I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what I was going to do next, so I headed for the place where I felt the most comfortable. The lounge was empty, only lit by the glow of the tiny lamps on the tables.
I climbed the short steps up to the stage and sat down on the bench at the shiny black grand piano. My fingers tinkled with the keys, and I hummed a melody that had been floating around in my mind ever since I met Knox. I just couldn’t seem to get the stupid man out of my thoughts. Annoyed, I punched my fingers down onto the keys, the clash of the notes making me feel a tad better.
“I don’t know much about music, or the blues, but that seems a little harsh for music that should be soulful.”
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, my head whipped to the side to spot the visitor. A tall redheaded beauty was seated at a table a few rows back.
“It’s definitely not something I’d play for an audience,” I replied with a shrug. “But sometimes I need to get my frustration out, and this is a better option than kicking someone’s ass.”
The woman snickered, then her expression turned thoughtful.
“You’re even more beautiful than Amanda described,” she announced.
“Uh...thank you?” I was digging around in my brain trying to figure out if I knew this woman. Considering she’d mentioned Amanda, I figured she probably worked at the Lennox. But still, the situation was definitely weird.
“Amanda spilled the beans about your marriage.” My brow rose in surprise. The woman shrugged, and her lips curved in amusement. “I'm not crazy, I promise. Just really nosy.” I laughed, liking her more by the instant.
“I was pretty shocked to hear someone had tied down the biggest cynic I know, and I just had to meet her.”
“Yeah…” Things hadn’t exactly worked out so well for me in that situation, so I wasn’t sure how to respond. Instead, I trailed off as I bent over to pick up my purse. Then I stood and made my way down to approach the lone table with an occupant.
“I presume it’s his ass you’re considering kicking?” She cocked her head to the side with a knowing gaze. “I know him pretty well and often contemplate shoving my foot up his ass.”
I couldn’t help laughing and appreciated her humor when I was so angry and sad at the same time.
Opening up to a stranger wasn’t something I would normally do, but for some reason, I felt comfortable with her. “It was a giant mistake, and since I’ve never gotten drunk and married in Vegas before, I’m not sure what to do next.”
An odd smile curved her lips. It looked almost diabolical, but I figured I was just reading her wrong.
“Why don’t you visit my sister’s husband? He specializes in annulments, and his office is attached to the hotel.”
I perked up at her suggestion, but relief and dread both filled me at the same time.
“I’m Ariel, by the way,” the redhead said as she set her purse on the table and dug through it. “A-ha!” She pulled out a card and handed it to me.
“Addilyn,” I introduced myself, even though she clearly knew who I was. “And, thanks.” I glanced down to see that it was a business card for Will Scott, divorce attorney. My hand trembled as I stared at it. Then I swallowed hard and squared my shoulders. Why was I being such a baby about this? Obviously, this was the best solution.
“You’re welcome,” Ariel answered. I glanced up to see her giving me another mysterious smile. “And, good luck.” Then she stood, and her smile turned genuine and bright. “I’m happy to have met you Addilyn...Cole. I’m sure we’ll become great friends.”
Her smile was infectious, and I returned it with a nod. “I think so, too.”
I watched her walk away and disappear through the doors into the lobby before spinning around and jogging over to a side exit.
I spent the day hunting for an apartment to rent while I looked for a new house. By the time night fell, I was exhausted and ready to admit that I was being foolish. I’d avoided making an appointment with the attorney, using every excuse I could come up with.
I was also being a big chicken and didn’t want to run into Knox before I’d taken care of the mess I’d gotten myself into. So, at my show that night, I didn’t allow myself to search the audience for my “husband,” but I’d felt his eyes on me the whole time. When I finished, I ran out the backstage exit before anyone could stop me. Then I checked into another hotel for the night and called Will Scott’s office.
His assistant promised to slide me into the attorney’s full schedule at one o’clock. I thanked him and hung up, then fell into bed and hoped I’d sleep until noon.
The next morning, I woke up feeling just as shell-shocked at my predicament and even more determined to get it over with.
I showed up for my appointment at exactly one o’clock. The young man behind the desk, Chad, asked me to wait and headed down a hallway in the back. A few minutes later, he stomped back to the front, his face flushed and muttering.
He forced a smile and told me to go on back. As I walked down the hall, I passed a tall, gorgeous blonde who smiled brightly and said hello. She looked familiar, but I didn’t have time to ponder it as I entered the attorney’s office.
A man was sitting behind a large wood desk and straightening his tie. His hair was mussed, and his eyes seemed to linger behind me for a moment before focusing on me. I had a feeling I’d interrupted something between him and the blonde.
He smiled, and I felt some of the tension inside me ease away. “How can I help you, Miss…?” He left the question hanging and gestured toward one of the leather captain’s chairs in front of his desk.
I stiffly walked over and dropped down onto a seat before answering.
“Addilyn Cole—”
“Dawson. Addilyn Dawson.”
I almost jumped out of my chair at the sound of Knox’s deep, sexy...angry voice.
7
Knox
Thirty motherfucking hours.
I’d gone through the longest day and a half of my life, and my temper was at an all-time high. My nostrils flared, and my jaw clenched as I thought about each and every minute since I’d seen my wife.
