I guided Zoe to a comfortable bucket seat in the back and sat her down, buckling her in for takeoff. She batted at my hands, grumbling about not being an infant and I let out a bark of laughter. Taking the seat next to her, I leaned over and put my lips against her ear. “Trust me, Zoe. I am well aware that you’re all woman. And, I’d be happy as fuck to prove it in the back bedroom after take-off.”
Her cheeks turned a ridiculously cute shade of pink, and that bottom lip ended up between her teeth again. I grinned at her flustered state until she said primly, “There will be no proving of anything or any bedrooms for that matter. This isn’t a real marriage, remember?”
I shrugged and faced forward, but wrapped her hand in mine and rested them on my thigh. No use arguing at the moment, she’d figure it out soon enough.
I wasn’t letting her go. Ever.
Chapter 3
Zoe
“Time to wake up, Blondie.” Landon’s voice was whisper-soft, but his friend’s bark of laughter wasn’t.
“Blondie? Really? And you wondered why she wasn’t giving you the time of day?”
“Shut the fuck up, Jeremy,” Landon growled.
“That wasn’t why,” I rasped, my throat dry because I’d slept pretty much the entire three-hour flight.
“Shhh,” Landon hushed me, lifting a bottle of water to my lips.
I gulped a few sips down and moaned at how good the cool liquid felt on my throat.
“I get the fascination, though. And why you’re hustling her to Vegas the first chance you get, which is saying a lot since I’m allergic to weddings.”
“I warned you,” Landon bit out, shifting away from me in his seat.
I gripped his arm to stop him from moving. “Stop. He’s your friend.”
“A damn good friend, too,” Jeremy added. “Considering I’m giving you a ride to Vegas and letting you use my Malibu place.”
“Malibu?” I parroted, confused.
“I’ll explain later,” Landon assured me, glaring at his buddy.
“But—”
“Later,” he insisted, buckling my seat belt as the plane’s wheels went down in preparation for our landing.
In the whirlwind of our arrival in Vegas—my surprise at seeing a stretch limo waiting for us at the airport, and the half bottle of champagne I downed on the ride to the chapel to help calm my nerves—I completely forgot to ask about Malibu again. I had bigger things on my mind, like the fact that I was about to get married to my incredibly hot boss.
“Welcome to the Little White Wedding Chapel,” an older woman greeted us when we walked into the iconic location of so many celebrity weddings.
It wasn’t Brittney Spears or Sarah Michelle Gellar who instantly popped into my head, though. “Isn’t this where Ross and Rachel got married on that episode of Friends?”
“It is!” The woman beamed at us.
“Wow,” I gasped. I was completely addicted to watching it on Netflix. In my defense, I had a lot of time on my hands since I’d moved to Wisconsin. It was all Landon’s fault, since I hadn’t been able to bring myself to accept any of the dates I’d been asked on by other guys. I couldn’t have said yes to him, either, so that left me home alone pretty much every night for the last two months. It was amazing how many episodes you could get through in a short amount of time when you didn’t have anything better to do.
“Landon Heath, I called this morning and made a reservation.”
He really had thought of everything.
“Ah, yes! You booked our extravaganza package.” She guided us through a set of glass doors into a flower shop. “It includes the cascade bouquet number eight and a boutonniere for the groom. It’s our best bouquet, but I’d be happy to add something a little extra to it since you won’t be needing the attendant's bouquet or boutonniere.”
I gulped in astonishment at the purple bouquet she pulled from the refrigerated area to the left. “It’s perfect,” I breathed out. It really was, since purple was my favorite color.
“Mr. Heath gave us all the specifications when we spoke earlier.”
“I told you I couldn’t help but notice everything about you,” he whispered into my ear as she led us further into the building.
“Zoe can find her gown in here.” She’d brought us into a roped-off area, and I walked into a room filled with rack after rack of wedding gowns.
“I couldn’t,” I whispered, feeling uncomfortable as I looked at all the pretty white dresses that represented so many women’s hopes and dreams for their future.
“Of course you can. It’s part of the package,” the woman assured me.
“But I brought a couple dresses with me that’ll be fine,” I insisted.
“Actually,” Landon interrupted our back and forth. “She won’t need to use one of the rental gowns because Bridal Elegance is sending over a selection of dresses along with their seamstress. They should be here any minute.”
“Can you give us a minute alone?” I asked, forcing a polite smile onto my face as I looked at the woman.
“Of course.” She gave me a look of female understanding before turning to Landon. “You’ll find the tuxes over there.” She waved towards an area full of tuxedos, directly across from the gowns.
“I brought my own.” Of course he had. In the short amount of time I’d been home packing, he’d managed to think of everything. “But I would like to use a tie, pocket square and cummerbund to match her bouquet please.”
“I’ll pull a selection out for you.”
I waited for her to be out of earshot before turning to Landon. “This is too much! We aren’t really getting married. You’ve gone way overboard here.”
“The only way this works is if we really get married, Zoe,” he reminded me.
“You know what I meant,” I huffed out. “Our wedding doesn’t have to be anything special, not when our marriage isn’t going to be permanent.”
“We have to make it look good for the pictures, don’t we?” he asked in a reasonable tone, when his expression looked like he was pissed off at the reminder of the temporary nature of our situation.