“Would you still say that if you were at a resort full of half-naked women?”
“Whatever. That has nothing to do with it.” I was being a dick, and I knew it.
We didn’t talk as the elevator took us to the top floor, didn’t speak as we walked down the hallway to the honeymoon suite, which turned out to be in-fucking-credible. One wall was nothing but glass, overlooking the ocean. The bed was huge, and there was a hot tub in the room by the windows.
Alex dropped his bag and went for the bathroom, but I reached out, wrapping a hand around his wrist. “Hey…I didn’t mean to piss you off. I’m not trying to make light of the situation. I just…” I really had thought I was going to lose him, that things would change, that he was going to leave me. I needed this time with him more than I could let myself admit.
“I know,” he said without me having to finish.
“Are we good?”
“We’re always good.”
I let him go, and he went into the bathroom to do his business. I sat on the bed and started pulling things out of my carry-on, when I saw a manila envelope. “What the hell?” I whispered.
“Imma put it in here, A. All our stuff, to keep it safe for us. I’m gonna keep it forever.”
I frowned at the weird flash of…memory? Dream? No, I was pretty sure it was a memory.
I opened the package just as Alex came out of the bathroom.
“What’s that?” he asked as I stared wide-eyed at the paper. “Hey, what is it?” he asked again, worry clear in his voice.
There was something else inside, and I shook it out…two gold rings. “Um…remember how you dreamed there was a wedding?”
“Yeah…?”
“Well, there was.” I set the paper on the bed. “Looks like I haven’t been lying to anyone all day. We really are on our honeymoon, Alex Bailey-Hill.”
Chapter Five
Alex
“Holy fuck, I think I’m gonna throw up,” I said as I looked at the marriage certificate I’d snatched from Caden’s hand.
“Hey! It’s not that bad to be married to me!”
“Oh my God. You’re really offended that I’m having a nervous breakdown about being your husband? I didn’t mean it like that, but did you forget one tiny detail here, Caden? You’re not queer!” Or in love with me, but I left that part out.
“Well, I know, but it’s you.”
I dropped my head back and took a couple of calming breaths. He was exhausting sometimes. “So? I’m gay. You’re straight. I know you have no plans to get married or anything, but I do. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It’s not a joke to me.” I turned, took a few steps away from him, hoping he hadn’t noticed the sincerity in my voice, that he couldn’t tell I didn’t just mean being married to a man, but being married to him.
“Shit. You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.” He walked over and put his hand on the back of my head. “We’ll figure it out,” Caden said, pulling me closer so our foreheads touched. “We’ll figure it out, okay? We can get it annulled when we get home. I need to look up the guidelines for it, but for now…we’re in Puerto Vallarta…on our honey—vacation. Our friendcation? Friendmoon? FriendsWhoAreMarriedMoon? Whatever you want to call it. Your choice. I’ll go along with it. I just wanna have fun with you.”
His breath smelled fruity, like Mike and Ikes, and damned if I wasn’t craving a taste. “I want to have fun with you too.”
“Then let it go for now.” He dropped his hand and pulled back.
“You’re being surprisingly calm for someone who never planned to get hitched. Do you remember anything about it?” We drank a lot…at numerous places. Things are real fuzzy after that, but all I could think about was my dream. The faceless man I married…the hugging, crying, laughing and…happiness. Had that been the way it had really gone down?
“Because it doesn’t feel all that different from normal when it’s with you. Things with you are always easy. We’re just…”
“Us,” I finished for him.
“Exactly. I guess I don’t really care how it happened. I mean, clearly we got wasted and got married. I don’t remember much about last night other than it was fun and I’d been happy.”
“I’d been happy too,” I replied.
“Let’s make a pact: real life doesn’t matter here. We don’t worry about jobs or divorces or Jackasses. Just Alex and Caden. We can stress about all the hard things when we get home.”
It sounded so easy when he said it, probably because it was easy for him. This was just a blip in his life; it didn’t mean anything. To me, it was what I’d dreamed of. I’d always wanted to call Caden my husband. But then, for some reason, I thought about Gladys and Harry and said, “Yeah, okay.”