The Reluctant Billionaire's Temporary Bride: Love is worth fighting for (Las Vegas Brides of Convenience Book 1)

by Anne Martin

  It made me giggle to see that sexy smile with the busted tooth. No idea why. Probably the drugs. Maybe because he was here. Unless he was a hallucination. Seemed like I’d been having a lot of those.

  “I’ll take your laughter as direct mockery. Yes, I crashed the truck in the last lap. Had to push it over the finish line. With a broken leg. No pain, no brain. I am seriously safe in case of a zombie apocalypse. How are you holding up, Kitten?”

  I blinked at him. “Are you really here? It’s not that kind of a hospital.”

  “Oh, it is now. My mother bought it. Did I mention how horrible she is? She’s going to keep all the money I paid. That’s how compassionate she is. Luckily the prize money will cover more than our medical bills. A very little more.” He grinned at me, with that adorable broken tooth. “You beam every time you see my broken tooth. You always wanted a trailer park redneck. I should’ve known. That’s the real reason you wouldn’t marry Daniel. I’ll consider keeping it this way if you show me your pustules.”

  I sighed because I was too tired to laugh. Still, I was smiling and I felt so good. Seeing him felt so good. “I didn’t marry Daniel because I didn’t really love him.”

  His eyes widened and he whistled. “Don’t tell him that.”

  “I couldn’t love him because he wasn’t ever real. You lied about everything, but you were real with me.”

  He smiled sweet and slow. “Your logic is a beautiful thing. I really wish I wasn’t all casted up. There’s a good six inches next to you where I could lay before I fell on the floor.”

  I scooted over. “Eight inches.”

  He groaned and closed his eyes. “Torture.”

  I fell asleep with a smile. When I woke up, he was still there and I was more clear-headed. I tried to sit up, but I was still tied to the bed. I frowned as I tugged on my arms.

  “Were they just going to leave me like this? Where’s Aunt Willie?”

  She came in like magic. “Honey, how are you feeling? I was sleeping in the hotel. I hope you don’t mind. Your husband said that he’d watch out for you.”

  I glanced over at Nix. “That’s nice, but what do you think he could do all casted up like a mummy?”

  “It’s only most of the right side of my body. My left side is barely half mangled.”

  I beamed at him before I turned to my Aunt Willie and tugged on the arm restraints again. “Aunt Willie?”

  She nodded and started releasing me. Finally, I was able to sit up. She pushed me back down and frowned at me. “Where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

  “Who are you calling young? I’m going to sleep on my husband’s bed.”

  She shook her head. “That’s what the restraints were for. You stay in your bed and rest and recover, or I’m going to tie you back up. You tell her,” she said, turning to Nix.

  He frowned thoughtfully before he gave me a sad shrug. “It seems like authority has spoken, Kitten Princess. You do need to get better.”

  I sighed and settled back. I fell asleep after a little more effort. When I woke up, Nix didn’t have as much of him casted as before.

  “How did you get better so fast?” I demanded.

  He raised his eyebrows. “I still have a cast on the leg. Most of me was more mangled than broken. Except for some ribs, but you can’t cast those. Do you mind if I watch the road war? That’s what I usually do after recovering from these things, but I’ve been quiet not to wake you up.”

  “Sure. I like watching you scream and tell me to keep fighting.”

  He blinked at me. “Did I do that?”

  “Probably not. There were a lot of hallucinations going on for a minute there. I’m over the tough part. Maybe. Either I’ll drop dead all of a sudden or get better.”

  “Isn’t that the way it always is?” He swung his casted leg off the bed and hopped over to me then slid next to me, propping my head against his chest. “Stay like that, otherwise I might get some more internal bleeding. That’s irritating.”

  I touched him carefully, his throat, his cheek, his eyelashes, a half singed eyebrow, the lobes of his ears, his hair, cropped close to his head with a number of fresh cuts stitched up.

  “I love you,” I said.

  He said, “I know.”

  I elbowed him. He wheezed and gurgled.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry!”

  He started laughing, a slightly malicious grin.

  “That’ll teach you to hurt an invalid.”

  I elbowed him again.

  “Ow! Seriously, Kitten, be gentle with me.”

  I snuggled against him and closed my eyes. “Yes, daddy Death-Hammer. Otherwise how will you ever roll around with me on your king-size bed?”

  He shifted, yelped and told me to behave. I felt moderately good. The next day I felt better, the day after even more so. After a week, Nix was moving around freely with just a boot on his leg and I could get up and walk to the patio or the bathroom.

