Accidentally Wild (The Wilder Brothers)

“Like how we woke up,” she said.

“Yes.”

“And there’s no way this could be a prank?”

“Not unless Lucas came in, stole my debit card, racked up a ton of purchases without being asked for identification, bought rings at a disgraced pawn shop, and snuck back in to slip them onto our fingers. And that’s just the set up for what we found initially this morning.”

She raked her hand through her hair before she turned back out towards the morning view of Vegas.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

That was the million-dollar question. And it was one I didn’t have an answer to.

“I’m not sure,” I said.

“There has to be something we can do. We can’t just… be married. We hardly know one another. Marriage, it’s supposed to be more than this. Not just some piece of paper, but—”

Her hand shook as she ran it through her hair again. I watched her catch one of the knots in her hair on her ring and she groaned. She tried to work her hand out of her hair but continued to struggle. So, I got up and went over to her. I wrapped my hand around her wrist and took a look at the ring, grimacing slightly at the cheap piece of plastic on her hand. It wasn’t plastic, but it might as well have been. A cheap diamond. A nicked and scratched gold band. True gold wasn’t even the color I would’ve picked for her skin tone. Rose gold was what she needed. Rose gold with a diamond surrounded by peridot stones.

Like the color of her eyes.

“I think what we need to do is take a deep breath,” I said as I began unraveling her hair from her ring.

“How can you be so calm right now?” Andrea asked.

“Well, there will come a point where it’s my turn to freak out, so I expect you to be grounded enough to handle it. For now, I’m the one grounding you.”

I slowly worked her hair from around her finger before I smoothed it behind her ear.

“There we go. Better?” I asked.

“Much,” she said.

My hand fell from her hair and I took a step back. I needed space from her. From the faint smell of her perfume and the muted scent of her womanhood. It still floated around my head. Underneath my nostrils. I walked back over to the bed and sat down, letting out a heavy sigh as I did so. What were we going to do? We needed a plan.

But my mind wouldn’t think clearly enough to come up with one.

“Are you hungry?” Andrea asked.

I rose my gaze up to hers and watched her walk over to the tray of food.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, now that we’re practically convinced this isn’t a prank, we know this is technically in the right place. I think food might help give us strength and clear our minds.”

I watched her pick up a small plate and put some food on it. A couple of strawberries. A piece of toast. Three mini Danishes. An apple slice. She walked back over to me and sat down, then handed the small plate to me. Her eyes fluttered up to mine and I gazed into them, taking in my reflection that looked back at me in her stare.

Andrea was kind. Thoughtful. Considerate. Not the kind of woman that could ever find herself in this type of situation. I took the plate from her and nodded my thanks, then picked up the apple slice and tossed it into my mouth.

“Are you going to eat?” I asked.

“In a minute. Once I take a few deep breaths,” she said.

I studied her carefully as she sat there. Back straight. Eyes stoic. Lips set in stone. She drew in a few deep breaths as her hands pressed into her knees, then she rose to go get herself some food. She came back with a small plate filled with things to eat, then picked up one of her hard-boiled eggs and sat it down onto mine.

“Forgot about those. Sorry,” she said.

“Nothing to be sorry for.”