When I woke up at seven o’clock yesterday morning and reached out to find cold sheets next to me, I assumed that Addilyn hadn’t gone far. But a quick search of my suite had confirmed that I wasn’t going to be able to celebrate our marriage by sinking my cock into her first thing in the morning now that she was sober. At least not until I hunted her ass down.
I didn’t expect to be delayed from my goal for long. I figured she couldn’t have gone far, and I’d be able to find her quickly. The fucking joke was on me.
When I pulled up the security feeds on my laptop in my room, I realized she’d gotten on the elevator only thirty minutes before I woke up. Cursing and pulling on a pair of jeans, I watched as she got off on the tenth floor. Then I shoved my feet into a pair of gym shoes as I tracked her to the room Drew had apparently given her and made a note of the number. Racing toward the elevator, I went down to her room where I pounded on the door several times. When there was no answer, I used my all-access card to go in and found the room empty. I felt like a dipshit for not checking the video to make sure she was still there. I hadn’t brought my laptop with me, so I headed down to my office to pull everything up on multiple screens. It didn’t take long for me to discover that she’d left her room ten minutes after entering, headed down to Smoke and Rhythm, and then disappeared into thin air after using a side exit. Fuck.
When I spotted Ariel talking to my bride and giving her a business card, I hoped she’d be able to help me find Addilyn...until she quirked a brow at me, folded her arms over her chest, and told me the card had been one of Will’s. Hearing that my wife wanted to talk to a divorce attorney had me seeing red. Knowing my own sister had recommended my brother-in-law to her only pissed me off even more. I’d stormed off in a rage, but at least she’d given me enough information to eventually discover exactly where my wayward wife was going to be tomorrow. I just needed
to find out the time.
I spent the day searching for her anyway and wasn’t able to track her down. Which only managed to further piss me off and had my hand itching to swat her sexy little ass. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing she had a show that night and I could catch up with her there.
However, she managed to evade me once more by slipping out the exit behind the stage rather than the one on the side that led to her dressing room. Which was where I’d foolishly been waiting.
The next day, I watched from just around the corner as she walked into Will’s office. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, I stalked inside after her. I passed Aurora in the hallway and growled at the wide-eyed, innocent look she shot my way. I wasn’t buying it. Not when my wife was meeting her husband to discuss ending our marriage, and Ariel was the one who’d suggested him to her. Then I heard Addilyn introduce herself to Will using her maiden name, and I forgot about anything but getting to her and stopping this bullshit. After storming into the office and glaring at Will, I corrected Addilyn’s mistake.
“I need an annulment,” she announced without bothering to glance in my direction.
“Over my dead body, baby,” I growled.
“Damn, how the tables have turned…” Will drawled.
I wanted to wipe the grin off his face with my fist, but I focused on my wife. “Shut the fuck up, Will,” I snarled before stomping over to Addilyn and scooping her up into my arms. “We won’t be needing your services.”
I marched out of the room with my wife wiggling and squirming in my hold. I briefly considered putting her down when she tried to punch me in the shoulder and only ended up hurting herself, but then I spotted Ariel and Aurora in the waiting room and thought better of it. Especially when Ariel smirked at me as Addilyn cried, “Put me down, you big brute!”
Aurora still looked shocked as she rushed past me, presumably to check on her husband and make sure I hadn’t done him any bodily harm. A growl rumbled up my chest when I heard her laughter ring out. “This isn’t fucking funny.”
“Maybe not to you”—Ariel rolled her eyes and shook her head as she moved to open the front door for me—“but you can’t be surprised that we’d find it freaking hilarious after all the crap you’ve pulled on us throughout the years. Not when you give us so much to work with by losing the one woman you most want to keep track of, my dear security chief brother.”
I loved my sister more than anything, but if I didn’t literally have my arms full of a squirming wife right then, I would have had a difficult time stopping myself from wringing her neck. “I don’t want to hear it, Ariel.”
“Neither did any of us when we were the ones falling in love. You can’t seriously think we’re going to take it easy on you now that the shoe’s on the other foot—”
“Hah! Falling in love,” Addilyn snorted. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
I stopped walking to stare down at the gorgeous woman in my arms. “What the fuck does that mean?”
She huffed and gave me a cute little glare. “It means I wouldn’t be here right now, trying to fix our gigantic mistake, if we were falling in love with each other.”
Every muscle in my body locked. I refused to believe what she was implying, not with how excited she’d been when we got married. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if it turned out that I’d read the situation completely wrong and it’d been the alcohol talking the whole night. Then I shook that thought away. No. No fucking way had I been wrong about what was between us. “Don’t even try telling me you’re not falling for me, Addilyn.”
“My feelings weren’t the problem,” she whispered. Her gaze dropped to my chest, but not before I saw the pain in her pretty brown eyes. I wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong to put it there, but I’d do whatever it took to wipe it away once I got her alone.
