The Things I Do for You (The Alexanders) (9 page)

“Actually, no. I just want to find the closest Elvis impersonator who can marry us. Then I want you to take me back to the hotel and make love to me.”
 

Nick’s mouth fell open. Raina leaned up and kissed him softly on the cheek, strangely satisfied with his reaction.
 

“Sound good, baby?”

Then she turned and walked outside to see about getting a cab.

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“OKAY, WHAT HAVE we got? There are three chapels near us. The Wedding Bell, Little Love Chapel and Chapel O’ Love.”

They’d decided to stop by the hotel first after all when Nick pointed out they’d have to lug their bags up and down the Strip and she’d have to do it in heels. Nick had booked a suite at the Aria, which was gorgeous and large enough to house a small family.

After checking in and dumping their bags, Raina had changed from her strappy high-heeled sandals into the pair of rainbow-colored flip-flops she’d purchased just for the weekend. Now they were standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, searching for the nearest wedding chapel.

Raina shrugged. “Let’s just pick whichever is closest.”

“Chapel O’ Love it is.” Nick grabbed her hand and they made their way down the Strip. Raina was surprised at how busy it was. It was a Thursday afternoon and the Strip was packed already.
 

“Wow. This is so great. Ooh, look, a mime!” Raina stopped to watch a man dressed in all black with the traditional face paint of a mime as he went through the standard repertoire.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the talent it takes to do this, but his routine is pretty weak,” Nick whispered. “I’m pretty sure Jackson did the exact same thing in summer camp when he was eight.”

“Sshhh, be quiet. I want to see the rest.” Raina swatted Nick on the arm and turned back to the performance. She watched for a few more minutes until she became suddenly aware that some of the things he was acting out were a little… suggestive. Just when he was starting to mimic stroking himself, Nick took her arm and pulled her away.
 

“Damn pervert,” Nick grumbled.

Raina giggled. “Don’t be such a prude. He probably heard your comment that his performance was boring and was trying to liven things up a bit.”

They walked farther down the Strip, passing the famous Bellagio hotel. “Ooh, Nick I want to watch the water show later. Can we come back?”

“Of course. That’ll be part of our honeymoon.”
 

Raina instantly sobered. How could she have forgotten so quickly why they were here? She was about to sign her freedom away and she was planning her sightseeing like she was on vacation.
 

“Hey, I didn’t say that to make you sad. It’s all going to work out, you’ll see.” Nick pulled her closer.
 

“Hey, pretty mama. Here you go.” A man passing by pressed a small square of paper in her hand.
 

“What’s this?” She held it up to read what it said.

“Oh, you might not want to read that.” Nick took the paper from her hand but not before she saw the half-naked girl on it.
 

“I’m not an idiot, Nick. I know there are hooker services in Vegas. I watch TV. Hell, I probably know some of them. I heard a few of the girls I used to model with ended up as escorts. I’m hardly going to swoon because I see a dirty flyer.”

“Well, good, because I’m sure that’s not the worst thing you’ll see before we get back to our hotel.” He consulted his phone and then stopped. “Here we are. This is the closest wedding chapel.”
 

He held open the door for her and she walked into the cool interior of the shop. It was incredibly quiet compared to the bustle and chaos of the Strip. Too quiet, actually. Was it even open? She was just about to hit the silver bell on the counter when a man stumbled through the dangling beads separating the entryway from the rest of the building.
 

“Well, hellooooo. Welcome to Chapel O’ Love. That’s O as in ‘One Night,’ by the way. That was a great song.
Great
song.” The man who spoke was dressed as Elvis in a sequined white jumpsuit, except his pompadour was dyed electric blue.
 

Nick shot Raina an amused grin. “Or O as in Of could work, too.”

The blue-haired Elvis stopped and scratched his head, knocking his wig slightly askew. “That is a very fine point, young man.”
 

Raina watched as he became absorbed in one of the long blue strands of his wig, seeming to forget they were even there.
 

“Is he drunk?”

Nick heaved a sigh. “I hope so. Because I would hate to think he was acting like this sober.”

Elvis staggered behind the counter in the reception area and flipped open the large book on the counter.

“Names,” he barked.

“Nicholas Alexander and Raina Winters,” Nick replied.
 

Elvis leaned on the counter and whispered conspiratorially, “Come on, boyo, you can give your real names. Because between you and me, there is no way you could pull a babe like Raina Winters.”

Raina giggled and even when Nick turned around and glared at her, she couldn’t stop. “I’m sorry.”

Elvis finally noticed her behind Nick and leered. “Hey, now. That’s no Raina Winters, but she’s a close second.” He looked back at Nick. “How’d you pull that one off?”

Raina buried her face against Nick’s shoulder to muffle her laughter. “Yeah, Nick. Do you want to tell him how you pulled it off?”

The edges of Nick’s lips twitched but he managed to keep a straight face. “I think we’ll save that for another time.”

He turned back to Elvis and picked up the pen that was on the counter. “Where do we sign?” He filled out everything on the form and scrawled his name at the bottom. When he was done, he handed the pen to Raina.
 

She filled out her name on the opposite side of the form next to Nick’s and then glanced up at him innocently. “Your middle name is
Eugene
?”

“If you tell anyone that I cannot be held responsible for the consequences.”

She just smiled and filled out the rest of the form. When she was done, she looked up to give the paperwork to the Elvis impersonator, only to realize they were alone.

“Where did he go?”

Nicholas grasped his head between his hands. “I swear, if he passed out somewhere…”

Raina followed the sound of music to the inner sanctum, if you could even call it that. It felt sacrilegious to even call this place a chapel. The interior was just as gaudy as the entryway with large plastic cupids hanging from the ceiling.
 

