Chapter 5
Clarke
Will’s cell phone snapped us out of our staring contest. Neither of us had spoken a word since we got dressed. What was there to say? We were getting the marriage annulled and going our separate ways.
He cursed into his phone, groaning as a woman yelled on the other end. I sat on the bed and listened. It sounded like a business call.
“Let me talk to the GM. He’ll listen to reason.” He tugged at the ends of his hair. “No, this was not another publicity stunt.” With his back to me, Will sighed. “I don’t know. Let me talk to her.” He bobbed his head. “Yeah, okay. Okay, give me some time.”
Will hung up and then pocketed his phone. He pushed the curtains open and stared out the tall windows overlooking the Las Vegas strip. I slid off the mattress and approached him with caution.
“Everything okay?”
“No,” he grunted. “Not even close.”
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing. Just work shit.”
“Because of the wedding?”
Eyes on the strip, he nodded. “I fucked up this time.”
“Was that your publicist?”
“Yeah.”
“We should tell your sister about the wedding before she hears about it on social media.”
Will spun around to face me, knocking my hand off his shoulder as he walked away. “Let’s get this over with.”
A few minutes later, we hopped into the elevator. Will’s cell phone rang again, but he made no move to reach into his pocket.
“Are you going to answer that?”
He shook his head. “Nope, I’m too hungover and tired to listen to everyone bitch about how stupid I am this early in the morning.”
“Getting married in Vegas to a woman you hate seems pretty Romeo-like, don’t you think?”
I laughed as he groaned.
“I still don’t understand how we ended up at a chapel,” Will said in disbelief. “How did that even come up?”
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. We don’t even like each other. Marriage will never be in the cards for us.”
“What if we stayed married?” Will gave me one of his boyish smirks. “There are perks.”
“Like what? Joint tax returns?”
He laughed. “I haven’t told Mia yet, but… The team manager called me into his office a few weeks ago. He brought in a fancy publicist who thinks I need an image boost.”
“Wow,” I said through a fit of laughter. “And you want me to pretend we’re married to save your career? Not happening. Being linked to you could ruin my career. I also have an image to protect.”
Will pushed off the wall so he was in front of me, hovering over me with all his masculinity and sex appeal. “You’re a reporter. It’s not the same as being a pro hockey player.”
“I get that you’re a celebrity in your own right,” I countered. “But I know what it’s like to have people follow you for autographs. To have people inspect every aspect of your life for their amusement.”
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You do?”
“I told you about my dad, haven’t I?”
“Not really. You told me he won the Pulitzer and some journalism awards.”
“He’s a legend,” I confessed. “And a hard act to follow. I can’t pretend we’re in love. Because we’re not. Even if I agreed to help you, it would feel forced. People would see right through it. And the fallout would destroy my career.”
He leaned in, smothering me in his delicious scent as he stroked my jaw with his fingers. “I like you, Clarke, always have.”
My jaw clenched at his words. “You never stuck around long enough to show me. Actions speak louder than words, Will.”
He folded his thick arms over his chest with a genuinely hurt look on his handsome face. “It’s the truth.”
“You’re only saying this because you want a favor. The answer is no. Find another way to clean up your image. Maybe start by not fucking everything that moves.”
“I’m not that bad, babe.”
“Pretty close.” I shoved my hand into his chest. “And stop calling me babe.”
“Why do you hate nicknames so much?”
I cringed at his question. “It’s a long story I don’t want to share.”
“So a dude fucked you up?” He propped his big body against the wall and stared down at me. “Is that it? Let me guess. It was your ex-husband.”
I glared at him. “Yes. Drop it, okay?”
He raised his hand to his forehead and gave me a mock salute. “You got it, captain.”
I shook my head. “You’re an idiot.”
Will was that guy, the one who had a name for everyone. When he met men, it was, Hey, boss or Hey, bro. It was always babe, sweetheart, or some stupid pet name with girls. He was annoying but also strangely likable. People loved Will and his over-the-top personality you could not ignore.
As the elevator dinged, the doors opened. Will held it open, and I stepped into the vacant hallway with his hand on my back. I should have scolded him for touching me. But I liked the way his warm skin felt pressed against mine.
We walked down the long hallway in silence. At the end of the corridor, Will balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the door. He knocked a few times before a disheveled Ethan flung the door open.
“What the hell?” Ethan asked Will. He ran his fingers through his dark, messy hair with one eye open. “You should have called first. Why are you here so early?”
Will held up his left hand, showing off his new piece of jewelry. For added effect, I also raised my hand. Dressed in tight boxer briefs that showed off his muscular body, Ethan stared at us with equal parts shock and horror.
“That’s fake, right?”
“Nope.” Will pushed on Ethan’s shoulder to invite himself into the room. “Where’s my sister hiding?”
“She’s in the bedroom.”
The hotel door slammed behind me as we followed Ethan into the living room.
“Mia,” I called out, moving toward the double doors which led to the master bedroom. “We have something to tell you.”
Mia emerged seconds later with a sheet wrapped around her lithe body. She studied my face, which must have looked troubled.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Besides feeling like I haven’t slept in a year, I’m good. But we have something to show you.”
I tucked a few loose strands of greasy hair behind my ears, then raised my left hand.
Mia gasped, holding her hand over her heart. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Will appeared beside me and showed his matching gold ring. “It’s exactly what you think it is. We were so drunk, we got married last night. We’re not even sure where. All we know is we woke up naked, in my bed, and with these rings on our fingers.”
Shaking his head, Ethan rolled with laughter. “Dumb ass. Leave it to Will to marry a stranger in Vegas.”
“Hey, I’m not a stranger,” I shot back.
Mia sighed. “What are you going to do?”
“We can get an annulment. It’s not like I’m staying married to this idiot,” I said with my finger pointed at Will.
Will snorted. “You’d be lucky to have the pleasure of marrying me.”
I shoved my hand in his face. “Appears I already am married to you, hubs.”
He smirked. “Then, maybe we should go consummate our marriage… again.”
“Pig,” I growled, with anger shaking through me. “I hate you. The second we get back to Philly, we’re annulling this marriage. You’re the last person on Earth I want to be with.”
“That’s not what you said last night,” he countered with a smirk.
Mia pushed out her hands to get between us. “Would you two stop it? Everyone knows you guys have sex.”
My jaw dropped. “You knew?”
She nodded. “Are you kidding me? The sparks between you two could burn down a building. I’ve known for a long time. So if you like each other, maybe you should see if this could work out.”
While her words should have made me feel better, they only made me feel worse. I could never be with someone like Will. There was no sense in trying. So I acted like a child and stripped the ring from my finger.
I threw it at Will’s chest. “I will never be the Juliet to your Romeo.”
As I turned to leave the room, Will grabbed my wrist. He held my back against his chest, his strong arms wrapped around me. Why did my body respond to him? How could I hate and like him at the same time?
“Give me a chance, Clarke,” he whispered into my ear, and the tension in my body dissipated.
“Say you’re sorry.”
“I’m sorry,” he breathed against the shell of my ear. “For everything I’ve done in the past to piss you off. And anything I will do in the future.”
I lost my will to fight as he cloaked me in his warmth. I hate myself for giving in to his charms.
“We’ll be back,” Will said to his sister. “We have a few things to work out.”