I ran a hand through my hair. “And then when we were spotted, we—”
“Went to a twenty-four-hour wedding chapel and got married. Can’t call it a scandal if we are husband and wife.”
I stopped my pacing. “Why would I agree to that?”
She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head.
I was messing this up. “Not that you aren’t very beautiful, it’s just… this seems like ayouproblem. Why would I agree to marry a stranger?”
“Aside from the fact that you were very drunk?”
“Yeah, that.” My stomach rolled, reminding me of just how drunk I’d been.
“You told me your sister is getting married and is a fan of mine. You agreed to the marriage so long as I went to her wedding with you.”
Fuck.
Why did I have to be a good brother? Charlotte was engaged to Nick, whom I had been fighting with for twenty years before the two of them got together. She was blissfully happy with him. Maybe drunk me realized how guilty I felt over the whole thing. Nick’s bachelor party was the reason I was in Vegas in the first place. Speaking of… where were Nick and the rest of the guys? “I need my phone.”
She gestured towards the nightstand, her foot still jiggling.
I snatched up my phone and found hundreds of notifications on my social media, not to mention voicemails and text messages. “I should deal with this.”
“Make it quick. To sell this whole marriage thing, we’re going to need to get to know each other fast and make some appearances.” She walked quickly out of the room.
My brain was moving slowly this morning, but the urgency in her voice registered.
I think my wife hated me.
And what the fuck did she mean byappearances.
I dismissed all of the notifications from Instagram and Facebook and hit Nick’s number. Although we had hated each other for a long time, we had grown closer over the last year.
Despite the Tylenol and Rosalind’s explanation, my head was still fuzzy. I needed the story from someone who had been there last night. Hopefully, he’d been less drunk than I was.
“Congratulations are in order, I hear.” There was a teasing tone to Nick’s voice, and he sounded less rough than I did. “You just had to beat me and get married first.”
I sank down onto the side of the bed and rubbed my hand over my face. “Ha ha. Now, what the hell happened last night? I just woke up in a house I don’t recognize with a wife I don’t know.”
I could hear laughter in the background.
“Well, in classic Derek form, you had to one-up everyone with how many shots you could do. The next thing we know, you’re making out with this chick on the dance floor. We lost track of you after that and spent half the night trying to track you down. Thanks for that, by the way. Then I woke up this morning to a text from your sister with a link to a TMZ article. Apparently, my soon-to-be brother-in-law is married to one of the richest women in the country.”
“Fuck.”
“The way the article tells it, you two have been together for months on the sly. Not sure how you managed that since you’re either working, at home, or annoying me.” He paused. “You care to fill me in? Charlotte’s going to kill me if I don’t give her the tea.”
“No comment,” I said through my hands.
“You’re no fun.”
“Apparently, I’m too much fun, and now I’m fucking married to a stranger.”
He must have finally figured out I was panicked, and his tone grew serious. “Tell me what happened, man, we can figure this out.”
So I did.
Chapter 2
