The Marriage Dare

I reached for Monica and she takes my hand without hesitation. There are cameras and bystanders. It’s Las Vegas, of course there are. Pictures of this will likely be on the Internet within the hour. But I don’t regret a thing.

I pull out my cell phone on the way to the car, and call my publicist. She answers on the first ring. “Daniel, I’ve been getting—”

“There is a massive shitstorm coming your way,” I say, “and we’re going to talk about it and decide what to do. But I will be unavailable for at least three hours. Call me when that time is up.” I don’t give her a chance to respond before I hang up. Devon and Jack get us to the car, and split off to their own. They’ll keep watching to make sure we’re not being followed by any curious onlookers.

I open the passenger door for Monica and she slides in, and I go around to the driver’s side. I probably frightened her, and I need to explain myself. I apologize. I also would like to know what the fuck happened, if she’s willing to tell me. “Listen,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

But before I can get anything else out, Monica is clamoring into my lap. She settles over me, straddling me the same way she had in the dining room. And she’s kissing me. This isn’t the kiss to get around what I’ve told her, or to punish me, or anything else. This kiss is pure fire, and we’re we both going to be consumed by it.

She pulls away, staring at me with what feels like awe. “Nobody has ever done that for me,” she says.

“What are you saying?”

She kisses me again until we’re both breathless. “Nobody has ever stood up for me like that. In my whole life, let alone since everything happened with Dad. Thank you.”

Sick dread and anger on her behalf fill me. “Never?”

“Never. And especially not Martin. He wanted me to be somebody that I wasn’t. My parents pushed us together because his family is rich. They wanted us to get married, and they wanted it so much that it was easier just to stay with him than to get insults like that thrown at me. I tried to leave a few times, but he made me believe that nobody else would ever want me. I finally did leave him when I went to law school, and took hell from my family for it. Martin was furious. He said he felt like he had wasted the best years of his life on someone who was nothing but a whore, who wanted a sugar daddy to pay for everything. And when everything came out into the open with Dad, he was the one who spun it to make it look like I’d been a part of it all along.”

My hands tighten on her waist, and I have to know. “Did he ever hit you?”

“No,” she breathes. “But I think he eventually would have. He came close.”

I slide my hand behind her neck and pull her in to kiss her. “I thought I had scared you.”

“And I thought you might believe him.”

“Why?”

She hides her face in my neck. “Because everybody else did.”

I hug her close to me, and every plan I had for the rings and the marriage certificate goes out the window. I have to do this now. Sliding my hand between our bodies, I retrieve the envelope inside my suit. “I was going to wait until later for this,” I say. “But I can’t.”

“Is that—”

“Yes,” I say. “I swear to you, Monica, you can have whatever kind of wedding you want. But I don’t want to wait. Marry me. We have the rings. We have the papers.” I look into her eyes when I ask. “Marry me. Be with me.” The last words are like a whispered prayer.

She doesn’t say anything for what feels like an eternity, but then she nods. “Okay.” And she kisses me again, this time soft and slow. She climbs back into her own seat, and I fish the rings out of my other pocket. Taking her hand, I slip the engagement ring on her finger followed by the wedding ring. Just like in the store, I feel a telling sense of something bigger. The rings fit perfectly this time.

Her small hand slips the ring on my finger, and neither of us speaks as we sign the marriage license. Monica takes a shuddering breath. “It’s official.”

“It is.” I haul her toward me back over the center console to take her mouth. Now that she’s mine—really mine— I don’t want to wait. “And we need to get back to the hotel.”

She laughs against my lips. “Why?”

“Because I want to fuck my wife,” I say, voice rough. “And I want the first time I do it to be in a bed.”