Page 8 of Married Into Love

ChapterFour

Alec

“Fuck,”I groaned when I rolled over in bed and opened my eyes. The bright light pouring through the windows hit them, and I promptly squeezed them shut again. It’d been the middle of the night when we got back to my room, and I hadn’t thought to shut the blinds because it was pitch blackoutside.

We.

My eyes popped back open and I scanned the bed for the other half of that ‘we.’ When I spotted her blond curls spread out on the pillow next to me, I heaved a deep sigh of relief. For a second there, I’d worried that Alessia was a figment of my drunken imagination. That I’d dreamed up how my night with her had gone. But I hadn’t, and the proof was lying right there nexttome.

She was sprawled on her stomach with the sheet pooled low on her back. Her face was turned towards me, her green eyes closed, and her plump lips slightly parted. Her right arm was tucked under her head, but her left hand rested on the pillow...and the crystal from the engagement ring circling her finger sparkled in thelight.

A ring that hadn’t been there when I’d met her last night. If it had, I never would have hit on her because she would have been off-limits as a married woman. No matter how attracted to her I’d been. Although when it came to Alessia, I would’ve been rooting hard for a divorce in her near future if that’d been the case. But now that it was my ring on her finger—even though we’d both been drunk when I’d put it there—a divorce was out of thequestion.

Her sister was the person responsible for us walking into the wedding chapel in the first place, but it’d been me who’d asked them what it took to get married in Vegas after I’d lined up the Elvis impersonator for the reception tonight. I was the one who called for the limo to take us to the Clark County Marriage Bureau. Ariana helped Alessia fill out the Affidavit of Application, reminding her of her social security number and digging through her purse to find her driver’slicense.

It only took about fifteen minutes to get the marriage license, but it’d been long enough for me to second-guess if I was doing the right thing. I hadn’t been joking when I’d told Ryan that I wasn’t going to let go of my woman once I found her, and all signs pointed to Alessia being that woman. The guys might’ve been right about karma being a bitch, but I still owed her a debt of gratitude for working so damn fast after I’d mouthed off in the limo. And taking advantage of Alessia’s bad day, and the number of drinks she’d had to get her to do something she wouldn’t have normally, seemed like a horrible idea—especially if I wanted to keep her tied to me. If I went forward with it, I figured marrying her while drunk would be an entirely new way to fuck up with my woman than the ones my brother and friends had already had to overcome. Ariana had convinced me otherwise,though.

“Doyou want tonight to be the last time you see my sister?” she’d asked after pulling me aside, her voice low so Alessia couldn’toverhearus.

“What the hell? Ofcoursenot!”

“Then you need to follow my lead, white knight. Or else that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Alessia will go home to our apartment tonight. You’ll be busy at your friend’s wedding all day tomorrow, and she’ll spend that time convincing herself that she’d be crazy to start something up with a guy who lives half a country awayfromher.”

“Shit,” Igroaned.

“You can say that again.” Her eyes darted over to wear Alessia stood. “By the time you get ahold of her, she’ll be busy packing up our apartment and trying to figure out where we’re going to move. And that’s assuming you can get her to pick up the phone or answer the door in the firstplace.”

“You think she’ll try toavoidme?”

Ariana nodded. “Definitely. I can just about guarantee you won’t be able to make her listen to what you have to say. She’ll be in freak-out mode about her job and living situation. It’ll be the perfect excuse for her to deny her very real reaction to you, and that’d be a damnshame.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Are you really trying to convince me it’s okay to take advantage of your drunk sister because of her reactiontome?”

“Only if you marry herfirst.”

We stoppedat the chapel closest to the Marriage Bureau offices, picked out a wedding package, paid extra for fresh flowers, and exchanged our vows in their gazebo using inexpensive rings that I planned to replace as soon as possible. I called for the limo to pick us up afterwards, and Alessia fell asleep while we drove across town to drop Ariana off at their place before we headed to my hotel. Since my new bride hadn’t stirred when the car pulled up in front of their building, Ariana ran upstairs and tossed some of Alessia’s stuff in a bag so she’d have it in themorning.

She’d barely woke up when we got to the hotel, and I’d carried her to my room. When I placed her on the mattress of my King size bed, she snuggled into a pillow and let out a sigh. Using one of the wipes Ariana had told me she put on the top of the bag she’d given me, I cleaned the makeup off Alessia’s face. Then I undid her bra and pulled it off, leaving her in her dress and panties. The dress had about as much material as a nightgown, and stripping her fully out of her clothes—as tempting as it was to see her naked—would have been wrong since she was passed out. It was bad enough that I married her in a ceremony I was fairly certain she wouldn’t remember. I wasn’t going to make it worse by taking advantageofher.

Instead, I stripped down to my boxers and climbed onto the mattress next to her. Feeling her curves pressed against my body without being able to do anything about it was a fitting punishment for what I’d done. I was hoping it’d be the only one, and I’d be able to convince Alessia to give our impulsive marriage a try when she woke up. Reaching out to grab my phone off the bedside table, I groaned when I saw the time. I only had about three hours before I needed to meet everyone downstairs for Jason and Cee-Cee’s wedding, and I was going to need every minute of it to talk my new wife into attendingwithme.

Rolling off the mattress, I padded into the bathroom and gently shut the door behind me. Pulling one of the outfits Ariana had packed out of her bag, I checked the size before calling down to the concierge. They transferred my call to one of the boutiques that carried women’s clothing, and I asked them to send up a couple dresses for Alessia so she couldn’t use not having anything to wear as an excuse. Once that was done, I ordered breakfast from room service. I was in desperate need of caffeine, and I figured Alessia would be too, so I asked for two carafes ofcoffee.

I peeked into the room and Alessia was still sound asleep, so I hopped into the shower. My years spent in hockey rinks growing up was put to good use since I was able shampoo my hair and wash up in no time flat. The first thing I did when I stepped out of the shower was check on Alessia again. She’d rolled over while I was in the bathroom, so I brushed my teeth quickly and pulled on a new pair of boxers and the pants from the black suit I planned to wear to the wedding. Then I made my way to her side and sat on the edge of themattress.

“Alessia,” Iwhispered,

“Wha—” she murmured, her eyes opening slowly and slamming back shut again. “Where am I? Whathappened?”

“You’re at my hotel. I brought you back to my room last night,” Iexplained.

“Alec?” she gasped, jerking up. Her green eyes dropped down to her body and she let out a relieved sigh when she saw she was still in her dress from the night before, but it turned into a surprised gasp when she noticed the rings on her finger. She waved her hand in my face. “Oh my gosh! Are these what I thinktheyare?”

I wrapped my hand around her wrist and stroked the soft skin underneath the bands. “If you think they’re wedding rings,thenyes.”

“Holy crap! Like it wasn’t bad enough that I need to find a job and a place to live? Now I need to get alawyer,too?”

Releasing her hand, I pressed her back against the mattress and levered my body over hers. “Or you could skip the lawyer and keep your new husband. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about finding a new job or place to live because you could just come to Chicagowithme.”

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