Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Maisey
The noise of the bar fades away as my name seems to echo through the room.
Maisey.
For half a second, I don’t move. I can’t. My brain refuses to catch up to what I just heard. I look around in confusion. Maybe there’s another Maisey who signed up to get married on stage in the middle of a Las Vegas bar surrounded by strangers, because it sure as hell hadn’t been me.
My stomach drops when I see Patty and her friends watching me.
And laughing.
It takes me another 0.5 of a second to realize my horrible stepsister signed me up for this. Like it’s some big joke and I’m the punchline.
Absolutely not.
Reflexively, I shake my head and try to step back. There is no way I’m going up there.
“Maisey! Where are you, sweetheart?” the announcer asks, his hand up like a visor, scanning the crowd.
I’m about to make my escape when Patty yells out and waves her hands in the air. “She’s here!”
The spotlights lock onto me a second later. The crowd roars, and people press in around me from all sides. I’m trapped.
I lift one hand to try to signal that there’s been a mistake. I’m not a bride. I’m not doing this. But then there are hands on my shoulders, guiding—no, shoving—me through the crowd like a tide impossible to fight, up to the stage until I’m standing next to the man in the rhinestone-studded tuxedo.
“I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake. I didn’t—”
“Maisey!” he grabs my hand, locking me in place. “Give it up for our bride, everyone.”
Again, the crowd roars with delight, but I once more try to pull away.
“Come on, Maisey!” Patty yells. “It’s not like you’re going to get married any other way.”
The crowd cheers and laughs. I want to die.
“And now,” the announcer continues brightly as if I’m not burning up with humiliation, “we just need a groom!”
He turns to the crowd, microphone raised expectantly. “Who’s brave enough to marry this lovely lady tonight?”
Silence.
Not a single man steps forward.
Not. One.
There are a few whistles and a couple of drunken laughs. Someone shouts something I can’t quite make out, and it’s probably for the best. No doubt a joke at my expense.
My chest tightens.
Of course, no one volunteers. Why would they? I’m not like most of the women in this club—polished, painted, and beautiful. I’m the girl people laugh at. The one picked last for…well, everything. I’m definitely not the girl men are fighting over or, in this case, rushing up to marry.
“Remember,” the man says, “our happy couple will be spending the night in the honeymoon suite as well as walking away with a wedding gift of fifty thousand dollars!”
I almost choke.
Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.
My pulse stutters. I turn to stare at the man.
There is no way I heard him correctly. Fifty thousand dollars is enough to pay off all my bills and my student loans.
Even if I have to share the pot with someone else, it’s still enough money to get me out of the hole I’ve dug for myself. It would mean breathing room.
“Did you say fifty thousand dollars?”
“I sure did, sweetheart,” the tuxedoed man grins and plays to the crowd. “Not a bad wedding gift at all, is it?”
My head spins.
It’s the kind of money that could change everything for me.
All I have to…no!
What am I thinking? I can’t marry a stranger.
The announcer leans in, lowering his voice so only I can hear. “It’s just a promotion,” he murmurs. “It’s Vegas. It’s not like it’s real.”
It’s Vegas. It’s not like it’s real.
Why not?
I can’t even believe I’m considering this. It’s insane. And judging by Patty and her cronies pointing and laughing at me from their spot on the dance floor, it’s beyond entertaining for them.
Not that anyone has volunteered to be my groom.
A detail that my stepsister is more than happy to point out from her spot on the dance floor.
“Shocker,” she yells. “No one wants to marry you this time either!”
My face burns as more cheers rain down, my humiliation complete.
Laughter erupts around us, sharp and cruel.
Then—
A deep, calm voice cuts through the noise.
“I’ll be happy to marry the sweet little filly.”
Travis
When the crowd goes quiet, I know I’m going to do something.
The second the laughter starts, I’m done for.
I don’t know how she ended up on the stage, but the look on her face tells me that it wasn’t her choice. It only takes a moment to see that her friends who are laughing and pointing are responsible.
Maisey.
That’s her name.
She looks like she would welcome the floor opening up and swallowing her whole. The crowd is cheering and laughing, waiting for someone to make a move, but no one does. Not one man in the crowd is smart enough to see that she’s different.
Better than every other woman in the place.
I recognized that the moment I saw her. Unlike all these buckle bunnies, thrusting their tits in every man’s face, Maisey is real.
Her tiny, curvy body makes my hands itch with the need to touch her.
To protect her. She’s gorgeous in an effortless way.
She’s not hiding her beautiful features under layers of makeup.
I can see her. Her curly hair is bursting from her head in a wild mane that only highlights her bright blue eyes and draws me in.
This contest wasn’t meant for someone like her.
The silence drags on after the announcer’s call. No volunteers. Idiots. All of them.
My jaw tightens.
I set my beer on the counter behind me and step forward. “I’ll be happy to marry the sweet little filly.”
Rex’s hand shoots out. “What? Seriously, dude?”
I shake him off and keep walking, my eyes focused on Maisey, who is watching me now with an unreadable expression on her pretty face.
“Ladies and gentlemen.” The announcer waves his hand in my direction as I step up on stage. “Our groom!”
The crowd goes wild as I take my place next to Maisey. “Hi,” I mouth, but instead of responding, she blinks twice and turns back to the crowd.
She looks like a deer in headlights, ready to bolt at any moment.
Maisey turns to me, but before she can say anything, the man slides between us. “Let’s meet the happy couple.” The crowd roars. They’re thirsty for this. “We already know our bride, Maisey.” There are a few cheers. “Where do you live, and what do you do for a living, Maisey?”
“Oh…I’m…well, I live in Toronto, Canada.” Even more cheers erupt from the crowd. Apparently, there’s a big Canadian contingent in town. “And right now…I…well…” She stumbles over her words. “I just graduated with an art history degree, and I’m…”
“She’s unemployed!” My head whips around to see the blonde in the stupid sash once more throwing her friend under the bus. As soon as I get the chance, I’m going to tell Maisey that she needs new friends.
I shoot the blonde a look, but she’s too busy laughing to notice.
And then it’s my turn. “How about our groom?” The crowd, mostly women, erupts. I hear and ignore a few offers to trade places with Maisey.
“What’s your name?”
“Travis.”
More cheers.
“Well, Travis,” the announcer continues. “The ladies sure seem to like you. Where are you from, and what do you do?”
“I’m from a tiny little town in the Rockies, and I’m…” I wait a beat, ready for the reaction. “A bareback bronc rider.”
Predictably, the crowd explodes. Even if this guy doesn’t know who I am, I’m willing to bet that most of the people in the bar do.
“A championship bareback rider,” I hear Rex yell.
Thanks, buddy.
“Well, well,” the announcer croons into his mic. “It looks like it’s our lucky day.” He steps back and pushes me a step closer to Maisey. “Or maybe I should say it’s our bride’s lucky day.”
Maisey looks completely unimpressed. In fact, maybe it’s my imagination, but she looks even more unsure of this whole thing since I’ve stepped onto the stage. I try to catch her eye to let her know we can back out, but she won’t look at me.
“Okay, Maisey and Travis, let’s get you ready for your vows and give the people what they want.”
There’s more cheering, and I try to grab Maisey’s attention, but my words are lost when the DJ starts playing a dance remix of Chapel of Love and I’m pulled off stage in the opposite direction of my bride-to-be.