THE minute Kata hit her seat, she buckled up and closed her eyes. In the window seat on her left, Ben did the same and started snoring almost immediately. Hallie and Chloe were two rows behind her, looking every bit as hungover as she felt, but the smile on Hallie’s face told her they’d gotten lucky last night. Kata didn’t ask, though. She didn’t want to answer in turn.
What happened in Vegas . . .
Yes, it should stay here, but Hunter had proven last night that he took intense to a whole new level. He’d find her if he wanted to.
Shoving the thought aside, Kata tried to sleep, but she couldn’t nod off. She couldn’t put Hunter out of her mind.
While Kata pored through her lost memories of the previous night, something tugged at her again and again, as if she’d forgotten an important fact. But that something proved as elusive as smoke. She could only latch on to bits of things that made no sense—an overbright government office with bored clerks, flashbulbs, strangers laughing, a moonlit garden. Vividly, she recalled Hunter pressing her into an elevator and kissing hungrily on the way up to his room. He’d called her his, the word emphatic, as solemn as a bond.
Kata opened her eyes to find the flight attendant standing beside her row with the drink cart. “Something to drink, ma’am?”
“Coffee, cream and sugar.”
The fortysomething blonde nodded efficiently as she poured. “And your husband?”
Kata frowned. Why the hell would the woman think . . . Then she felt Ben’s hand, warm and big, as he tangled his fingers with hers.
“Nothing for him,” she whispered to the other woman so she didn’t wake him.
With a polite smile, the flight attendant moved away.
A few minutes later, Ben stirred at her side. “Damn, did I miss the coffee?”
“You can have some of mine.” She offered the cup to him with her free hand.
“That’s okay, but thanks. I’ll get some when we lay over in Dallas.” He squeezed her hand affectionately.
Discomfort wound through Kata. She’d never had a problem with Ben’s touch, so why now? She still considered him a friend—hell, he’d helped Mari throw her a great birthday party—but the idea of sex with him again didn’t appeal. In fact, it turned her way off.
Ben was good in bed, but she didn’t have romantic feelings for him. Kata had long viewed that as a blessing, hoping that after all she’d seen with Mamá and Gordon over the last decade that her heart had scabbed over—and permanently put her off anything too deep.
In a few short hours, Hunter had challenged all that. The thought of blazing up the sheets with him once more . . . even allowing him to tie her up. Instant arousal. God, how was it possible that, in a single night, he’d hardwired her body to respond so thoroughly to him? Her thoughts to revolve around him?
What the hell was she going to do about her comfortable arrangement with Ben? She searched his face, lax in sleep once more. Last night’s doofus drunken behavior aside, he really was funny and kind. Attractive. Dependable. He’d make someone a great husband someday. But not her.
The pilot announced their initial descent into Dallas/Ft. Worth, where she and her friends would change planes before going on to Lafayette. She loved where she lived, but the lack of direct flights anywhere really sucked.
Carefully, she extracted her hand from Ben’s—and the streak of sunlight shimmering through the little window’s shade glinted off something unexpected. It wasn’t the eclectic silver swirl ring she always wore. The weight was similar, but . . . this was an unfamiliar, endless band of gold.
Her stomach dropped to her toes. Suddenly, the obvious smacked her in the face. She gasped.
The sound jarred Ben awake. “What?
Kata stared at the ring in horror, puzzle pieces from the night before snapping into place.
They’d gone with the strangers in the bar to the county clerk’s office because Christi and . . . what was his name? Nick, maybe. They’d wanted to get married, despite only knowing each other for two weeks. So they’d run off to Vegas. She and Hunter had tagged along, lured by the promise of a big post-wedding celebration.
At the county offices, Kata had remarked that her stepfather would freak if she married someone she’d only met two weeks ago. Hunter had sent her a sly look and asked, “Yeah, what about someone you met four hours ago?”
Since she always looked for ways to spit in Gordon’s face and hadn’t seen a reason to stop, especially with the alcohol giving her liquid courage, Hunter’s words had given her a very bad idea ... and Hunter hadn’t objected.
“Kata?” Ben’s voice shook as he stared warily at her left hand. “What is that on your finger?”
“I think it’s . . .” She closed her eyes, withdrawing from Ben’s grip. “A wedding ring.”
Oh, holy shit. She was Hunter’s wife.
THREE hours later, Hunter touched down at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, turned on his phone immediately, and called Kata. Voice mail—again.