The Hero + Vegas = No Regrets

Kissing Worth was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. His lips erased everything in my mind so I could only think about him and how his hands felt against me. It transported me somewhere I didn’t have to think, to worry, do anything but be. I want to hold on to the feeling forever.

“Shall we take a driver down the Strip?” Worth asks. “If you haven’t seen it at night, you should probably cross it off your list.”

“You’re really selling it to me,” I say.

“Never said I’d make the best tour guide.”

I tilt my head. “But you are anyway.”

Our ride is waiting. Hanging out with billionaires gives a different perspective on life. Nothing seems off-limits. Everything is right there, ready for you to pick up, drink in, enjoy.

“Were you always rich?” I ask as the driver pulls out onto the Strip.

“Absolutely not. My dad died when I was fourteen, and even though we’d never been rich, I’d never thought much about money. Then after he passed…” He pulls in a breath and I smooth my hand over his thigh. He catches my fingers and slides his between mine. “Things got more difficult. In every way.”

“Did your mom work?”

“She was a nurse, but she was hit hard by my dad’s death. She… didn’t cope very well.”

“I can’t even imagine.” In the week since I found out about my dad’s betrayal, I’ve struggled to understand why my mom stayed with him. But maybe his complete absence would have been worse than his partial presence. She says she wanted us to have a good childhood, but how did she pull that off? How did she manage not to let it eat her up?

“But we’re all through the other side. My little sister just graduated from Yale.”

“Yale, huh? That’s amazing. How many siblings do you have?” It feels like I’ve known this man my entire life, but I don’t know anything about him really. I just know that he feels like solid rock compared to the waves of my rage.

“Two younger sisters. My parents had me young, when Dad was still in college. So they waited a while before having Avril and Poppy. My dad died when Poppy, my older sister, was six.”

I think about Worth as a fourteen-year-old, having spent the first decade of his life the only child of two young parents, then to get two siblings and lose a father all in a short space of time. It must have been so difficult for him.

“You think that’s why you became successful?” I ask.

“I do. I knew my mom couldn’t take care of herself. And Avril and Poppy were just babies. I knew it was down to me.”

His words feel like a drag on my insides. What a burden for a child of fourteen. “Your mom was depressed?”

“Couldn’t get out of bed most days. Dad had a life insurance policy that paid out and took care of the house. And it took care of some of the bills, like medical insurance and daycare. But I knew it wouldn’t last forever, and it wasn’t going to cover college or a new car or a new roof. So I did what I needed to do.”

“Worth,” I say, trying to convey how sorry I am for what he went through.

“It was a long time ago. Anyway, we should talk about something more suited to the Vegas Strip,” he says.

“Like how you’re the kind of guy a girl should marry in the Little White Wedding Chapel and never let go?”

“We’ll end the evening that way.” His tone is completely serious, without any trace of humor. He checks his watch. “We have an hour and a half before the wedding bureau closes. Let’s get a drink at Ghostbar first. The views from there are the best we’re going to get.”

I can’t help but laugh at his lack of enthusiasm, and a small smile curves around his lips. I’m not sure if he’s smiling at my amusement or something else. I feel so safe with him, I want to know every expression he has and what they all mean.

Ghostbar is on the 55th floor of the Ivory Tower, with sweeping views of the Strip. It feels like we’re overlooking a fireworks display, bursting with color and light.

Worth has bought a bottle of tequila that looks like it cost more than I earn in a year and tastes even better. I’m two shots in, and with Worth by my side, it feels like everything other than right now is ten thousand miles away. I don’t need to worry about any of it.

“It feels like we’re flying above the city up here,” I say. “It’s so much brighter than New York.”

“Flashier,” Worth says.

“Yeah, but there’s more energy, like it’s a dream version of New York where you can create your own reality.”

“Where you can get married to a perfect stranger?” he asks.

“Exactly,” I say. “I totally get why people get married here on a whim.”

“You wanna try it?” he asks me, fixing me with a look that tells me he’s totally serious.

“Do I wanna try what?” I tease. I know what he’s suggesting, but I want to hear him say the words.

“Wanna marry me?”

It’s ridiculous, but the question pulls at me, like my instincts are all reaching toward Worth and the promise of more.

“I think I do!” I say. I bite down on my lip, knowing how crazy that sounds.

“You said you would never get married.”

“Not in my real life, but this is Vegas.”

I bend, pour us two more shots, and hand one to Worth.

“What about when we get back to New York?” he asks.

I shrug and throw back my shot. “Let’s worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.” I’m sure twenty percent of the Vegas economy is based around undoing the bad decisions of the night before. Right now, I just want to prolong this feeling of freedom—freedom based on truth and not lies.

“I’ve made a lot of money by making sure I take opportunities when they’re presented to me.” He tips back his shot.

He pulls out his wallet and puts a lot of money on the table, not bothering to count how much. He picks up the tequila bottle, scoops up my hand, and stalks toward the exit.

