Escorting the Groom (The Escort Collection Book 4) (11 page)

W
e were
all staying at The Warner, which was arguably Vegas's most upscale hotel. The wedding was scheduled in one of its private courtyards for six o'clock the following evening. I practically staggered through the lobby, awed by the opulence that surrounded me. I'd never been to Vegas before, and I was completely unprepared for the spectacle.

The hotel was enormous, with soaring ceilings and chandeliers. And there were colorfully decorated trees inside. "Those are real trees," I whispered to Nikki as we traipsed through the lobby.

"I know, right? Vegas is the coolest. It's like Disneyworld for adults!" She adjusted her crop top and looked around. "What're we doing tonight?"

"Huh?" I was still gawking at the trees and all the pretty, twinkling lights.

Nikki twisted her ponytail around her finger and smiled at me indulgently. "I asked you what we were doing tonight. But what I
should
have said is that I'm really happy for you. Lucas is gorgeous." She looked around then conspiratorially leaned toward me. "And he actually seems
nice
."

That pulled me from my reverie. "He's very nice." I smiled at my friend. "And we're having dinner tonight, all of us, at some steak house. I think it's pretty formal." I eyed her cheerleader skirt.

She smoothed it and winked at me. "I got the message, your highness. I'll clean myself up. Elena made me promise to be on my best behavior."

"And I'm sure you will be."

"What about… them?" She jerked her head in the direction of Elizabeth, Franklin, and Serena Ford. They were speaking pointedly to a concierge, seemingly oblivious to the impressive lobby.

"They're never on their best behavior as far as I can tell. We need to get them drunk and keep them drunk all weekend so they're at least tolerable. Okay? And don't let the dad hit on you. I don't want to start trouble with his wife."

"What about the senator?" Nikki asked nonchalantly.

"I think he's off-limits too, sweetie. Sorry." I patted her arm. "But we'll still have fun, okay?"

Nikki nodded. "Sure. I'm gonna go hang out by the pool for a while first."

"Okay. Thank you for being here." I gave her a hug.

"Aw, Blakey. I wouldn't miss this for the world. And I promise I'll be on my best behavior." Nikki sashayed off, probably to put on the world's smallest bikini and have margaritas by the pool.

I was still worried about what she was going to wear to dinner.

Lucas finished speaking with the concierge and headed toward me. He looked so handsome, wearing dark-rinsed jeans and a white button-down shirt. My pulse quickened as he approached.
Easy, girl
, I warned myself. I, too, needed to be on my best behavior this weekend.

He took my hand. "Let's go."

"What about the others? Jake?" I asked.

"They're fine. Jake especially." He hit the button for the top floor of the hotel, and I held my breath as we went up. What we were about to do was sinking in and it was starting to feel surreal. I was getting married to the billionaire next to me tomorrow night.
Nothing to worry about.
I was just going to be married, for money, in front of one hundred guests, a justice of the peace, and God himself.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked. "You look a little pale."

"I think I need to eat something. Too many cocktails on the plane."

"Right." He whipped out his phone and tapped something furiously into it. The elevator slowed, and he looked up. "This is us." He pulled me through the door as soon as it opened.

As far as I could see, there was only one door on this level. Lucas pressed his thumb against a scanner, and a moment later, the door swung open.

"They have your thumbprint?" I asked, completely baffled.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah. And
whoa
," I said, looking around as we walked into the suite. The room was stunning, like nothing I'd ever seen. We entered at the top of a sweeping, curved staircase. The room below was enormous and sumptuous, with a wall of windows several stories high. The marble floors sparkled in the natural light.

Lucas held out his hand to me and grinned, clearly pleased with my reaction. "My lady."

I took his hand and followed his lead down the stately staircase. When we reached the living room below, I noticed several things all at once. A fire roared in the fireplace, with multiple couches tastefully arranged around it; there was an enormous dining room with a dark, sleek table that sat twelve; pictures that looked very much like original artwork hung on the walls; and what appeared to be a private pool stretched the length of the outside patio.

I stepped closer to the windows, enthralled by the amazing view of the city, spread out in every direction. "This is our…
room
?" I could have fit five of my Southie apartments in this place.

"It's our suite." Lucas flopped down on one of the couches and checked his phone. "Hold on a minute. The butler's here. He needs to come in through the servant's entrance." He got up and headed toward the dining room.

"
Servant's
entrance?" I called after him, utterly agog.

"Yes, set it on the table," I heard him instruct. Suddenly, the man I assumed was our butler came into view along with two waiters. They set the dining room table with candles, water, wine, and plates heaped with food. Then they bowed to Lucas and headed swiftly back to their own entrance, wherever the hell that was.

I pushed my awe to the side as soon as the smell hit me.
Yum.
I hustled to the table and sat down eagerly, ogling the food. There was miso soup, vegetarian sushi, and pad thai with chicken. "How did you know I loved this sort of food?"

A small smile played on Lucas's lips as he watched me start to eat. "You have good taste. It was a logical assumption."

The soup warmed me, making my whole body relax. "I'm so hungry, I'm being rude. Please, sit and join me." I calmed down as I continued to eat. Vegas had already shocked and awed me, and we'd only just checked in.

"My pleasure." Lucas sat down. "We'll go apply for the marriage license after this. We have to go to the county clerk's office."

"I know." I nodded. "We need to present our identification, and then the clerk can issue the license." I'd done my research. I didn't want to come all this way and have technical difficulties derail our plans.

"Perfect," Lucas said. "And then we have a dinner reservation at nine. That should be… interesting."

"With four escorts and your family?" I arched an eyebrow at him. "That might be the understatement of the year."

* * *

L
UCAS

"The trick is," Nikki said, fanning herself, "to put the lime in your mouth before you've even swallowed. That makes the whole thing go down so much easier."

