by Dee Tenorio
“Does that mean you’ll wear it?”
“Maybe,” she’d called down, without looking back. “Maybe not.”
So here he sat, dressed in jeans and a simple white tee that cost nearly five times as much as any of the ones he had at home and couldn’t help but wonder which option his decidedly adorable—and possibly dented—bride had chosen.
At least the clothes were comfortable, even the new tennis shoes. Delilah’s clothes seemed to fit her just as well, her jeans molded to her lush curves, the blue tank top and short sleeve blouse combo turning her back into the Delilah he knew so well. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail, but no amount of fussing would make her thick black bangs fall over the red mark on her forehead.
“If she weren’t my favorite grandmother, I’d have to kill Rainbow.” Delilah groused, finally giving up. “Please don’t let me do that again. I think I nearly gave myself a concussion.”
Kane shrugged, leaning back in the booth. Now that he thought about it, he probably should have relayed the info about the champagne glass upstairs instead of waiting until her stomach rumbling reminded him they had good cause to eat and flush any remnants of the drug out of their systems. “You’re entitled. Not every day you find out your grandmother roofied you.”
“Technically, she herbalized me. Rainbow’s license doesn’t grant her access to GHB.”
“Because peyote is so much better?”
Del peered at him with one squinting eye. “You know, if you’re going to treat me like I’m your wife, I’d be well within my rights to treat you like my husband and kick your teeth in for mocking my grandmother.”
He grinned. How could he not? “This isn’t mocking.”
“No?”
“No. Telling you that you look like your mother when you squint like that is mocking.”
The bottom of her foot shoved at his shin, which should have made him swear, but only had him laughing instead. “Why did I marry you again?”
Rubbing his leg with one hand, he batted away more blows. “Because I’m good looking and I’m incredible in bed?”
“Wow, you actually said that without a trace of modesty.”
“Who needs modesty when your wife can be heard screaming your name for three states?” A baled-up napkin flew at his face, but Kane just caught it with a last chuckle. “Does that mean you’re going to stop trying to flatten your face and eat something or do you have some kinky plans for self-mutilation next?”
A glance down at the flatware. “The forks here are certainly big enough but I think I’ll pass for now and go straight for the danish.”
“Sign said they had an omelet station here.” She had an unholy love for omelets piled with enough protein to choke a python and slathered with as much melty cheese as she could get to stay on the plate. Sherman, his ranch cook, would absolutely love having her around.
“Even better.”
He offered his hand, ridiculously gratified when she slipped hers into it as if she did it every day.
From now on, she would.
They joined the lines, grabbing a tray each and moving through what looked like a never ending line of food. Raw fruit, fruit compote, scrambled eggs, every breakfast meat he could think of and a few he had to ask about. That didn’t even count the breads, the sweets, the donuts and who knew what else at the other side.
But it was when Delilah was giving her omelet order to the very patient chef that he found the soup tureens filed with chili, posole, creamed chicken noodle and egg-flower soups that the three guys found him.
They all stared at him and the full half-raised ladle of fragrant chili. He poured it into the bowl, all the while watching them watch him. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work if he planned to actually eat. “Something I can help you boys with?”
“Oh, sorry, man, we just…well, you just totally blew our minds last night. It was just so freaking awesome!” The trio—clearly frat brothers, given the shoulder bumping and chuckling amongst each other—al grinned at him like he should have the slightest clue what they were talking about. Since the kid in the middle was making coherent-ish sentences, Kane concentrated on him.
The ladle clanked back into the pot. “What was so awesome?”
“Dude, you laid out TK Hughes with one punch, man! What else?” The boys went on amongst themselves, one of them mimicking an uppercut that Kane unfortunately recognized. The one his grandfather finally figured Kane just wasn’t going to get right, back when the old man was trying to teach him self-defense in high school. “He never even saw it coming, man. It was beautiful!”
Kane looked down at his knuckles, trying not to wince at the bruises he found. That so could not be good. “You’re saying I knocked someone out?”
“Not someone, man. TK “Take No Prisoners” Hughes. The middleweight champ! We were here to watch the fight tonight, but that’s blown now so we’re just gonna party instead.”
“Blown?” He knew he was starting to sound like a parrot, but what these guys were gushing over wasn’t possible. Kane was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a fighter. Not a good one, anyway. He was a horse trainer, his job was to teach, not destroy.
“Man, even if you didn’t break his nose, you still knocked his ass out like he was made of glass. It’s all over the internet! Viral! Probably even made it on the news. all the sports channels are showing it. You’re like a bad ass celebrity! Plus, everyone who sees it is gonna know how to take Hughes down now. He’s, like, totally doomed!”
Great. First he steals his best friend’s bride and now he’s destroyed another man’s career. What else could he possibly have done in the last twenty-four hours?
Kidnap the Pope? Burn down a school? Shoot a three-legged puppy in the ass?
It did bring up an interesting question though. “Are the cops looking for me?”