Luckily, my sister came to the same realization. “That sounds like my cue to give you two some privacy so my bonehead of a brother can fix this.” She gave me a pointed look that said I’d better figure it out or else before flashing Addilyn an encouraging smile. “I’m sorry. If I’d realized you doubted his feelings for you, I would’ve dragged his butt downstairs so he could explain why he got you to marry him the same night you met instead of suggesting you talk to Will.”
“You? Why? What?” Addilyn dropped the hand she’d been cupping against her chest and tilted her head back to look up at me with wide eyes when Ariel walked away without any further explanation.
“Give me fifteen minutes and you’ll understand.” It was more of a demand than a request, and I factored in the time it would take me to get her back to my suite. Without giving her the chance to argue, I stalked toward the closest side entrance to the Lennox. My entire focus was on getting her alone, and my determination must have been obvious to everyone who saw us because they all scattered when they saw us coming. I still had five minutes left when the door of my suite slammed shut behind me and I set Addilyn down on the couch.
“I don’t understand why you brought me back here,” she grumbled, wrapping her arms around her stomach in a protective gesture.
I hated that she felt the need to guard herself against me. Dropping on the cushion next to her, I slid my arm over her shoulders and pulled her into my side. “Because you never should’ve been anywhere else. If you hadn’t run off, we would’ve spent the past day and a half here, together, celebrating our marriage.”
She jerked away and glared up at me. “Oh, please! You couldn’t get away from me fast enough the other night. It was quite obvious you regretted us getting married as soon as we got back here.”
“What the fuck?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t regret a damn thing about that night except for not cuffing you to my bed so you couldn’t run off while I slept! I even hacked into Will’s calendar to find out when you’d be at his office. Would I have done that if I wanted out of our marriage? Pulled in favors from a buddy at the police force to access traffic cams because I wasn’t sure I could last until this afternoon without seeing you? Or spent thirty fucking hours running all over the fucking place trying to track you down?”
“I’m not sure why you did any of that.” She squeezed her eyes shut and heaved a deep sigh. “Look. I get it. The champagne goggles came off when I dropped my wedding gown to the floor, and you realized you weren’t as attracted to me as you’d originally thought. These things happen, I guess.”
My head reared back in shock. I couldn’t wrap my brain around what she was accusing me of. Yanking her onto my lap, I ground my hard on against the heat between her thighs while pressing her hand against my heart as it pounded in my chest. “Does this feel like I don’t want you with every fiber of my being?”
8
Addilyn
I was thoroughly confused. And completely turned on. Which was making rational thought pretty difficult.
I’d felt Knox against me before, but to have his hard and, obviously, very large erection trapped between my legs was a whole new kind of panty-drenching sensation. Involuntarily, my body rocked against him just the tiniest bit, and I sucked in a breath at the shot of pleasure that exploded in my pussy.
The rapid beating of his heart matched the pace of mine, and I started to wonder if I’d truly misread the whole situation. His body certainly seemed to be reacting as though he wanted me. I wiggled again, just to test my theory. Knox dropped his head onto the back of the couch and groaned, his hands clenching on my hips to hold me still.
After a beat and a deep inhale, he raised his head and locked our gazes. “Are you convinced that I want you? That I can barely hold back when I’m near your incredibly sexy body?” he rasped.
I cocked my head to the side, studying him and seeing only sincere desire in his beautiful blue eyes. “I do…” And I did, which only added to my confusion. “So why did you push me away on our wedding night?”
Knox’s grip loosened, and his hands traveled up, making my breath catch when they skated along the sides of my
breasts. He kept going until he was cupping my face, and he leaned in to place a searing kiss on my mouth. When he pulled back, I made a little mewl of protest and chased his lips, but his hold on my face prevented me from getting what I wanted. I pouted, and Knox laughed before giving me another quick peck.
“Listen very carefully, Addilyn Dawson. I knew the moment I saw you up on that stage that you were meant to be mine. And I’ll admit, I took advantage of the situation and used your tipsy state to make sure you couldn’t get away from me.”
I opened my mouth to point out that I had, in fact, managed to give him the slip, but the deadly look in his narrowed eyes had my jaw snapping shut really fast.
“Don’t think we won’t be talking about your little disappearing act, baby. I still haven’t decided whether I should put you over my knee and spank your pretty little ass.” I gasped, but he kept talking. “Anyway, I may have let you marry me when you were drunk, but I wasn’t about to take your cherry without making sure you were giving it to me when you were sober and one hundred percent aware of what you were doing.” He suddenly released my face and placed his hands back on my hips, pulling me down as he ground his thick shaft between my legs. “However,” he gritted out through a clenched jaw. “The other reason is simply that I’m a selfish bastard, and when I take you, you will know without a doubt who you are with and who you belong to.”
Okay, so that speech was pretty damn hot. And also, really sweet. My arms had been hanging at my sides but between his words and the way he was making my body come alive, my head started to spin, so I quickly grabbed his shoulders to steady myself. “If I’d stuck around the next morning”—I swallowed hard and licked my dry lips—“how would that have gone?”
A growl rumbled in Knox’s chest, and he stood so fast I had to cling to him for fear of falling. Not that he would have let me. His hands were firmly under my ass, holding me close to him as he stalked toward the bedroom.
Vegas, Baby: Volume 2 Page 18