Bet on Love

by A. F. Zoelle

  It was unnerving seeing the hidden parts of my heart on full display as I gazed at Rhys with feelings I’d convinced myself for years I didn’t have. But the most shocking thing had been that he had been looking back at me with love and adoration. How was that possible?

  I had spent so long denying that I could have those kinds of emotions for him that it never occurred to me he might feel the same way. Despite having countless girlfriends in the past, neither of us had found true love with any of them. Was this why? Had I been unable to because I loved my best friend without knowing it? It shouldn’t have been possible, but it had a ring of truth in it that hurt.

  Now that I had incontrovertible proof of how I felt about Rhys when I let my guard down, how could I go back to only being friends with him? How would I laugh this off as a drunken Vegas mishap that didn’t matter? How could I get an annulment when I had real feelings for him?

  They were questions without easy answers, so I concentrated on the immediate issue. He was so small on the enormous bed that it brought out my desire to make things better for him.

  I got water out of the fridge before sitting next to him. “You should drink.”

  “I’m never drinking again,” he grumbled into the covers.

  After such an eventful day, I shared the sentiment, but I tapped the cold bottle against his forehead. “I meant drink water.”

  Rhys rolled over with a sigh to sit up straight. He gulped down half of it before he asked with a wry grin, “Don’t you ever tire of taking care of me?”

  I should have cracked a joke about it, but I answered, “No.”

  “I’m a fucking mess, Luci.” He picked at the label. “How are you not sick of me?”

  “It’s been a batshit insane day,” I consoled him. “After the amount of what-the-fucks we’ve dealt with today, you’re doing fine.”

  He snorted at that. “I don’t think weeping is doing fine.”

  “That was about more than this,” I told him. “That was years of shit that just came to a head.”

  “How do you always know?” Rhys’s stormy gray eyes begged me for answers. “How do you understand me better than myself sometimes?”

  “You’re not as complicated as you think.”

  Still messing with the bottle, he requested, “I know we have to talk about everything, but can we take a nap? I’m fucking exhausted.”

  “Sure.” I stood up to go, but Rhys grabbed my wrist to stop me.

  “Don’t leave.” He tightened his grip on me. “This bed is the size of an ocean, so it won’t be weird. Please stay?”

  How could I say no when he stared up at me with such a vulnerable expression in his gray-blue eyes? “Okay, but are you sure you don’t want lunch, though? It would help.”

  “We can order room service after.” He held on to me as if he feared I would change my mind and leave him.

  “Sounds good, although you have to let go of me.”

  He jerked his hand away. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  I started unbuttoning my shirt out of habit as I walked to the other side but stopped when I realized it might be uncomfortable for Rhys under the circumstances. Before I could ask if it was a problem, he stripped down to his briefs and got into bed. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”

  Realization dawned on him at what he had done. “Sorry, I can get dressed if—”

  He cut himself off when I shrugged off my shirt to drop onto the floor and stripped off my pants before I did the same. I put my glasses on the nightstand before settling. My exhaustion overtook me as I relaxed. It had been one hell of a day considering it wasn’t even noon yet.

  However, no matter how bone-weary tired I was, my mind raced too fast to fall asleep. My thoughts centered on what we would do about our marriage and our recently discovered feelings for each other. That meant figuring out what I wanted. Did I want Rhys that way? Could he want me like that? It was crazy, right? Or was it?

  I heard him rustling in the sheets. It surprised me, because he normally fell asleep before his head even hit the pillow. I envied that about him, since I had problems getting to sleep thanks to my dumbass brain that liked to overthink everything.

  Rhys’s reaction to his new last name troubled me. He had a difficult relationship with his parents through no fault of his own. They came from old money, so his father acted as if that made them superior to everyone else. He had expected his son to follow in his footsteps and work at their multibillion-dollar real estate enterprise, despite treating him with contempt his whole life. Nothing Rhys did was ever good enough, so at some point he’d stopped trying. After he defied Leo by starting his own tech firm instead of going into the family business, they had quit speaking to each other. The saddest part was it had improved things between them.

  When he was a kid, Rhys’s mother let the nannies raise him. There was a modicum of kindness in Lydia, but she was as obsessed with their family worth as her husband. I couldn’t think of a single occasion when she’d stood up for him against his unreasonable father. She hadn’t written Rhys out of her life when Leo did, but her reaction at breakfast didn’t bode well for the future.

  I never understood why the two people who should love him the most didn’t. All he wanted was their affection, which they were incapable of giving him. They were the most selfish and self-absorbed parents I knew, who only cared that he wasn’t embarrassing them. Given the spectacle we’d made at breakfast, I could only imagine what hell he was in for later.

  Because of his strained relationship at home, Rhys spent as much time at my house as possible. My family loved him like he was my actual brother. We joked that he was an honorary St. Amour, but now he was one for real. That’s when it hit me—I had been so fixated on Rhys’s family that I completely forgot we hadn’t told mine yet.

  “Are you awake?”

  I turned to glance over at him. His face pinched with worry again. “I am, but why are you?”

