Alessia rolled her eyes with a laugh before turning her gaze to the window to take in the sights while we landed. I was more interested in a different view—my favorite one, her.
Once we were on the ground at Midway, we taxied to one of the private terminals and deplaned. I had a car waiting to drive us to my apartment. Even though we were only about eight miles away, it took us almost twenty-five minutes to get there.
“Yikes, the traffic here is way worse than Vegas,” Alessia grumbled when we pulled in front of my building.
“It’s not always this bad. I should have planned better so we weren’t in the middle of rush hour when we got home. I’m sorry,” I apologized.
“We left at the perfect time,” she disagreed. “If it’d been any earlier then I couldn’t have slept in and taken a bath this morning. The rush-hour traffic isn’t your fault. It’s the stupid time difference.”
“Yeah, but between the stupid time difference and the traffic, you’re only going to have maybe thirty minutes to explore your new home and freshen up before we need to head right back out the door so we can make it to my parents’ place in time for dinner.”
Instead of freaking out like I expected her to do since she’d been so damn worried about the barbeque my mom was planning, she smiled up at me. “I have all the time in the world to explore your apartment.”
“Our apartment,” I corrected.
“Sorry, our apartment.” Her smile grew wider. “But seriously, it’ll be fine. I’ll be ready on time. I had the most amazing nap during our flight, so I’m full of energy. And it won’t take me long to change outfits and put on a touch of makeup.”
“You look perfect, just the way you are.”
“Yeah, but you have to think that because you’re completely biased.”
“It doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Let’s just hope your mom and dad agree,” she sighed as we got to the door of our apartment.
I unlocked the door and opened it, putting a hand out to stop Alessia when she started to walk inside. Letting go of the handles of our luggage and dropping our carry-on onto the ground, I swept her into my arms and carried her into the apartment.
“What was that for?” she gasped.
“It might have been a month since we got married, but it’s still customary for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold. I figured now was good since it’s your first time in our home.”
“Grab the luggage,” she urged when I set her on her feet. “I’m definitely going to need that change of clothes and probably a quick shower because we’re going to need to christen this place before we leave for your parents’ and we don’t have a lot of time.”
I moved fast, yanking our bags inside and slamming the door shut. Then I picked Alessia back up and carried her down the hall to the bedroom. After tossing her onto the bed, we stripped out of our clothes in record time. It wasn’t the only thing we did quickly—three orgasms and thirty minutes later, two for her and one for me, we were out the door and on our way to my parents’ house.
“I can’t believe you drive a Porsche,” she repeated for the third time in fifteen minutes.
“Yeah, but it’s an SUV. Not a sports car,” I defended my choice of vehicle. Again.
“It’s still a Porsche.”
“Are you focusing on the car so you won’t freak out about my parents?”
She nodded. “Maybe a little. But I still can’t believe you didn’t mention it when we drove those race cars.”
“Because my SUV doesn’t begin to compare to a Lambo.”
“If you say so,” she laughed.
“You and my mom can bond over my choice in vehicles. She gave me such a hard time for buying it; telling me how I should’ve just gotten a Jeep Grand Cherokee and saved myself a ton of money,” I explained as I pulled into their driveway.
“Thanks for the tip.” Alessia’s eyes widened as she stared out the windshield at my parents’ house. “I think I’m going to need it.”
My parents were standing on the front porch, not even bothering to hide that they were impatiently waiting for us. “Remember how you asked me if my craziness was genetic?” I jerked my head towards the windshield. “There’s your answer. Yes, it’s definitely passed down from my parents. So relax and be comfortable in the knowledge that my crazy parents are so excited to meet you that they skipped past the whole staring out of the window part and headed straight into stalking us from the porch territory.”
“Stop! It’s cute. They’re being good parents.”
I opened my mouth to complain, but then I stopped myself because she was right. They were just being good parents, and that wasn’t something Alessia had. After I shut off the engine, I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Wait here. I’ll come around and help you out. Prove to my mom that I listened when she was drilling good manners in me when I was younger.”
“If she has any doubts, I’ll tell her all about my sister’s nickname for you,” she laughed.
I waved at my parents as I rounded the car, shaking my head when my mom moved to start down the steps and my dad reached out to stop her. After I helped Alessia out of the car, I threaded my fingers through hers and led her over to my parents.
“Alec!” my mom cried, rushing forward to wrap her arms around both of us. “I missed you so much.”
