Page 6 of Married Into Love

"You said you’re thirsty,” heremindedme.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, earning me asexygrin.

“Plus, I don't want too much alcohol to be the reason why you decide I can see your panties,” Alec drawled, offering me a wink. “Not the first time,anyway.”

He was confident—almost to the point of being cocky. It would normally be a huge turn-off for me, but it somehow just made Alechotter.

“You know what? Now that you mention it, water sounds like a brilliant idea.” Or else I wouldn’t just show Alec my panties, I’d be drop them for him...and a wholelotmore.

I drank the water, but then I followed it up with what seemed to be a bottomless Malibu cocktail. I hadn’t factored my sister into my plan to stay semi-sober, and Alec didn’t know how devious she could be. His focus was mainly on me, and I didn’t think he realized how she kept switching out my drink whenever she ordered herself another one. Since he’d handed over his credit card to open a tab for the third round, he wasn’t paying close attention to what all she ordered—which was a lot. Ariana was having way too much fun watching me get all flustered around him, and she knew that drinking would help yank me out of myshell.

“So I’ve told you all about my crappy day”—although I’d left out the part about my boss sexually harassing me because I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about it yet, no amount of alcohol would change that after the way the woman from human resources hadn’t been willing to listen to a word I’d tried to say—“and managed to mortify myself with the amount of information I’ve shared. It’s your turn to either make a mad dash for the exit to get away from me or tell me something embarrassing about yourself to make up for everything I’ve saidsofar.”

“If you think anything you’ve told me tonight is going to scare me off, you’re sorely mistaken,” heswore.

“Whoa,” I breathed. Common sense told me it was a line he was feeding me, but my heart felt like it did a little flip in my chest anyway. In an effort to dampen my reaction to him, I took another gulp of my drink. When I realized it was full again, I turned to glare at mysister.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” I mouthedtoher.

“No, I’m pretty sure you don’t,” she whispered, waving her hand in Alec’s direction and drawing my attention backtohim.

I gripped the edge of my stool with my free hand when my head got a little fuzzy as I swung it his way again. “C’mon. Fess up, and make it super embarrassingorelse.”

He tilted his head to the side, and a dark lock of hair flopped onto his forehead. Without thinking, I reached out and pushed it back into place. Alec had started to answer, but the words died out as his heated eyes locked onmyhand.

“Oh. Crap! Sorry,” I muttered, yanking my fingers away from him and twisting my hands in my lap. “I didn’t mean to violate your personal spacelikethat.”

“Feel free to violate away, any time you’d like,” heoffered.

Those panties I’d been worried about dropping for him got damper with that one. He wasn’t just cocky; he was way too smooth for my own good. But that didn’t stop me from staying right where I was. “Only if you starttalking.”

“My mom has naked pictures of me in the bath from when I was little, which I’m sure she’ll take great pleasure in showing you. Is that embarrassingenough?”

“Only if she’s wandering around this club right now, ready to pull them out of her purse.” I shook my head and sigheddeeply.

“If we were in Chicago at one of my brother’s nightclubs, I wouldn’t put it past her. But she and my dad didn’t come out for the wedding, so we’re safe from herfornow.”

“Chicago? Clubs? Wedding?” Arianaparrotedhim.

“I’m in Vegas for a wedding tomorrow. I went to high school with the bride, and the groom is one of my teammates. Cee-Cee fell in love with one of his family’s hotels here in Vegas, so they brought everyone out for the wedding. My brother and his wife are here too since she’s best friends with thebride.”

“And this brother of yours owns nightclubs? In Chicago?” my sisterasked.

I was less concerned with his brother, and more interested in something else he’d said. “Teammate?”

“Yeah, Jason and I play hockey together for the Chicago Cavaliers. My brother, Andrew, used to play too. But he’s older than me and when he retired after a bad injury, he sunk most of his earnings into a couple of bars. It’s a tough business, but he’s done pretty well for himself. He owns some restaurantsnow,too.”

I shifted backwards in my seat a little. Alec wasn’t just a hot guy. He was a professional hockey player with a brother who was rich enough to own multiple businesses. And he had friends who owned hotels, for goodness sake. Meanwhile, I was jobless and soon-to-be homeless. I gulped down the rest of my drink and nudged the empty glass towards my sister, all while wondering what the heck a guy like him could possibly see in a girl like me. Especially after I’d shared enough with him to know how vast the differences between the two ofuswere.

Ariana patted me softly on the back, offering comfort while she ordered all of us another round. Knowing how awkward I felt didn’t stop her from questioning Alec further,though.

“If the wedding’s tomorrow, when are you heading back toChicago?”

Alec’s blue eyes scanned my face before he answered. “I was supposed to leave the day after the wedding, but I think I’m going to have to change those plans. The season ended a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t have a pressing reason to get back home. But I have found one for stayinglonger.”

“Me?” Igasped.

“Of course you, silly.” Ariana scooched off her stool and fanned herself. "After watching the two of you eye-fuck each other all night, I think I might bepregnant."

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