She nods and I get out of the cab wondering which client has managed to get hold of my personal number and how big the problem must be for anyone at the office to give it out.
I pull my phone out and see it’s not a client at all. It’s Matt. I let the call ring out and go to voicemail. No one, especially not my brothers, can ever know about this, and it’s better they think I’m still passed out in a drunken stupor than me trying to come up with a plausible excuse for why I’m up and about and yet, not going to meet up with them.
Sierra gets out of the cab and hands me my wallet. “Is everything okay? You look kind of nervous.”
I nod my head. “I’m fine,” I tell her. “It was just Matt. I let it go to voicemail.”
“Yeah, heaven forbid he finds out you spent the night with the hired help,” she retorts.
I don’t want her to think for a second that it’s like that. I am mortified about last night, but I’m not ashamed to have anyone know I was with her because I don’t think she’s good enough for me. I’m ashamed because I have acted so unprofessionally. “Sierra,” I start.
I trail off when she looks at me. Her eyes are sparkling again, and she’s trying not to laugh. Her laughter comes out when I am still staring at her and she shakes her head.
“You know, this is almost too easy.” She grins.
I don’t have an answer to that because she’s right. She is drawing me in each and every time, and each and every time, I think she’s being serious and I don’t risk laughing in case I really have upset her.
She turns serious suddenly and looks at me with a vulnerable look. One I’ve never seen on her face before. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want this getting out any more than you do. Do you have any idea the kind of talk that would go around the office if people thought I was sleeping with the boss?”
“If anyone had anything to say about it, they’d have me to answer to,” I growl. Shit. Where did that come from?
Sierra looks up at me, surprised, but I think she’s a little pleased too.
We meet each other’s gaze for a moment, and I feel… something. I clear my throat. “Right. Let’s go and face the music shall we?” I say.
Sierra nods, her face back to normal. She leads the way into the chapel.
Chapter Eight
Chance
I follow Sierra into the chapel. It’s not as bad inside as I was expecting. I’d been expecting a total cheese fest – heart shaped balloons, cupid statues, you name it, I was expecting it. Instead, it looks just like a small church.
A woman sitting at a small reception desk looks up at us as we enter. She must see the sheepish looks on our faces, or maybe she just sees regretful couples appearing first thing on a morning after pretty regularly, because she gives us a knowing smile as we approach her. “Trouble in paradise,” she says.
“Something like that,” Sierra agrees.
“You know, I shouldn’t say this working in a place like this, but if I handled annulments instead of weddings, I could have retired rich years ago,” she says.
She’s hardly the warm and fuzzy approachable sort, but then again, neither am I and at least, she’s not gushing about the sanctity of marriage.
“We’re just trying to remember which chapel we got married in,” I say. “Could you check your system and see if we were here last night please?”
She tries and fails to hide her smile. “Your names?”
“Chance Hunter and Sierra Lowe,” I reply.
She raises one over plucked eyebrow. “Well, at least you know her second name. In this place, that makes you practically soul mates.” She pulls out an ancient looking register from underneath her desk. She runs one red painted fingernail down a list of names and dates. “Nope. You didn’t get married here,” she says, shaking her head. “Sorry.”
“Thanks for your help,” I say, barely able to keep the sarcasm from my voice.
Sierra and I walk outside.
“Well, that was humiliating,” she says. “And she was awful wasn’t she?”
I nod my head. She was hardly the warm and friendly type I would have imagined organizing weddings.
“She was so cynical, like she doesn’t believe in marriage or even love at all,” Sierra adds.
I laugh softly. “Can you blame her for working here? I wonder how many people she sees like us every day. It’s enough to make anyone a bit cynical.”
“Well sure, but she should have learned to hide it,” Sierra says. “And at least, we got a few brownie points for you actually knowing my name.”
“See I’m a regular romantic!” I laugh.
Sierra laughs too and we begin to walk along the street towards the next chapel. It’s only a few doors down and we’re there in minutes.
Sierra reaches for the door and I touch her shoulder. “You wait here. I’ll go in,” I say.
She looks at me in surprise.
“I don’t want you to feel humiliated like that again,” I say.
She smiles and shakes her head. “I was just expecting… I don’t know. A different attitude. I’m fine now. I know what to expect. Come on. We’re in this together.” She goes inside before I can respond.
I follow her in.
We’re greeted by another small desk area with a woman sitting behind it. She smiles when she sees us, not the knowing smile of the other woman, just a friendly greeting and I relax a little.
“Good morning. Are you here as guests for the Carter and Miles wedding, or did you want to arrange your own wedding?”
“Wait, you have a wedding organized here with guests attending?” Sierra asks.
The woman frowns, looking confused. “You do know this is a chapel right?” she says.
“Yes. Sorry.” Sierra