“Give them some space,” my dad chuckled, coming up behind her to wrap his arm around her shoulder and slap me on the back. “You’re going to scare Alessia off before she has a chance to come inside.”
“I am not,” my mom cried, turning to Alessia. “I’m not scaring you off, am I?”
“Not at all,” Alessia reassured her.
“See, I told you!” My mom smacked my dad’s stomach.
“I don’t know, Mom. If you keep up with the violence, she might change her mind.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m going to steal your precious Porsche,” Alessia joked. “I’d be too scared to hurt it.”
“Aha!” My mom’s eyes lit with satisfaction. “I knew I was going to like this girl. It was about time my baby boy settled down with a good woman.” She sent a meaningful look my way as she tugged Alessia out of my embrace and led her into the house. “One who knows how ridiculous it was to spend so much money on an SUV when there were other, less expensive, options out there.”
“Like a Jeep Grand Cherokee,” Alessia added.
“That’s exactly what I told him!”
I chuckled, happy to see my two favorite women bonding so quickly—even if it meant they were busting my balls while they were doing it.
“You better enjoy that Porsche while you still can, son,” my dad suggested. “From the way they’re talking, if those two have their way you’ll be trading it in soon.”
“If it’ll make Alessia happy, we can head over to the Jeep dealership tonight.”
He stopped mid-stride and stared at me in surprise. “You love that car. It’s the first big purchase you made when you started to earn more than the league minimum.”
“Yeah, Dad. But I love her more.”
He beamed at me with approval, clapping me on the shoulder. “That’s my boy.”
“What can I say? You taught me well.” I’d grown up watching how my dad took care of my mom, and now it was my turn to spend each and every day of my life showing my wife how much I loved her—and I’d never looked forward to anything else as much before...not even my first professional hockey game.
Epilogue
Alessia
“How’s the frozen tundra treating you?” Ariana asked.
I laughed at the shivering sound she made when she wrapped her arms around herself like she was cold, even though it was in the sixties in Vegas while it was under zero with wind chill in Chicago. Leaning closer to the screen to make sure she didn’t miss it, I stuck my tongue out at her. “Good, as long as I don’t leave home. It’s so cold outside!”
“Pretend you’re a bear hibernating for
the winter and let your white knight run all your errands for you.”
“Yeah, Alec makes sure we’re stocked up on literally everything before any of his road trips. And he’s had Tamara checking in on me when she can, but she’s going to be leaving for PyeongChang soon. She wants a month to adjust before the speed skating events start.”
Ryan’s girlfriend and I had become fast friends and spent a lot of time together since we were neighbors. I was going to miss her while she was gone, especially since it was in the middle of hockey season, but I was so excited for her to skate in the Olympics again. I’d gone with her to the rink to watch her skate several times, and she was amazing. I couldn’t wait to see how many medals she brought home this time around.
“Maybe I should come out and stay with you,” Ariana suggested.
“Really?” I squealed. “Can you? I know your lease is set to renew soon, but you haven’t said anything about what you were thinking about doing and I didn’t want to be pushy if you’re happy where you’re at.”
“Do you think it’ll be okay with Alec?” She looked away from the screen, without responding to the part about her being happy. I couldn’t see her eyes, but I had the feeling something was bothering her—and she was trying to hide from me.
I was beyond curious to know what the heck was going on, but I decided that once I got her to Chicago it would be easier to make her tell me. “Are you kidding? He’d be thrilled. He’s been worried sick about his road trips once Tamara is out of the country. He’s even tried to talk me into staying with his mom and dad!”
“Are you really surprised? He was already crazy protective of you before he knocked you up. Now that you’re in your last trimester, it’s got to be killing him that he can’t be there for you all the time.”
“It really is,” I sighed, my hands cradling my swollen belly.
“Then it’s probably for the best if I come out there, right? At least until the end of the hockey season?” she asked again.
“Yes! Please. Pack up and hop on a plane tomorrow if you can,” I encouraged. “And stay as long as you want. Heck, you can take over the apartment when we move into the house.”
“I still can’t believe he tore down a house to build you a new one in his parents’ neighborhood.”
Neither could I. “The other place was tiny. Way too small for the two of us plus the baby. And the price was too good to pass up for that lot.” Or at least that was the logic Alec used when he talked me into buying it. Not that it had taken much convincing. I adored his parents’ neighborhood, and I loved the idea of raising our children with their grandparents so close by. Especially since my mom was halfway across the country, and I wasn’t sure how involved she’d be in our baby’s life. With her calls becoming less frequent over the last month or so, I was starting to wonder if the improvements she’d made in rehab weren’t sticking.