“Probably, but no one really cares, man. Hughes is like a total asshole and it’s not like he’s going to be pressing charges. Last thing he wants is more publicity on this. According to the site description, the guy who put it online was only filming because Hughes keeps feeling up the waitresses and one of them wanted proof. When he went for your wife though, it was on like Fei Long, dude!”
That took no time to register at al. “He what?”
“Yeah, the chick in the wedding dress. Her!” The middle one pointed at Delilah, who looked up from smelling her fresh omelet with wide eyes, only now realizing these three were interested in the two of them. Her gaze darted to Kane, but all he could do was shrug.
Clearly exasperated with the two of them, the kid pulled out his phone and tapped it’s face a few times. “Here, look, its fucking awesome.”
The boy held it out for them, loading screen facing their way. It showed a slightly distanced view of a roulette table with a crowd around it. Kane felt Delilah coming closer, her warmth against his arm as they both leaned forward to look into the phone.
Not surprisingly, the kid wasn’t wrong. That was the two of them all right, arms around each other, still dressed from the wedding, cheering loudly as the ball went around the wheel again and again. Not because it stopped, given everyone’s intent gaze, but just because the ball was continuing to run and they seemed to think that was the point. Oh yeah, they were both high off their asses.
On Delilah’s other side was a burly guy in a black suit with even bigger, burlier guys standing all around him, eyeing the crowd for encroachers. The boxer, Kane surmised, given that his neck was thicker than Delilah’s waist. The guy bumped her, his leer roving up and down her body while the two of them remained oblivious to anything but the rolling bal. Hughes’ hand went behind Delilah, his nodding laugh directed at his friends behind him. With their jumping, she must not have realized what was happening.
She realized it now, though, her body stiffening against him. “That pig!”
“Just wait,” the kid replied while his buddies came around next to Kane and Delilah to watch, too.
On the screen, Hughes went f
or another grope, causing Delilah to jump with a shriek suddenly and to Kane’s shock, he saw himself shove the Neanderthal back once, twice, and when the maddened Hughes shoved back, it happened. His grandfather’s lightning fast uppercut. Just like that, wham! Hughes went down and the crowd swallowed him, but not before the camera caught his eyes going in different directions, his hands jerking out bonelessly. The video stopped as Kane puled Delilah with him out of the frame.
“We just walked away from that?” Kane asked. “What about all that security?”
“Who knows?” The kid shrugged while his buddy offered a fist bump to Kane. “Looks like everyone was more interested in Hughes right then. Hey, is there any chance we can take a picture with you guys? No one’s gonna believe us when we tell them we met you.”
Kane looked to Delilah in question, but she didn’t seem to have any response either. Not that it mattered, the three crowded around them and the kid with the phone asked someone else in line to snap the pic. Twenty seconds later they were gone, acting like they’d just gotten the address to the biggest kegger of the year.
“You beat up a boxer for me,” Delilah said as people passed them, blinking as if she could hardly believe it.
He’d be affronted if he could believe it either. “You promise to still be impressed if I get arrested for you, too?”
The corners of her mouth curled upward, that impish, too-damn-sexy grin of hers forming at a slow, delicious pace. She sashayed forward in the line, looking at him over her shoulder in what could only be called sinful temptation. “I always did have a secret thing for bad boys.”
It was a strange time for his life to pass in front of his eyes. Every good grade, every merit award, all the boy scout badges. Hel, every time he simply clenched his teeth and did the right thing… Wasted.
“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
All he heard in response was the trill of her laughter.
Well, at least they knew one thing they did the night before. Now how the hell was he going to find out the rest?
***
Delilah chewed her nail, her other hand gripping her bouncing knee. Normally, she could restrain herself from giving into her nervous tics, but the concierge had asked them to wait in these chairs thirty minutes ago. Thirty. Given everything that had happened to them in the last twenty-four hours, half-an-hour was a looooong time to do nothing. And every time she thought she was getting control of her fears, someone would come in to offer them something. Water, a snack, a meal, a gift basket. If that door opened one more time with another complimentary gift she swore she was going to gnaw their leg off.
Worse, she could feel Kane smiling.
“Stop it,” she growled, ripping her hand out of her mouth in frustration.
“Stop what?” he asked mildly, leaning back in his seat. As if the damn thing were comfortable or something. As if he had no reason at all to be worried at al.
“We’re waiting for a wedding coordinator, Del, not an executioner.”
“They could be calling the police and we’re just sitting here, waiting for you to get arrested.” She didn’t even realize her hands were flapping around as she talked until he grabbed hold of them, pulling them onto his own lap.
“Come on, if they were to turn me in, don’t you think the police would have come up to the room? It’s not like they didn’t know where we were.”
She opened her mouth to argue but his cool reasoning finally made it past her nerves. Well, that and his amused, almost indulgent half-smile. How many times had she been the recipient of that particular grin. The one that said, “You’re so cute when you’re out of your mind.”
Before, she always had the urge to smack him for it and, well, this time was no different, but she was too busy being relieved that he was right. The stress deflated right out of her. So much so that she didn’t bother to pull her hands from his. Or fight it when he pressed a soft kiss to her lips, lingering there as if he just couldn’t help himself.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long,” came a woman’s voice from the doorway.
