Page 68 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“Oh sure, fine, get me all hot and bothered and drag me home. Lucky thing we’re not really married, because this would be some honeymoon,” she joked as she gathered up her things.

Fisher hugged her from behind, planting hot wet kisses on her neck as he whispered, “I could always give you a real honeymoon after we catch this guy.”

Annie froze. Real honeymoon? Wouldn’t that follow a real marriage? Okay, technically they were really married, but only to catch a bad guy and then it was annulment city here we come. Or was it? Oh dear!

“Think about it,” he whispered and squeezed her once more before he let her go and headed toward the bathroom.

Annie finished dressing with shaky fingers. Then she planted her head firmly between her knees in an attempt to dispel the light-hearted feeling she had.

“Are you all right?” He came back out of the bathroom and Annie jerked to an upright position.

“Oh yeah, I thought I lost an earring, but ...ha...I was wearing it the whole time.”

“Hmm,” he murmured. “You look a little green.”

“Must be the champagne,” she said.

Fisher turned on the television and using the remote control, he punched in some numbers and checked out of the room. Just like that it was over.

Fisher sped through the desert. At two in the morning, the highway was a lonely stretch of road. But the white crosses on the side of the road marking where others had driven too fast or dozed at the wheel kept him awake and alert as they left Nevada.

Annie was unconscious beside him. As soon as they’d left the lights of Las Vegas behind, she’d let out a big yawn and promptly fallen asleep. Her head was tipped back and her mouth hung slightly open as she emitted soft snores and the occasional muffled grunt. Her arm was thrown across the seat and her hand rested on his leg. He liked to think that even asleep she needed some sort of contact with him.

Too bad she didn’t want to make it permanent. He wasn’t an idiot. She’d hated getting married. Even when the wedding wasn’t real, she’d been made physically sick by the whole idea. Who could blame her? Her parents had made matrimony into a joke, a wrenching emotional joke, with their multiple marriages.

Maybe he could prove to her...yeah, right. He couldn’t change her mind. He couldn’t even get her to admit how she felt about him and he knew she felt something. Okay, more than something. He suspected that she was in love with him. He saw it in her big, blue eyes everytime she looked at him.

He knew she loved him as surely as he knew he loved her. She was the calm to his storm. She kept everything in perspective with her kindness and her sense of humor. She made everything fun. She made him laugh. Fisher had no doubt that he could spend the rest of his days loving and laughing with Annie Talbot. If he could just get her to see that. But how?

Fisher puzzled and puzzled but as they drew closer to Phoenix, he had no solution.

It was just after nine when he pulled up in front of the bank. Annie was still asleep beside him. Fisher hated to wake her up.

“Hey sleepyhead,” he said as he nudged her. She rolled away from him. “Come on. Rise and shine.”

She tucked deeper into her seat and let out an unladylike snore. Fisher sighed. This was obviously going to require drastic measures.

He cleared his throat and launched into Henry’s song. She didn’t move. He increased the volume.

“Henry?” she muttered. “Henry? What are you doing in Las Vegas?”

“We’re not in Lss Vegas anymore,” Fisher said and reached across the seat to hug her close.

“Huh?” She blinked awake.

“We’re at the First Arizona Credit Union,” he said.

“The bank? In Phoenix? You mean you drove all that way without a break? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sound asleep, besides I was fine.”

She struggled to sit upright. “Well, I feel terrible. Next time you have to promise to wake me.”

“I promise,” he said solemnly, trying not to take too much heart in the wordsnext time.“Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Fisher grabbed their marriage license and together they made their way into the bank. After a couple of short forms, several signatures and a show of identification, Fisher owned the majority interest in The Coffee Break. Annie felt herself break out into a very unladylike sweat.

“Are you okay?” Fisher asked as they headed to the Jeep.