Waking Up Wed. Christy Jeffries

he heard her cross behind him to the opposite side of the room. He hoped she wasn’t physically distancing herself in fear that he was some sort of pervert and might attack her. She probably sensed the way his body was responding to her, and he couldn’t blame her for taking precautions.

      “We’re supposed to meet the rest of the wedding party for brunch in less than thirty minutes,” she said as he made the first cup. “Do you think they’ll wonder whether something is wrong if neither one of us shows?”

      “Why wouldn’t we show up for bunch? I, for one, am starving. Did we even have dinner last night?”

      “Don’t ask me,” Kylie said, then thanked him for the mug he offered. She sat in one of the chairs, and he wondered if her legs were as shaky as his. “After we left the cocktail lounge, everything else that happened last night is pretty vague. And what do you mean ‘why wouldn’t we show up for brunch’? We can’t walk in there, in front of all our friends, and act as if nothing’s out of the ordinary.”

      “Why can’t we? They obviously weren’t there last night or they would’ve put a stop to...you know.” Drew gestured toward the empty souvenir cups littering the hotel room, leaving any mention of the impromptu wedding unsaid.

      “That’s a good point. So you think we should just act as if nothing happened? I mean, I don’t want to lie to my friends, but if we play everything off as though we had a bit too much to drink and don’t remember last night clearly, that would be the truth, right?”

      Drew had been raised to believe that an omission was just as serious as a lie. But it wasn’t as though he needed to broadcast their mistake to the world or make it anyone’s business. He didn’t know what to do. Nothing about this situation was sitting well. Including the way Kylie’s sweet green eyes pleaded with him.

      He was a problem solver by nature and wished he could just give her some advice and then walk away. But this was one problem he didn’t know how to solve.

      “Can I ask you a question?” He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

      “Sure, but I can’t guarantee I’ll know the answer.”

      “What are your thoughts on marriage? Not this marriage, per se, but in general. I mean, you’re an attractive woman. You’re smart. And clearly, you know how to have fun. So is there a reason why you’re not married?”

      She sank her head back against the chair as if the question exhausted her. But Drew was used to waiting for people to explain things in their own ways. So he stood there, gripping his coffee mug and glasses, waiting for her answer.

      “I really have no idea why I’m not married. Heaven knows I’ve dated enough men that you’d think I would’ve found Mr. Right by now.” That wasn’t exactly the answer Drew was hoping to hear. Sure, Kylie was pretty, and he could see why any red-blooded male would want to go out with her, but he could’ve done without the knowledge that had an active dating calendar.

      “To me, marriage is a serious commitment,” he said, trying to make a point.

      “Which we entered into lightly.” Kylie’s posture, even when seated, was tall and impressive, and Drew doubted she could sit up any straighter.

      “But still, we entered into it and everything it entails.”

      “Listen, I get it that not everyone believes in divorce. But I’m sure we can get an annulment or something that wouldn’t taint your beliefs or your reputation.”

      “Some people might see that as a solution. Yet I have a feeling that we took vows before God.”

      Kylie looked ready to bolt and probably would’ve run as far from him as she could if he wasn’t standing in between her and her suitcase full of clothes. “We also took vows before some guy named Pistole Pepe, which I’m sure wasn’t his legal name at birth. Look, you seem like a real straitlaced guy, but there’s an exception to every rule.”

      Maybe. Kylie looked like the kind of woman who was used to making her own rules. Yet something about her fighting spirit made him question whether he wanted an exception. “I don’t know much about the legal logistics, but can we get an annulment if we consummated the marriage?”

      Her charming face blushed more crimson than he would’ve thought possible, and he wanted to kick himself for embarrassing the poor woman. She was definitely shyer than she let on.

      Despite the heat staining her cheekbones, she sat up even straighter. But her voice was a mere whisper when she finally spoke. “Did we...?”

      Once again, he wanted to put her fears to rest, but he honestly had no idea. He felt like a complete idiot for not remembering. But the fact remained that they’d gotten married and they’d woken up together nearly naked. And did he mention that since he’d sworn off intimacy with women, he hadn’t had sex in over a year?

      “Honestly,” he said, “I don’t know. And if neither one of us knows the answer to that, then I’m guessing we also don’t know whether or not we used...um...protection?”

       Chapter Two

      “Oh, my gosh. No. No. No.” Kylie thought of every curse word ever uttered by her father and four athletic brothers, and then repeated one that would have shocked a war-weary sailor, let alone the confused doctor in front of her.

      “Sorry,” she mumbled. She hated offending Drew, who finally looked uncomfortable. It wasn’t his fault she’d sacrificed her much-practiced poise for the feistiness she usually kept hidden. “I don’t usually talk like that. I didn’t mean to let my mouth get away from me.”

      He looked at her lips and she instantly regretted the words that drew his attention there. But she was too absorbed in her own panic to worry about what kind of pleasure they might or might not have partaken of last night.

      “I know we wouldn’t have forgotten that. Right?” She was too mortified to even say what that was.

      He ran his hand through his close-cropped military-style haircut, and she wondered how she could have possibly thought this conservative, clean-cut man in the crisp jeans and J.Crew sweater was a male stripper.

      “I would like to think that we both would have known better than to be so reckless.” His confident tone didn’t quite match his puzzled and slightly pink expression. “Yet from the looks of everything else around us, we should have known better about a lot of things.”

      “But you don’t understand. I can’t just be married. Or suddenly pregnant by someone I don’t know. My father would kill me. My brothers would kill you. Everyone in Sugar Falls would say they knew something like this was bound to happen. I’ll have to give up my accounting practice and move to Boise. Wait. Farther than that. Siberia, maybe. This is going to ruin my whole life.”

      “Well, at least we’re equally screwed.”

      Wait, had he just said screwed? Perhaps the gravity of the situation was finally sinking in for Doctor Perfect.

      “I mean, it’s not as if this is going to look really great for my career or my family.” He waved his arm dramatically at the room, including the empty beverage cups and her. “I’m not exactly proud of all this.”

      It was difficult to not take the insult personally. Why would he be ashamed of marrying her? Maybe she wasn’t some stuffy Miss Priss, but she was decent in the looks department and she was financially successful. Plus, she didn’t have any standout mental health concerns, addictions or genetic diseases—that she knew of. Frankly, he could do a lot worse.

      Of course, so could she. And hadn’t she proved just that with some of the losers she’d dated in the past? No man she’d ever been out with—and if you asked her two best friends, they’d say she’d been out with a lot—had made it past her rigid checklist of qualities for Mr. Right. Her strike-one-and-you’re-out policy explained why she