Chase retrieved the keycard from the dresser and ran it over the door's locking mechanism.The light turned red.He tried again.The light blinked red.“I guess, it is.”
She snatched the key from him and marched down the hallway, muttering, “I’m not married.I didn’t come to Cabo to get married.This is not happening.It’s all one horrible, horrible nightmare.Gina!”
The woman was spitting fire, and Chase found it strangely charming.The marriage certificate still in his hand, he followed, telling himself he wasn’t interested, but needed to resolve this little matter of their marriage.“This appears to be a legally binding document.We can’t just tear it up,” he called out after her.
As much as Chase abhorred the institution of marriage, he kind of liked torturing Alana with the idea she might be legally bound to him in holy matrimony.This thought gave him an inordinate amount of pleasure.He followed her to room 336.“We can’t just tear up this certificate.It’s stamped, and a copy is probably stored in some archive somewhere.”
“We sure as hell can,” she called over her shoulder.“What happens in these kinds of places stays in these places.That certificate won’t hold up in the US courts.I’m a US citizen, subject to the US court system.I’m not married.”She waved her keycard over the door lock, and the light turned green.Alana pushed into the suite.“Gina!”Without waiting for a response, she charged across the room like a bull toward a matador’s red cape and flung open a door.“Gina!What the hell happened last night?”
A startled squeal sounded from the bed.“Geez, woman.Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”
Chapter2
Alana didn’t givea rat’s ass about protocol.This was an emergency.But then she blinked.
Gina lay in bed in the arms of yet another stranger.
The man was broad-shouldered, had tattoos on his biceps, shaggy blond hair and a week-old beard that looked devilishly good on him.
Not that Alana cared.“You were supposed to have my back last night.What happened?”
Gina grinned and pointed to a spot over Alana’s right shoulder.“Him.”
Alana turned to find Chase standing at the threshold of the bedroom door, a frown pulling his eyebrows together over his nose and still not wearing anything but boxer briefs.Then his frown cleared, and he waved a hand in the direction of the bed.“Hey, long time no see.”
Alana stared from Chase to Gina and back.“Gina, you know this man?”
Gina shook her head.“Nope, but I wouldn’t mind getting to know him.”
The man lying in the bed beside her tweaked the tip of her nipple through the sheet.“Sweetheart, you better not know him.I’m not much into sharing my women.”
“Carson, I thought you were in Mexico, but I wasn’t sure where.”Chase grinned.“What’s it been?Three months since your separation from the military?”
“Make that four, but it feels like a lifetime.”The man in the bed sat up, taking the sheet with him.
Gina squealed and grabbed for the sheet to cover her naked form.
“How’s it going, Flannigan?”The man in the bed flung the sheet aside and stood in all his butt-naked glory.He stuck out his hand to Alana.“Carson Walsh.”
When she pulled back, Chase grinned, shook the man’s hand, and then pulled him into a bear hug.“Glad to know you’re still alive and kicking.”He pounded Gina’s bedpartner on the back.
“It’s good to see you, man,” Carson said.“You’re a sight for sore eyes.How are things with our old Navy SEAL team?”
“I don’t know,” Chase said.“I’m out on terminal leave.”
Alana shook her head.“There’s nothing unusual about two naked or nearly naked strangers standing in my hotel suite, hugging and patting each other’s backs like long lost friends.“I don’t believe this.I don’t freakin’ believe this.”She held up her left hand to Gina and pointed at her ring finger.“Did you know about this?”
Gina blinked, and her eyes widened.“What the hell?”
“Exactly what I said.”Alana paced the short length of the room in her bare feet and red dress.“Married.”She jerked her head toward Chase.“Show her the evidence.”
He held up the marriage certificate.“Signed and sealed.”He frowned.“And neither one of us remembers any of last night.”
“Nothing?”Gina asked.“Not even dancing in the bar downstairs?”
“Nothing,” Alana said.“Zero, nada.”She moaned as a stabbing pain split her head in two.She pressed her palms to her temples.“I have one hell of a hangover to prove it.”
“Oh, honey,” Gina said.“This is too rich.”A chuckle sounded from deep in her throat.Then it turned into laughter, and soon, she was slapping her hand on the mattress, her eyes streaming with tears of mirth.“Oh my God, this is too funny.”
