Shit, shit, shit.

“Cancel the rest of the day. If you need me I’ll be at my place,” Sean said over his shoulder to Harriet as he hit the call button on the elevator several times. What the hell was his mother doing here? A ball of dread settled in his stomach as he thought about taking the stairs instead, but down twenty-three flights? It would be faster to wait. After what seemed like twenty minutes, but he knew couldn’t have been more than two, the door opened and he stepped inside.

Hitting the buttons for the ground floor and to close the door at the same time he considered sending Ree a text, but what would he say? Run? Panic? Sorry? No. It would just be better if he could get there and deal with it himself. His mother wasn’t unreasonable, but she would be angry and hurt that he hadn't told her he was getting married and she wouldn’t understand his not telling her before now.

As soon as the doors parted on the ground floor, he rushed out. On the street, he broke into a jog, ignoring the strange and indignant looks as the single block between the building that housed his corporate office and his apartment building seemed to stretch for miles. Eventually he was once more in an elevator waiting to reach the right floor. Barely winded after the short trip he used the time to catch his breath and straighten his clothes, so it didn’t look like he’d raced right over. He could only pray his mother hadn’t scared Ree badly enough to make her leave. How badly would that have to be? Sean had no clue.

The elevator door opened on the top floor and he didn’t hear screaming. He wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. Had Ree packed up and left or had she talked his mother down? He knew his mother could be difficult when she thought she was protecting him. Sometimes he’d wished he wasn’t an only child so she would have someone else to spread her protective instincts over, but the older he got, the less convinced he became that it would have helped.

He stopped in front of the door to his penthouse and listened for just a moment. Now the silence on the other side seemed eerie. After only a moment’s hesitation he pasted a smile on his face, then unlocked the door and let himself in, half convinced he was going to find his bride packing.

“Ree?” he called as he stepped in the door, hoping it looked like he was just coming in from the office and didn’t know his mother was there.

“Ree?” his mother snapped right away, making Sean realize he’d used the name he’d been calling his bride in his head. She spun and looked at Sabrina who sat on the couch, a glass of ice and what looked like water, though after dealing with his mother, he wouldn’t blame her if it was vodka, dangling from a hand propped on her knee as she lounged on the sofa, looking comfortable. “I thought you said your name is Sabrina?”

“It is Mom. Think about it a second. Sa-BREE-na.” He tried to fix his faux pas. “Ree is my pet name for her, you know, like Dad calls you Lainey. Though, Ree is much more like Sabrina than Lainey from Colleen. And what are you doing here anyway?” He set his keys on the table next to the phone and went to stand next to Sabrina. He wanted to bend down and give her a kiss that let her know how much he’d missed her while he was at work, but he didn’t want to set his mother off again.

“Can a mother not check in on her only child?” She pretended to look hurt. “I haven’t heard from you in days. You normally call when you come back from Florida and I hadn’t heard a word.”

“So instead of picking up a phone and checking in, you drove three hours to check on me?” He knew there was more to it than she was admitting to, especially with her wearing designer jeans.

“Well, no. I was in town. I’m having dinner with some girlfriends.”

“So you stopped by the penthouse, why?” He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You knew I would likely be in the office.”

“Well,” she looked at her feet a moment and Sean knew the truth was about to come out, “I needed to use the restroom. I wasn’t expecting to come in to find music blasting and someone making themselves at home in your kitchen.”

“But you thought it was a good idea to attack Ree for making herself at home in her home when you were going to do the same, despite the fact that not only do you not live here, you don’t even live in town.” He folded his arms across his chest. “How often have you done this before?” It had never occurred to him she would have “popped in” when he wasn’t home. He was over thirty and had no reason to believe his mother was making surprise visits to his home when he wasn’t there. If he had, he probably wouldn’t have given her a key or the code to the elevator. He stared at his mother with hard eyes, waiting for her to respond, to say something, anything to defend herself.

“I don’t do it often.” His mother at least had the decency look embarrassed. “And you never would have known if you had told me you got married.”

“Not got, am getting. But soon enough it doesn’t matter.”

Fire flashed in his mother’s eyes. “You haven’t done it yet?”

“No but only because of legalities. Push me and we’ll hop on a plane in the next hour and be married by sundown.”

“I can’t believe my only son would elope and not let your father and I see you married.” She put on hand on her chest as if she was stricken with shock. Sean couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“I can’t believe you use my home as your own personal gas station.”

“Well, I never!” She clutched her purse strap. “Your father will hear about this.” She turned on her heel and marched out. She didn’t slam the door, but she did let it close with a loud smack.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start a fight between you and your mom.”

Sean looked down at Ree where she sat just as she’d been when he’d walked in, one hand draped carelessly over her raised knee. Giving into the urge he bent and kissed her soft lips.

“No worries. She only gets like that when she knows she’s in the wrong. Give her a few days, she’ll call, act like it never happened, and be sweet as pie.”

“Really?” She looked skeptical.

“Really.” Sean shook his head. “I don’t get why Dad doesn’t tell her to knock it off, well, once in a while he does, but she doesn’t pull that crap much when he’s around. Maybe that’s why.” He sat on the edge of the sofa next to her. “I only threatened to hop on a plane to piss her off, but let’s do it.”

“Do what?”

“Let’s fly to Vegas and get married. Today. Right now.”

“That’s silly. We already have the license, we can get married here in two more days.”

“What’s the point in all this money if we don’t use some of it sometimes? Besides. I don’t want to wait. I want to slide between the sheets tonight with my bride, not my fiancée.”

“But—” Ree’s eyes went wide and she started to protest then exhaled in a heavy rush. “Let’s do it. How quickly do I need to be ready to leave?”

“Let me make a call, but is twenty minutes too soon?”

“Nope, what do I need to pack?”

“Whatever you want to get married in.”

“You got it.” She sat up, put her glass on the coffee table and reached for him. He was a little surprised by the fervor of her kiss before she stood, taking her glass with her. Damn, he could use a drink after that. Instead, he pulled out his cell and called Harriet.

“Have Nate meet us at the airport, I want the plane gassed and ready to go in an hour.”

“Yes, sir. And where are you going?” He knew they needed to file a flight plan before they could take off.

“Las Vegas.”

“Yes, sir. Anything else?”

“Yeah, get a limo to pick us up. I want to go all out on this.” He took a deep breath and gave her the rest of the details as they came to him. It might be an elopement, but it would still be a real wedding for his Ree. When he finished on the phone he went in the bedroom and tucked a few things into a bag. He had plans and he wanted to do this right. He wanted to see how Ree liked what he had in mind.