“Trust a strange man in my hotel room I’ve never seen before? No, thank you.”
He chuckles, low and deep like his voice. “Babygirl, I can promise you have indeed seen me before. In fact, you’ve seenallof me before.”
It’s then that I realize I’m clutching the bedsheet to my chest. My very naked chest.
“Oh my god. Oh mygod.” The heart I was sure was going to beat its way right out of my chest earlier picks up the pace again, racing so fast it feels like it's stumbling over itself. And my lungs seize, allowing no air either in or out as I gasp for the life-giving oxygen my body seems intent on denying itself.
“Fuck,” the stranger mutters, grabbing the glass as it slips from my numb fingers and setting it aside. “Look at me, Tabitha.Now.”
The snap of his voice demands obedience, and I jerk my gaze up to meet his. “Good girl,” he praises quietly, but no less firmly. “Now breathe with me. In through your nose, like this.”
I pull as much air in as I can, holding my breath in time with his.
“And out, slowly, like this.Good girl.”
I hate myself a little for how my body warms at his praise. And the fact that his quiet, firm voice actually does manage to steady the erratic beating of my heart. Even with his oddly soothing voice, it takes several of those tandem breaths for me to finally be able to fill my lungs. But even then he doesn’t let me stop mimicking him until I’m able to repeat the process eight full times.
“Feel better, babygirl?”
“Yes.” Embarrassment heats my cheeks as he hands me the glass of water again. “Sorry. I want to say that doesn’t happen often but it happens more than I care to admit.”
“Poor Little girl. Well, Daddy’s here now, so you never have to deal with an attack like that alone again.”
My brain is still sluggish from the aftereffects of the alcohol, and it takes a moment for it to catch up with his words. When it does, I choke on my water and the stranger yanks the glass from my hand to pound on my back.
“D-Daddy?” I manage to repeat between gasps for air.
“Yes, babygirl.” Despite the sheer insanity of the situation we’ve found ourselves in, he chuckles. “You really don’t remember anything about last night, do you?”
“No, not really. I remember sitting down at the bar and talking to some guy, and then it’s all a big blank after that.”
The man who calls himself Daddy raises a hand and waggles his fingers at me. “That would be me.”
“Oh, god.” Humiliated beyond reason, I drop my head into my hands with a groan. “Look, I appreciate you hanging around to take care of me, but you can go now. Or I guess I can go if this is your room? Whatever, I’ll just get out of your hair and go die of embarrassment in my shower.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Tabby.”
“And why not?” I ask, striving for defiance, but well aware the question comes out more in the vein of sulky child.
“Because. I’ve already let my family know we’ll be home today, and they’re looking forward to meeting you.”
Annoyance pricks at the back of my mind as I lift my head to glare at him. “Why the hell would you tell your family about some random one-night stand in Vegas?”
“I wouldn’t.” Taking my left hand in his, he raises it up, and I stare in horrified shock at the light glinting off the ridiculously huge diamond seated on my ring finger. “I would, however, tell them all about my wife.”
Colt
It’s an absolute delight, watching the way her golden eyes widen with horror as she stares at the diamond on her hand. When I’d first added Dr. D’s special concoction to her drink, I hadn’t originally planned on doing more than whisking her back to Colorado and holding her prisoner at my family’s cabin as my new bride.
But once the drug had kicked in, she’d been so damn cute, I hadn’t had the heart to deny her anything. So when she’d jokingly suggested we head down to a local chapel to get married, I’d not only given into her request, I took her down to Tiffany’s to find the perfect ring for my perfect Little girl.
And it was absolutely worth both the money and time I’d spent, just to see her reaction this morning.
“No. Absolutely not. We arenotmarried.”
“According to that ring on your finger and the marriage certificate in my briefcase, we are, indeed, married.”
Fire blazes in her eyes, burning away the panic lingering there. “Well, then, we’ll get it annulled. Vegas weddings aren’t even real.”
