Jacked Up (19 page)

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

THE
persistent sound of “Dude Looks Like a Lady” blasting out from her phone forced Eve to pry her eyes open and feel around on the nightstand for her cell. That was Evan’s ringtone. Why the hell was he calling her so early?

Or not so early. As the call disconnected, a one-eyed squint at her screen showed it was almost noon.

Noon?

Eve sat straight up in bed, her breathing kicking into high gear like she’d run a marathon, her heart stuttering a beat before ramping up into overdrive.

Oh, my God.

She was married.

Glancing over at Nolan, who was snoring lightly, the sheet barely covering his nakedness, she tried to remember how to breathe. Her head was pounding and her sinuses felt clogged. Her mouth was dry. It would seem maybe she had been slightly more tipsy the night before than she had realized. Because she was married.

She had married a man she’d been dating for two weeks at midnight in a Vegas chapel.

Who did that? People did that. Impulsive people. Not her people. She didn’t do spontaneous.

But she clearly had last night.

For thirty-three years she’d gone without behaving impulsively and she picked marriage as the thing to break her pattern? The last thing in the world you should do without planning, counseling, serious thought, and extensive time and research.

Oh, Lord.

The phone rang again, causing her to jump, the sheet clutched to her chest.

“You gonna answer that?” Nolan asked, his eyes still closed.

“Um, yeah.” How had he known she was awake? His ability to read her was scary.

The last thing in the world she wanted to do was talk to her brother, but if he had called twice in a row, it must be important. Better to get it over with.

“Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?”

Eve swallowed. She would love to drink anything liquid that wasn’t champagne. It felt like her tongue had been painted with sugar. “My room.”

“Your room? It’s noon. Are you sick or something?”

“No.” She didn’t think she was sick, even though she felt a little ill.

“Hungover? You did drink a lot last night.”

She wasn’t even sure she was hungover. More like in a state of shock. “I just overslept.” Because she’d been up until four o’clock in the morning having sex with her
husband
.

Her husband, whose hand was on her thigh now under the sheet, rubbing, rubbing. Even as her brain panicked, her body purred like a kitten. She could feel arousal spiraling up and out from her inner thighs just from a few simple strokes.

“You overslept?” He snorted. “You mean you were knocking boots with my jackman all night and ignored your alarm this morning. Get your ass down here.”

“I’ll be there in a half an hour.”

Nolan’s finger slid inside her warm core. She tried desperately not to moan.

“Or more like an hour. I have to shower.” Naked. With her husband.

“God knows we don’t want you to skip a shower. Tell Ford just because he wasn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow doesn’t mean I can’t find something for him to do at the test run today.”

Normally she would have put up a fight that Nolan wasn’t with her, but she wasn’t that good of a liar. Not when he was lazily petting her to an orgasm. Not when he was her husband.

And had she mentioned he was her husband?

When she hung up, Nolan kissed her, his skin warm, chin stubbly. “You didn’t tell him we got married.”

“I need coffee first. A shower. Some clothes on. Your finger not inside of me.” And a vatful of courage to tell her brother that she of all people had gotten hitched in Vegas.

Plus an orgasm. She could use one of those.

Nolan bent over her chest and flicked his tongue across her nipple. Eve had a nice, slow, delicious morning orgasm that had her eyes drifting shut.

“Good morning,” he murmured in her ear.

Eve struggled to recover. What was she doing? Wondering why she was married? Well, there you had it. The man had the distinction of being the first in recorded history to get her off five minutes after she had woken up.

“Morning. How are you?” she asked inanely. What did you say to your shotgun groom? She had no idea, and for some reason she just felt embarrassed.

The truth was she had fallen in love with Nolan. Champagne or not, she never would have married him if she hadn’t, and that was just embarrassing. She wasn’t a flaky chick. She didn’t fall in love in less than nine months. That’s how long it took to cook a baby start to finish. That’s at least how long it should take to fall in love.

“You’re thinking, aren’t you?” Nolan asked. He touched the spot between her eyebrows. “This trench is so deep we could bury a gas line in it.”

