I lifted my head, afraid of what I’d see there. Terrified she’d storm out. From what I could see, no one knew who I’d married yet. We could spin this. So I fell in love with my teammate’s sister in a few weeks. Our families had history together. Either way, a press release saying we were so overcome with joy we couldn’t wait any longer would settle ruffled feathers much more so than a public record of annulment after drunken stupidity.
Hell, maybe I needed to call my brother, Jason. He and Tessa had eloped to Vegas a few years ago for that very reason. And wasn’t it similar? Tessa had a brother who played for the Ice Kings, Jason’s team. The teammate’s little sister.
How fucking ironic.
Granted, they planned their elopement. They didn’t wake up with hazy memories, headaches, and rings on their fingers they couldn’t remember even purchasing. However, the receipt I saw earlier on my nightstand proved I’d done exactly that for the massive diamond Gabby was currently tapping on the countertop.
“What do you expect me to do with this? You’re essentially blackmailing me into staying married to you, Joey. We barely know each other. Garrett’s going to lose his shit. And for what?”
“To not embarrass me or your brother’s team. I’m not trying to blackmail you.” I pushed off the counter, moving closer to her. She was right. Besides having fun with her last night—the parts I could remember—and liking the way she looked in my clothes, we barely knew each other. The more I thought about this, the better it was. Hell, like I wanted to be twenty-six and twice divorced.
Maybe we could actually work this out. Relationships started with less, right? I was attracted to her. I liked talking to her. She was smart. Sassy. Hell… yeah… maybe we could actually do this. But it wasn’t like I could let her know the reason I wanted to stay married was also because I didn’t want to look like a complete loser, unable to stay married.
Lowering my voice, I worked hard not to let the hope thrumming through my blood scare her off. “I’m asking for help, Gabby. That’s all. And maybe I can help you, too?”
She scoffed, rubbing the back of her neck like she couldn’t handle the stress anymore. “How?”
Thank God I was quick on my feet. We could do this. “Last night, with your mom. When she asked you what you planned…” As I spoke, the memory of her mom made her lips thin. I could barely believe the way I’d heard Rachel talking to her daughter. I’d always liked the woman, but man… I’d never heard her be so nearly hard on Garrett, and as soon as she started that line I knew would end with why can’t you be more like your brother, I’d found my hand clenched in a fist.
My brothers and I were competitive, and I knew before I ever strapped on skates I wanted to be just like my dad. All of my brothers did, but never, in any of our history had our parents pitted us against each other like that. And it’d pissed me off.
“My mom,” she said and all the shine in her eyes vanished. “She’s going to kill me. Oh God, she already thinks I’m an idiot, too stupid or too immature.”
Her chin wobbled and like last night and that time in the hospital, I went to her without hesitation.
“Hey.” I cupped her cheeks in my hands, her warmth sliding into my palms. “Don’t cry. Not about this.”
“You don’t understand.” She sniffed and tears sparked in her eyes. “She thinks I’m so irresponsible, living off Garrett and everything and being here and I can’t even tell her why I left Seattle because she loved Kurt. I’m sure she’ll find some way him cheating on me was my fault and it’s so humiliating.”
I had no idea what her rambling meant, but one mention of whoever Kurt was cheating on her and my hands on her cheeks tightened.
“Gabby,” I said her name roughly, regaining her attention before she could spill more than she meant. “Listen. We can do this.”
“Do what?”
It suddenly seemed so easy. All our problems could be fixed…
As long as we stayed married.
“You told your mom you had plans, right? And you knew you couldn’t stay with Garrett and Lizzie.”
“Yeah…” she drawled out. She wasn’t following me.
“Me getting divorced again, or getting an annulment would be bad for me, and your mom would think you’re foolish if we got married because we were drunk and stupid, right?”
“Yeah.” Dark, perfectly done brows tugged in.
We were so close, it finally registered she had no makeup on. There was a faint cluster of freckles across the bridge of her nose, something I’d never seen. Her lashes were long and thick as she blinked slowly and then her tongue darted out, slid along her bottom lip.
She wasn’t beautiful, she was exquisite, and that pink of her tongue had me forcing down a groan.
On their own volition, my thumbs brushed the apple of her cheeks. Color deepened as I wiped away a tear that had fallen and she swallowed thickly. Her skin, soft like silk, was tempting. Made me want to drag my lips over the path of my thumbs, slide my hands to her throat to feel the speed of her pulse.
“I think we stay married,” I rasped out. My throat was growing thick, other parts of me more so as I held her, as she didn’t make an effort to pull away. Instead, her lips parted in wonder. “Let’s sell this to your mom. Lie a little if we have to.”
“A little?” A corner of her lips ticked up and God, how I wanted to taste them.
I shouldn’t have felt this way, but there was something so undeniably sexy about this woman in front of me, bringing her hands to my wrists and curling her soft, warm palms around my skin.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Let’s tell your mom we planned this. We’ve been seeing each other since earlier this spring. Wanted to keep it quiet from Garrett during the playoffs.”
“What?” She blinked. Those long, thick eyelashes of hers fluttered wildly and her hands gripped me more firmly.
But she wasn’t pushing me away, and I’d count it as a win.
At her adorably confused look, I repeated it. “Let’s tell your mom we’ve been seeing each other. Wanted to keep it quiet. We can do this, Gabby. And in a few weeks, once everything settles down, we can reevaluate. But for now, you can move in here, get out of Garrett’s house. And whatever plans you’d started making, whatever you were going to tell your mom you wanted to do, I’ll help you.”
“Help me.”
God, she was adorable when confused. Good thing for me because based on the fire in her eyes earlier I doubted I’d win many arguments with her. I could imagine her, all that fire—all that passion—directed at me and how I’d react.
Equally passionate.
I bit down on my lower lip to stave off another groan and slid my hands down her cheeks until my hands were gripping hers between us. We were so close, and my arms brushed her breasts, eliciting a surprised gasp from her.
Hot damn. Her nipples were hard beneath her shirt and if I wasn’t mistaken, her own breathing had picked up.
It wasn’t great waking up married to a woman I was attracted to without much memory of the night. But… if my wife was attracted to me, wanted me as badly as I was learning I wanted her—was it the worst thing in the world?