Chapter Eight
Apounding in my skull jolts me awake. My eyes frantically bounce around a pitch-black room. I wipe the wetness from my forehead and notice I’m still wearing my clothes from yesterday. I only have my black collared shirt and pants, but my shoes are off. I hear a light snoring sound on the other side of the room. Someone is in here with me— wait, Piper! It’s Piper.
I sigh in relief and reach behind me on the bed, pawing for my phone. When I find it, I click on the flashlight, rise to my feet, and carefully walk across the room to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Tapping the button on the remote to open the thick, heavy, blackout curtains, I’m blinded by the direct sunlight blasting into the dark room.
I leave the curtains partly open and look down at the busy Las Vegas strip below. When I hear Piper move around on the other side of the oversized bed, I walk over to her side.
“Jack?” she mutters.
I sit on the bed next to her head, which is halfway off the edge. Piper’s dress rides high on her legs, with the top half of her body rolled in the white hotel sheet.
“Hi.” I smile warmly.
Her long strawberry blonde hair is fanned out across two pillows before she lifts her head. “I feel like shit. What the hell happened last night?”
I shake my head with confusion. “I’m not quite sure. I remember some of it, but not all,” I answer, but my voice is still shaky with uncertainty. “The last thing I remember is coming back to the penthouse extremely excited, but I don’t remember what for.”
“To hook up?” Piper stills. Her eyes are wide while panic crosses her face. “Did we sleep together?”
I fold my arms at my chest. “I’m sure we didn’t sleep together.”
“How do you know? I mean, I don’t feel like we did, but you never know.”
If I fucked her last night, she would definitely feel it this morning, especially with the way I’m attracted to her. I tilt my head to the side, looking directly into her eyes. “Trust me, if we slept together, you’d remember it.”
Her face reddens, but her eyes narrow. “So sure of yourself?”
“Without a doubt,” I say firmly. Piper’s lashes bat a few times before she looks away. I smile with the satisfaction of making her blush.
I lift off the bed to search for our luggage. I quickly realize that we are in the same suite I”d booked for myself at the beginning of the night. Heading into the main living area, I spot two black roller carry-ons in the corner by the door. I wheel them both back into the bedroom to see that Piper is now sitting up.
“I need a shower.” Her voice is raspy.
“Here’s your bag. You know, the one that you thought you lost?”
She gives me a side-eye. “Thanks.”
“Are you okay? Besides the obvious splitting headache and death-like hangover,” I joke, making light of the situation.
Piper runs a hand through her tousled hair, flipping it to the side of her head. “I’m alright. I wish I remembered more this morning.”
My face softens, understanding how she feels. All joking aside, last night was fun, and I’m surprised by how fast I felt comfortable with her. That doesn’t happen to me very often, with or without alcohol. There’s a thick awkwardness around us, and now, I’m unsure how to act around her. To say that I’m grateful that we didn’t have sex is an understatement because I have a feeling she’s not one that I’ll easily forget. “We had fun. It’s alright.”
“I know. I had a lot of fun with you. More fun than I’ve had in a long time.”
I smile, feeling the same. “At least I’m a nice guy and didn’t take advantage of you.”
“You wouldn’t have needed to take advantage of me.” I wouldn’t have?
“Interesting.”
She heads toward the bathroom with her clothes and a small bag clutched in her arms. “With how drunk we both were, I’m glad we didn’t end up doing something stupid.”
Pursing my lips together, I nod with shared relief.
While Piper is in the shower, memories of last night slowly start rolling in. Thinking about it makes my head spin. Both of us need some food, water, and definitely an aspirin—or two. I head into the kitchen, searching for complimentary bottles of water, and luckily, I find a dozen of them stocked in the fridge.
I grab three to take back into the bedroom, but on my way, I pass a large wooden dining table and a bouquet of white roses, but something catches my eye. I look closer and notice a yellow-tinted piece of paper nestled underneath the stems. I tuck all three water bottles into one of my arms and then remove the paper with the fancy calligraphy from the top of the table.
