Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Willow
I stare at my reflection in the tall mirror as we pass, and I can’t believe I just got married in a pair of black jeans and a bright pink top.
“We went to the chapel, and we just got married!” I sing. “We went to the chapel, and we just got married!”
Married.
Sebastian and I hold hands as we walk through the corridor of the hotel. I stare at the ring on my finger and then look up into his eyes.
“I can’t believe we just got married.”
My heart is racing, and I feel like I’m floating in the clouds. This is the most surreal thing that’s ever happened to me, and yet, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
“I know,” he says. “I guess we’re just two crazy people doing crazy things.”
He smiles down at me and squeezes my hand, his eyes glinting as we walk back toward the hotel room.
I’m still a little taken aback by the fact that he hasn’t told me he loves me, but I don’t want to push it. I can tell that Sebastian is as into this relationship as I am. Yes, our love story was fast and unconventional, but we just had a connection, and we both knew it.
I wish that everyone could feel what it was to love and be loved like this. I wish everyone could understand how magical and special our love was.
I can’t wait to tell Brielle and Katherine.
I feel like a sage who could go on tour, giving talks about relationships. You don’t have to wait years and years to make a commitment! I’d shout to the crowds of people. Once you know you’ve met the one, go for it!
I glance over at Sebastian and shake my head. “I think this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” I say softly.
He smiles faintly. “I think this is a really beautiful time in both our lives. In fact, Willow, I think you’ve just put the nail in the box that’s been in my mind since I’ve gotten to know you.”
“That’s an odd thing to say.” I frown. “I’m not really sure what you mean.”
“You’ll find out,” he says, laughing slightly.
“I love you, Sebastian,” I whisper as we stop next to the elevator. “I love you for sweeping me off my feet. I love you for making me feel like a princess. I love you for loving me.”
I give him a poignant look. “I love you for marrying me. I love you for changing my life. I love you for making me believe that I am enough, that I’m special and that you want me to be your wife.”
I stare up at him, waiting. I don’t want to have to beg him to say the words back to me, but now is the time. He should tell me he loves me, too.
His phone starts beeping at that moment. I wait for him to silence it, but instead, he holds it up.
“Sorry, do you mind if I take this?”
“What?” I blink. “You want to take it?”
“I just have a lot of missed calls and messages. I’ve been gone most of the day with all this stuff, and with Elvis, the chapel, and you.” He tilts his head. “But I really need to get back to a couple of people.”
“Oh… okay.”
I’m taken aback. I can’t believe he wants to take a call now, right after we’ve just gotten married, right after I’ve told him how much I love him.
“I want to say something,” I begin, but stop myself. Maybe this is what it’s like being married to a billionaire.
“I just hope that business isn’t always going to come first,” I say, half joking but half serious.
“Sorry,” he mutters, still staring at his screen.
He looks anything but sorry, and dread creeps into my chest.
“I just have a lot of missed calls,” he says. “I’m the CEO of a billion-dollar corporation, and I’ve been gone for a while. People are wondering what’s going on, and I really need to get back to some people before we go back to the room and fuck.”
I stare at him for a few seconds, stunned. I hadn’t expected him to use those words. They sound so crude, so cheap, and what we had wasn’t that.
“No worries,” I say, running my fingers through my hair. “I mean, if you have to take the call, you have to take the call.”
“Thanks. I won’t be too long. Then we can have the honeymoon you’ve been dreaming of.”
“Oh, okay. You want to have the honeymoon here?” I look around the hotel.
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“I just thought we might honeymoon somewhere else. Somewhere exotic. Somewhere fun. Somewhere we can run naked along a beach.”
He frowns slightly. “I thought you’d be happy being in Vegas. I mean, we flew first class. You were in a limo. You seemed to have a lot of fun last night when we were gambling.”
“Yeah, I mean, that was fun. This is fun. But I didn’t expect the honeymoon to be here. Still… I don’t mind. Whenever I’m with you, I’m happy.”
“Yeah, that’s great,” he says flatly. “Sounds good. Maybe we can fly somewhere else to celebrate our one-year anniversary, like the Maldives or Fiji or the Azores or something.”
“Our one-year anniversary?”
He starts laughing, and there’s a hardness in his eyes I’ve never seen before. It makes me uneasy.
I force a smile.
“Yeah, we can do that,” he says, rolling his eyes. There’s a change in him. It’s subtle, but undeniable. Maybe he’s just anxious about work. I hope he’s anxious about work.
“Why don’t you make that call,” I say gently, “and deal with whoever you need to. Then we’ll go to the room and relax.”
“Yeah. I can’t wait to consummate this marriage.” He licks his lips. “That will be fun.”
“I love you, Sebastian,” I say again, pouring every ounce of emotion into my voice. “I really love you.”
He stares at me silently. I wait. I need him to say it back.
But he doesn’t.
I tell myself not to push. Obviously, he loves me. He has to. He wouldn’t have married me if he didn’t.
“I’ll see you up in the room,” he says, and there’s a hint of coldness in his voice. It’s like all the warmth has been sucked out of him and he’s an iceberg of unfeeling.
I nod and try not to shiver. He looks back down at his phone, scrolling. My heart sinks as I notice he’s opening text messages. I don’t want to look, but my eyes betray me, and I catch a glimpse of a photo.
I freeze. My face flushes hot.
Is that a naked woman?
I look up at him, waiting for an explanation. He has to know I can see his screen, but he just keeps scrolling, murmuring to himself.
Unable to stop myself, I inch forward and read the text: I’m naked and thinking of you.
My jaw drops.