"How many of these have you
done
?" I asked. The world seemed to tilt as I examined the neat row of tequila shots lined up on the oak bar.

"Tonight? I dunno." Nikki shrugged and handed me another shot. "Don't worry about me. I do this all the time. This is like a Wednesday night in Southie for me, not a Friday night in Vegas. This"—she motioned to our party, a large part of whom were already intoxicated and showing it—"is strictly amateur night."

"You sure make it look easy." Jake squinted at Nikki suspiciously. "But I feel like I'm gonna puke already." I'd been keeping an eye on my friend as he'd had several bourbons on the plane, followed by a bottle of wine at dinner, then three tequila shots with Nikki. Former linebacker or not, he was starting to look a little green.

"See?" Nikki turned to me, jerking her thumb at Jake and clinking her glass to mine conspiratorially. "Amateur night."

"I'm not a freaking amateur," Jake said. He grabbed a shot off the bar and regarded it. "Let's do this. I'm a lot of things, but I'm no pussy."

Nikki downed her shot, raised an eyebrow at him, and placed the empty glass on the bar. "We'll see, big guy."

I finished off my shot then tapped Nikki on the shoulder. "You can't sleep with him. Stop flirting."

Her lip curled up. "I'm not flirting with
him
. He's a
Democrat
, for Christ's sake."

Jake's face turned stormy. "I'm from Massachusetts. Everybody from Massachusetts is a Democrat."

"Not me," Nikki said. "I'm a Libertarian. Now all we need's a decent candidate…"

Jake and Nikki looked ready to spar, but I held up my hand to stop them. My tongue felt thick and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get the words out. "Don't even hate fuck him, okay?" I begged Nikki. "I'll s'plain later."

Nikki nodded and knocked back another shot. "Got it, boss."

I scrunched my eyes up at her. "Did Blake tell you to call me that?"

"No." Nikki adjusted her dress and looked at me as if I were crazy.

"Where is she, anyway?" I turned around and looked through the bar with squinted eyes. That had been my seventh shot. Plus, all the wine I'd guzzled at dinner sitting across from my father, trying to numb my brain. I should have known better, but damn, I couldn't let Nikki drink me under the table.

But she was sitting upright, and I was squinting. Epic fail.

I saw Blake still sitting at the table with Serena, engrossed in a conversation about God only knew what.

"She's with your sister—oh, fuck," Jake said. "You better go get her. Rescue her and shit." His voice sounded slurry, but maybe my ears were just fuzzy.

"Okay." I stood up, not at all steadily. "Remember, I'm bunking with you tonight." I patted Jake on the chest.

"Right, right," he said, but I could tell I'd already lost his attention to Nikki. I headed over toward Blake and my sister. "Blakey," I interrupted, "can I talk to you?"

"Blakey?" Serena asked. The two bottles of wine she'd polished off at dinner had done nothing to help her attitude. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," I said. It came out
srlsy.

My sister furrowed her brow and watched as Blake stood up and walked me out of Serena’s earshot, wrapping her arms around me to offer support.

"Did you do shots with Nikki? A lot of them?" she asked, clearly concerned as she struggled underneath my weight.

I nodded at her. I didn't want to seem like I couldn't carry my liquor, or worse, tell her I liked her.

"You need to go to bed." She turned back to Serena. "Will you excuse me? He clearly needs help."

Serena nodded. "You're a better woman than I am." She looked at me with thinly veiled disgust.

"Damn right," I said.

"Lucas, stop." Blake looked at Serena apologetically. "See you tomorrow."

My sister shocked me by giving Blake a sympathetic smile. "Good luck with him. You're going to need it. I'm gonna go get hammered. My family's driving me to drink, as usual."

"Were you two being
friendly
?" I watched as Serena made a beeline for the bartender. "What the hell were you talking about?"

"I'll tell you when you can think straight." Blake herded me toward the elevator.

"Twentieth floor," I croaked.

"We're on the top floor, babe," she reminded me gently.

"Not me. I'm sleeping with Jake tonight." I slumped against the cool wall of the elevator, relishing the smooth feeling against my hot skin.

"Why? We have more than one bedroom. Plus, I don't think you should be too worried about breaking your celibacy vow tonight," she said, eyeing me.

"But it's tradition," I insisted. "The bride and groom have to sleep apart."

"You're exaggerating the rule—they're just not supposed to see each other before the ceremony." Blake sighed. "Plus, I need your thumbprint to get into the room."

I shoved my phone at her. "Text Jake. Make him come get me."

Blake groaned. "He looked like he was more interested in getting Nikki."

"Just do it," I begged.

"Fine." She grabbed my phone, texted quickly, then hauled me out of the elevator. She took my thumb and pressed it against the scanner. The door swung open, and Blake eyed the winding staircase. "Ugh…"

"I can do it." At this point, I was pretty sure that it was my words that were fuzzy rather than my ears.

"Put your arm around me," Blake snapped. We hobbled down the stairs, and she deposited me, somewhat abruptly, on one of the couches. She hustled off and came back with a glass of water and two pills. "Ibuprofen," she explained. "Take them before you die, or wish you had."

I swallowed the pills and looked up at her. She was a little blurry. "Does my sister
like
you?" I asked.

"No. I mean, she likes me more than she likes
you
, but that's not really saying anything." Blake flopped down across from me. "She wanted to talk about Robert. She was just drunk. And lonely. Weddings can be hard for people."

I perked up. "Thass good. I'm gonna take care of that."

"What do you mean? Oh, never mind. Just lie back and close your eyes. You look like you're going to fall over." She came over and adjusted me, putting a pillow behind my head. "Amateur," she said under her breath.

"I heard that."

"Good," Blake said. "I can't believe you let Nikki drink you under the table. She's never going to let you live this down."