Page 40 of Married Into Love

ChapterFourteen

Alec

“Ican’t believeyou’re taking a private plane. No waiting in lines. No person behind you kicking your seat. No crying kids. Your white knight knows how to travel in style, you luckybitch.”

As I handed our luggage over to the flight attendant to stow on the plane, I chuckled at Ariana’s pissy remark. In the month I’d ended up spending in Vegas, I’d gotten to know my sister-in-law fairly well. She loved Alessia. Fiercely. She just showed it in odd ways sometimes. But considering the shit my brother and I had pulled on each other throughout the years, I didn’t have any room tojudge.

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Alessia huffed. “But he wouldn’t listentome!”

“Of course I didn’t,” I murmured when I joined them, wrapping my arm around her waist. “I promised myself that first weekend, when you were so fucking cute with how surprised you were that we were all supposed to fly back home on a private plane, that I’d do my best to get you on one when I convinced you to move to Chicagowithme.”

“Like it took a lot of convincing,” Arianasnorted.

“Hey!” Alessia punched her sister in the arm. “Like you can talk. You’re the one who married me off to him that firstnight.”

“Damn straight.” She flashed us a smug grin. “And you’ll both owe me for it for the rest of yourlives.”

“Only because you’ll never let us forget it,” Alessialaughed.

“Probably.” Ariana cocked her head to the side and tapped a finger against her lips. “But if you name your first daughter after her auntie, I might be willing to limit my reminders to once a year on her birthday orsomething.”

Considering we hadn’t used a condom any of the times we’d had sex and Alessia’s period had been due yesterday, it was a very real possibility that we’d need to pick out baby girl names soon. I’d tried talking her into taking a pregnancy test this morning, but she’d argued that one day late wasn’t anything. The stress of the move could have pushed it back. Or how freaked out she was about meeting my parents in person tonight. And she’d flat-out refused to take the test until after that happened because she was worried about how they’d react to me bringing a wife home fromVegas.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t already know we got married. Andrew had spilled the beans the second he and Josie landed in Chicago, and my mom had ripped me a new one for not being the one to tell her. And for taking away her chance to help her new daughter-in-law plan awedding.

Alessia had talked to both of them on the phone several times over the last few weeks, when my mom refused to be put off any longer by my excuses about it technically being our honeymoon. She’d even FaceTimed with them twice. But none of that helped with how nervous she was about the dinner my mom had planned as our homecoming. So I’d relented, and we agreed that she’d take a test first thing tomorrowmorning.

“If you moved to Chicago, it’d be a lot easier for you to hold it over our heads,” Alessia muttered. “You could do it in person, instead of just on thephone.”

“I told you I’d think about it,” Ariana sighed. “For now, I’m happy where I’m at. Your white knight was somehow able to get my new landlord to agree to a six-month lease, so I’m only locked in until January. But that might work against you because moving to Chicago in the dead of winter doesn’t sound like a fun timeatall.”

“Ugh, snow,” Alessiasighed.

“Enough of that. Quit trying to scare my wife into staying in Vegas,” I mock-growled. “It’s hot as fuck in Chicago right now. She’ll have plenty of time to adjust to winter, and me to keepherwarm.”

“See. That right there is the reason I don’t need to move to the frozen tundra. I don’t have my own white knight to make sure I don’t freeze to death,” Arianajoked.

Alessia narrowed her eyes at her sister. “If that’s your only excuse, give me a little bit to get settled into my new home and I’ll workonit.”

“Now that my wife is talking about picking up guys, I think it’s time for me to get her on the plane and remind her that she’s very muchmarried.”

“For her! Not me!” Alessiacried.

I shook my head. “If it involves you talking to single guys, it’s not gonnahappen.”

“Never mind,” Ariana sighed. “I don’t need my own white knight, after all. He might think he can boss me around like yours doeswithyou.”

Alessia threw her hands up in frustration before pulling her sister into a hug. “You’re insane, but I love youanyway.”

“I love youtoo,sis.”

When Alessia let go of her sister and started to walk towards the plane, I gave Ariana a quick hug too. “Take care of yourself, and don’t hesitate to call if you needanything.”

“Just keep taking care of my sister. That’s allIneed.”

My swift nod earned me a smile, and I ran to catch up with Alessia to wrap my arm around her waist as we boarded the plane. I got her settled and enjoyed how excited she got about the plush leather seats. She stared out the window, watching Las Vegas quickly disappear from view, and fell asleep before the flight attendant had the chance to ask us if we wanted anything to eat ordrink.

I’d been hoping to enjoy our time in the air by taking full advantage of the privacy the plane offered, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake her. Not with the dark smudges under her eyes. She needed her rest, and I was hoping it was because of all the running around we’d done over the past two days to make sure she was ready for the move to Chicago. So I pressed a soft kiss to her belly before leaning back and closing my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep too. I didn’t wake up until the flight attendant pressed a hand to my shoulder three and a half hours later to let me know we were preparingtoland.

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