“I have a feeling it will most definitely be for the better, sweetheart.” I reach for her, tugging her toward me by her waist.
“Well, that’s a good thing, because after your little speech back there, I don’t think Patty will be welcoming me back to our shared room tonight.” She shrugs but doesn’t look upset about it. “And to be honest, I don’t feel much like sleeping on that lumpy sofa bed for another night.”
My opinion of her stepsister takes another dive with that comment.
“That way in the morning we can figure out what to do about…” She waves her hand between us.
“Our marriage?”
“Yes. That.” She shakes her head, but she no longer looks as upset about the fact that she accidentally married me. “In the morning, we’ll get the annulment, share the prize money, and go our separate ways. Deal.”
I don’t like those terms at all.
I barely know her, but I already know I’m not going to want to watch her go.
I pretend to think about it for a second, as if there’s an actual choice.
There’s not. An annulment is the right thing to do. Hell, it’s theonlything to do.
“Okay,” I agree. “But that means that at least for tonight, we’re husband and wife.” I pull her closer and breathe in her sweet scent as I press my forehead to hers.
“We are.”
The urge to throw her over my shoulder and march her straight up to our marital bed is killing me. But I have to keep myself in check. Maisey’s different. I want different. I wanther.
“Okay,” I tell her. “Let’s go enjoy our honeymoon suite.” I’m still trying my damnedest to be a gentleman, because she’s different from any other woman I’ve ever taken back to a hotel room. Ever. “But there’s no pressure, Maisey. I don’t expect anything to happen. I mean, not if you?—”
She stops me with a finger to my lips. “Cowboy?”
I nod.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Abso-fuckin-lutely.” I capture her sweet face in my hands again and attack her with my tongue, until she’s melting in my hands.
She’s so responsive, giving just as much as she takes. Her hands slip to my ass, where they squeeze—hard—before giving me a slap. “Damn, you have an ass of steel.”
“Wait until you see what else feels like steel.”
She laughs, and I’m completely undone. “Why don’t we go check out our prize?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” She flutters her eyelashes in a way that’s beyond cute because I can tell it’s not something she does regularly. “And if you do other things with that tongue even half as well as you kiss, I think it just might be a fun wedding night.”
I take her hand in mine again and start leading her toward the elevator bank. I have my own room at this hotel because of my win, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to trade it for the honeymoon suite with Maisey. No matter how fucking fancy it is.
“I assure you, little filly,” I wink as I use the nickname I’m coming to like more and more. “Kissing is nowhere near the top of the list of the things I do well with my tongue.”
Chapter Five
Maisey
The room is insane.
It’s about ten times bigger than the tiny basement suite I’m about to be evicted from, and only about a thousand times nicer.
I walk in with my arms outstretched like Orphan Annie the first time she sees Daddy Warbucks’ mansion. I stop myself just short of sayingleapin’ lizards.But I do spin around with my arms outstretched.
“This place is incredible.”
