The chic little restaurant where my friends and I have had breakfast the past few days is just a few blocks from Will’s hotel, but even this early, the Nevada sun is hot. I wish I had more comfortable shoes for the walk, but the dress that Will gave me is light and airy and keeps the heat from being too oppressive.

Before we left the hotel, Will asked that I still wear the ring, just to see how I feel about it. I agreed because the ring itself is gorgeous, and diamonds are, after all, a girl’s best friend. It shines so brightly in the desert sun that I’m convinced that everyone on the street is going to be blinded by it. I can’t stop glancing down at it, amazed that I like it so much. “You picked it,” Will says beside me, taking my hand. “I think it suits you, but it was entirely your choice.”

“I wish I remembered…” I say. I do wish that. I wish I remembered some of the happy frenzy that would have led to this strange situation. Then maybe I’d feel a little more joy instead of feeling mostly confused.

Will kisses my hand. “Maybe you will.”

“Maybe…”

He deftly changes the subject. “Are you flying home in coach?”

“Yes,” I say, making a face, and he laughs. “I’ll probably have someone leaning on me, mouth open, sleeping.”

“Well,” he says, a mischievous grin on his face, “I was going to offer to take you home on my private plane, if that’s something you’d be interested in. At the very least it’s better than being crammed into coach.”

I have to pick up my jaw off the sidewalk. “You have a private plane?”

“I have several.”

“So you’re a millionaire? I married a millionaire?” I give him a pointed look up and down, raising one eyebrow.

One side of his mouth curls up. “I’ve been lucky enough to be successful.”

“Seriously though, tell me.”

“I will,” he says, laughing, “but at the moment your friends have spotted us, and from the looks on their faces they expected you to be alone.”

I follow his gaze, and I see Anna, Elizabeth, and Naomi, all frozen mid-conversation. They’re not looking at me, they’re looking at Will. Not that I blame them in the least. In the light of day and not the dark atmosphere of the club he’s almost too perfect to be believed. A sudden prick of pride appears in my chest that he’s holding my hand, that he chose me. Where did that come from?

Their silence continues while we approach the table, and I sit down in the seat they saved for me while Will swipes a chair from a nearby table and sits beside me. “Morning, ladies,” he says, the perfect gentleman. All three of their gazes switch to me, and then Naomi bursts out laughing. “Damn, girl.”

Anna is laughing too. “I guess I understand why you woke up so late.”

I blush. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Though I feel a burst of moisture between my legs as I remember him holding me against his mouth. If I get up from this table and there’s a wet spot on the back of this new dress, I will never live it down. “Maybe Will was just being a gentleman and let me sleep in.”

“Oh,” Anna says. “Will. I thought it was Wilcox? Or is he so good that you can’t bring yourself to talk about his cock? I’m sorry, I mean his Cox.”

Totally surprising me, Will bursts out laughing. “I’ve actually never heard that one before. Congratulations.”

Anna makes a mock bow in her chair. Elizabeth still hasn’t said anything. She’s by far the shyest of us, even though we all know she can be wild when she has a few drinks. I know the idea of even having a one-night stand would be the farthest thing from her mind. Showing up to breakfast with him in tow, basically proving that you had sex, must be mildly mortifying. “You okay, Lizzie?” I ask, reaching for the glass in front of my plate, and she gasps.

Shit. I forgot that I had the ring on, and now her eyes are locked on it, and I hear the echoing gasps from my other friends. Not exactly the way I was planning on telling them.

Will takes my left hand and weaves his fingers through mine, keeping my hand, and the ring, face up and visible. “I suppose you can be the first to congratulate us.”

Naomi’s mouth is wide open. “Is that—”

“A wedding ring, yes,” Will finishes her question. “It happened last night.”

Anna looks at me, clearly wanting to ask what the hell is going on, but not wanting to in front of Will. He’s gone from being the object of teasing to an object of suspicion, and the atmosphere clearly indicates that.

Will clears his throat. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He presses a kiss to my cheek and leaves, wandering toward the rest room at the back of the restaurant.

As soon as he’s out of earshot, Naomi pounces. “When I said I wanted you to have a good time, this isn’t what I meant.”

“I know, I know,” I say. “I don’t remember it happening. I woke up and the ring was on my finger.”

“So why aren’t you at the chapel undoing it?” Anna asks, still unable to take her eyes off the ring.

I look at the ring too, sparkling bright like both a beacon and a warning. There’s a damn lighthouse on my finger. “He says he doesn’t want to fix it. He wants to stay married.”

“If he’s pressuring you to do that, I swear to god, Sandy—”

“He’s not, Anna,” I say, even though I can’t even believe I’m saying it. “He’s so sure, that I’m…intrigued.”

Naomi doesn’t look impressed. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I say. “He asked that we put the whole being married thing aside and just see how it goes. Like…dating, I guess.”

“But you stay married while you do it?”

I nod, taking a sip of water. There’s a growing confidence in my voice, and I suddenly feel more comfortable. Talking it out with my friends, I can suddenly see the benefits. “Honestly, would it really be so bad?”

“It could be,” Elizabeth chimes in softly.

“Maybe,” I admit, I push through the anger that bubbles up at my next thought. “But it could also be great. I was with Wyatt for two years and I got blindsided. Maybe there’s something about gut instinct here that’s worth paying attention to you. And besides, even staying married for just the sex would be tempting.”

The smiles return to my friends’ faces. “That good?” Naomi asks.

“Oh. My. God. You don’t even know.”

Anna bursts out laughing. “Well, one thing for sure is that you deserve some amazing sex.”

