Alessia

On any other day in my life, the guy standing in front of me never would have noticed me. In my normal clothes, with my hair pulled back in a ponytail, and without much makeup, I would have faded into the background of all the beautiful girls surrounding us. But with my sister treating me like her very own dress-up doll before we’d left the apartment, I looked like I belonged in the nightclub she’d dragged me to.

My discomfort at wearing the tiny scrap of material Ariana had insisted was a dress had turned to irritation when the Uber driver had gotten all skeevy with us during the ride over. It had amped up to annoyance when one of the bouncers had stared at my boobs while Ariana had talked to the bigger guy who she was friends with. Then it’d morphed into outright anger when a smelly drunk guy wouldn’t take no for an answer. But all of my frustration was worth it when I laid eyes on the super-hot guy who came to my rescue.

He put the phrase “tall, dark, and handsome” to shame. Sure, he was tall. But not to the point where he towered over me in an intimidating way. Instead, his height made me feel almost dainty...and protected. His athletic build had me wondering what he looked like under his expensive clothing. He also had the requisite dark hair, overdue for a haircut but rumpled in a just-rolled-out-of-bed way that made me want to run my fingers through the almost-black locks. And then there were his gorgeous blue eyes, framed by thick lashes any woman would kill to have. All of that added up to a guy who was way out of my league, but he didn’t seem to agree since his attention was squarely focused on me. Which was completely insane, considering how my sister was making me sound completely lame...while being completely honest about me. I fully expected him to lose interest in me before our drinks were poured, but I was proven wrong when the bartender slid a vodka tonic in front of him while Ariana and I sipped on our cocktails.

“To my sister’s white knight.” Ariana lifted her glass to tap it against mine and then the hot guy’s. When she jabbed a finger in my lower back, I followed suit.

“As much as I like it, being called white knight is going to get old quickly. How about you call me Alec instead?” he suggested.

“Alec,” I repeated softly.

His blue eyes heated as his gaze dropped to my lips. “Alec Rourke.” He reached out a hand, and I slid my palm against his. “And you’re Alessia?”

“Yes.” I took another sip of my drink to cover my nervousness. “Alessia Valenti.”

“And I’m her sister, Ariana.”

“Nice to meet you.” Alec’s reply was directed at me, as though he hadn’t heard my sister.

“Yeah. You, too.” My voice was all breathy because he traced my palm with his thumb before letting go of my hand. The rough glide of his skin against mine sent goosebumps up my arm.

“Thanks for breaking your rule and letting me buy you a drink.”

I swiveled on my stool and glared at my sister. Fat lot of good it did for me since she didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it as she smiled and waggled her brows. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Alec. “I wouldn’t say it’s a rule, exactly. Clubs are more my sister’s thing. I’m usually too busy to come with her, but I was having a bad day and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So here I am.”

“That earned your sister as many vodka sodas as she can drink.”

I snorted. Yes, actually snorted. I would have been mortified, except my sister’s delighted laughter covered the sound up for me. “You’re going to regret that offer. Ariana is an expert clubber, and she’s got the drinking skills to show for it.”

“Drinking skills?” Ariana laughed. “You make it sound like I’m going to do tricks, like I’m going to pop a handstand and finish my drink while I’m upside down or something.”

I swiveled around again. “It’s been at least ten years since you tried to do a handstand.” I looked down at the hem of her dress where it rested on her upper thighs. “And there’s no way I’d ever let you try to do one in that outfit. You’d flash your underwear at everyone in this place.”

“Panties,” she corrected me.

My face heated with embarrassment, something I should have been used to happening around my sister. I jerked around and found Alec coughing into his fist, trying to cover his bark of laughter. He lost the battle when my sister continued, “And it’s not like I need that kind of attention since Alec already volunteered to buy all my drinks tonight. I don’t need to worry about flirting my way through the club and can just sit here and relax while I watch you two in action.”

“Please tell me she did not just say that,” I groaned. I took another swing of my drink, in desperate need of the alcohol if I was going to have to put up with my sister’s antics all night.

Alec’s gaze dropped to my now-empty glass, and his blue eyes twinkled with humor. “How about I buy another round, and you can tell me why your day was so bad?”

“Umm,” I mumbled.

“Sounds like a brilliant idea to me,” Ariana chimed in. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw her lift an arm and signal the bartender over to us. Before I could object, she ordered more drinks and told him to make mine a double.

Since my tolerance for alcohol sucked, I told myself I’d drink it more slowly. But when I met Alec’s eyes again and found them locked squarely on me, I yanked my new cocktail out of the bartender’s hand before he could set it down in front of me and took several gulps from it.