My heart stops.
I blink a few times to make sure I’m reading this document correctly. With my eyes still blurry, I can only make out a few words: State of Nevada,Marriage Certificate, and my signature: Jack Bradley. Directly across from my name, written in my very own handwriting, is that of Piper Harris, and right below hers is one that shoots an electric shock up my spine, Piper Bradley.
The bottles of water fall from my grasp as my arm goes limp, quickly rolling in separate directions across the floor.
Fuuuck.
“What’s wrong?” I see Piper appear fully dressed and standing in the door frame to the bedroom.
“We got married last night!” I yell, pinching the terrifying piece of paper in the air in front of us.
“What?”
“We. Got. Married. Last. Night,” I repeat, emphasizing each word. Still in disbelief, I take a few steps closer to hand her the certificate. With her pupils dilating, Piper reluctantly takes the paper from me and holds it up to read.
“Piper Bradley! Oh my god. I took your last name?” she shouts.
Is that what stuck out to her? Not that we got married in Las Vegas while completely intoxicated and that the witness signature is from someone who I am fairly confident we both don’t know. That was not the reaction I expected.
“Of course you took my last name. Why wouldn’t you?” I quip, somewhat offended.
She shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess I never thought about it before.”
“I always knew I’d give my future wife my last name.” Why the hell am I upset?
Piper raises her arms in the air with her palms up in front of us. “It’s shocking seeing my name—but written differently, I guess. Why do you care?”
“I have no idea. I don’t care.” Flustered, I rake my hand down the front of my face, feeling the small beads of sweat that have appeared. “But what I do care about is the fact that this is insane. How could this have happened?”
My mind spins with the stress and pressure that I have going on with my father passing and staring down a narrow tunnel that my life will soon become. Not to mention that the community thinks I abandoned them and doesn’t want me back in it. This is fucking insane.
Piper rubs her temples with a forced grin on her face. “Look, it was a mistake, but I’m sure this happens in Vegas all the time. Let’s do some research to figure out how we can get it annulled. That’s all.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“I guess the marriage certificate explains where this came from.” She hands me what looks like a tiny rolled-up piece of paper in the shape of a ring.
I hold it between my index finger and thumb to get a better look. “It looks like a rolled-up wrapper from a straw,” I say.
“I had it on my ring finger when I woke up this morning.”
My body flushes with warmth. “I grabbed the wrapper off the table in the wedding chapel lobby. I vaguely remember making that for you.”
“It was a very sweet gesture,” she says, slipping it back on her finger. Is she keeping it?
“I hope you don’t like it too much because I’m sure it won’t last long.”
Piper rolls her eyes. “Probably as long as our marriage.”
“That’s true.” We stand in silence for a minute, quietly smiling. Both of us stare at the floor while tension swirls between us. This situation is so fucking awkward. “I’m going to hop in the shower, too, and then we should probably make our way downstairs to get something to eat. Or we can call for room service if you prefer?”
“Grabbing breakfast sounds great.” Piper kneels to retrieve one of the water bottles from off the floor.
Before I shut the door to the bathroom, I turn to her. “I intended to bring one of those to you.”
She grins before screwing off the cap. “It’s the thought that counts.” I watch as she brings it to her lips, and I remember our intimate kiss last night.
A few minutes later, I stand alone in the shower, surrounded by the tiled walls. The hot water falls like thick raindrops pelting the stiff muscles of my back. On the bright side, if I was going to get married in Vegas to a woman who I barely know, at least it ended up being a fun, sexy, and adorable one.
I’m unsure of what came over me when I asked Piper to marry me. It may have been another attempt at making my own choices in life, or it might have been the fact that something inside of her speaks to something inside of me, and I didn’t know what the hell to do with that information. But here we are.
I feel only semi-normal when I get out of the shower, but I still need breakfast. Coming from the bedroom, I see the back of Piper’s long hair as she sits with her knees up in one of the tufted chairs in front of the large window overlooking the strip. I want to spend more time with her, and I hope that our drunken choices don’t ruin that for us.
