Page 66 of His Lair
“The best,” he says.
“I’m going to book a couple of rooms at the Wild Card. I’ll be back tomorrow,” I tell him.
“Why are you booking rooms?”
“Because I can’t take my dad to the apartment I rented. It’s a one-bedroom. And it’s just easier if we stay at the venue.”
“You’ll stay in my apartment,” Sammie says.
“Did you miss the part where I said I’m coming to town with my dad?” I repeat.
“No, I’ll make sure a suite is available for him.”
“Don’t do that. My dad… he’s… ah… Well, he doesn’t know about you.”
“You don’t want me to meet your father?” Sammie asks.
“I’ve just never… My dad still thinks I’m a virgin, Sammie. I can’t just drop a boyfriend on him out of the blue,” I explain.
Sammie laughs. Hard and loud. “Babe, there is no way your old man thinks you’re a virgin. Have you seen you?”
“He does. I’ve never talked about boys with him. I remember when I was fifteen and he said that no boy would ever be good enough for meso don’t bother looking for one.” I mimic my dad’s voice at the end.
“He’s right. No one will be good enough for you. But I’m going to do better. I’m going to be better. I mean, seriously, Lailani, he knows what you do for a living and you’re afraid to tell him you have a boyfriend?”
“It’s different. He was always so protective of me as a teenager that I just never told him when I was dating someone. It was easier,” I admit.
“What if I weren’t your boyfriend?”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “You want me to introduce you to my dad as what? A friend? The son of the bride?”
“I could be your husband,” Sammie says, and my heart stops.
My brain does some kind of weird circuit meltdown, because I can’t talk. I can’t think. I can’t move. Shit, am I even breathing?
“Lailani, you there?”
“Mhmm,” I manage to get out.
“Breathe. I’m so thrilled the thought of marrying me makes you breathless, babe. Wait until the honeymoon, then you’ll really know what being breathless feels like.”
“Is this a joke?” I whisper into the phone.
“No. I’m serious. If you don’t want to introduce me as your boyfriend, I can become your husband within minutes of you getting back to town. This is Vegas after all.”
“Sammie, we have a lot of things we need to work out. We can’t justget married.” I’m still not sure I ever want to get married. Though it doesn’t sound as… repulsive right now for some reason.
“We can. Those things will still be worked out, whether we are married or not, Lailani,” he says.
“Okay, how about I introduce you as my boyfriend, and if you survive that, we can circle back to the husband title?” I suggest.
“You don’t want to marry me?”Great, now he sounds hurt.
“No. I mean, yes, I do. I will marry you, Sammie. I just want you to be sure. Because I already told you, if I were to get married, I’m not getting divorced, and if my husband tried to leave me, I’d probably kill him before he made it to the door.” I don’t know why I’m even saying this. Just that with Sammie, it feels right and I’m used to trusting my gut.
“I’m sure. I’m not scared of you, Lailani. You’re not going to kill me,” he says.
“How do you know? I can think of at least fifty ways that would make it look like an accident,” I tell him.