Warm fingers wrapped around my hand and tugged the glass out of my grasp. Once he’d placed it just out of my reach, Alec threaded his fingers through mine and squeezed gently. “There’s no need to be nervous, beautiful.”

“I’m not—” I paused since I was about to lie, and I wasn’t going to do a good job of it. “What I meant to say is that I’m really thirsty.”

“Bring her a glass of water, too,” Alec told the bartender when he brought over his vodka tonic.

I narrowed my eyes at him in irritation. “Who said I wanted water?”

"You said you’re thirsty,” he reminded me.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, earning me a sexy grin.

“Plus, I don't want too much alcohol to be the reason why you decide I can see your panties,” Alec drawled, offering me a wink. “Not the first time, anyway.”

He was confident—almost to the point of being cocky. It would normally be a huge turn-off for me, but it somehow just made Alec hotter.

“You know what? Now that you mention it, water sounds like a brilliant idea.” Or else I wouldn’t just show Alec my panties, I’d be drop them for him...and a whole lot more.

I drank the water, but then I followed it up with what seemed to be a bottomless Malibu cocktail. I hadn’t factored my sister into my plan to stay semi-sober, and Alec didn’t know how devious she could be. His focus was mainly on me, and I didn’t think he realized how she kept switching out my drink whenever she ordered herself another one. Since he’d handed over his credit card to open a tab for the third round, he wasn’t paying close attention to what all she ordered—which was a lot. Ariana was having way too much fun watching me get all flustered around him, and she knew that drinking would help yank me out of my shell.

“So I’ve told you all about my crappy day”—although I’d left out the part about my boss sexually harassing me because I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about it yet, no amount of alcohol would change that after the way the woman from human resources hadn’t been willing to listen to a word I’d tried to say—“and managed to mortify myself with the amount of information I’ve shared. It’s your turn to either make a mad dash for the exit to get away from me or tell me something embarrassing about yourself to make up for everything I’ve said so far.”

“If you think anything you’ve told me tonight is going to scare me off, you’re sorely mistaken,” he swore.

“Whoa,” I breathed. Common sense told me it was a line he was feeding me, but my heart felt like it did a little flip in my chest anyway. In an effort to dampen my reaction to him, I took another gulp of my drink. When I realized it was full again, I turned to glare at my sister.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” I mouthed to her.

“No, I’m pretty sure you don’t,” she whispered, waving her hand in Alec’s direction and drawing my attention back to him.

I gripped the edge of my stool with my free hand when my head got a little fuzzy as I swung it his way again. “C’mon. Fess up, and make it super embarrassing or else.”

He tilted his head to the side, and a dark lock of hair flopped onto his forehead. Without thinking, I reached out and pushed it back into place. Alec had started to answer, but the words died out as his heated eyes locked on my hand.

“Oh. Crap! Sorry,” I muttered, yanking my fingers away from him and twisting my hands in my lap. “I didn’t mean to violate your personal space like that.”

“Feel free to violate away, any time you’d like,” he offered.

Those panties I’d been worried about dropping for him got damper with that one. He wasn’t just cocky; he was way too smooth for my own good. But that didn’t stop me from staying right where I was. “Only if you start talking.”

“My mom has naked pictures of me in the bath from when I was little, which I’m sure she’ll take great pleasure in showing you. Is that embarrassing enough?”

“Only if she’s wandering around this club right now, ready to pull them out of her purse.” I shook my head and sighed deeply.

“If we were in Chicago at one of my brother’s nightclubs, I wouldn’t put it past her. But she and my dad didn’t come out for the wedding, so we’re safe from her for now.”

“Chicago? Clubs? Wedding?” Ariana parroted him.

“I’m in Vegas for a wedding tomorrow. I went to high school with the bride, and the groom is one of my teammates. Cee-Cee fell in love with one of his family’s hotels here in Vegas, so they brought everyone out for the wedding. My brother and his wife are here too since she’s best friends with the bride.”

“And this brother of yours owns nightclubs? In Chicago?” my sister asked.

I was less concerned with his brother, and more interested in something else he’d said. “Teammate?”

“Yeah, Jason and I play hockey together for the Chicago Cavaliers. My brother, Andrew, used to play too. But he’s older than me and when he retired after a bad injury, he sunk most of his earnings into a couple of bars. It’s a tough business, but he’s done pretty well for himself. He owns some restaurants now, too.”