“Hungry?” I ask, circling the small sitting area to stand in front of her.
She looks up at me with her beautiful hazel-green eyes. “Starving.”
Piper and I leave the suite and walk down the long hallway toward the elevator. The intensity between us is so thick that I can almost feel it suffocating me between the four walls of this confined space. I shift a couple of times in place, then shove my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. Based on how Piper is fidgeting with the strings of her hoodie, she’s also unsure how to act around me.
A few uncomfortable minutes later, we’re seated at a small cafe on the lobby floor of the resort and casino.
“After all the fun we had last night, I now fully understand why there are no windows in casinos,” she tells me after placing her order.
I hand my menu to the server and smile at Piper, anxiously waiting for another off-the-wall comment about something completely random.
“And why is that?”
“Because it causes people to lose track of time. The lack of awareness from the light of day to the darkness of night confuses people, making them think that the night can never end, and it will simply keep going,” she shares with me in a single breath.
I laugh. “That’s exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. We didn’t want the night to end, and by what we did last night, it technically didn’t.” I take a sip of my hot cup of coffee.
“That’s right.” She smiles, tucking her loose hair behind her ear.
When our food arrives, Piper and I sit silently, trying to put the pieces together from the last twelve hours. But then, unexpectedly, an idea forms in my head. She’ll think I’m crazy as hell, or she’ll be interested. I straighten my shoulders and suck in a deep breath. “What if this little situation we got ourselves into could benefit us both?”
Piper stops mid-bite, her fork suspended in the air. “What do you mean?”
Resting my elbows on the table, I clasp my hands under my chin. “Remember last night when I told you about how I’m being ousted from my family’s winery by my dad’s long-time friend and business partner?”
Piper’s expression quickly changes from interest to confusion. “Um, I don’t think so. Sorry,” she says, glancing down at the rolled paper straw around her ring finger. “Clearly, I don’t remember much.”
Holding back a smile, I rub my lips together because she’s still wearing the paper ring. It’s unbelievable what we did, but based on our love document, it did, in fact, happen. “I understand. Everything is a bit fuzzy. It is for me, too, but I vaguely remember discussing this with you.” I pause, watching as her expression changes.
Piper nods. “A little bit, I do.”
“Okay, awesome. What if we pretended to be together to make me look more stable? I’m also in the process of putting an offer on a house, and this would make it so much better.”
“You want to stay married to me so it can help you look better while taking over your family’s winery?”
My eyes grow wide. “Yes. That’s exactly right.”
“I’m sorry, but that sounds ridiculous. You’re a good-looking, successful guy. Don’t you have any female friends that would love to be your fake girlfriend?”
I have other options, but Piper and I are already married. We’ll have to be together until we get this figured out anyway, and I’m sure it will take at least a few weeks to get our marriage annulled. Our family lawyer could easily handle it with discretion when the time comes, so why not see if we could use it to our advantage?
I set my cup of coffee down on the table before answering. “Thank you—and yes, I do, but I think this could only work if it’s strictly professional. A business deal. I don’t want any headaches or confusion about feelings to be involved. As long as we go into it knowing that this agreement is only for business, then we’ll both be able to go our separate ways when it’s over.”
“You’re actually serious?” She stares at me from across the table with her eyes the size of saucers.
“I know it sounds insane, but I think this could work for me. Look at it from a marketing standpoint,” I continue, “People love families and young couples, and without getting you pregnant, I think this is the next best thing.”
She coughs and blinks a few times. “Did you say getting me pregnant like it was an actual thought?”
Oops. “Okay, maybe that was a bad example, and I’m not actually meaning us, like you and I—I’m only stating the obvious, and this small community is all about families.”
“You are a special guy, you know that?” She sneers.
I return with an exaggerated smile. “I am, aren’t I?”
“Let’s say hypothetically, I consider what you’re proposing—how long would this last, and how would we make it work? I live in Phoenix, and you said you’re moving back to Northern California.” She points out valid concerns, but she’s considering my offer. Yes.
