by Rachel Lacey
“I’m…I’m sorry.” She crossed one leg over the other. For some reason, his admission was a huge turn-on.
“Not as sorry as I am.” He looked angry and frustrated and…aroused. “And, for the record, it’s not true.”
Her gaze dropped involuntarily to his crotch. “I believe you.”
He let out a rough sound that seemed to echo inside her. Her whole body felt pleasantly fuzzy and warm and increasingly horny. She took a big gulp of her new martini.
Their eyes locked, and his dark gaze seemed to sizzle right through her. “So, Ms. Jennifer MacDonald, how do you feel about one-night stands with popular musicians?”
She swallowed, hard. “I’d say there’s a first time for everything.”
* * *
Cole knocked back another snakebite, feeling it burn all the way into his gut. He and Jenn had been drinking at the bar for a while now, long enough that he could no longer remember how many shots he’d consumed, plenty long enough that he was pleasantly trashed and thinking entirely with the head in his pants. The idea of having Jenn in his bed tonight—of finally ending his sexual drought with a woman who was basically guaranteed to be discreet but who also turned him on more than any woman had in years? Well, he was as hard as granite inside his shorts.
The thing was, as desperate as he was to get her naked, he was really enjoying hanging out at the bar with her too. Jenn was fun and refreshing. She knew the industry inside out and was completely unaffected by his celebrity.
“And then she threw up all over Kate’s shoes.” Jenn bent over the bar, laughing so hard that tears leaked from her eyes and a lock of shiny red hair fell across her face.
He reached over to tuck it behind her ear. “That hasn’t happened to me yet, thank God.”
“It’s happened to Kate four or five times. People are so weird.” Jenn wiped a tear from her cheek and reached for her martini. Since Kate and her husband left the party a half hour ago, Jenn had definitely loosened up.
“I do get panties thrown at me onstage, which is less sexy than you’d imagine.”
“It doesn’t sound sexy to me at all,” Jenn said, still giggling. “But then again, I’m not into women’s panties.”
“Well, some of them are hot, but some of them are dirty…and not in a good way.”
“Oh God.” Jenn’s giggles intensified.
“You ever been to one of my shows?” he asked.
She shook her head, then gave him a sultry smile. “But maybe I will the next time you tour.”
“You say the word, and I’ll hook you up with anything you want.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the mostly empty bar. “What do you say we get out of here?”
He grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Let’s go for a walk on the beach,” she suggested, and okay, he’d already been mentally undressing her, but making out on the beach sounded like fun too.
“One more for the road.” He motioned to the bartender, who placed another round of drinks in front of them.
“We’ll see each other again,” Jenn said as she lifted her martini. “You and Kate are performing together this summer.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, not sure where she was going with this.
She stared into her drink. “We can’t let anything that happens between us tonight affect our ability to be professional when our paths cross in the future.”
“Won’t be a problem. I am strictly a one-night kind of guy.”
She nodded, tapping her glass to his as if sealing some kind of one-night-stand pact. He downed his snakebite, and Jenn gulped her martini in similar fashion. In the back of his mind, he realized they might have an alcohol-related problem, but he was distracted by her dress as she stood from her barstool. It was knee length, flowy, and sheer but with so many layers, he couldn’t see through it, the color of the ocean he’d stood in with her that afternoon. She stumbled against him, and he wrapped an arm around her waist.
He slapped a hundred-dollar bill on the bar and wandered off into the night with Jenn on his arm. The sand was cold now, the night cloaked in darkness and pleasantly cool. The ever-present slap and hiss of the waves against the beach was the only sound other than their feet kicking through the sand. He wasn’t sure if he was holding Jenn upright, or vice versa. “I feel like you have somewhat of an advantage here tonight.”
“How’s that?” she asked, looking up at him in the moonlight.
“You know something very private about me, something that no one else knows. It seems only fair if you offer up something juicy in return.”
She laughed, her grip on his arm tightening. “You want to know my deepest, darkest secret?”
“Yeah, baby.” He held on to her as she swayed dangerously to the side.
“I’m not sure I have one.”
“Oh, come on, everyone has secrets.”
She was silent for so long, he’d decided she wasn’t going to answer before she said quietly, “I want to be a songwriter.”
“Say what now?”
“It’s why I got into the business in the first place, to learn the ropes, and then I just got comfortable because I love working with Kate, but my real dream is to write songs.” The words tumbled out in a rush. She blew out a breath, leaning against him. “I guess it’s a secret because no one else knows, but one of my goals for this year is to change that.”
“Good for you.” He wrapped his arm around her, keeping her close. “I think that’s great, and I hope you make it happen.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Your secret is deeper than mine,” he said as the waves tilted in front of his eyes, and he and Jenn went down in a tangled heap of laughter in the cool sand.
“We’re so drunk.” She looked down at him, moonlight dancing in her eyes.
“Yeah, we are.” He was completely shit-faced, but not so drunk that he didn’t realize the enormity of his fuckup. She was too drunk to come back to his villa tonight. He’d found the perfect girl, spent the entire evening in a state of painful arousal anticipating having her in his bed, and now it couldn’t happen.
