AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This has really been quite a night for you, heartthrob. You’ve engaged in cross-stitch kink, public indecency, and evaded hotel security.”
“What about you, bonbon? You conned your way into a wedding, got yourself free cocktails and a shit-ton of shrimp, and did the dirty in public. I’d say we’re truly a pair of badasses,” he answered and drank her in with his warm brown eyes.
She bit her lip as the deliciously possessive behavior sent a tingle from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
“What’s next, heartthrob?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Mischief glinted in his gaze, then vanished a second later as shock marred his expression. “Harper, get down!” he bellowed like they’d time traveled and were trapped in the middle of a World War II battlefield.
She fell back on her kindergarten duck-and-cover tornado drill training, wrapped her arms around her head, and pitched forward. Landon swooped in front of her and snapped a flying object out of the air.
“Why are people throwing things at us? It’s not more embroidered cushions, is it?” she yelped, gaze trained on the shiny marble floor, bracing for whatever the hell would come rocketing toward them next.
“No, it’s flowers,” he answered, confusion coating his words.
She lowered her arms and stared at a bouquet of white roses.
“Harper and Bartholomew, it’s a sign. You caught the bouquet,” Katrina slurred joyfully, peering over the railing from the second floor.
Had they walked into the toss-the-bouquet part of the wedding?
She scanned the lobby and found a slew of tutu-clad women clumped together, clapping and whooping.
“Yeah,” Jude the Gladiator Groom agreed. “You’re in love, you’re engaged, and this is Vegas. Harper, you’re family. Folks, we’ve got another wedding coming up. Let’s hear it for Harper and Bartholomew!”
A mass of hammered gladiators roared something akin to a drunken battle cry.
Oh shit!
She met Landon’s gaze. The man’s mouth opened and closed, but he didn’t make a peep.
“Cousin Harper?” Jude called.
Double shit!
She focused on the drunk gladiator. “Yeah?”
“You’re my second cousin’s sister-in-law’s…” He scratched his head.
“Niece’s stepsister,” she supplied, barely able to keep a straight face.
“You’re family, and Katrina and I want you to be happy. Granny Bootsy would want that for you, too,” the man added, brushing a tear from his cheek.
“Who the hell is Granny Bootsy?” Landon asked without moving his mouth.
“I don’t know,” she tossed back through a frozen grin.
“Granny Bootsy would want you to get married,” Katrina bawled, joining her gladiator husband in the blubber-fest.
Married.
“We dare you to do it!” the sobbing gladiator exclaimed.
Another dare.
That’s what this night was about.
They’d struck a deal to lose control and throw caution to the wind.
