What was she going to do with herself for a couple of hours? Besides hyperventilate.
“Do you have a dress?”
That snapped her back to the conversation. “Pardon me?”
“A dress? To get married in? I’m assuming you’ll want pictures to show your family, and you won’t want to be in jeans.”
She hadn’t thought of that. She mentally sorted through her suitcase and came up empty. That showed how out of it she was; she came to Vegas to get married and didn’t even pack a nice dress. Maybe deep down, she’d been expecting—hoping?—this plan would fall through and not happen at all. “You know, I don’t. I guess I can shop for something while you…you do…whatever it is you need to go do.”
Nick nodded, but his scowl didn’t diminish at all. “I’ll pick you up at eight, then.”
She walked Nick to the door, the uncomfortable tension between them so different than what she remembered from before. When the door closed behind him, Evie leaned against it and banged her head gently. This was absurd; she was marryinga man she barely knew simply because she was carrying his child. How had she ended up here?
She’d allowed herself one tiny romanticized daydream where this conversation worked out completely differently…But no. This was a business agreement. She knew that. She swallowed her disappointment Nick was treating it as such.
Evie looked at her watch and sighed. She needed a dress, but the last thing she felt like doing was shopping. Thankfully, there were plenty of great shops right here in the Bellagio. They’d have something for her to wear.
By fifteen to eight, she’d showered and redone her hair and makeup and was sliding the zipper up on the simple ivory sheath she’d found. It was perfect for a simple wedding, and were the circumstances different, she’d be thrilled to wear it. This was a far cry from the princess-style wedding she and Gwen had talked about when she was a teenager. Not that that kind of wedding had been her dream—she always imagined something more intimate and private—but this wedding was falling far short of any kind of romantic fantasy.
Instead, she was getting ready for her wedding alone in a hotel suite. She should have let Bennie come with her; it just seemed wrong to get married without any of her family and friends around.
Her fiancé was gorgeous and sexy and made her heart pound to think about him; Nick was practically the groom of adolescent fantasy weddings in the flesh. But…
This wasn’t going to be a romantic story she’d share with her child in the years to come, that was for sure. The disappointment in her stomach was real—a physical pain. She’d always assumed that when she did get married, it would be forever; a marriage like Will and Gwen’s, like her parents’.
The sharp knock at her door startled her. A glance at the clock told her Nick was punctual, if nothing else.
She said goodbye to her girlish fantasy and faced reality.
Evie slid her feet into her shoes and grabbed her purse. With one last deep breath to steady her nerves and fortify her resolve, she went to get married.
Chapter Five
W HEN EVIE OPENED THE DOOR , she was steeled for the worst. She wasn’t prepared, though, for the physical reaction that slammed into her, stealing her breath and causing heat to coil through her veins. She’d seen Nick in jeans; she’d seen him in a work-appropriate shirt and tie earlier, but in black slacks and a black button-down silk shirt… damn. He looked wicked and delicious, and only showing up naked at her door could have affected her pulse more.
He had showered and shaved, and his dark hair fell casually over his forehead in a tousle most men would have to spend hours to achieve. If things were just a little different…
But the arching of Nick’s eyebrow was a harsh reminder of the reality of the situation. Things weren’t different. Things were what they were. He tempered that reminder, though, with a simple, “You look
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