"Turns out a lot can happen in twenty-four hours." I shrugged with a wry smile. "I guess we know something about that."
"We're having a party, baby," the mountain of a guy from before boomed and clapped his hands.
Things got busy then, and all the guys were smacking Sloan on the shoulder and congratulating him on the fact that I was real. I slipped off to the fringes, unsure where my place was in this whole thing.
"Married, huh?" Mountain guy strode right up to me, seeing through my attempt at disappearing into the background.
"Yup." I nodded.
"Darius." He held his hand out to me.
It engulfed mine as I shook it. "Maya."
"What'd Sloan have to pay you to agree to be his wife?" Darius asked, clearly joking. "I hope you charged extra since he grew the beard."
"Ha," I said.
While some guys were clearly fast and built for speed, Darius was built more like a tank. You might call him big boned, and you'd be right. But over those bones were a lot of freaking muscles.
"You want something to drink?" Darius asked.
"Um… do you have something with loads of electrolytes?" I asked, since I should avoid any more drinky drinks until drunk me could make better decisions.
Darius nodded and took off through the crowd, pushing through so they parted around him.
"Honest as all hell, I thought this was Finn fucking with us," he said to Sloan as he passed by. "Didn't expect her to be legitimate."
"He has a wife, and she's actually in his house." Another guy found this hysterical.
Sloan didn't seem to find it so funny, but he went along with his friends.
I took the bottle of White Raspberry ZipZing from Darius when he returned—the irony of my beverage choice not lost on me. Darius used his thumb and middle finger to whistle and get everyone's attention. Then he raised his glass. "To Maya being legit."
"To Maya being legit," everyone echoed.
"And to Denver's Most Eligible Bachelor stepping down, so I have a shot at the title!" another guy said with a huge grin. "Let's eat."
That's all it took to clear out the room, the guys all pushing and shoving on their way to the backyard.
"Hi," I said when it was only Sloan and me left alone in the gigantic space.
"Hey," he replied, glancing at my beverage with a raised eyebrow.
"It actually helps," I said. "Probably all the sugar." I dragged out the last word and winked. "How're you feeling?"
"Fine." He grinned. "Except there's too many people in my house. I think I can actively feel myself getting grouchy."
"Let's raise that blood sugar, then." I handed him the partially finished bottle.
He took the bottle, took a swig, pulled a face, then draped his arm around my shoulders.
"This place is gorgeous," I said, staring out the big wall of windows.
"My dad always talked about building a home here, a house where dreams aren't just in the imagination but possibilities waiting on the horizon," he said. "Mom and Dad never got to build here like they wanted. So, I did instead."
"Why?" I asked. "Why didn’t they get to build here?" The view wasn’t the reason, I already knew that.
"They died," he said, matter-of-factly. "Random accident. Nothing could’ve saved them. I don’t like to think too much about what could’ve been. Not when I can’t change the outcome."