Delilah sprang back guiltily, but Kane didn’t even jump. She noticed he didn’t let go of her hands, either. She tugged, hoping the smiling woman in the pink dress suit with a perfect little pink rose on the lapel didn’t notice. She didn’t hold out hope when the woman’s lips curved and she suddenly had to cough into her hand.
Delilah glared at Kane but he wasn’t even remotely fazed.
“Wife, remember?”
“More than you do, anyway.” While they’d eaten—thankfully without interruption—they’d compared the fragments of their memories, trying to figure out where to start running down what had happened. They both remembered the colored lights and the stars above the gazebo, but only Delilah remembered saying any actual words there. What those words were, she couldn’t guess, but what other words could she have said but “I do”?
Either way, it was the stars that had given Kane the idea to ask the concierge if they had a wedding coordinator in the hotel. Someone who might recognize a chapel with moving, otherworldly lights in the ceiling.
The coordinator, who introduced herself as Elaine, took a moment to herself after Kane asked the question. Delilah could see the curiosity brewing in the woman’s brown eyes, but she didn’t ask why they needed that particular chapel. Right now, that restraint made her Delilah’s new best friend.
“Well, I’m sure there’s more than a few places with twinkling fake stars overhead, but the only one I can think of with realistic-appearing stars across the entire ceiling would be the Fantasy Castle Wedding Plaza. all the ceilings there are paneled with high-definition, borderless screens. They can create virtually any atmosphere they want. If you’d like, I can arrange an appointment and a car for you.”
Delilah shared a questioning glance with Kane before asking what was obviously on both of their minds. “We know this is Vegas and service is pretty much what you do here, but…is there a particular reason your staff is bending over backward for us at every turn?”
“Has anyone given you any trouble?” Elaine asked, her perfect posture straightening impossibly more.
“Oh, no. No, not at all.” Delilah had to fight the urge to push Elaine’s shoulders back into the normal, upright position. “They’ve done everything possible to make us comfortable. Truly.” From delivering their clothes at the speed of light to escorting them into this almost frighteningly posh room and offering them everything but someone’s first born to keep them happy.
Elaine’s gaze moved over their faces once, twice, assessing. “You two have no idea what happened last night, do you?”
“No.”
“Not a clue,” Kane answered at the same time.
Elaine’s snort of laughter turned Delilah’s face an unbecoming shade of red. She knew because blushes that hot couldn’t look like anything but heat stroke.
“Well, it’s not like I haven’t heard that before.” Elaine sighed, finally relaxing again. “How far have you gotten?”
“In what?” Kane asked with a frown.
“In figuring out what you did last night.” Elaine was nice enough not to sound as if she was being impressively patient.
Kane started to speak, but Delilah squeezed his hand until her own fingers hurt. “Not far.”
Elaine was also nice enough not to notice his slight grunt. “Well, I can tell you that at approximately eight-thirty last night, the two of you came here and promptly spent your last twenty dollars on the Royal Flush Super Jackpot bandit on the Casino floor.”
Delilah’s heartbeat turned into a weird thud. “Our last twenty?” She didn’t have any money on her in her wedding dress, which meant it had to be Kane’s.
“Oh yes, you apparently were having a great time last night. According to our cameras, you two bombed in just about every game you played for two hours before you ever came near the Royal Flush. Rumor is you two lost about six thousand dollars.”
Luckily, Elaine wa
s already pouring a glass of water when Kane started choking. He leaned forward so far he was practically laying on his knees, his face turning nearly purple. Delilah took the glass, using her other hand to smack his back.
She held onto a groan. This was why Delilah never gambled. She had the luck of the lepers instead of the leprechauns, according to her father.
“What I heard is that your husband puled the twenty from his boot and handed it to you to play the Royal Flush.”
“Is this the part where you tell us we owe you a million dollars or something?”
Elaine laughed. “No, this is the part where I tell you that you won the ten million dollar jackpot.”
Delilah didn’t hear anything after that. She only had the fleeting hope that Elaine would be nice enough to pretend she didn’t see Delilah falling to the floor in a dead faint.
Chapter Seven
Fantasy Castle wasn’t as impressive as Delilah expected, given the name. The large parking lot led up to a squat white building with painted turrets at the roofline.
More of a faded cartoon castle than a fantasy one.
“This place must look amazing at night,” Kane mumbled beside her.
“Why? Because it attracted us?”
“Because it looks like shit in broad daylight.”
Delilah laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. How had she not given much thought to how often this man made her laugh? Always quiet, she’d fooled herself into thinking Kane didn’t say much. While that might be the truth, now that she thought about it, he always had an aside for her. Some wry truth muttered where only she could hear it. It hadn’t been like that in ages, though. His withdrawal from her over the last year had hurt, something she hadn’t let herself admit. The more he’d pulled away, the more she told herself she didn’t get along with him in the first place. That she didn’t feel comfortable around him. That she didn’t care.
Now they both stood here, staring at this ugly little building and neither was in any rush to go in and find out if they’d actually gotten married.
