Page 14 of Married Into Love

His blue eyes jerked up to scan my face, and he gave me a jerky nod. “We’ll keep them with the photos. They should be ready for us to pick up in the next dayorso.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing them.” I tugged at his arm when he took a step away from me. “But we can worry about that later. I don’t want to make us late for your friend’s wedding. I can imagine what they’re going to think of me after last night. I don’t want to add to that by making you miss the big event you came all this way for in the firstplace.”

“Don’t worry about my friends,” he assured me as I slid my heels on and took his arm for him to lead me out of the room and down the hall to the elevators. “You know how you felt like your sister tricked us into getting married lastnight?”

“Yeah, that’s not something I’m likely to everforget.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close when the elevator stopped on another floor and two guys joined us inside. “Well, I wouldn’t have put it past my brother or my friends to have done the same once they saw the two of ustogether.”

“But that’s crazy!” Isputtered.

“Doesn’t stop it frombeingtrue.”

I was still trying to wrap my head around the idea of not having to worry about his friends and family judging me for the way we’d met when we snuck into the room and nabbed two seats in the back at the end of a row. The ceremony was beautiful, but meeting everybody afterwards was nerve-wracking. The guys were all insanely hot, and the women were beautiful. Plus, they all seemed comfortable in our luxurious surroundings, while I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb. And I couldn’t help but be more intimidated when I learned what each of the other women did when the conversation turned to work over drinks before the reception. The bride had recently left her job for a PR firm in Chicago to work for the Cavaliers. Ryan’s girlfriend was an Olympic gold medalist. And Alec’s sister-in-law, Josie, was a physical therapist who specialized in sportsinjuries.

“You have a PhD?” I askedJosie.

“Yeah, but just in physical therapy.” I appreciated how she tried to downplay her education, but it didn’t make me feel much better about my lackofone.

“My wife’s too modest,” Andrew said, pulling her closer to his side. “She graduated with honors and landed a job with the Cavaliers less than a monthlater.”

“So you work for Alec and Jason’s team too, then?” Iaskedher.

“Not anymore. As much as I loved my job there, the travel was a killer. It was already hard on my relationship with Andrew, and then we got pregnant”—she pressed a hand against her rounded belly and beamed a smile at me—“and I couldn’t stand the idea of being on the road with a babyathome.”

“Which meant she was actually happy when my crazy-ass brother handed her partial ownership in a sports clinic for her wedding present, instead of clobbering him over the head for his high-handedness,” Alecadded.

As insane as it seemed, I guessed I didn’t have to feel guilty about the room service, dresses, and diamond ring Alec had bought me if his brother had gotten his wife a business asagift.

“What is it that you do, Alessia?” Andrewasked.

“I’m a personal assistant. Or at least I was one up until yesterday. I had an issue with my boss, and...well...umm—”

Josie’s head tilted to the side while she studied me. “Was your bossaguy?”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of problem did you havewithhim?”

Alec and Andrew’s gazes zeroed in on me, too. I felt my cheeks fill with heat, and I looked down at my shoes as I tapped my toe against thefloor.

“Alessia?” Alecgrowled.

“The kind that involves him being a jerk who thinks me saying no is grounds for firing me,” I admittedsoftly.

“How’d you know it was something like that?” Andrew askedhiswife.

“Because it was obvious?” She waved her hand at me. “She was stammering and blushing like the question was embarrassing when it shouldn’t have been unless she did something horribly wrong at work, and I wasn’t getting that vibe from her. I mean, look at her. She’s gorgeous and sweet; exactly the kind of girl an asshole in a position of power would try to takeadvantageof.”

“You’re gorgeous and sweet, too.” Andrew turned his wife in his arms and tilted her chin back so she was looking up in his face. “Was that how you guessed? Because some asshole tried the same thingwithyou?”

“Down boy,” she laughed as she patted his chest. “My job with the Cavaliers was my first real one. And as nuts as it drove me because my job should have been separate from my private life, everyone there knew to treat me with kid gloves or else you’d kicktheirass.”

I let out a little sigh at how obviously in love Andrew and Josie were. Alec bent low to whisper into my ear, “I’m going to need you to tell me whose ass I needtokick.”

Wow. It seemed like Josie wasn’t the only one with a husband who was fiercely protective of their wife. If Alec kept making me weak in the knees with his romantic gestures, I just might have to consider keeping him like he—and my sister—hadsuggested.

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