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“Wait! If I have to leave in half an hour, this hair has to be washed and conditioned! I want to shower first!”
“Then pick a bathroom. There are three here.” He shrugged and walked his devastatingly naked ass out of the room while she gaped at him.
Marj opened doors until she found a bathroom with a huge sunken tub, not unlike the one in Pretty Woman. She ran a bath from the gold swan-shaped faucet and sank into freesia-scented bubbles. It helped the headache, but it didn’t stop her mind from racing. She had to consider her options to get out of this, especially since her partner in crime didn’t seem in any great hurry to put an end to the nonsense.
The door opened to the bathroom, and she shrieked.
“Relax. I’m bringing you water. Most hangover symptoms are caused by dehydration. Drink this.”
“Thanks. It’s nice of you. But please don’t come in while I’m in the bathroom, okay?” she said, feeling weirdly exposed in the bath.
“Right,” he said and left the liter of Evian on the ledge of the tub. “It’s not like I ever saw you naked before.” His tone was sarcastic.
“Right. Because you’re my husband. And we did lots of um, stuff.”
He smiled. “Lots.”
Damn, was that smile of his sexy!
Okay, Marj. Don’t get distracted by the hot guy. The hot guy who just happens to be your new hubby. What was I thinking?
She took a long, cool drink and it felt amazing, hot water, cold drink, and after a few more sips she felt her head begin to clear. She drained the bottle after washing her hair. She found bobby pins in the free toiletries and, giving up on time for a blowout, she settled for the elegance of a ballerina bun. Then she put her too-sexy club clothes back on down to the blue stilettos and put the eyeliner and gloss in her clutch to good use. She might as well brazen it out. If she was shopping at the Forum on his dime, she had no reason to be embarrassed by how she looked. She might even buy a new outfit just for shopping in.
He knocked on the door.
“Are you decent or will you scream again?”
“I’m decent. Thanks again for the water. I don’t really think I need to shop, though, and waste your money and both our time. This isn’t going to work, and there’s no reason to pretend it will,” she sighed.
“You took down your teaser tweets and Facebook pictures of us.”
“Yes. I’d like to wipe it out of living memory if I can.”
He gently grabbed her hands. “You’ve changed your mind?”
She bit her lip hard. “Let’s say I’ve made a less intoxicated decision. So there’s no reason to—”
“I have a meeting so I can’t give this discussion the time it deserves. You go shop, I’ll do business. See if you can have some fun.”
Brandon handed her the black credit card she remembered vaguely from the jewelry store.
“Put on your rings,” he said, “please,” he added as an afterthought, indicating the thousands of dollars worth of diamonds and platinum discarded on the bathroom counter.
“You want to keep up the charade?” she asked.
“Please. Until we can talk. Do you think you can do that for me?”
“Okay.”
“Thank you, Marj.”
She put the rings on reluctantly. It was a temporary concession. She’d talk sense into him once she was on the plane and had his undivided attention. She’d also feel stronger when she was back at her home base, not at this disorienting, neon lit, 24-hour party called Vegas. Seriously, people here ate shrimp cocktail at eight in the morning. No wonder everything was weird and uninhibited.
She brushed past him and crossed the living room.
“I’ll meet you back here at four,” he said with a smile, trying to lighten things up. “We have a flight to catch, darling.”
She grinned. “Right, sweetie pie.”
He chuckled as she left.
Chapter 12
Marj’s cell phone rang. She glanced down and saw it was her neighbor, Maria.
“Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You don’t remember? You called me last night drunk as a skunk. You said you found the man of your dreams. Then you just hung up. I was really worried you drank too much.”
“I did drink too much. But I’m fine. Thanks for checking up.”
“I’m so happy to hear that you’re okay. So you found a man?”
“You’d be so proud of me, Maria. I found him offline.”
“I knew you could find love the old fashion way. So who is he?”
“My boss.”
“What?!”