There was a table below the altar with a bouquet of flowers and a rhinestone tiara on it. As she approached the front of the room, a canned rendition of “Love Me Tender” started playing.

“Wow. Raina, we can go somewhere else. I know we’re sacrificing a lot by having a quickie wedding, but I think we can do better than this.”
 

“There is nowhere better! You won’t find a better chapel on the Strip than the Chapel O’ Love.”
 

Nick jumped when the blue-haired Elvis popped up from behind the podium at the altar. “
Jesus!
Has he been back there the whole time?”

Raina felt a bubble of completely inappropriate laughter rising in her belly. She clamped her lips together, trying to hold it in, but the whole situation was so ridiculous. She was standing in a chapel decorated with plastic babies about to be married to the only man with the power to break her heart.
 

By a drunk Elvis impersonator with a bad wig.

“It’s okay. We can stay here.” She finally lost the battle and dissolved into giggles. The longer she laughed the more confused Nick looked until he finally cracked a smile.
 

“I’m glad you can find the humor in all this. Because this is not what I imagined my wedding would be like.”

Raina wiped the tears from her cheeks and marched up to the podium. She picked up the plastic bouquet and jammed the rhinestone-encrusted tiara with the attached bridal veil on her head. It was strange, but the tackiness of this wedding was only going to help her stick to her determination to keep this union businesslike.
 

She wasn’t sure if she could stick to her guns and not fall in love if she had to take vows with Nick in a real church. But being married by a drunken Elvis while holding plastic flowers shouldn’t be too hard. She was doing this for one reason and one reason only. Because Nick’s old-fashioned sense of honor wouldn’t let him impregnate her unless they were married.

But once she was moody and eating everything in sight and had cankles, he’d realize she’d been right all along. He’d leave and she’d be ready. As long as she didn’t fall in love with him, she could let him go and focus on what she had left.
 

Her baby.
 

“Raina, are you sure about this? I meant what I said. We can find another chapel. One that’s not so cheesy.” Nick peered at her, seemingly not convinced by her enthusiastic embrace of the Chapel O’ Love.
 

“I’m ready,” she repeated. She was beyond ready to get this farce of a wedding over with so they could get down to why they were really here. So she could drag his sexy ass back to the hotel room and get him naked.
 

She held up the plastic roses. “Let’s do this.”

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NICK KNEW HE’D always had it easy. Up until now, he’d made his way using a mixture of brains, charm and bravado. In business it had served him well. He’d achieved everything he’d ever dreamed of and more.
 

But for the first time in his adult life, he found himself wondering if he would be able to measure up. Because as much as he loved his career, nothing he’d accomplished there was anywhere near as important as convincing his new wife that she hadn’t made a mistake. He wanted her to realize their connection was deeper than just sex.
 

But it was hard to remember that when she was looking at him like she wanted to devour him whole.
 

“That was the longest wedding ceremony ever.” Raina kicked the door to the suite closed behind them and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
 

Before he could respond, she pulled him down and her tongue was in his mouth. Nick groaned as her hands slid into his hair, grabbing and holding the strands tight. All thought fled as everything within him responded.

He pulled her into his arms and stumbled through the main living area until he reached the bedroom. She clung to him with her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck. She kissed his throat and he shuddered when she bit him on the throat.
 

“Christ, Raina. You’re killing me.”
 

Her small breasts pressed against his chest and he could feel the stiff tips of her nipples. He couldn’t wait to have the tight points on his tongue.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw were the roses next to the bed. The sight sobered him, reminding him of what he was trying to accomplish.

Romance.
 

“Raina. Hey, let’s slow down for a minute,” he whispered.

“Uh uh.” She shook her head and tightened her legs around his waist. “Don’t want to.” She made the sexiest little sound, like a whimper, in the back of her throat before she took his bottom lip between her teeth and nipped gently. It was all he could do to stay upright when she was kissing him like she wanted nothing more than his tongue in her mouth.
 

“I just want to light the candles, sweets. I can’t have you telling your friends how unromantic I am.”

She pulled back and then looked around the room in surprise. “Nick, what in the world?”
 

She hopped down and walked over to inspect the rose petals sprinkled on the bed and the bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket on the dresser. He’d arranged for their room to be prepared while they were gone. It was hard to be romantic when they’d had such a tacky ceremony but he was determined that at least their wedding night could be up to his standards.

He wanted her to cherish the memory of their first time making love as husband and wife.

Raina’s eyes were wide with wonder as she looked back at him. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“Of course I did. I hope there will come a day when you won’t find it unusual for me to surprise you like this.” He walked up behind her and pulled her back against his chest. She relaxed against him and he kissed the soft skin behind her ear. Her right hand came up and caressed his neck, holding him closer as she pushed back against him.
 

 
He breathed in deep as he nuzzled her throat. How long had he imagined this? If he was honest with himself, he’d probably been dreaming about having her beneath him since the last time. He took deep breaths, trying to calm down, but her scent was intoxicating, warm and rich like vanilla.
 

“Nick?” she whispered.
 

“Yes, sweetheart?”

She turned in his arms and took his face between her hands. “This is beautiful. Thank you for making this special for me.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him softly.
 

Then she turned her head and gently bit the lobe of his ear. “Now, get your clothes off before I rip them off.”

Instant molten arousal raced through Nick’s veins at her words. She made quick work of the buttons on the front of his shirt
,
then stepped back and pulled her blouse over her head. Any blood that was still left in his brain flowed south as she pushed her khaki shorts down. She stepped out of them and stood before him in another lacy panty set, this one a bright, fire-engine red.
 

 
“You’re trying to drive me crazy, aren’t you?”
 

She pushed him and they tumbled onto the bed in a jumble of arms and legs. She rolled over and climbed on top of him, running her hands over his chest.