  Finally the day came that I could leave the clinic and stay at the hotel instead, coming in a few days a week. I walked down the path next to Nix. At the end of the pavement, Daniel stood with an enormous bouquet of sunflowers and daisies.

  “What’s he doing here?” I hissed to Nix.

  “I imagine he’s here to gloat and ask you to leave me and be with the most perfect man in the entire world, himself in case you missed that.”

  I glanced at him and he gave me another smile with his snaggle tooth. I snickered. “He is pretty perfect.”

  He kept looking at me, like he didn’t want to look away. “Who are you kidding, Kitten? Once you’ve had chaos, there’s no going back to normal.”

  I laughed. It barely hurt. I wasn’t fully recovered. There could be a lapse at any time, and I could still drop dead, but the longer I went without dropping dead, the less likely that was. Nix had pointed that out.

  I loved him for lots of things. When we reached Daniel, Nix went and got into the car, the driver’s side because apparently he wanted to drive with a boot over his broken leg. I frowned as I watched him shifting the seat, trying to get his foot in the small floor space.

  “Sunny, I just want to congratulate you on coming out on the other side. I’m so proud of you for fighting for your life. You’re a hero to me, someone who never gives up.” His eyes burned fanatically while I covered his mouth with my hand.

  “You’re the one who won’t give up. Daniel, what’s your thing? Why won’t you give up?”

  He stared at me before he looked down at the flowers like he’d just remembered them. “I promised your dad. I swore that I’d get you here one way or another. You know what he was to me.”

  I blinked at him. Daniel and my dad had been incredibly close. A weight lifted off my mind. “You were like a son to him.”

  He nodded, his eyes hoping I drew the other lines.

  “So, I was like a sister to you?”

  He hesitated. “I’ve always thought you were pretty, but you were always untouchable to me. When I talked to my cousin and he told me that he was giving up the fighting life and wanted to find a little backwater to go to school and explore his options, I hooked him up with the house two doors down. I knew that he’d fall in love with you, and his work being in Nevada, he’d take you with him, and you’d have to go to the clinic.”

  I frowned at him. “So if a different cousin had a job in Las Vegas, you would have chosen him for me? You actually set me up with Nix?”

  He shrugged. “He’s a decent guy. I know he’s got some rough edges, and some serious trauma from growing up with the crocodile, but he’s okay. He treats you well.”

  I walked into his arms and got a one-armed hug while the flowers went in my face. I smiled at Daniel and then he kissed me.

  It didn’t go on for very long, but there was something very not brotherly about it. He pulled away and smiled brightly with that perfect smile. “I’ll always have your back. You need me, call.”

  “Right. I just won’t walk in on you without textin
g first.”

  He grinned kind of big. “That wasn’t real. Me and Stina? She hooked up with some guy after I went to the bar to pick her up. Ask me why I kept going to help her.”

  “Why did you keep…”

  He kissed me again. I blinked at him, unbalanced and disoriented. “Get better. Don’t take any risks, at least not with your health. Love is always a risk and I want you to jump in with both feet.”

  He stepped back and then turned and walked off, taking the flowers with him. He made it to his car before he turned around and walked back. “I almost forgot.” He gave me the flowers and I took them, half expecting him to kiss me again.

  He only kissed my cheek and then headed back to his dark sedan.

  I climbed into the Camaro and reclined the seat.

  “Kitten, am I not supposed to mention you not slapping your dream man when he kissed you?”

  I closed my eyes. “He said that Stina wasn’t real, like that never happened.”

  He snorted. “Don’t trust anyone related to me.” He cleared his throat. “Or anyone who works with me. Or anyone who works against me. I’m referring to Horse. He fights on another team.”

  I sighed and put my head on his shoulder. “I’m starting to think that you’re paranoid. Don’t you trust anyone?”

  “No. Not even you when I know how ridiculously sweet and lovely you are. You could be corrupted by my relations.”

  I sighed. I was tired. Seeing Daniel wasn’t what I’d needed. I needed a long rest and recovery period, away from doctors and ex-best friends.

  Chapter 18

  Nix Death-Hammer

  What the hell. Daniel coming to kiss my wife when I had my foot in a cast? Low. At least I smuggled us into the hotel without anyone noticing. As far as my crew knew, I was still in the clinic that had zero tolerance for unrelated visitors. So why did Daniel get to come? No idea. No, I had lots of ideas. He was on his way to becoming a super villain. Sunny would have to be the hero because I was finished fighting. I didn’t touch her for a good week. Okay, I touched her, but nothing that would increase her heart rate too much. Trouble was, her heart was so delicate after all those treatments. She was so delicate, like a ceramic doll that could shatter at a too stiff breeze.