  “Luci, your family,” he said in a panicked voice, surprising me that his thoughts paralleled my own. His breathing quickened. “Fuck, I’ve ruined everything. They’ll hate me and—”

  I felt ridiculous having this kind of conversation with so much distance between us, so I scooted closer to him. “You need to quit jumping to the worst-case scenario.”

  “Your mom and sister are going to be upset that we got married without them, not to mention that we did it for the wrong reasons. Your dad is going to be so disappointed in me.” Rhys groaned into the pillow. “I can’t lose them. They’re all I have now, because I’m getting disowned after this morning at breakfast and changing my name.”

  “They love you too much for that to happen,” I reminded him. “Once they get over the shock, everyone will celebrate you going from an honorary member of our family to an official one.”

  Rhys remained silent as he hid his face from me, but I saw him trembling.

  “What are you really worried about?” I asked, knowing something else was bothering him.

  I waited for him to find the courage to say whatever was on his mind. It took a while for him to confess in an anguished whisper, “Even if we have to annul this, I don’t want to be a Huntington again.”

  My foolish heart cheered that he hadn’t insisted that we needed to dissolve our marriage. I hesitated before I reached out and placed my hand on his back to reassure him. “You don’t have to.”

  “Really?” He looked at me with guarded hope.

  “You’ve always been a part of our family. Now, you have the paperwork to prove it. I won’t take that from you if you decide to get an annulment.”

  He startled me when he threw himself on me in an awkward hug again. I held him as he murmured, “Thank you.”

  Without meaning to, I stroked his hair in silent comfort. “Besides, I’m glad you did it.”

  “Changed my name?”

  “Yeah, because being a Huntington has brought you nothing but problems and pain. At least as a St. Amour, you
know you’ll always have love watching over you.”

  Rhys swore with a laugh, “Goddamn it, you’re going to make me cry again.”

  “Sorry.” My sentimentality embarrassed me, but it was true.

  He snuggled closer. “Can I stay here?”

  “As long as you want.” The words had a much deeper meaning now.

  Rhys relaxed into my embrace with a soft sigh. It felt so right to hold him in my arms I never wanted to let him go. Rather than overthinking it, I focused on enjoying hugging him.

  I grinned when he succumbed to sleep in record time. With the reassuring weight of him on me, it didn’t take long before I joined him.

  To keep my mind off Luci in the shower, I summoned my personal assistant, Xander Dandridge. He was a handsome guy with striking green-hazel eyes, who had worked for me for almost five years. Thanks to his delicate features and kind heart, he was the heartthrob of my office. He was in Vegas to be a guest at my wedding, so I regretted having to call on him for help when he was supposed to be on vacation. However, I knew if I wanted something done right, he was the man to take care of things. I’d apologize with a nice bonus for him when I got back.

  As we sat in the hotel suite living room, I briefed him on the details of my recent nuptials. I then requested his help with something that had been weighing on me since our visit to the chapel. “I need you to change my honeymoon bookings for Luci to join me. If you have to cancel the flights and rebook them under our names instead, that’s fine. Do whatever you have to do so I don’t run into Olivia in Greece while I’m there with him. I don’t care what it costs.” I should have asked Luci first, but forgiveness was easier than permission.

  “Sure, I’ll take care of it,” Xander promised. “Do I need to have someone get Lucien’s passport from home and deliver it here?”

  “No, he doesn’t have a driver’s license, so he uses his passport for ID at the airport, even for domestic flights,” I told him.

  “Great, I’ll also start canceling the wedding bookings. With such short notice, most of it will be nonrefundable, but—”

  I waved his concern away. “I’m fine with paying for the privilege to not be married to Olivia.”

  “Understood.”

  “Honestly, the only reason I feel bad canceling is because all the time you spent coordinating with the wedding planner will go to waste. I’m sorry, Xander. I promise I’ll make it up to you when I return from our honeymoon.”

  He said, “That’s very kind of you but unnecessary. Thank you.”

  “Well, that and we won’t be able to enjoy that incredible wedding cake we picked out.” I pouted at that. Olivia had refused to sample cake because of the calories, so Luci had gone with me to all the bakeries for tastings. It had been so much fun, not to mention delicious. “Damn, that was the only part of the wedding I was looking forward to.”

  “You mean other than it finally being over?”

  I laughed at that. God, it was so true. “Oh, speaking of finally being over, that reminds me. Have a locksmith change all the locks at my house as soon as possible. I don’t want Olivia in my place while I’m gone.”

  “If you’re comfortable with my friend Jules being there to handle it in person, I can have someone over in a few hours,” he offered.

  “She’s your friend, so that’s cool with me,” I consented. Anybody he would vouch for would be trustworthy.

  He grinned wryly. “Jules is a guy.”

  When he said that, I remembered who he was referring to. “He’s your friend that comes to the office for lunch sometimes, right?”

  “Yep, that would be him.”

  I had talked to Jules on numerous occasions over the years, so there was no excuse for my mistake. “Sorry, it’s been a hell of a day. I’d really appreciate it if Jules would take care of that for me. Of course, I’ll make sure he’s properly compensated for his time.” The irony of my mistake wasn’t lost on me. “Wow, as often as people think Luci is my girlfriend because of his nickname, you’d think I would be more sensitive to that issue.”