I shifted backwards in my seat a little. Alec wasn’t just a hot guy. He was a professional hockey player with a brother who was rich enough to own multiple businesses. And he had friends who owned hotels, for goodness sake. Meanwhile, I was jobless and soon-to-be homeless. I gulped down the rest of my drink and nudged the empty glass towards my sister, all while wondering what the heck a guy like him could possibly see in a girl like me. Especially after I’d shared enough with him to know how vast the differences between the two of us were.

Ariana patted me softly on the back, offering comfort while she ordered all of us another round. Knowing how awkward I felt didn’t stop her from questioning Alec further, though.

“If the wedding’s tomorrow, when are you heading back to Chicago?”

Alec’s blue eyes scanned my face before he answered. “I was supposed to leave the day after the wedding, but I think I’m going to have to change those plans. The season ended a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t have a pressing reason to get back home. But I have found one for staying longer.”

“Me?” I gasped.

“Of course you, silly.” Ariana scooched off her stool and fanned herself. "After watching the two of you eye-fuck each other all night, I think I might be pregnant."

“We haven’t been eye-fucking each other!” I protested.

“Maybe you haven’t, but I sure as hell have eye-banged the fuck out of you tonight.” Alec’s gaze dropped to my boobs, lingering there for a moment before traveling further down to my thighs which were only partially covered by the bottom of the dress my sister had talked me into wearing. “Not that any guy in this place would blame me since you’re unbelievably gorgeous.”

I crossed my legs, and he groaned. “Stop,” I protested weakly.

His blue eyes blazed into mine. “Never.”

“On that note, I think we should hit another club. The walk will help cool both of you off a little,” Ariana suggested. “The place where I work is only about six blocks down the Strip. I need to check in to see if I was able to pick up an extra shift tomorrow anyway, so why don’t we head there?”

“Do you want to go to your sister’s club?” Alec asked.

“It’s not her club the way your brother’s is his,” I corrected.

“You know what I mean, beautiful. The game plan is your call. I’m up for whatever you want to do.”

“You heard the man. You want to stay or go?” She widened her eyes and looked towards the door in a gesture that made it obvious which option she wanted me to choose.

“Go,” I sighed.

Alec slid off his stool and motioned to the bartender, who brought over his credit card and our bill. He barely glanced at the total. He just added a whopper of a tip, signed his name, and then helped me down. It was a good thing he did, or else I would have fallen over since my legs felt like jelly from sitting for so long. Or at least that’s what I told myself as we made our way out of the club. I felt light-headed, but the fresh air didn’t help much.

Alec kept his arm wrapped around my waist as the three of us walked down the sidewalk. My crazy sister, who knew darn well that I was already drunk, stopped at the frozen daiquiri window at the bar next door and ordered three of the yard-long drinks in different flavors.

“Ariana,” I muttered.

“What?” She shrugged her shoulders and tried to look innocent. “It’s hot out and a frozen drink sounded perfect for our walk.”

While Alec paid, she shoved a strawberry daiquiri into my hand and claimed the peach one for herself.

“I guess it’s a good thing I like lime,” Alec chuckled. He shoved his wallet back into his pocket, picked up his drink, and reached out his free hand to grab mine.

Our walk should have only taken ten minutes, tops, but Ariana found a reason for us to stop every block or so along the way. Once it was because there was a woman walking around with a basket of roses, and she convinced Alec that I needed a flower. Not that it took much to talk him into it, and one quickly turned into the whole basket. The next time we stopped, it was because our daiquiris were finished and she insisted that we needed to try the margaritas from the place we’d just passed. So we’d doubled back and went inside to order three of them to go. By the time we were a few doors down from the club where she worked, I was beyond drunk. Alec was helping me walk, but he was starting to get a little unsteady on his feet too.

“Hey! I’ve got a great idea,” Ariana cried, pointing at the pink and white building across the street. “Didn’t you say you’re in town for a friend’s wedding? We should stop over there and see if one of their Elvis’s is available to do the vows for them! Wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

“What? No!” I yanked on her arm to try to stop her from darting across the street. It didn’t do me any good, and Alec and I followed after her. “Ariana, didn’t you hear what Alec said earlier? His teammate’s family owns the hotel where they’re getting married. They’re not the kind of people who want Elvis to officiate the wedding.”

“I don’t know.” Alec flung his arm over my shoulder. “Jason and Cee-Cee managed to worm their way out of a real bachelor and bachelorette party. It would serve them right if I hired an Elvis to crash their wedding. Or maybe just to show up for the reception afterwards so Jason’s mom doesn’t try to kick my ass. That woman scares me.”

“You really want to do this?”

“Yup.”

We stumbled inside the chapel to arrange for a practical joke on his friends for their reception. Things got fuzzy after that, including how I ended up in his bed with his ring on my finger.