by Lauren Wood
Now, it was about 15 minutes before I had to leave for the airport and I couldn't find the right tie. I had tried on several and none of them seem to be right. Nothing seems to be right and finally I just sat down on the bench in the closet and looked around.
“I am not trying to be an ass. Sir. I am just trying to understand what is going on. I never knew you had a bride.”
“We got married years ago and she was the only girl that was gone before I woke up. Kind of ironic isn't it? The one girl that didn’t stay is the one that I can't get off of my mind. I wonder if she would have stayed and we would've had that morning conversation, if everything would have changed. Now, I will find out.”
“Do you think that is wise?”
I certainly didn't think it was a good idea, but before I walked away from Candy for good, I had to know why I thought about her all the time. If I see her in the morning light, I was sure that everything would change. It always did.
“I think that this is what I have to do.”
“And what if you still feel the same way in the morning?”
It was a question that I hadn't even asked myself because I didn't believe it was possible. I had been with a lot of women before and after Candy and none of them made it through the morning. I don't think they can do it as well, but for some reason I was still trembling a little inside. While she may have been a mystery to me at the moment, she impressed me enough that I somehow dragged her to a little chapel to marry her. That certainly never happened before, and I've always lived in Las Vegas, surrounded by tiny little chapels. Never once had I felt the need before.
“So, what is your plan?”
I shrugged my shoulders because I really wasn’t sure. I had heard her voice on the phone and knew that I wanted to talk to her and I wanted to see her, so it just came to mind. I had no real plan in place at all.
“I am going to do what I do every night Ralph. This time is just going to be with my wife.”
He laughed at my words and they sounded funny to me as well. I never thought I would say something like that out loud. I was definitely in uncharted territory and I wasn't sure how is all going to work out. But, Candy was on her way and I was just going to have to see how it all worked out.
The driver was out front waiting for me and I told him to go to the airport.
“Why are we going Sir?”
“We are going to pick somebody up. I do not have a trip scheduled for a while.”
He shook his head and agreed. He had my latest schedule, so he would know better than I would where I was going and when.
“Who are we picking up?”
I was starting to think that I was a bit too candid with the help. Either that, or everyone was just in my business today. I usually didn't mind because it didn’t matter, but things were somehow different with Candy.
“We are picking up my wife Ernest. So, let's make sure that were not late. Have to make a call now.”
I raised the screen that separated us and pulled out my phone. If nothing else, I was satisfied with a look on his face of shock. It was much like Ralph had acted, and it made me wonder how hard it would be for them to believe that I was married. I certainly didn't act married, but that was because my bride took off before we could get to that part. That was certainly not something that I was going to admit to out loud.
I checked a couple messages and sent out a few emails while we drove to the airport. I needed to keep myself busy so that I wasn't thinking about what was going to happen next. Not that worry was going to help anything, and I wanted to keep it cool and collected when I was around Candy. When I had talked to her on the phone, she had sounded like a no-nonsense sort of woman and I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. I didn’t remember that about her, but it had been years since we spent that night together.
When we pulled up in front of the airport, I looked up at the building and wondered how all of this was going to turn out. There was also the question of if I would even recognize her. It had been quite a long time after all, but I knew deep down that she hadn't changed at all. She was just going to be as smoking hot as she was before.
“Do you want me to go in and get her?”
It was something that Ernest did on occasion, but today was not going to be that day. I wanted to be the first want to see her and I didn't want anyone that I know around, when I met her for the first time. I think that the reaction that we were going to make should be little more private, surrounded by strangers that we would never have to see again.
I took a minute to collect myself before I got out of the car. I kept telling myself that there was no need to worry, because whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. It was easier said than done though.
At the moment, my mind was ticking with ideas and finally I started walking towards the airport, not looking back. I had already shown too much to Ernest and I wished that I had been better able to control my emotions and my reaction. This was the very reason that I had to go alone and do this.
The airport was crowded of course, and I didn't see her right away. I didn't know what she was wearing and even though I knew what terminal she had come out of, there were still a lot of people loitering around for the next flight that made it impossible to find any one. I knew that the only way I was going to be able to decipher her from the rest of the people was to look for her hair. Candy had the brightest, natural red hair that I had ever seen, and it wasn't a color that was going to change. It also wasn’t a color that anyone else would have.
I was almost ready to give up and call her, when I saw flash of red in the corner of my eye. She was a little distance away from me and she didn't know I was standing there. It was the first time that I wondered how much I had changed. I was so worried about her changes, that I didn't think about my own.
She was as tall as I remembered and there was a grace in her step that I knew well. I didn’t have to be close to know that it was her. Somehow, I had known that she wasn’t going to change. The woman was a force of nature and I didn’t think that anyone would be able to change her. She was just as beautiful as before and I was sure that all of this was supposed to happen.