The driver doesn’t even bat an eye when Worth asks him to take us to the wedding license bureau.

“Didn’t we drive past there this morning?” I ask Worth. “You think our driver knew we’d be coming back?”

“Maybe,” Worth replies. “Maybe JJ can see this thing between us.”

“This thing?”

“The thing we feel. You feel it, just like I do,” he says. “Like we’ve known each other for decades, like I can see what you’re thinking before you say it. Like I can feel when you enter the room without even looking around.”

I close my eyes in a long blink as my heart expands in my chest. It isn’t just me. He feels it too.

“Maybe you didn’t get it right away at that brunch. I did. The moment I laid eyes on you, I just…” He shakes his head. “I can’t explain it other than to say that I knew I’d know you a long time. Maybe for forever.”

My breath hitches in my throat. He’s so earnest and open. I want to climb him like a tree and kiss him… everywhere.

“I felt it here in Vegas,” I admit. “And I was disappointed you weren’t on the plane. I thought you weren’t coming. So I guess I did get it at the brunch.”

“I didn’t travel on the plane because I thought it would be obvious to everyone how much I felt for you. And you and Fisher…”

“Had no connection whatsoever,” I finish the sentence for him.

“Right, but he’s my friend and I didn’t know that yet, so I was trying to distance myself. To give you both space.”

I lean over to him and place a kiss on his cheek. “No more space necessary.”

He growls and slides his hand around my back. Just as he starts to pull me onto his lap, the car stops and the driver announces we’ve arrived.

“It’s just past eleven,” the driver says. “You’ll be out in ten minutes. I’ll be waiting.”

I laugh. He’s obviously done this before.

And he’s almost right. Worth and I emerge less than fifteen minutes later, with a marriage license with our names on it.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask. “You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who gets married on the fly.”

“I’m not,” he says as he opens the car door and gestures for me to get in. “But I’m sure. Are you?”

I look him right in the eye. “I’m sure.” And even though I shouldn’t be, I’m completely and utterly certain that I want to do this.

He slides in next to me and the driver turns the car around. “Do you know where you want to get married? Little White Chapel is obviously the most famous.”

“We can’t go there,” I say. “That’s where Leo and Jules are getting married tomorrow.”

“Right,” Worth says. “Is there anywhere you recommend?” he asks the driver.

“We just had the New York Loves Vegas Chapel open up just this week. That might suit you folks. Plus it’s probably not that busy, being new and all.”

Worth and I stare at each other, dumbfounded by the idea of a new chapel opening up with New York in its name. “Sounds like it has our names written all over it,” Worth says. “Let’s do it there.”

We pull over to the side of the road, where the New York Loves Vegas Chapel boasts a skyscraper instead of a steeple. It’s ridiculous and perfect at the same time.

“I might need a swig of tequila right about now,” I say, reaching for the bottle.

“We don’t have to do this,” Worth says.

“I know,” I say. “I want to. I just need a little kick to remind myself that I’m in Vegas and the real world doesn’t exist.” I take a swig and follow Worth out of the car.

I take his hand and nod my head in the direction of the entrance to the chapel.

“I’m serious,” he says. “This is fun and silly and not in either of our natures, but it’s legally binding. We don’t have to go through with it if you don’t want to.”

“I want to,” I assure him. I step onto my tiptoes and manage to press a kiss to his jaw. It starts an ignition button in him, and he strides toward the chapel with me barely keeping up.

Our driver was correct. There’s no line. After filling out some paperwork and flashing our new license, we’re standing in front of the altar opposite each other.

“I didn’t know your last name was Huntington,” I say.

“I’m not expecting you to take it.”

I start to laugh. This is ridiculous. I’m marrying a man whose last name I just discovered. This is not the kind of girl I am. I’m from the Midwest.

“Good,” I manage.

“You’re not going to ask me to take yours, are you?” he asks, his frown deepening.

I tilt my head as if I’m considering it. “I think Worth Jones would suit you, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s not as sexy as Worth Huntington though.”

His eyes turn to molten heat and he dips to kiss me just as the minister interrupts us.

“Are you ready?”

Worth looks into my eyes as he speaks his vows. His expression is serious and earnest, as if we’re really pledging ourselves to each other.noveldrama

I suppose we are.

For now.

I repeat the vows next, promising to take Worth as my husband, to have and to hold.

I zone out for a second. I’m completely up for having Worth. He’s gorgeous and built like a redwood. But if we have sex after this ceremony, doesn’t that consummate our marriage and make an annulment more difficult?

Worth squeezes my hand. Any concerns I have melt away.

“To have and to hold,” the minister repeats. “From this day forward.”

“To have and to hold, from this day forward,” I say, gazing into Worth’s eyes and knowing as sure as anyone can be sure that this is the most honest, caring man I’ve ever met.

As the minister pronounces us husband and wife, Worth cups my face in his big hands and kisses me, like I just made him the happiest man on earth.

I think the feeling might be mutual.