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“You should see how he is with the staff here. He probably knows every one of them personally. Just ask Edith here,” she said pointing to one of the maids, who offered a small reply in the affirmative.
“He makes a point of talking individually to each new employee. To see if they have anything to offer, or if they’re doing okay. He has a friendly relationship with all the existing employees of the hotel. You’d think that with such a big hotel, one would not remember all the faces here, but Matt does, and he remembered their stories too. He tries to help everyone in any way he can. They all absolutely love him. Their work relationship is made very comfortable because of Matt’s efforts and how he seems to care for everyone. They don’t see him strictly as a boss, but as a friend with whom they don’t have to be as rigid with, you know, and that greatly helps them in their work environment. Having a boss who isn’t too detached from how things are run but is a close person.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I am honestly surprised to get to know these things about Matt. He didn’t strike me as the kind of person who would go to such lengths to make things better for the staff.”
Jessica was honestly a little moved by all this new information about Matt. If what Annabeth said was true, Matt was a person of depth and a warm personality. There was so much to him she had no idea about. Of course, she had only known him for two days, but the image she had of him in her mind was nothing similar to what she got to know now.
On the flip side, a little voice in her head planted doubts. What if Annabeth was just an agent who planned to tell her lies about Matt so she believed him to be nice when he wasn’t? He was indeed powerful, and he could manage a great deal with that, as he has demonstrated already. Jessica didn’t know what to think, but Annabeth’s words and her fondness towards her brother really did seem genuine.
Looks like I’ll have to find out on my own when I get to know him more.
“And there, we’re done!” said Annabeth, bringing her out of her thoughts.
Jessica had forgotten to look in the mirror because of the engaging conversation with Annabeth. Now that she looked at herself for the first time since Annabeth had started doing her makeup, she was pleasantly shocked. Annabeth had done a spectacular job. Jessica had transformed from a mess to an elegant bride. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law was really good at this.
“Thank you so much, Annabeth! I look… beautiful.”
“You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. My brother is going to have his breath stolen in a moment.”
Jessica gave her a smile. She took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go then. Let’s do this wedding.”
16
The tux Matt wore fit his slim, muscular build perfectly. It seemed like it had been made for him, fitted on his body by the best tailor money could buy, which cost more than most people made in a year. Only the best would do for this important day, and Matt, a man who knew what ‘the best’ included, had made it a point to provide it for himself and his bride. His cufflinks sparkled every time he moved his wrists, the diamonds pulling in the overhead lighting and the flames from the candles sitting around the chapel’s edges. His dark hair was perfectly cut into the fade that he preferred, having been touched up just moments before he slipped into the tux. No man had ever been more stylish or handsome for his wedding, not even the movie stars who often stayed at his hotel.
Matt stood stiffly at the altar, the place where his life was about to change, for better or worse, and worried whether or not he was making a huge mistake. He was extraordinarily nervous, which was why he worried. He wasn’t the type of man who usually got nervous about anything, especially decisions he was in control of. He simply thought everything out, all the ups and downs, pros and cons, ins and outs, then made a choice and stuck with it. So far, his choices had been dead-on perfect. He had the money and the lifestyle to prove it. Why should this day be any different?
This wedding to a woman he knew only through another man’s stories was his choice, and hopefully, one of his very best. Why shouldn’t it be? He’d planned it all out carefully and pulled his sister into the mix for backup and help. He was a gambler, a bad boy, and this was just another gamble. Actually, it was more calculated than any bet he’d made in the past, even the ones he’d hedged. He’d taken more time to think this through than a bet at cards or any table in the hotel. Now, it was time to execute the plan. There wasn’t room for doubt or nerves. Confidence was the name of this particular game. Normally, he had plenty to spare.
The music started, ending his internal conversation. The time for backing out of this was over. He wasn’t going to be the kind of man who left a woman at the altar, wondering what she’d done wrong, especially after the way he’d bulldozed her into being his bride in the first place. Jess already thought he was a little strange and a whole lot crazy. Maybe he was, but that was better than the alternative.
He released the breath he’d been holding as Annabeth came walking toward him. He thought his sister looked lovely in her simple bridesmaid’s dress—simple with a designer label he reminded himself. She appeared calm and controlled, yet most of all, she seemed happy. Her smile wasn’t one of those fake ones the rich bitches who came to the hotel wore for every occasion, the kind that never quite reached their eyes. It was genuine and crinkled the corners of her pretty eyes. She walked with confidence as if she was wise and had the insight that Matt’s sudden marriage to a woman who was a virtual stranger to her was his greatest accomplishment in life. It eased his nerves just a little. She wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t the right thing to do.
