Page 15 of Wife By Accident

Leo could think of much worse people to be married to than Olivia, apart from the fact that he barely knew her. The real problem was that he didn’t want to be married at all. He never had. Work was his priority and always would be. But with any luck, the marriage would turn out to be as fake as the pyramid in downtown Vegas, and they’d go their separate ways in just a few minutes, sans handcuffs. Even if the marriage were real, there would be no need to panic. This kind of thing could be solved through a little bit of paperwork and problem solving, as most things could.

At least, he was trying to be that rational.

“Found anything?” Olivia asked.

“Not yet. Should we try the bathroom?”

“Yeah.”

They hurried into the bathroom and tore it apart, then Olivia’s suitcase, then the bed and side tables. Pretty soon, the room looked like it had been trashed by a rock band, but they hadn’t found a key or anything like it.

“Maybe the handcuffs will break if we just pull on them,” Olivia suggested.

“We can try. One, two, three — pull!”

They jerked on the handcuffs, but nothing. For their flimsy appearance, they were surprisingly strong. All Leo got was a pain up into his shoulder for their troubles.

“Maybe we can break the chain,” he reasoned. “There’s a letter opener on the desk.”

“So, what — we stab it?” Olivia bit her lip. “I’m not sure. Maybe I can try to pick the lock with a hairpin.”

“Do you know how to do that?” Leo asked, impressed.

Olivia looked down, her cheeks tinging pink. “Um… no. But we could try.”

They went into the bathroom and found a hairpin. Olivia poked experimentally around the lock, but nothing seemed to happen. Then Leo had a try, though he was no more successful. He had no idea what he was doing.

“I’m ready to try the letter opener,” Olivia said.

“Me too.”

They returned to the desk, walking in careful unison. Leo grabbed the letter opener, and they headed out onto the balcony, where Olivia positioned the chain of the handcuffs on the metal railing.

“Ready?” Leo asked. She nodded, so he stabbed the chain. Nothing happened except a loud sound as the letter opener pinged off the railing and almost flew out of his hand.

“I’m starting to have a bad feeling about this,” Olivia said.

“Starting?” Leo managed a smile. “I had a bad feeling the moment the handcuffs didn’t break when we first pulled on them.”

“What were we thinking?” Olivia asked. She looked mournfully down at the leopard-print cuffs. “And why didn’t we keep the key?”

“Maybe someone else put them on us,” Leo suggested.

“That’s much creepier.” Olivia sighed. “And we’re wasting time. We need to figure out what’s going on with the marriage license, and I need to get to the airport. I don’t have time to try to break handcuffs.”

“What do you suggest?” Leo asked.

“Oh!” Olivia straightened from her previously slumped position. “We could put lotion on our wrists and see if the cuffs will slide off.”

They hobbled back to the bathroom and poured a full container of the hotel’s mini lotion onto Olivia’s wrist (since her hand was smaller). Then she pulled and wiggled while Leo leaned against the counter, rubbing his temples. His headache was getting worse with every passing minute of wakefulness. Nothing.

“This isn’t working,” Olivia said.

“I hate to suggest it, but maybe it’s time to ask for help.”

“From whom?”

“The hotel must have a handyman,” Leo said. Olivia’s green eyes widened, and she shook her head.