I can’t help myself from grinning. “I’m really confused,” I say honestly. “This isn’t something I wanted, and I can’t believe that it happened. But when he says he thinks there’s more between us than a one-night-stand, I believe him. So I’m going to give it a chance. What I need from you guys is for you to give him a chance too, but also tell me what you really think of him, once you get to know him a little better.”

They all look back and forth between each other before Elizabeth is the one to voice their consent. “We can do that.”

“But if he hurts you, I reserve the right to kick him in the balls,” Anna says.

I laugh, raising my glass to her. “I wouldn’t want anything less.”

The waiter appears and serves everyone their food, including the omelette that Anna ordered for me. Soon after, Will reappears. “Sorry,” Anna says to him. “We would have ordered you something if we knew you were coming.”

He waves a hand. “It was last minute. I can grab something on the plane. Speaking of which …” He reaches under the table and squeezes my knee, and my stomach flips at the casual way he touches me. “I already asked Sandy. I’ve offered to take her home on my private plane. You’re more than welcome to join us. It will likely be more comfortable.”

Naomi looks at me and raises an eyebrow like she’s chastising me for leaving out the fact that he’s rich. I can only shrug because I’ve barely processed that myself. “Hell yeah,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to see what one of those private planes is actually like.” The other two say yes as well.

“So, Will,” Anna says. “What do you do that lets you afford private jets?”

“I recently took over the family business.”

“Which is what?” she presses.

He smiles. “Hotels. My family and I own the Emerald hotel chain, and several others.”

The Emerald is where we met last night, and where I woke up this morning. No wonder we got into the VIP booth with such ease and he had such an amazing room. The Emerald hotel chain is international and they’re known for having some of the most exclusive, luxurious properties in the world. Holy shit. The looks on my friends’ faces are probably the same as mine. While black out drunk, I married one of the richest men in the world. I can’t even begin to know how to process that.

“What brought you to Vegas?” Elizabeth asks.

“Honestly,” Will says, “I was just blowing off a little steam. I hadn’t had the best week, and wanted to relax. Then I saw Sandy, and the rest is history.” The way he’s looking at me makes my tummy flip over again.

As promised, he lets us grill him over the meal. He has a younger sister, his mother died a few years ago, he doesn’t come to Vegas very often, but this weekend it was convenient because he had been in California the week before. His favorite color is dark green, and I blush as I realize the color of my dress is his favorite. The fact that it looks amazing but is also his favorite is somehow a sweet coincidence.

I didn’t look at the dress when I put it on, I didn’t look at the label, and I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even really think about the fact that he had a dress delivered for me in the middle of the night or that he let me choose out a diamond—any diamond—without question. “Where did you get the dress?” I ask.

“Marchesa,” he says. “Their store here is near the jewelry store and it gave me the idea.”

Which means the dress I’m wearing is easily over a thousand dollars. At least. Wow. I sit back in my chair. “This is insane.”

Will grins. “Why?”

“Because I’m an accountant. I do people’s taxes and I don’t get paid very much for it. I’m not used to wearing dresses that cost a month’s salary.”

He doesn’t anything, just smirks. I know what that little smile is saying too, that as long as I’m with him, I might as well get used to it.

Everyone finishes their meals, and Will calls a car for all of us, swinging by our (much less expensive) hotel to check out and gather our things. And I finally get to put on a pair of underwear and not worry about the fact that I might ruin the most expensive piece of clothing I’ve ever owned because Will unexpectedly arouses me, or I get too carried away remembering last night and how he made me feel.

Car is a poor excuse for what carries us to the airport. It’s a limo, and the driver takes our bags and arranges them in the back while we all pile inside. Will settles his arm around my waist, pulling me close, and I like it. I like the way our bodies behave with each other, the intimate familiarity. Maybe it was a good thing that we met the way we did—when our intention was just sex. We got that tension out of the way, and at the very least, touching is common ground. It’s easy. I don’t think the rest of it will be as easy as he thinks, but one can hope.

As if he’s reading my thoughts, Will turns his head and presses a kiss to my forehead. I close my eyes, examining the feelings that rise up in my chest. Longing and desire and comfort. It’s strange that these things are so strong. Wyatt never made me feel them with this kind of intensity. I don’t know if it’s because he broke my heart that I can’t remember, or because he never actually inspired that kind of emotion in me. Which makes me wonder, if he never did, why was I with him for so long? What kind of relationship did we have if a man I’ve known for one day can make me feel more than Wyatt did in two years? The anger bubbles up, but now it’s grappling for attention with my own confusion and the desire that I have for Will. It’s exhausting.

I open my eyes to see Anna looking at the two of us. She’s taking everything in from the way Will’s arm is tucked around my waist to the way I’ve relaxed against him. Seeing me looking, she gives me a small smile. I understand her wariness and I’m grateful for it. If anyone is going to keep me safe, it’s Anna. She would have tracked down Wyatt and done him some serious bodily harm if I had let her.

We pull into the airport, but not into the terminal like regular passengers. It is exactly like the movies where we head directly out onto the tarmac where the plane is waiting. The driver of the car passes our bags to the flight staff as we board. My friends are whispering and giggling, and I don’t blame them. This isn’t exactly how we thought we’d be going home today. It’s more than overwhelming. As we board the plane behind them, a thought strikes me, and I turn to face Will as he finishes climbing the stairs. “If you want to give this a try, how is it going to work if we’re long distance.”

“We’re not,” he says lightly. “I’m from New York too.”

“How do you know I’m from New York?”

“You told me,” he says, “last night, over champagne and strawberries. This was before the wedding. It’s one of the reasons I agreed.”

He moves to walk past me, and I grab his arm, stopping him. “Wait, ‘agreed?’”

“Agreed to marry you. It was your idea.”

He moves past me and tells the pilot we’re ready to take off, leaving me gawking in the galley of the plane.