  “No worries.”

  It made me realize, “Huh, people will probably assume Luci’s my wife now.” What would he think of that? I suppose it depended on if we stayed in the marriage or not.

  “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  When Xander had first started working for me, I had tried to stop him from referring to me as “sir.” It seemed ridiculous when we were so close in age, but he preferred that level of professionalism. I allowed it since it didn’t bother me enough to make it an issue. He had no problem speaking his mind, so his request for permission was unusual. “Sure.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you married Lucien instead of Olivia.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

  “Because you actually love each other,” Xander said. It was undeniable, but it surprised me to hear him state it with such conviction. Then again, he was one of the closest people to me. “You deserve that instead of someone who was only chasing after you for your fortune. Now, you can be happy.”

  My gaze drifted to the closed bedroom door, where Luci was showering. The thought of him wet and naked in the enormous shower filled me with an unfamiliar heat, but I did my best to ignore it. That wasn’t a fantasy I should explore while someone was still in the room with me. I forced my attention back to my assistant. “I sure hope so.”

  “Congratulations, Rhys.” He stood up to leave. “Once I finish with everything, I’ll send you an email confirming it.”

  “Sounds great, thanks.”

  When Xander opened the door, Ambrose and August were standing on the other side of it. Ambrose entered with a slight smirk, wearing a black button-down shirt that revealed his smooth chest and showed off his bulging muscles. His auburn hair, blue eyes, handsome face, and Irish brogue meant he never had any shortage of women. “You’re already bored with Lucien and moving on to someone younger? You sure don’t waste any time, do you, Rhys?”

  I rolled my eyes, while Xander arched an elegant eyebrow. As much as I didn’t want to deal with Ambrose’s good-natured ribbing, it was a welcome distraction from what Luci was doing behind the bedroom door. “No, he’s my personal assistant.”

  “Is that what you’re calling it now?” Ambrose asked, laying his Irish accent on thick for Xander’s sake. While he was heterosexual, he wasn’t above flirting with attractive men to stroke his ego. He blatantly checked out Xander from head to toe and back again. Whenever he did things like that, Luci’s theory that Ambrose was trying too hard to be straight made a lot of sense. “He’s cute, I’ll give you that.”

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Xander primly said before brushing past them to attend to my business.

  Ambrose took it as permission to come over to the living room area, sitting in my employee’s vacated seat. “Where’s your blushing bride?”

  August sat beside him on the love seat with a sigh. He looked aggrieved over more than just that comment. It made me wonder if they’d had a recent fight. “You know that’s offensive, right?”

  Poor August. He always got stuck trying to rein in Ambrose’s smart mouth. The two of them side by side were quite the sight. Ambrose’s massive body dwarfed August’s slight build. While Ambrose was considered handsome by most, August’s high cheekbones and green eyes made him fall more on the pretty side of the good-looking spectrum. Always fashionably dressed, he managed to pull off a pompadour hairstyle that would have looked ridiculous on most men. He looked amazing as ever in his well-tailored purple blazer over a pink shirt paired with skintight white jeans.

  As odd as their friendship seemed from the outside, they balanced each other out somehow. Ambrose helped August come out of his shell, while August kept Ambrose from going overboard with his “too much gene” propensity for being extra. It was a classic case of opposites attract, only they were just friends. Luci had suspected since college that August harbored secret feelings for Ambrose, but I found it hard to beli
eve given their many girlfriends. Then again, the same was true for me, and now I had a husband. Would that ever stop being weird?

  I rejoined the conversation when Ambrose continued, “Congrats on making it official.”

  “Making it official?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it’s obvious you two have been a thing for years.”

  “Is that so?” That was news to me.

  August added, “I’m thrilled for you. It’s great you don’t have to hide it anymore.”

  “We weren’t hiding anything,” I defend myself. “It’s not like we’ve been together this whole time. I wasn’t cheating on Olivia with him.”

  “It was more like you were cheating on him with her,” Ambrose said. August elbowed him with a look over the insensitive comment. “I’m not saying you were. But any idiot could see you love Lucien a hell of a lot more than her.”

  I shrugged. “I guess that makes me the biggest idiot of all.” Thankfully, I had noticed before it was too late. This was my opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding with my friends and explain the marriage was an impulsive mistake, but the words wouldn’t come. How could I call it a mistake when it had been the best decision I had ever made? The wedding photos were incontrovertible proof of the love between us. We just needed to be brave enough to embrace it. Going on the honeymoon together would give us the chance to try.

  “Yeah, you’re an idiot to let a woman as gorgeous as Olivia get away,” Ambrose joked. He gave me a charming smile. “I don’t suppose you’d mind if I consoled her after she was so cruelly jilted right before her wedding?”

  “Haven’t you tortured Katie enough?” August complained. It surprised me to hear him sticking up for her. “You’ve already broken her heart. Don’t shatter it further by nailing her sister.”

  The flare of August’s possessive jealousy would only add to Luci’s conviction that there was something more between them. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to help August in case it was. “Don’t bother. I promise you Olivia’s not worth it.”