust and hot sex. But reality is now knocking at our door, and she’s bolted that motherfucker back into place. “Just because a cheap Vegas wedding certificate says we’re married, it doesn’t mean we actually are, in the true sense of the word. We both know it’s a joke. I’m sure with all your connections and your m—” She stops herself from saying money . “… connections, you’ll be able to fix it.”
I grit my teeth, forcing myself to get a grip. “I don’t want to ‘fix’ it.”
She glares at me. “Well, I do. You can’t be married to me against my will.”
“You signed the paper just like I did, baby girl.”
“Can’t you just admit that we got drunk and it was a foolish thing to do and that we need to undo it?”
“No.”
“You know what, Colton? I’ve made up my mind. I don’t want you to come with me to Jessie’s wedding. It’s not a good idea. I want to be able to focus on her and I won’t be able to do that if you’re there. You’re too…”
“Too what?”
“Nevermind.”
“Just say it.”
She shrugs one delicate shoulder insolently. “Volatile.”
“Volatile?” I laugh. “Honey, you have no idea how ‘volatile’ I am. And if you think I’m allowing my wife to go to a wedding unescorted that Troy Fucking Beckett happens to be attending, you’ve lost your pretty little mind.”
“Can you stop calling me your wife? This is temporary. We knew that. We agreed on it.”
“I didn’t agree to anything, Sunshine.”
“ God , Colton.” She folds her slim arms across her chest.
Her anger is so fucking cute I can hardly stand it. And I realize it fully in the moment: my Sunshine girl is my wife . Drunken escapade or not, this makes me stupidly happy.
I’m in love with my wife.
I mimic her, folding my arms and sulking. “ God, Lila. You’re so…” To play with her.
“So what?”
I wait until her eyes meet mine. “So beautiful it hurts.”
But it bounces right off her forcefield, which seems to be extra thick this morning. “We should just appreciate it for what it was. We had fun, Colton. But that’s all it was. You can head back to your harem in New York and I’ll?—”
“I don’t have a fucking harem. Those girls meant nothing to me.”
“Well, they didn’t get the memo. I love you so much, Colton ,” she says in a breathy little voice like she’s imitating them. “ I can’t stop thinking about our night together, you beast .’”
I take a deep breath, trying to corral my patience. “Once again, I’ll remind you that you and I had not yet met. What would you have preferred? That I remained a monk until the girl of my dreams—who I didn’t know existed and I didn’t believe did exist—sashayed into my life with her silver eyes glaring at me and her luscious pussy all wet and ready for me?” I glare right back at her, and my voice is low when I ask my next question. “ Are you, baby girl? Are you ready for me now?”
“No. You escorted me to L.A. like you promised. Our pact is over now. You’re off the hook.”
Damn it. That fucking forcefield is impenetrable today. “Wrong. The pact just shifted up several gears, Sunshine. Because last night we took vows. To each other.”
“Which I can’t actually remember. It was the tequila talking. So you can get one of the limos you always have on call to take you to the airport as soon as we land and?—”
“Jesus, Bailey. All this because of a couple of texts? I’m not the only one with a past, honey. We’re about to confront yours head-on. And there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell I’m going miss a single second of that. I’m coming to the wedding with you whether you want me to or not.”
“ No, Colton. Please. Let’s not make this harder than it has to be.”
“You know what would make this harder than it has to be?”
“What?” she grumbles.
“Me crashing the fucking wedding like a goddamn caveman. Which is what I’ll do if you don’t take me with you. Do you think Jessie would enjoy watching a lunatic punching his way through the ushers on her wedding day, beating Troy Beckett to a pulp and then slinging his wife over his shoulder and carrying her away with him? ”
More glaring. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh yes I would.”
She rolls her eyes, then she turns back to the view. “You’re absolutely incorrigible, you know that?”
“You like me incorrigible.”
“I’d like you a lot more if you didn’t suddenly consider yourself the supreme controller of my entire life.”
“I’m not controlling you, baby girl. I’m supporting you.”
“Is that what you think this is?”
Her pout reminds me of that first day. Driving the open road, just me and her. But now the rest of the world is crashing into our perfect bubble. “Affirmative, Sunshine.” In my best Terminator voice.
She huffs and turns away from me, but I see it: the barely-there hint of a smile. “Fine. But do not tell Jessie we got married. I want to be the one to do that.”
“I can agree to that.”
“ Finally . He agrees to something. It’s a miracle.”
We’re descending now. The sprawling green lawn and the wide-open ocean. The rows of white chairs and the arch, next to the beach, covered in roses. Tables have been set up. Waitstaff are milling around and a few people are already arriving.
We’re in Malibu.