“I would only need one to two months max. I think that should be enough time to re-establish myself in the community and around the winery before we can simply break up. We can get a divorce, and I’ll even pay for it. We have a family lawyer that would take care of it for us.” Piper still has a look of disbelief on her face, but I continue hoping she doesn’t change her mind. “As far as our living arrangement, you can be long distance, but I will need you to be around for big events like harvest season that’s coming up. Then we’ll go from there,” I explain, trying my best to close this deal. Maybe not the ideal approach.
“Wow, you do have this planned out, don’t you?”
“No, actually, it just came to me.”
Piper clasps her hands together on top of the table. “How can you casually ask me to do something like this? You have to know how it sounds?”
I think for a second before responding, but it seems pretty clear-cut to me. “It’s transactional. That’s all.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to annul this marriage and then find someone you already know well?” she presses, still unsure.
I’m confident that she’s considering it, but I can see the expression on her face as she filters through all the ways this plan won’t work. “It’s convenient that we’re already married. We’re stuck together for the foreseeable future and have already done something completely rash together. We both felt comfortable enough to do that, so why not this?” I arch a brow. “And honestly, it sort of feels like this just fell into my lap.”
Piper glances around the room before breathing out a heavy sigh. “I barely know you, Jack Bradley. What if you’re some psycho?”
“I’m not. You married me, didn’t you—Mrs. Bradley? That wasn’t your concern last night,” I reply.
Piper tosses a mini muffin at me from the other side of the table. “Funny.”
“I am funny. See, you already know that about me,” I say, after catching the muffin.
She blushes and rolls her eyes.
“Besides, I went to college with Harry and Mason. I’ve known them for years, and I’m sure they’d vouch for my lack of serial killer tendencies.”
“Are you going to expect me to perform girlfriend duties?” she taunts.
Of course, she’d think that. But doing those things would only make things complicated. “Absolutely not.”
Her shoulders relax. “Okay. That’s good to know.”
“Unless you wanted to.” I wink.
Piper tosses a crumpled-up napkin at me from across the table. “Stop it.”
I catch it with one hand and chuckle.
She threads her fingers through her hair, then leans in. “If I agree to this, it’s going to cost you.”
“You want me to pay you to be my fake girlfriend even though you’re already my real wife?” I admire how her hazel eyes have hints of green under the dim light in this booth.
“Obviously. I need to get something out of this because, under the current terms, you’re the only one I see benefiting from it,” she retorts.
I guess I didn’t think of how she’d be compensated. “Fair enough.”
“I want a lifetime supply of plants. I love plants.”
I draw my head back in disbelief that she asked for plants instead of money, as anyone else would. “You don’t want me to pay you?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Sure. That works, too.”
“How much do you want?”
Piper clicks her tongue. “How much is the winery worth?”
“You cannot be serious.”
“I’m .” She pulls her lips to one side and sits back against the black rubber booth. “Make me an offer.”
Now that she’s married to me, she could take a hell of a lot more than I’d ever willingly offer. I need to be fair so she doesn’t get any ideas about other ways of benefiting from our twenty-four hours of mistaken judgment. I have no idea what to offer her. What’s too much? What’s too little?
I suck in a breath and throw out the first number that comes to mind. “Ten thousand dollars.”
“That’s peanuts. No way,” she responds.
“You asked for plants?”
She pouts.
“Fifteen thousand dollars.”
I feel her leg bouncing underneath the table. She’s nervous but not letting on that she is. “Higher.”
My hands fly up. “Seriously?”
“How bad do you want it?” Piper challenges, but it sounds like she’s taunting me rather than negotiating. And I fucking love it.
“Twenty thousand dollars and not a penny more,” I playfully say, folding my arms at my chest.
She is gorgeous, and there’s an obvious attraction between us, but I need to remain focused on the future of my family’s winery. This is an entirely ridiculous idea, but something inside tells me to trust it.
“It’s not like I’m doing anything else at the moment.” Her face lights up. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”