She did know things about him and this plan that no one else did. He’d told her everything about his wants, his needs, and how he planned to get them covered. She was his confidant. They’d shared long talks that had surprised him. Annabeth understood him when no one else did. She believed in him when all everyone else saw was the bad boy, billionaire, gambler. She saw beneath that façade and the gruff demeanor and who he truly was. It always astonished him that she stood by him.
Who else would stand by him while he twisted things around so that he was marrying a woman who’d lost all her money at their hotel? What sane woman would help him get a wedding together in a matter of hours, including the wedding dress for someone who knew nothing about him? If the shoe had been on the other foot, with Annabeth asking him to help her con some strange man into marrying her, he’d have locked her away until she came to her senses.
Instead, she had found the wedding dress, chosen her own bridesmaid dress, and spent the last couple of hours getting Jess ready to marry her brother. She was a treasure indeed. It was no wonder he’d told her so many intimate details about himself. She alone knew he had never found a woman he cared enough about to get even close to getting married. She’d understood exactly what he’d meant. She didn’t find it odd that he’d seen something in Jess that called to him, something he had to have for his own. The fact that he’d recognized something in Jess that matched something in himself hadn’t shocked or surprised Annabeth. She didn’t argue with him about how ridiculous it all sounded.
Annabeth quickly realized he was serious about marrying Jess. She was a romantic at heart and, most likely, believed in love at first sight. She probably felt her brother had fallen for Jess and had finally found the woman he’d been searching for all these years.
He knew she thought he was Jess’ savior. She saw him as a hero, not a manipulator. Jess had been in trouble. She’d gambled until she owed far more than she could pay back. She was sad, lonely, and a little broken, but then Matt had come along and rescued her from all that by forcing her to agree to marry him or go to jail. He’d actually used his position, his money, his status, and his half-truths to manipulate Jess to this point. A savior? Maybe, maybe not.
Annabeth had told him he was saving Jess from a lot of heartaches, giving her a new start when she needed it the most, so he’d choose to see all this through her rose-colored glasses and think of himself as a hero. Jess was getting a billionaire for a husband, and he was handsome as well. Women had fought over him more than once. Oddly enough, that had been more of a turnoff than a way to gain his approval.
Annabeth reached the front of the chapel and winked at him. Without a doubt, he made a winning bet.
The tone of the music changed. Matt recognized the sound of the bride’s famous march. The time had come for him to stop second-guessing himself and get on with the marriage. He needed to be in the moment, so he could remember such a memorable occasion as his wedding day. He eagerly watched out for Jess to make her appearance.
His first sight of her didn’t disappoint him. This wasn’t the drunk, frightened woman he’d seen at the gambling tables. It wasn’t the angry yet scared one from the ‘jail’ either. This one was beautiful from her head to her toes. Her eyes were clear and showed nothing of the trepidation he’d expected to see. She looked straight at him and began the short journey down the aisle to their shared destiny.
The man who’d designed her dress must have had her body in mind when doing so. No other woman in the world could have worn it as well as Jess did—the form-fitting dress of white lace over a skin-colored underlayment caressed her curves in the same way his hands itched to do. It gave the illusion that she was naked beneath the filmy layer of lace, teasing and taunting him almost painfully. The hem ended at least two inches above her knees, which showed off her lovely legs as she moved. There were also sheer lace-made straps that went over her delicate collarbone, begging for his tongue to follow.
Matt couldn’t take his eyes off her, not even when he heard the whispers coming from the few guests, who surprisingly were as awed as he was. Her long raven hair was coiled in a soft knot at the base of her slim neck. Long, wispy strands had broken loose to fall across her pink cheeks and over her shoulders. They drew attention to the pulse quickly beating in her neck, the only outward sign that showed she was as nervous as Matt.
Matt considered himself to be the luckiest man alive. This beautiful woman was going to be his wife. She was going to share his bed, eat at his table, live at his home, and one day, give him children if they proved to be so lucky. Any man who didn’t see her worth was the crazy one, not Matt. There was no way a man could look at her and not want her. The appealing curves of her body, the beauty of her face, and the courage of her heart that showed by the fact that she was walking down the aisle to marry him were qualities others must envy, yet she was to be his alone, so let them all be jealous.
It was not the normal circumstance that brought her here to be his bride, and she might think he had lost his mind, but he could change all that once the marriage became a reality. In the past, thousands of women had wed men they didn’t know. Their fathers had betrothed them to strangers, often men old enough to be their parents, without even consulting the women. Most of those marriages had lasted a lifetime despite the way they’d been carried out. His was going to work out as well.