“I’m not sure about taking over your apartment, but I’ll put most of my stuff into storage for now and I can always fly back and load up a moving truck later if I decide to make this a permanent move.”
“Great! I’ll tell Alec all about it tonight,” I promised. “He should be home in a few minutes. He would have already been here, but he decided to stop and pick up pizza for dinner since I’ve been craving it lately.”
“Do me a favor and crave it again when I get there. You’ve raved over the Chicago-style deep dish so much; I need to try it.”
“Will do!”
“Okay, I’ll let you know what day I’m coming once I get everything situated. I’ll try to swing it so I’m there before his next road trip,” she offered.
“Even better.”
We wrapped up our call and had just said our goodbyes when I heard Alec unlock and open the door. “I’m home, beautiful!” he called out.
“Perfect timing,” I replied as I shut my laptop and hefted myself off the couch. “I just got done talking to Ariana, and I’m starved.”
“How’s your sister?” he asked, after claiming my lips in a passionate kiss.
I followed behind him—and the pizza—as he walked into the kitchen. “I’m not sure. The good news is she wants to come stay with us until the baby’s here, so you won’t have to worry about me being alone when you’re on the road.”
He grabbed two plates from the cabinet and set them down next to the pizza box. “I guess it’s a good thing the spare bedroom is on the other side of the apartment from ours if she’s going to be here that long. Because when I get back from those trips—”
He let his sentence trail off and wagged his eyebrows suggestively. I chose to ignore him and dished up our pizza instead while he got us each a bottle of water.
“I’m happy she’s coming,” I told him after we brought our plates and drinks to the living and got settled next to each other on the couch. “I’m worried, though. She seemed...off when we talked about it. Like there’s something she’s not telling me.”
“Remember what I told you, beautiful. Leave the worrying to me while you focus on baking our little lentil.”
“I don’t understand why you insist on using that nickname when the baby has grown well past that size.” I gestured at my belly to prove my point. He’d been calling the baby “our little lentil” ever since the doctor had described its size that way at our first appointment.
“Because you’re adorable and sexy when you frown at me each time I do it,” he explained.
“You’re lucky I love you.”
He lifted my feet and put them in his lap before handing me my plate. “Damn straight. I didn’t need to gamble in Vegas to prove how lucky I am because I walked away with you.”
I took a bite of pizza, resting my hand on top of his over my belly and knowing that I was really the lucky one—and that I’d never be able to convince him of it.
The Bachelorette Party series also includes crossover from characters in my Blythe College series. If you haven’t read those books yet, you can start off with Push the Envelope, the first book in that series, for free right now! (As of January 2018)
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Acknowledgments
It takes a village to publish a book. Married Into Love wouldn’t have been possible without all the help I received from Sonya, Manda, Elle, Ella, and Elizabeth. There’s also the rest of my tribe—the bloggers, readers, and fellow authors who make living my dream possible. And, as always, my sons for putting up with me when I’m deep in the writing cave, and my mom for inspiring me to write romance.
Also by Rochelle Paige
BLYTHE COLLEGE SERIES
Push the Envelope
Hit the Wall
Summer Nights (novella duo)
Outside the Box
Winter Wedding (novella)
BACHELORETTE PARTY SERIES
Sucked Into Love
Mixed Into Love
Checked Into Love
CRISIS SERIES
Identity Crisis
Protection Crisis
FATED MATES (BLACK RIVER PACK & McMAHON CLAN)
Crying Wolf
Shoot for the Moon
Thrown to the Wolves
Bear the Consequences
Bear It All
Bear the Burden
Ask for the Moon
BODY & SOUL SERIES
Bare Your Soul
Save Your Soul
Sell Your Soul
Feed Your Soul
STANDALONES
Star Pupil
About the Author
I absolutely adore reading—always have and always will. When I was growing up, my friends used to tease me when I would trail after them, trying to read and walk at the same time. If I have downtime, odds are you will find me reading or writing.
I am the mother of two wonderful sons who have inspired me to chase my dream of being an author. I want them to learn from me that you can live your dream as long as you are willing to work for it.
Connect with me online:
www.rochellepaige.com
Married Into Love Page 13