  “Daddy Death-Hammer,” she said, kicking the sheet off so I could see her in her cozy pajamas.

  “Kitten Princess?”

  “Make love to me.”

  I’d said no five times. I hadn’t said no out loud, of course not, but I’d changed the subject very subtly. Like talking about prosthetic limbs and the price of veneers. I glanced around, looking for a good topic, but I could literally think about nothing other than my wife wanting me to make love to her.

  I shrugged and went to her, falling onto the bed next to her before I started kissing her. She gasped like she didn’t expect me to actually follow through. I slid off her adorable pajamas and gave her a nice cat bath, at least I tried, but turned out she was ticklish in the cutest places. Mm. Such a sweet package of delight.

  I slowed down any time her heart started racing too fast, at least for most of the night. Sometimes I forgot to pay attention to how fast her pulse was running when mine was flying away like a train down the track.

  “Nix,” she said, after she was wrapped in my arms naked and I was sated, at least for the time being.

  “Kitten?”

  “If I don’t die, what are we going to do about the marriage? It was only supposed to be temporary.”

  I pulled her tighter against me. “Don’t joke about such silly things. We’ve covered this topic exhaustively. I fought for you. I’m not going to stop just because it’s not a literal fight in front of me. I’m fighting for you, for us, for our marriage for the rest of my life. I love you. I’m married to you and there’s not a chance I’m ever going to go through that again.”

  “It was that bad?” she asked.

  I shuddered. “Worse.”

  “That’s too bad because I thought we should go back home and have another wedding that all my friends and family can come to. We’re going to settle down there.”

  “It’s close to Mobile.”

  “So you can keep an eye on your mother.”

  “Mm. I probably should, but I don’t want to know. Are you serious about this, Kitten? Another wedding?”

  She wriggled in my arms. “Our wedding was nice for a Las Vegas wedding, but I want more. I mean, if I don’t die in the next few weeks.”

  I exhaled and started kissing her shoulder. I would have to be careful, or I’d be loving her to death. “Sunshine Ray Wilson Death-Hammer, I would be delighted to marry you again in front of your entire family and friends. I’ll be sure to get a good sedative so I don’t run off.”

  She giggled and wriggled against me again. That woman had the most enticing movement. “We’re already married. This time it would be forever instead of temporary. You’d have to get a real diamond. If you don’t want that…”

  I exhaled and took her hand, staring at the rock that had been real from the beginning. “You know how to torture a man. That’s good because I’ll no doubt deserve it for the rest of our marriage. The diamond is always real. What kind of a gentleman gives a fake ring to a girl?”

  She stared at me, her eyes going huge. “You said it was fake. What kind of man tells a girl that a diamond is fake when it’s real! I could have thrown it out the window on accident. Wait. That enormous rock is real? How much? I don’t want to know. No more secrets, Nix! I swear, you’re killing me. No more lies. Swear it.” She gave me a dangerous frown. Such a sweet kitten.

  I stroked her silky hair and cleared my throat. “Well, I suppose I should tell you, you were pregnant and had a miscarriage in the clinic.”

  Her face went pale. “What?”

  “Doctor Albright broke it to me the worst possible way. I almost strangled him. They didn’t want to tell you in the middle of your treatment. I didn’t tell you until it was all over because I was being a coward. It’s a good thing that you know that about me.”

  She gave me a slight smile before she shook her head and put her hand on her stomach. “Miscarriage? I guess it’s from all that Death-Hammer love making.”

  “I guess so,” I drawled and kissed the side of her neck.

  “I can’t have kids. It’s completely unknown whether or not they’ll have my same messed up genetics.”

  “All right,” I said easily.

  She turned to stare at me with big eyes full of tears like I’d betrayed her. “What do you mean, ‘all right?’ Do you not want kids if they aren’t perfect? Maybe we shouldn’t be together after all.”

  “Hang on, Kitten. You come first. Kids come later. We aren’t having kids right this second. If we do have kids, we’ll discuss it when we’re sure it’s a good idea.”

  “But what if we get pregnant again? I can’t stop this,” she said, gesturing at my naked body.

  “That’s right.” I felt a little bit smug. “You’re a Death-Hammer addict. Tell you what, Kitten, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We’ll cross all the bridges and burn any that need burning. We’ll do it all together. Okay?”

  It was a really lame pep talk, but she didn’t care. She kissed me. And kissed me and then broke off to mutter about suing the clinic for being such jerks, then kissed me again.

  All along I’d wanted to save Sunny, but somewhere in there, it turned out that she saved me. Nothing more than a kitten, but she saved me, gave me a life worth living. That’s all anyone could ask for.

  The End

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