Last Name - Dr. Rebecca Sharp Page 0,14

frantically trying to figure out what I was going to do with no job and no last name… here he was.

His hands lifted slightly out to the sides. “I own this place.”

“Well, right. Obviously,” I replied with a soft huff. “I just mean… I can’t believe this. I don’t even know where to start.”

Are we married?

Did it really count?

Why did you leave?

How do I stop this?

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he broke in with a low voice.

My jaw dropped as my hip sunk my weight to one side. “Well, if you hadn’t run out, you wouldn’t have had to look.”

His jaw clenched. “I didn’t run out that morning, Carrie. I went for coffee and ran into a problem.”

I put up my hands, my mind racing. I didn’t need to hear the story. We were skirting around the elephant in the room.

No, not elephant. More like a mammoth.

The mammoth of marriage.

“James, are we…” I gulped. “Did we…”

“Get married?” he finished for me, one eyebrow arching up.

I nodded, folding my arms over my chest. “I mean, I have the paper we both signed, but I didn’t know if—”

“It’s legitimate.”

Unfortunately, that time, he wasn’t finishing my question but stating a fact.

“Oh, God…” My fingers pressed over my lips. Meanwhile, James’ gaze slid over me. I was sure I looked different too in khakis and a light blue blouse—a far cry from the short, sequined number that felt as though it revealed far more than it concealed.

“How do we end it?” I asked quietly. “We can end it, right? We can get an annulment?” I let out a small cry. “We need to end it. This was a mistake.” My head began to shake side to side. “A big mistake.”

The spiral of anxiety I was heading down halted as James stepped in front of me, his hands reaching up and gripping my shoulders, literally holding me to reality.

His gaze locked on mine, a flash of something like regret flickering before it was glazed over with that calm coolness I was familiar with after one night spent wandering the world with him.

“I will have someone start looking into it.” He cleared his throat. “In the meantime—”

“You’re going to fire me?” I cut in and then drew back as a thought struck me. “Wait, can you fire me? If I’m your wife?”

This was all a mess.

His lips thinned. “Whether I can or can’t, I’m not going to fire you right now, Carrie,” he told me. “Jesus. I’m not just going to leave you stranded.”

“Like you did in Vegas?” I couldn’t stop the words even if I tried.

Did he know what I’d gone through the last few days? The panic. The anxiety. The shame. I was one of those girls. The ones who went to Vegas for a single night and managed to make only the most giant of mistakes.

“There was a reason for that,” he ground out.

“So, I’m not getting fired?” I clarified, waiting for his nod of agreement before continuing, “And you’re going to figure out how to erase all of this?”

As much as I wanted to help with that, my Google searches hadn’t turned up anything of value, and truthfully, I didn’t have the money to consult with a lawyer—not like he did.

“Yes.”

“But then you’re going to fire me?” I demanded, leaving out the part where I wanted him to.

I couldn’t work for a man I’d slept with. Not again.

“How about we work through one thing at a time?” he suggested calmly, giving my shoulders a reassuring squeeze that shouldn’t have felt as comforting as it did.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed. “But how are you going to explain not firing me?” My eyes widened as they rose to his. “You can’t tell anyone,” I pleaded. “You can’t tell anyone that we’re married.”

He released my shoulder to fold his arms across his chest, thinking as he strolled over to the windows that overlooked the lake which shone with a vibrant teal today.

“What do you do?” he turned back to me and asked.

My mouth parted. “I’m the Recreation Consultant.”

He chuckled and the flash of that familiar smile was like a one-two punch right to my stomach. “I know that, Carrie. But I want you to tell me what that means.”

“Oh.” I swallowed over the tightness in my throat. “I plan local activities for guests and families. Tours, cruises, hikes… things like that. Because this hotel is one of the oldest in South Lake Tahoe, I’ve worked up a good relationship with a lot of other