Punt in the Dark (Vegas After Dark)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

MAREN

“ Y ou may kiss the bride.”

White confetti (or something wedding-like and slightly blurry) fluttered in the air as a cacophony of squeals and laughter sounded around us, but then his lips crashed into mine. Lips and tongues and teeth colliding in a tortuous and sensual dance of senses that had me gasping and wishing for more. He finally let me come up for air, and even with my head spinning from all the kissing and dancing and trying my best to not climb him like a clingy kitten, I nearly pouted from not sharing the air I breathed with him. One hour turned me into a feral addict for a man I just met. In a Vegas nightclub when I begged him to dance with me. Then somehow talked him into marrying me because of my ‘List”.

My senses were overwhelmed with the taste of whiskey and cinnamon, dark desire and wicked things I’d only dreamed about and kept secret from the rest of the world.

Okay, maybe from everyone except Candyce, who was whooping loudly and tossing rose petals (that’s what they were) as my seven-drinks-in brain spun around the fact that I checked off number four (or was it five) off my Start Living List. “I’m pretty sure it’s five, because getting to Vegas had to happen, then you get married!” Candyce squealed and tossed handfuls of confetti.

Crud. I must’ve said that one out loud.

“Yes, you did,” he said. “Wife.” The smirk spread across his lips and the desire to kiss it off his far too sexy and cocky face sent shivers and God knows what else worked their way along my body in a delectable rush.

Every nerve ending in me had been firing on full speed ahead, but hearing him call me that set me into overdrive.

But this was only supposed to be for tonight, right? Check something crazy off my Live My Life list, then move onto the next one.

The next one after ‘get married’ in Vegas?

Lose my V Card.

Yep. Number 6.

And he already checked off 4 and 5…and when I mentioned 6, he didn’t shy away, but then again, I didn’t exactly share the whole virgin aspect.

Okay, in my very buzzed and overstimulated by the man, I might’ve left it out on purpose.

I blame the tequila, and Candyce. Who was all over some guy and…leaving with him?

“Hey, wife,” my husband??? growled in my ear.

My head whipped back to his face, and, God, he was so…sexy? Manly?

The scruff, the little crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he…smirked? And the way he smelled?

Yes. I’m a fucking virgin because my big brother kept such a tight reign over me, and my dad did, too, but I’ve read enough romance novels and, yes, watched porn while in college because Candyce refused to let me not be educated in anything I might like in the future so I, and I quote, ‘Wouldn’t be stuck with some two minute douche bag who couldn’t find a clit if had sign blinking with a huge red arrow pointing at it’.

But, Garrett? He looked like he would block anyone who didn’t know the way and make sure they heard the screams as he devoured her. Or me.

“Oh, you’ll scream, sweet girl. Trust me,” he promised, a glint in his as my cheeks flushed because, yet again, I said the inside things out loud. He scooped me up in his arms and stalked toward the exit as the next couple stepped up to officiant. Just as we reached the door, he paused. “You’re sure about this, wife? I can take you back to your room, no questions-”

“I am so sure,” I interrupted. The alcohol haze wore off the moment he kissed me, all sense firing let’s go. “Number-”

“6, sweet girl. I remember.”

Six hours earlier…

“We are checking at least three things off your list tonight, Maren.”

I wiggled uncomfortably as I shimmied into the cobalt blue dress that barely covered my ass. “Is wearing a shirt as a dress-”

Candyce grabbed me by my shoulders and stared me down. “Stop right there. We’re in Vegas, not Ohio, so this body has every right to be shown off and you deserve to have a little fun. Actually, a lot of fucking fun,” she added with a playful glare.

“So much fun, Mare, that you’ll cross FIVE things off your list!” Gwen yelled from the bathroom off the suite we were sharing for the weekend. Three girls in one room? Easy. College dorm. And then the small apartment we shared this past year. Of course graduating early because I refused to go home for the summer meant an extra semester of freedom…and not going home. At least until summer. Unless I found a job before then. Anywhere but back in Ohio.

Until then, I was determined to check off a few more things from the list Candyce and Gwen helped a slightly buzzed off two margaritas make three weeks ago.

Luckily, number four magically appeared courtesy of my brother playing in the Super Bowl. And winning. Even if he wouldn’t let me come down on the field because it was chaos and didn’t want me to get lost in it.

Or have the anxiety I suffered from while living at home spike and have a freak out. Despite the fact that therapy and I figured out my triggers plus coping mechanisms, he still refused when I asked if my friends and I could come down and play in the confetti.

Maybe it all worked out for the best, because there was no way I’d check anything else off my list if Xavier was looming with his big brother energy.

Like getting married and losing my V Card to my new and very temporary husband.