He was destined for a life of miserable celibacy.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than her lips crashed into his, and his capacity for rational thought ceased. His tongue was in her mouth, and they were kissing. He was desperate for the taste of her, the feel of her hands in his hair and her warm body pressed against his. She let out a needy whimper, and her knees dropped down on either side of his hips so that she straddled his poor, aching cock.
“Your dick is definitely not tiny,” she murmured as her hips pressed against his.
“Fucking headlines.” He gripped her ass, moving her against him.
“Or limp.”
“Been hard practically ever since I met you,” he growled, dragging her mouth back to his for another greedy kiss. He rolled her beneath him, and sand went everywhere, showering over them.
Jenn sputtered, crawling out from under him. She sat up, wiping at her eyes. “Sand.”
It was dripping from his hair and sliding down the back of his legs. “Sorry.”
She grinned as she spat onto the beach. “I’m not.”
“Okay, then.” He struggled to his feet, pulling her up beside him. She was so beautiful. He’d thought so right away, but now—drunk, disheveled, and covered in sand, her lips swollen from his kisses? She was absolutely the most gorgeous woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and he had to find a reason, an excuse…anything to see her again.
She grabbed his hand, leading him toward the lit wedding arch on the beach before them. “It’s so beautiful.”
It was pretty. Jenn was beautiful, much too beautiful to be compared to a cheesy contraption of metal and Christmas lights for a couple who’d bailed on their wedding.
“I’d love to get married like this,” she whispered. “On the beach, beneath the moon in front of an arbor lit with fairy lights.”
He gripped the arbor to
keep them upright before they sprawled into the sand again. “It’s—”
She doubled over with laughter, almost taking him down with her. When she straightened, she looked him dead in the eye. “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we stood in for the bride and groom the way I stood in for Kate during the video shoot earlier?”
3
Jenn came to her senses through layers of hangover misery. Her head hurt. Nausea churned in her belly. Her mouth tasted gritty, like sand. She’d had way too much to drink last night. And had she really…
Her eyes popped open. Cole lay facedown in bed beside her, wearing only black boxer briefs. Horrified, she lifted the sheet to find that she was in nothing but her bra and panties. Oh my God… He lifted his head, staring at her through bleary, bloodshot eyes. She yanked the sheet back against herself, and her gaze caught on the gold band on her left ring finger. This was a dream. A nightmare.
This is not really happening.
Her stomach heaved. She leaped out of bed, and where the fuck even was she? This had to be Cole’s room. She ran for the only open door—hoping it was the bathroom—and slammed it behind her. She made it to the toilet just in time to lose the remnants of last night’s moonlight martinis, the desperate kind of vomit that left her breathless with tears streaming down her face. When the tremors finally ceased, she collapsed on the floor, weak and shaky.
Slowly, she raised her left hand and stared at the ring there. It was gold, with delicate flowers woven into the band and tiny bead-cut diamonds inserted into the design. It was beautiful. Unique. Maybe the prettiest ring she’d ever seen. But…
Groaning, she dragged herself to her feet and went to the sink to freshen up, squirting some of Cole’s toothpaste onto her finger, which she scrubbed across her teeth. Ugh. Her head pounded, and her stomach threatened to revolt again at the slightest provocation. She splashed cold water on her face and walked back into the bedroom to find Cole sitting up in bed, eyeing her with a strange look on his face.
“What the fuck happened last night?” she whispered, but it sounded more like a hiss.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not entirely sure what—”
“Did you…did we…” She gestured toward the bed with its rumpled sheets and the semi-naked Cole still sitting in its midst.
“We definitely didn’t do that.” His expression was pained, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered his confession last night…how he hadn’t had sex in a year. Right now, she couldn’t care less, because—
“Please tell me this ring is a joke.” She held up her left hand, even as tears burned behind her eyes because she knew it wasn’t a joke. She might have been drunk off her ass last night, but she had fuzzy memories of exchanging vows with Cole beneath the lighted arch, of kissing him in the moonlight as they were pronounced husband and wife. She had the ring, the hangover, and the sand in her hair to prove it.
“I was drunk enough to marry you,” he said quietly, “but not drunk enough to forget that it happened.”
“What the fuck, Cole!” She grabbed her dress off the floor and yanked it over her head.
“Don’t you dare blame this on me.” His eyes snapped with barely contained rage. “Getting hitched was your idea, as I recall.”
“Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we stood in for the bride and groom the way I stood in for Kate during the video shoot earlier?”
Her own words echoed in her ears, and God-fucking-dammit, he was right. It had been her idea. Of course it had. She’d become fixated on getting married, and she’d been swooning over that stupid arbor on the beach from the first moment she’d laid eyes on it. And now, everything was ruined. She’d waited her whole life to have the perfect fairy-tale wedding.
Instead, she’d gotten drunk and married a near stranger on a moonlit beach in the middle of the night, and no amount of wishing—or money—could ever change the fact that this had been her wedding day. She’d spent her wedding night in her underwear, too drunk to even realize what had happened. “Oh God.”