“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just thinking that I can’t believe we got married last night. What were we thinking?”

“We weren’t thinking, we were feeling. Are you having buyer’s remorse?”

One of his big, warm hands was on her tummy, the other on her shoulder. His rich brown eyes were right in front of her, so close she could see the tiny gold flecks in them. See the love he had for her. His contentment. It was amazing. Beautiful.

Bizarre.

“No,” she answered truthfully. “Not exactly. But I’m not sure it was a wise thing to do.”

“Fuck wise. We can be wise when we’re ninety. Let’s just be happy.”

Which was why he was so good for her. She needed that reminder. She needed to live a different way than she had been.

Could she do this?

She wanted to. But she wasn’t sure.

Her heart was still beating double time. Maybe she’d just have a heart attack and she wouldn’t have to worry about telling anyone. There was a plan.

“Aren’t you worried about telling your family?”

She had expected him to say no with enough vehemence and confidence to make her feel better.

But he shrugged. “Maybe a little. My mom might express some concern.”

“My dad’s going to burst a blood vessel.” Eve glanced at her phone. It was twelve eleven. “We have to go. Evan wants you at the track.”

Nolan gave a lazy yawn, pulling her hand over to his erection.

Eve automatically stroked it. Maybe there was time . . .

She yanked her hand away, determined to get out of bed. It was preventing her from rational thought. Sitting up too fast, she paused when dizziness overtook her. “We have to go,” she told him.

“So that’s how it is now that we’re married?” he teased. “I get you off then none for me?”

Bristling, because there was some truth to it, given her orgasm, she told him, “I didn’t ask for you to get me off. You just did it.”

“I was kidding.”

She knew that, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t feeling particularly rational and now her stomach was twisted up in knots. Her mouth felt hot and she swallowed hard. “Besides, I’m easy to get off. That took like a minute and a half. It will take twenty minutes for you and then we’ll really be late.”

Nolan burst out laughing. “Cupcake, you are not like most women, that’s for sure. It’s why I love you.”

Not sure if that was as much of a compliment as he was trying to make it sound, Eve bent over, groping around on the floor for some clothes to wear to the bathroom. She felt vulnerable and incapable of walking across the room naked. Her hands were shaking as she plucked her shirt off the carpet.

“I’ll make some coffee while you’re in the shower.” Nolan gave another yawn and stretched his arms over his head.

Eve stole a look at his chest. The man had the most amazing arms and chest she’d ever touched. Her husband had a body to die for. Husband. She made an involuntary sound and rushed to the bathroom regardless of her nudity. She needed a second before she had a full-fledged panic attack.

He followed her. Eve was turning on the shower when he strolled in and shook the dew off the lily. Really? Adjusting the temperature of the water, she tried not to watch, but there was a giant mirror in front of him causing the reflection to bounce around the room. Everywhere she tried to look she caught a flash of his stream of urine.

Ick. She wasn’t ready for that. At all. A little too much reality for her first thing in the morning.

“So that’s how it is now that we’re married?” she parroted back to him, stepping into the shower. “You pee in front of me?”

“There’s only one bathroom,” he said. “And I had to go. Sorry. At least your place has two bathrooms, so if it bugs you, I can make sure I use the other one.”

“Thanks,” she managed as hot water hit her face. A thought had occurred to her as he was speaking and she suddenly felt like she was going to faint.

They were married. He would assume that they were going to live together. That’s what married people did.

He was going to move into her condo. With his stuff. His shoes. His underwear. His deodorant. His shaving stubble in her sink.

Eve clung to the shower wall, the cool tiles welcome against her hot body. The soap tray was the only thing holding her up, and she held on to it for dear life.

“Eve?”

She didn’t really think she could speak without vomiting so she didn’t even try. The shower curtain was yanked back.

“Holy shit, what’s wrong?”

“I’m going to puke,” she told him, hoping he would go away. She didn’t want him to see her hurl. “Close the curtain.”

“I don’t think so.” Nolan put one foot into the tub and suddenly she was in his arms.

