Last Name - Dr. Rebecca Sharp Page 0,20

a big mistake.”

Suzanne groaned. “You should meet my planner. She’s a nuptial Nazi!” She said it loud enough for the whole group to chuckle. “At least I have these things to look forward to while I pull the rest of this circus—I mean, celebration together.”

“It’ll be just perfect, dear,” Kathleen assured her with a loving arm draped around her shoulder as the food was laid out on the outdoor table.

“Well, now that James saved the venue, it will be,” Lars chimed in, earning him a razor-sharp stare from his older brother.

What was he talking about?

Ignoring the warning, Lars looked in my direction and added, “My brother has a hero complex. First our family business, now this hotel. Not that he goes searching for things, but things… places… people in trouble always seem to end up in his lap, like the universe knows he will do anything in his power to help them.”

My face flushed, thinking about how he’d saved me in Vegas.

“Even last weekend,” he went on, so lost in his claim that he missed the way my eyes grew wide and my mouth dropped “We were in Vegas for my bachelor party for a few nights, and the last night, James’ is doing his own thing and ends up saving some girl in the casino and gets kicked out in the process—”

“Lars,” James snapped with deadly warning.

I sat gaping and looking raptly between the two men.

What was Lars talking about—being kicked out?

My tongue felt like a boulder being pushed across a desert as I tried to swallow.

I felt so stupid—and so curious. When I saw him at the office yesterday, I hadn’t even pressed—I couldn’t even remember asking—why he’d up and left the following morning. I just… assumed… because he thought it was as much a mistake as I did. And when I realized he now owned my hotel, all I could focus on was getting out of our hasty and haphazard marriage and getting out of that job. Asking why he’d just up and disappeared the following morning seemed like information that wasn’t critical to that singular goal.

But now that I was here… now that I had twenty-four hours to process this insane string of events that brought me to this moment—and this man—I wanted to know. The more I thought about it, I didn’t need his brother’s accolades to agree that—aside from semi-blackmailing me into helping his family—James was a good guy. A heroic guy.

Disappearing on a woman he’d just spent the night with, a woman he’d accidentally married, didn’t fit with his character.

Lars shoved a huge bite of food in his mouth, finally realizing he’d said too much.

“Sorry,” he mumbled cheekily. “You know I just think you’re the best.”

I watched James’ hard irritation fade from his face though he tried to hold it for as long as possible.

“All he’s trying to say, James, is that you’ll do anything to make something right even when it wasn’t your problem to fix,” Suzanne said sweetly. “And we really appreciate it.”

“If you don’t want my compliments, man, we can certainly skip to all the times you were a jerk when we were younger and told Mom—”

“Oh no,” Kathleen broke in this time. “Mom doesn’t want to know,” she said, referring to herself in the third person as she covered her ears. “You both turned out to be wonderful sons. Mom doesn’t need to know all the things that were missed to make that happen.”

The rest of us broke into laughter as Suzanne picked up the reins of the conversation once more, leading it back to the wedding and some of the suggestions I’d made in order to get the group’s opinion.

Dinner passed in warm conversation and familial familiarity, making me feel as though I was a part of something I knew I wasn’t.

Well, technically, I was. But in reality, I was just here temporarily—a momentary princess until the stubborn threads of one magical night wore off and I could go back to my pumpkin and plain life.

“All I have to say is that I’ll take running a corporation over planning a wedding any day,” James grumbled after Suzanne rattled off her list of things that needed to be accomplished this week.

Lars snickered.

“What?”

I knew what was coming—like the red blinking lights that warned of a train crossing—and yet he stepped out onto the tracks anyway.

“One day this is going to be you,” he jeered with a grin. “Freaking out… getting married.”

My heart stopped and twisted in my chest, as though