When she turned around and looked my way, I could tell that she still couldn’t see me. She walked right past me and I wondered again if I had changed. Here I was worried about her, but she walked right past me.
I said her name out loud as she was passing, and her head whipped around. She saw me now.
“There you are Colt.”
The smile on her face was rather tight and I could tell that she wasn’t all that enthused to see me. I suppose not, but I was ready to see her. I pulled her in for an embrace and though she was stiff in my arms, I knew that I was going to loosen her up over the weekend. People that had sex like us didn’t forget about it. I was hoping that she would be on the same page, but then she pulled away.
“Let’s get this over with.”
I didn’t like the sound of that at all. I didn’t want to get over her. That’s why she was here and why I was going to try and make it work. I was sure that I could. I just needed a couple of days and I’d bought myself that.
Chapter 6
Candy
While I didn't want to admit it and I couldn't believe I was here, I had to say that I had rather good taste. Colt was exactly what I would want in a husband. He was gorgeous, and he had this smirk on his face that said he was up to no good. Whether I wanted to be mad at him or not, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at him. I felt like I had known him my whole life and I wondered if it was because of who he was at the moment.
“Why would you want to get this over with? Don't you want to spend time with your husband?”
I sighed out loud and thanked him when he took my bags. It had been a long flight and since it was one that I didn't know I was taking, I had packed too much because I was just throwing things in the bag. I was starting to doubt if I even had a full outfit with me. My mind just went somewhere else when I was in fron
t of Colt. I had to think that it was going to happen a lot more while I was here.
He was tall and that was one of the first things that I noticed about him. I liked the fact that even though I was six inches taller than average, he was still standing over me by quite a bit. I had to look up to see his dark green eyes sparkling back at me. There was a certain amount of mischief in his gaze and I wondered what that meant for this weekend and how it was all going to play out.
“Come on, let's just go. I just want to get this over with and get back to my life. I don't know what you think you're going to get out of this, but I can almost guarantee you that it's not what you think.”
“Oh, come now Candy, I just missed you and it's good to see you. I don't have any plans or anything up my sleeve. But I do take divorce seriously, and I want to make sure that we both want this before we signed the paperwork. That isn't so much to ask, is it?”
In truth, I thought that it was too much to ask. The very fact that I was stuck here in Las Vegas, instead of at home where I should be, was enough of a reason for me to think that. He was holding me hostage because of what I wanted. I wasn't going to forget that anytime soon.
He took the last bag out of my hands and we started to walk towards the exit. I’d thought earlier that he was going to lean in kiss, maybe even give me a hug, but then he had stopped. I don't know why he did, but I had a feeling that I was a little upset about it. I don’t know why. I shouldn’t want him to kiss me. I wasn’t supposed to think of him that way, but I was a little saddened that he didn’t, right or wrong.
We got outside and stopped in front of a very nice car. I could see that there was somebody in the driver seat and I asked him who it was.
“That's my driver.”
“Oh.”
I can't say that I knew that many people that had a driver. It certainly wasn't a thing in California and I wondered if it was here in Las Vegas. Was the man just trying to impress me or did he seriously have a driver all the time?
I didn't know what to say, but he asked me if there was anywhere that I wanted to stop on the way.
“You know, get a bite to eat or something? The food on those planes are horrible for lack of a better word. I try to never eat when I fly domestic.”
“It was fine. The flight wasn’t that long. We can get started on your grand plan now. You know, the one that is going to get me out of here faster.”
He told me that he understood, but the way he looked, made me almost feel bad about it. It was clear that he was trying to be nice and I was the one being a jerk. I don’t know what he thought he was going to gain from this little set-up, but I knew without a doubt that I wasn’t going to be able to be cold to him like I said I would be. I felt bad about it already and I smiled at him, trying to soften my words.
“I’m not really hungry Colt, but I will be the first to admit that I need a drink. I have a feeling that you do as well. Why don’t we start there?”
My answer had him smiling in about the same way as he was before, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. It was hard to imagine that he had me here for something bad. He didn’t seem that type, but it wouldn’t be the first time I had been so wrong about someone. I had certainly been wrong about it in the past. I wanted to think that Colt was different. I didn’t want to see him as one of the bad guys. I didn’t want to think that I had married one of the bad guys, even if it was a Las Vegas fluke.
We got in the backseat of the car and I was already very aware of how close we were. If I wouldn’t have cared to be rude, I would have asked to sit in the front with the driver. I didn’t like that our knees were touching, and I could feel his heat, emanating off of him and warming me up all the way to my hips. This was not the meeting that I had seen coming. It was so different than anything that I could have imagined before arriving here. I was truly out of my element here at the moment and I was trying to get a grip on myself, which didn’t seem to be that easy to do.