The motion was jarring and her stomach rebelled, but she kept the nausea down as he carried her out of the tub. She had to admit it was nice not to be standing on her gelatinous legs anymore.

“Just relax. Close your eyes,” he murmured.

She did exactly that and she felt better without the hot water pelting her.

“You drank a wee bit too much and then didn’t get enough sleep. Plus you haven’t eaten. Once you’ve had breakfast you’ll feel better. I’m going to order room service.”

It probably was all of those things. But it was also the reality of being married that had nearly dropped her to her knees. And the realization that she couldn’t do it.

“Should I call Evan and tell him you can’t make it today?”

“No. I’ll be fine.” She sighed as Nolan deposited her on the bed. “I just need a minute.” Her wet hair stuck to her cheek and she peeled it off.

Nolan had disappeared and she opened her eyes to see what he was doing. He emerged from the bathroom with a towel and proceeded to dry her off like a little kid. Eve was slightly embarrassed, mostly touched. God, he was a good guy, even if the vigorous rubbing he was giving her arms was bringing her nausea back full force.

How could she tell him she couldn’t be married to him?

Or could she?

Nolan tenderly pulled a hank of her hair off her chest so she wouldn’t get cold. “Damn. I was hoping to go ring shopping today.”

The rubbing and his words accomplished what she’d been staving off for half an hour. Eve leaned over and threw up on the bed, a nice dry heave that sounded like an adult male lion burping to impress his peers.

She was officially the least sexy newlywed on the planet.

Oh, and today was actually her birthday.

Thirty-three. And not so fabulous.

Eve closed her eyes and wished she had fainted in the shower. At least she wouldn’t be conscious for any of this.

“Wow,” Nolan told Eve, fairly amazed that she had managed to create that kind of sound with her vomiting. If she didn’t look so miserable, he would have laughed.

But he noted for future reference that she didn’t seem to be able to hold her liquor. Nor was she happy about it. When he tried to adjust her towel, she smacked at his hand.

Now what? If he tried to call Evan, she would snarl at him. But she didn’t look like she was moving anytime soon. He decided to jump in the shower himself. Her breathing had slowed, like she was falling asleep.

As he shampooed his hair, Nolan whistled. This wasn’t at all how he had envisioned their first day married, but he wasn’t going to let it destroy his good mood. Eve would sleep it off, then they would go out for a nice dinner, tell all their friends and family, and have another night of smoking hot sex.

As a married couple.

He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that they were actually married. It was mind-boggling but in a good way.

His mother was not going to be happy. He was going to get an earful from her. At least half of his sisters would follow suit. But that would just be a speed bump. They would get to know Eve and love her like he did. Hopefully Evan wouldn’t have an issue with it. Nolan did not want to lose his job. He loved it. Plus the thought of his bank account, which was sporting a balance of about twenty bucks until payday, was enough to give him a pang or two. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of being fired when he’d gone down on one knee in front of Eve.

Hell, he hadn’t thought about anything.

He certainly hadn’t thought about the logistics of living together or working in the same business. Having kids together.

But it would work out.

He was almost sure of it.

* * *

EVE
got out of the taxi, squinting against the bright sunlight, pulling her cardigan tighter around her. She was cold. Tired. Hungover.

Nolan had left her to sleep for a couple of hours in the hotel room, heading over to the track. He’d left her a note explaining, along with a room service tray, two aspirin, and a hand-drawn heart with her name in it. It was so freaking considerate it was disgusting. For at least the tenth time she asked herself why he couldn’t just be a total jerk like every other man she’d dated. It was going to make it really difficult to explain to him that getting married had been a serious mistake. That they couldn’t live together. That normal intelligent people knew you couldn’t make a marriage work on two weeks of infatuation.

She knew that. Accepted. Hated it. A tiny part of her that she was choosing to ignore doubted that logic. That part of her wanted to believe that you could fall in love that quickly, that you could sustain the sense of fun and passion into a long-term deal. She wanted to buy into the romance of it all.