My cheeks pinken. How could they not? I’m hungover and in bed with my brother’s best friend from high school. “Yeah,” I nervously chew my bottom lip and pull the sheet tighter against my body. I realize then that I am not, in fact, naked—just nearly. I’m stripped down to a lace bra and panties. “Do you remember what we…” I blush again.
Jesus.
“No, all I remember is our phone call the day before yesterday. When I found out you were here by yourself?—”
“You flew out to surprise me,” I say, finishing his sentence.
He nods with a sheepish smile. Hollis Beck has always been good-looking. When he moved to Malibu, every girl in school wanted to date him. Now, he’s just stupid hot. His auburn-brown curls are longer than I remember and contrast perfectly with his soft green eyes.
“I do remember that.”
Now that he mentioned it, that part of my birthday is returning. He called me and said he had something delivered to the hotel for my birthday, and I needed to go down to the lobby to collect it. I expected to find flowers or a box of chocolates. Instead, I see Hollis standing in the lobby with a small suitcase and a huge grin. I couldn’t believe he had dropped everything to fly all the way from Nashville to be with me on my birthday. “But everything after we left the hotel is sort of blurry. I remember walking around Vegas and maybe having drinks at a bar?”
His lips part in a silent gasp, and I see his eyes go alarmingly wide. Does he remember something? Is there a spider? I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. He just stares intensely at my…boobs? No, those are hidden under the sheet.
I look down and realize I’m still clutching the sheet with my?—
Now, it’s my turn to gasp.
Because resting on my hand is a slim gold band.
“Oh, no, no, no,” I start chanting like it will somehow do something. Like the foreign piece of jewelry on my finger will vanish if I simply will it away with enough words.
My eyes dart across the bed in hopes that I’m just jumping to conclusions. Maybe I just bought myself a present?
But Hollis is already holding out his left hand, staring at the matching gold band on his own ring finger.
“What the fuck did we do?”
“I think we got married.”
Chapter One
PRESLEY
JUNE—TWO MONTHS EARLIER…
He’s late. Again.
It’s fifteen after. His shift started at seven sharp, and this is the second time this week he’s been late.
I can practically hear my older brother judging me, saying something like, “This is why you shouldn’t date coworkers, Presley.”
Unfortunately, Cash might be right on this one. To make matters worse, Jace isn’t even my coworker.
He’s my employee.
I’ve been working at Creeds, my family’s bar, ever since I turned eighteen. About a year ago, after trying to prove myself for over a decade, my dad finally decided to hand over the reins.
One of my first decisions as boss was hiring my new boyfriend, Jace.
Yeah, I know. It was a bad idea, but he needed a job. At first, he was the model employee. He was eager to learn, always willing to help, and the customers loved him.
But that was then.
I don’t know why I check my watch again. It’s still fifteen minutes past seven, and normally I wouldn’t be this annoyed. It’s a Wednesday, and Creeds isn’t usually too busy this time of the week. But without him here, I’m the only one here to man the bar, so naturally, we’re slammed.
I swear, every Manic Fanatic in the state walked through our doors in the last hour, and we’re now packed with people, all wanting to catch a glimpse of the place where Zander Tate, lead guitarist for Manic at Midnight, started out.