“You look like you are very uncomfortable, Candy. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”
While I was trying to be nice, at the end of the day, there was only one thing that was going to make me feel better. It was the one reason that I was here and if he would just sign the papers, I would feel a lot better.
“I am just trying to do what I came here to do, Colt. It is nothing against you, but you have to understand that I really don't remember you.”
I think he was bothered by that, more than the fact that I was rude to him. It was rather clear to me that he felt something for me. At the same time, I felt like I was supposed to feel something for him as well. It didn't matter that I didn't remember him, there was something about Colt that seemed familiar.
Could I have really bonded with somebody that much, in less than a night? Whatever bond we had that night, it wasn't enough for me to not leave the next morning. I don't remember the night, but I remember waking up next to him and that I didn't know who he was, and I freaked out. I had woken up took off and never looked back. I never thought I would have to look back and I can’t say that I liked it all that much.
“No, I am alright. This is just rather strange for me.”
“I find it hard to believe that you didn't remember me. I don't remember most women after the initial night, but you were different.”
“How was I different?”
He shook his head like he really didn't know, and I felt like it was genuine. Maybe he was as confused as I was, though it looked like he was not confused. It looked like he knew exactly what he wanted, and his looks were making me blush.
“I don’t know what kind of answer you want me to say. I don’t remember that time of my life. It’s nothing against you. I just had a moment. I was at a bachelorette party and I was feeling strange because I had just broken up with my boyfriend. My best friend was getting married. You can understand that I wasn’t in the right state of mind, right?”
“I knew that Candy. I figured that eventually you would come to me. I just didn’t know it would take so long. You’ve been gone a long time.”
There was no talking to him. What did he think was going to happen? Surely, he didn’t really believe that we were married for real. It was just a crazy night, but he was acting like it was something more.
I didn't wake up with a ring and I don't remember signing the marriage papers. If I had, I would have taken care of this a long time ago. I know that you think there was some sort of bond with the girl that you met that night, maybe a really good bond, but it wasn't really me. I really am not that sort of person and I know it's hard to believe, considering how we met, but that girl doesn't exist.
“Oh, I think she does. I just think that you forgot a little bit, but I am here to remind you.”
Chapter 7
Colt
It was going to be harder than I thought to get her to calm down. She was a little more uptight than I remembered, but her explanation made sense. Although, I didn’t agree with her little speech. I wanted the woman that I married, and I knew that she was in there somewhere. While this was all new to her, Candy had been on my mind for quite some time.
We got back to my house, and we didn’t say too much more to each other on the way. We both had a lot on our minds, but I'm sure that we were thinking about completely different things. Her phone kept ringing, but she never answered it. I had a feeling that it was her fiancé, even though it was ridiculous at best. She shouldn’t be planning to get married when she already was.
I made her a vodka on the rocks, because it was what she had drank before and Candy smiled at me.
“No wonder I was loose. I haven't drunk vodka in a very long time. Nothing ever turned out well on the stuff.”
“I don't like the sound of that.”
I wanted her to drink a lot and loosen up. Then we could talk about what had happened that night and what was going to happen in the future. I wasn't ready to give her up just yet. There were still questions that needed to be
answered and she was only one that could do it.
When she asked me for some wine, I knew that it was going to take longer than I thought. She was a lot different than the night that I met her, but it wasn’t in a bad difference. She was a little more controlled and I liked that, but at the same time, the other Candy would have been a lot easier to get back in my bed.
I went to the fridge and found something that I hoped would do the trick. I’d had a lady friend over that wanted some pink, and I asked Candy if that would work.
“Yeah, anything will be better than vodka.”
I asked her why and she said that she had too many bad experiences with vodka. I had to wonder if I was included in one of those experiences. I was starting to get the feeling that I was.
I put her glass and the bottle next to her. I got some whiskey for myself and sat down across from her at the counter. It was strange to think that she really didn't remember me, when I remembered her so well. I remembered where her birth mark was and the way she had moaned out my name. Those are things that I could never forget, and the fact that she had, bit into my ego. How was it so easy for her to forget, when I was finding it impossible?
“So, what am I doing here Colt?”
She kept asking the same thing, but in a different way each time. The truth was that I wasn't sure what she was doing here. Part of me had invited her before I had even really thought about it, and the other side of me wanted to figure out what kind of hold she had on me and why. It wasn't something that I was used to, and I wanted to know why Candy was the woman, the only woman, that I couldn't get out of my mind. There had to be a reason and the only way I was going to get it, was with her here.
“I've said before what you're doing here. I think that we should give this a shot before we just throw in the towel and sign over papers. There had to be a reason that we both said ‘I do’ that night. I have certainly never gotten married before and even if we were drinking a little bit, there had to be a reason.”