Who the hell is this brazen woman? He’d said he was single, so it couldn’t be a girlfriend. I wait for him to delete the message, to laugh and tell me it’s some crazy ex, but instead, I watch as he types a smiley face and presses send.
My heart stops.
“Hey,” I mumble, clearing my throat. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
He looks up, his expression vacant. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you just got a text message.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly, I feel chilled, like I’ve woken up on an iceberg in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, completely alone.
“I gotta take this, okay? I’ll meet you in the room.”
He leans forward and kisses me on the lips. “Get ready for me, sexy.”
I don’t say anything. My stomach twists.
“I should be up to the room within the next hour,” he adds, pressing the elevator button for me. “You gonna get in?”
“In a second. But Sebastian, I have a question for you.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” He frowns.
“Who was that woman that just texted you? I saw a naked photo on your screen, and I was wondering who that was.”
“Her name’s Louisa,” he answers immediately.
“Who is she?”
“You asked who texted me, not who she was.”
“Yeah, and you said she’s Louisa. But I don’t know who she is. Like, a crazy ex or something?”
“She works for me,” he says abruptly.
“She works for you? Does she normally send you naked photos of herself?”
“She’s done it once or twice before. Does it bother you or something?” He shrugs.
“Yeah, it bothers me,” I say sharply. “How would you feel if I was sending naked photos of myself to random men and they were sending me smiley faces?”
“I don’t suppose I’d like it very much.”
“Well, I don’t like it either,” I snap, my throat tightening. “Look, Sebastian… do you regret marrying me? We’ve only been married for an hour, but maybe you’re thinking you made a mistake. Maybe you were caught up in the highs of being sexual, but now you’ve come back down to earth and—”
“No. I don’t regret it. Not even a little bit.”
He shakes his head slowly, leans forward, and kisses my nose, then my lips. His hands slide down my body, pulling me into him. I feel his hardness pressed against my stomach, his other hand cupping my breast. His lips find my neck, and his breath is hot as he whispers,
“I don’t regret one moment of this, Willow.”
But when he pulls back and meets my eyes, something inside me screams a warning I can’t ignore.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have listened to my heart,” I whisper. “Because something feels off, and I just don’t know what it is.
“I love you, Sebastian,” I say again.
If he responds this time, I’ll know this is real.
He runs his fingers through his hair and just stares.
“Willow,” he says quietly, “the way you look at me, I could almost believe this is real.”
“What do you mean almost? Of course, it’s real!”
He sighs, brushes past me, and says, “Go to the room. Get naked for me. We’ll talk later.”
“Is there something you haven’t told me? Something I should know about, Sebastian? You’re making me nervous.”
“I’m just distracted by work. I’ll be back.
” And with that, he walks away. I stand there, waiting for the elevator again, feeling conflicted.
Maybe he is consumed by work. Maybe he’s nervous.
Maybe it’s a combination of many things.
I don’t know if he regrets it. I don’t even know if I regret it now.
Maybe he’ll ask for an annulment. Maybe it’ll just be one of those whirlwind romances that end as fast as it began.
My heart sinks at the thought.
I want so badly for this to be real.
I’ve waited so long to meet a man ready for commitment. Someone loving, kind, sweet, and handsome, and I thought that was him. But maybe I’ve just been stupid.
Maybe I’ve spent my whole life living in the clouds, dreaming of something unrealistic.
I pull out my phone and call Katherine. Thankfully, she answers right away.
“Hey! What’s going on?”
“I’m in Vegas,” I say, my voice trembling, “and I just got married.”
“Oh my gosh, you what?!” Katherine screams. “You did not! Brielle! Come here! I’m putting this on speaker.”
“Okay, Willow,” Brielle says. “What’s going on?”
“Willow just got married!” Katherine shouts.
“What?!” Brielle screams.
“I did. I know it’s crazy, but Sebastian asked me to marry him. I fell for him quickly, and I thought this was some fairy tale—and I’m in love with him. So I said yes, and we just got married by Elvis. Two random people were our witnesses.”
“Oh my gosh, congratulations! That’s so exciting!” Katherine says.
“I don’t know, guys. I feel like he may already regret it. We literally just got married and he’s gone to take some calls. I think maybe he thinks he made a mistake.”
“Oh, Willow,” Katherine says. “You know men. He probably realizes he’s just changed his life completely and that he can’t be a playboy anymore. Give him an hour. Let him process. If he asked you to marry him, it means he’s serious about you. He loves you, girl.”
“Yeah,” Brielle adds. “I saw the way he was looking at you. That man had such an intense expression on his face. I was blown away. He wants you badly. I feel like you’re in his bloodstream.”
“You think so? I mean, I told him I loved him, and he didn’t even respond.”
“He’s probably waiting to tell you tonight when you get to the room,” Katherine says. “You know how men are.”
“Yeah,” Brielle adds. “Trust me, my brother Ben gets so scared of emotion when he’s in love. He’s probably just processing everything. Men take a while to express their emotions.”
“But he asked me to marry him.”
“Exactly,” Katherine says. “He’s going to tell you later. Come on now, girl. Think about it: you met, fell in love, and got married in a week. You’re living a fairy tale. He’s your Prince Charming.”
“You think so? You don’t think it was too soon?”
“For most people, yeah, it’s soon,” Katherine admits. “But he’s the love of your life. When it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. You deserve this.”
I sigh softly. “I just hope I haven’t made a huge mistake. I’ve always thought of myself as Cinderella, and I’ve definitely thought of him as my Prince Charming. But what if he’s not?”
“Listen to me,” Katherine says firmly. “That man loves you, and you love him. You’re about to live out your happily ever after. I only hope Brielle and I will be as lucky as you.”