Page 9

Chapter nine

Samantha

The encounter with Kade on the street threw me, and I can't help but replay the feeling of his breath skittering across my lips, making my nipples pebble under my dress.

When the words "my wife" came out of his mouth, I swear my panties became drenched at that moment, making me unsettled for the rest of the day.

How could those two little words make my body react in such a way?

Especially from a man who has hurt me before.

Standing next to the bar, my phone buzzes in my apron, grabbing my attention.

The bar area of The Felicity—the casino I work at—is dead, allowing me to check easily.

That's the hard part about this job: you could be standing around for hours and within minutes you could have so many tables you can't breathe.

Which is why management likes to keep a full set of employees, but sometimes it makes for boring shifts.

When my phone buzzes for a second time, I pull it out, seeing a text that makes my stomach buzz with butterflies.

Kade: What time are you getting off tonight?

Seeing his name on my phone makes my stomach jump with excitement, but I can't let it get too far.

We might be married now, but this is exactly how it went last time.

No, I need to keep my distance. Deleting the text helps me feel in control and I place it back in my apron.

I know the drill because it's the same way as last time—he got my number, asked me out, and drew me in.

I can't let that happen again, even if we are married.

Fuck. Married. I can't believe I'm married .

My whole body goes numb when the thought enters my mind.

Looking down at my hand, I stare at the spot that not only a few hours earlier had a ring wrapped around it.

How do I go forward from here? Is this going to mess with my goals? The goal of becoming a pediatric nurse.

I grew up in a broken house, an only child whose parents lived separately but not divorced, because they couldn't afford it. They fought all the time: over me, money, ideas, everything.

When I turned eighteen, I moved out and found my own way to pay for it. Which is why I'm twenty-four still working my way through college. I was supposed to graduate a year ago, but tragedy happened when I had to help my dad after his accident.

"Sam?" My manager’s voice breaks through my thoughts about my parents.

"Yeah?" I say looking over at him.

"Can you get table twelve?"

I nod, leaving him behind as I make my way to the table.

Pulling out my notepad, I ask without looking up, "What can I get you to drink?"

"A shot off that hot ass," one of the guys says.

Grabbing my attention, I look up at him and just stare.

I don't say anything to him. Just continue staring and making the whole table uncomfortable waiting for my reaction.

It actually gives me a weird sense of satisfaction when I watch him squirm along with the other guests at the table.

Most people don't know what to do if you don't give them a reaction of some kind.

You can see that they want to scold him or tell me to back off, but they do neither.

Finally, he gulps and drops his head, muttering, "Sorry."

I plaster on a smile. "No problem. Now, what can I get you guys?"

"Beers all around, whatever is on tap," one of them says.

"Got it," I say without even jotting it down. Beer is an easy order. It's when groups want to get an array of cocktails with long names on it that I have to write it down.

Making my way toward the bar, I give the bartender, Tommy, my order. While I wait for it, Tommy decides to start a little bit of small talk. "How was your night?"

"Fine." Because there is no way I'm admitting to one of my co-workers that I accidentally got married last night.

"Did you go out?" he ask.

I let out a sound of agreement before allowing myself to tell him a bit of what happened.

"Last night was Janae's bachelorette party," I say, trying to be as casual as possible.

Sweat starts to bead on my neck. Can Tommy tell that I'm not telling him the whole truth?

Did something change last night and now I have a hidden sign that says I'm married? I push that ridiculous thought away.

No one can tell, Sam .

Which he proves me right when Tommy places the beers on the bar, gushing, "I can't believe Janae is marrying a professional football star."

"I know, crazy," I reply. Mindlessly grabbing the drinks, I turn and make my way from the bar without another word, ready to get out of the conversation.

After I hand out the drinks to the table, more and more customers start to come into the bar area, keeping me busy for the next few hours. I welcome the reprieve from constantly trying to figure out this whole marriage debacle.

While I finish cleaning up my tables, the manager comes up. "Hey, you can take off, we should be good. Thanks for coming in on such short notice."

"Thanks, but it was no problem. See you in two days," I tell him as I place the dirty rag into its proper bin.

After I wash my hands, I grab my things, pulling up the Uber app as I walk out onto the Strip. When I look up from my phone, my eyes go wide when I'm met with a surprise—Kade standing outside, leaning against a black car with his arms crossed over his chest, showing off his muscular arms.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him skeptically.

"Taking you to dinner," he says. Not a question, just a statement.

"I never answered you about dinner."

"I know. Thats why I'm here, you can't just shrug me off so easily then. My wife needs to have dinner—"

Before he can finish that statement, I run up, placing my hand over his mouth, stopping him from saying anything else.

I'm not ready for people to know that we are married. It’s one thing for people to see it on social media, but I’m not ready for either of us to say it out loud.

I let out a sigh. Suddenly, my hand feels wet, and I pull it back quickly because eww. ..gross.

"Did you just lick me?" I ask him in disgust.

"Yep. That's what happens when you put something over my mouth. I can't help but lick it," he says while licking his lips suggestively.

I roll my eyes at him. "Not happening."

But…maybe if I go to dinner with him, I can get this over with, and we can work on getting this marriage annulled and move on with our lives.

"Fine. I'll go dinner with you," I say taking a step toward the car as he gives me his signature smile. He moves to open the car door for me.

"I promise you are going to love where I'm going to take you," he says while I climb into the car.

"Let's just get this over with," I grumble as he closes the door.

I close my eyes and pray that whatever Kade has up his sleeve, it's all about just getting out of this marriage and nothing more.