“You’re telling me.” He rested his face in his hands. “This is an absolute fucking nightmare.”
“Maybe it wasn’t legal.”
“I’ll get my lawyer on it.”
“Me too,” she muttered. She didn’t have a lawyer, but she knew Kate’s well enough to give him a call. No way was she going to trust Colton Nix to handle this with her best interests in mind.
“We’ll get it sorted out.”
She grabbed her purse and looked around for her shoes before remembering she’d been barefoot last night at the Tiki Bar. “I have to go.”
“Wait, you shouldn’t—”
But she was already out the door before she’d heard what she shouldn’t do.
* * *
Jenn silently freaked out all the way back to her room, and luckily—thanks to the early hour—she didn’t bump into anyone on the way. The most shameful “walk of shame” she’d ever made. The only time she’d ever had to make the walk of shame. Except she hadn’t even gotten laid.
She’d gotten married.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit…
She headed straight for the shower because she had sand everywhere and just felt generally scummy. She took off the ring and set it on the bathroom counter, torn between her desire to flush it down the toilet or keep it in case…well, she didn’t know yet. Her stomach was still queasy, and her head pounded. By the time she’d showered and guzzled an entire bottle of water plus a couple of ibuprofen, she was feeling a little bit better…physically, at least. Mentally? Not so much. She picked up her phone, intending to look up the number for Kate’s lawyer, but instead found a text from Kate herself.
Lunch at my villa before you leave? I’m hearing some interesting rumors this morning!
Jenn’s stomach, which had just started to settle, lurched violently. If the press found out about her and Cole’s midnight debacle…
Yes, she texted back. Ugh. She hadn’t wanted to have to share this with Kate, or with anyone, really. Who in real life actually got so drunk, they married someone? That kind of thing only happened in books and movies.
But since this seemed to actually be happening, she called Sterling Lewis and spent the next thirty minutes hashing out her legal troubles (and spending the better part of this week’s paycheck in the process). Until he’d seen the paperwork, Sterling couldn’t be sure if their marriage was legal or not, but the good news was that even if it was, they should be able to have it quietly annulled, which would make it—almost—like this never happened.
With that taken care of, she packed for her flight that afternoon, triple-checked all of Kate and Josh’s reservations for the rest of their vacation, and spent almost an hour researching the legal requirements to get married on Luca Cay (which did not seem to bode in her favor). After much internal debate, she tucked the ring into the inside pocket of her carry-on. It just seemed too risky to leave it behind here in her hotel room. Still buzzing with restless energy, she slipped on her sunglasses and sloughed her way through the sand to Kate’s villa on the far side of the island.
Going without shoes for three days had been amazingly freeing. Luca Cay was pretty much heaven on earth, except for its lax rules on allowing drunk people to get married on the spur of the moment—which was no doubt why it was such a hot spot for high-profile elopements. Somehow, she imagined Cole’s celebrity had played into the willingness of everyone involved to make his wish their command last night. The resort staff had even opened the jewelry boutique in the middle of the night to bring rings to the beach for him. Thank God his villa was at the opposite end of the island from Josh and Kate’s.
Kate opened the door wearing a loose knit dress and a wide smile. “Is it true?”
“Is what true?” Jenn fought a fresh wave of nausea, trying not to notice the irony of her boss, the superstar, asking about her own personal scandal for once.
“You and Cole making out last night on the beach?”
“Oh.” She wince
d, even as relief flooded through her. Thank God the island wasn’t buzzing with rumors of a scandalous wedding. “Yeah, we had a little bit too much to drink last night.”
“And?” Kate asked, still smiling as she led the way to the table where a picnic lunch had been set up for them.
“And I did some stupid things I’d rather not rehash.”
“Like what?” Kate prodded as they sat.
Jenn felt her cheeks burn, and for the first time, she had an inkling of how Kate must have felt every time the most intimate details of her personal life had been discussed in depth with her manager and other staff. Jenn herself had been present at plenty of such meetings. “I’d really rather not talk about it.”
Kate went very still. “Oh, Jenn, he didn’t…”
“What?” She registered the look of horror on Kate’s face a moment too late. “Oh God, no. No, he didn’t…we didn’t…”
“Oh.” Kate smiled again, but it was different this time…forced. She’d once been the victim of a violent rape, and Jenn hated that she’d caused her to believe, even for a moment, that she might have been through something similar.
“We didn’t even have sex,” she said, feeling more dejected than ever.
Kate leaned forward, her brows knitted. “Then what?”
“We got married.” She just blurted it out, then covered her face with her hands. She and Kate had long since crossed the barrier from boss and employee to friends, but even so…
“Holy shit!” Kate shouted.
“I know.”
“What in the world, Jenn?”
“I don’t know,” she answered miserably. “We were talking at the bar…flirting. I decided to have a one-night stand with him, but we had too much to drink, and somewhere in there, we walked out to that arbor on the beach, and I made a stupid joke about standing in for the wedding couple the way I’d stood in for you in the music video, and apparently we actually did.”
“Wow.” Kate stared at her, wide-eyed. “That is so…well, so unlike you.”
