Page 4 of Hot Blooded

His eyes turn serious. “Yeah. I-I was busy.”

“Busy?” My questioning gaze lands on his and he turns his downward.

“Yeah.” For some reason I feel like he’s lying. Hiding something from me. But then again aren’t all of us hiding something? I know I am. Or hiding that I still want something. Whatever. I just can’t talk to my dad and telling Tom that I had a crush on him and still do? I’d rather die. There’s just no way. He’d either find it creepy or sad.

“Well, we’ve got time now. Maybe you’d like to tell me what you were busy with while we take a tour of that damn wedding chapel? If we can figure out which one it was. Did you look around for a certificate or something while I was getting ready?”

He nods his sleek head. “Yeah. I found one. It’s for The Little Happy Chapel.”

Grimacing, I groan. “Wow. I can’t believe I got married in a place called The Little Happy Chapel. That will make a wonderful story for our kids one day!”

He snorts. “I don’t think it really matters what the name is. Just that we did something dumber than shit and now we gotta try and undo it before we go home.”

Nodding, I push my fingers through my long hair. “Yep!” I say, popping my p. “Let’s get this show on the road. I’m not ready to be married yet.” And especially not like this. I’ve dreamt about my wedding day and my honeymoon and I wasn’t drunk for either one! Although, the man of my dreams was Tom. Which is why I’ve pushed down the feelings I have for this man for the longest time.

Those feelings are raging in my body right now. The way his dark brown eyes sparkle and his honey-brown hair gleams in the morning light. I feel like a stuffed pillow that’s been punched so many times it’s lying flattened and lumpy in spots on the bed. I don’t drink normally but I sure as hell tied one on last night. My head is pounding, the room is still tilted, my stomach is barely staying down and my tongue feels like the shaggy carpet I’m standing on.

In other words, I’m still feeling the over-indulgence and he looks freaking fresh as a damn daisy.

Big and shockingly sensual considering all the muscles piled on muscles that he’s gotten from his job. He’s a tasty treat that I’ve always wanted to take a nibble at but there’s something so wrong with it, it’s almost taboo.

In other words, my Daddy would keel over and then beat the shit out of Tom if we were together. He definitely wouldn’t like it.

He smiles a mega-watt, toothpaste commercial smile and my heart seizes in my chest. Damn, he’s fucking gorgeous!

“Let’s hit the road. I know this great buffet just around the corner. We can get breakfast and then head over to this place and see how long it’s going to be until we can get this straightened out.”

“With an annulment?” It feels like the words get stuck in my throat. I don’t want to get an annulment. But I know that I have to. So I push the sick feeling down and smile grimly. “What am I saying? Of course an annulment is our only option. I’m sorry. I think my brain is still fifty percent pickled from last night.”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I’ve got a pretty hard head for alcohol but even I’m feeling a little off-balance. Course I’ve had a lot more practice than you.” He nods at the doorway. “After you?”

My head jerks in a quick nod and I step outside of the bathroom and then stalk to the door, glancing back at him. “Do you have the information on the chapel?” I stumble and heat rushes me when I think about all his years of practice. I know he’s practiced at a lot of things but my brain doesn’t jump to alcohol.

He pats his breast pocket and my mouth waters a little bit when I see his hard pec briefly outlined. Tom’s worked in construction for years and I know he doesn’t have much time to go the gym, but his body is a miracle in living, breathing, beautiful, tanned skin.

“Maybe you should get ahead of me since you know the way.” I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat anything today, but I don’t want to tell him that I’ve lost my appetite, my world tilting on its axis because he is just so damn tempting and I’m wondering what I’m going to do…what we’re going to do if we can’t get this taken care of by the time I’m due to go home. I am also torn between wanting this dream to be real and thinking that when my dad finds out it’s going to be a nightmare. There’s a lot going on in my head but I just need to do what needs to be done and then worry about the fallout later. Maybe we will get lucky and my dad will never have to know how stupid we both were. But especially me.

Because getting drunk and tying yourself to the man who haunts your dreams, fulfilling every desire you could possibly have and knowing that you aren’t meant to be together is the worst pain I can imagine. And right now, I’m living it.

I have to let him go. I just don’t really want to and that sucks.

TOM

We’re standing in line at the buffet and it’s even more packed than I remember. We’re jammed in so tight that I can feel her ass shifting against my body over and over.

Her soft, rounded curves fit against me perfectly and make my mouth fucking water. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted and can’t have and I’m a sick fuck for wanting such a young girl. It’s so wrong.

She turns to face me and her gorgeous eyes widen when she sees that my eyes are locked on her ass like a heat-seeking missile before they come up when she clears her throat. She flushes and her dark brow lifts.

Grinning sheepishly, I clear my throat. “So what are you doing here in Vegas?”

“My girlfriends and I came to have a little fun and unwind after graduation.”

I nod. “I hope you guys were behaving yourselves. There’s a lot of trouble that you can get into in Vegas.”

Her brow lifts and she runs her gaze up and down my body, making a shudder of something primal skate across my skin. Some want, some desire that I just can’t push down.

“I guess we both know what kind of trouble you can get into in this town,” she says, forcing a choked laugh out of me.