Page 13 of The Merger
“Maybe I’ll let you punish me later.”
That got him moving, and he chased after her. Before she made it out of the room he tossed her over his shoulder and swatted her on her ass.
“Are they always like that?” I asked Sabrina, hoping to ease her into a conversation.
She chuckled. “Now they are.”
“That’s good to hear. She was a wreck when I met her.” I took a deep breath. “We should talk.”
“Not here,” she said, looking over into the kitchen where Colter and Jana were pretending not to be listening to us.
“Take a walk with me,” I suggested.
“After dinner, okay?” She seemed nervous.
I took a risk and moved to sit next to her. “I don’t like to see you upset.”
She exhaled. “How could I be anything else? I just found out I’ve been married to a perfect stranger for the last five years. Why don’t I remember? I was drinking that night, but I wasn’t drunk. However—”
I hung on her next words, hoping I’d finally have the answer to why she hadn’t met me the next morning like we had planned. She was supposed to return to her room and speak to her friends.
We were all leaving the next day since it was Sunday. She was returning to college, and I was supposed to go back to my father’s office for work. I waited for hours until I had to catch my flight.
Unfortunately, we never exchanged phone numbers, or I’d have called her when I realized she was late. It wasn’t until a few days later I realized she had forgotten our night together. I didn’t have an explanation for how. Like she said, she hadn’t been drunk. We were both a little tipsy nothing close to blacking out.
Many times I’d considered approaching her. Sometimes it was to see if she remembered me at all and take time getting to know each other. Other times I thought maybe I should tell her what happened and discuss an annulment. I kept tabs on her, trying to figure out the best way to handle either of those scenarios, but the more I watched her, the more I wanted to keep her.
Not that I’d ever speak those words out loud. They sounded creepy as fuck even in my head, but I couldn’t deny wanting her. Not just because she was beautiful. And she was the most stunning woman I’d ever laid eyes on, but it was her grace, kindness, and humor that had me falling for her.
I wasn’t insane. Love at first sight seemed like a bullshit concept. There was a lot I wanted to learn about her, and she had everything to learn about me. It wasn’t love at first sight, but I did feel like my soul recognized hers. That wasn’t something I was prepared to walk away from. Especially since I was a fairly unemotional man normally. Well, except for irritation. I experienced that emotion quite regularly.
She still hadn’t finished her thought. “Sabrina, it sounded like you remembered something. I’ve got to tell you, Sunshine, I’ve waited a long time to find out why I sat alone in a diner for four hours waiting for you the next morning.”
She licked her bottom lip and pulled the flesh between her teeth before letting it pop free. “I…did we dance?”
Was she starting to remember? “Yes,” I confirmed, my voice sounded like gravel to my own ears. “I was sitting at the bar in the lobby of the hotel we were both staying at. You came in alone. You said your friends were gambling, and you got bored. We talked for a bit and danced to a song playing over their sound system. Your friends left you—“
“To go to a club. I remembered not being upset with them. I’ve always thought that was weird. It was my birthday, and they ditched me.” She pressed her fingers into her temples.
“There’s plenty of time for us to discuss our night together. What I’ve been dying to know for years is why didn’t you join me in the morning? How did you forget?”
She shook her head. “I have a guess. I only know what my friends explained the next morning. They’d gone out to a club without me, thinking it wasn’t my thing.”
“You go out to clubs all the time,” I interrupted.
Her eyebrow raised. “How would you know that? Have you been stalking me?” There was no anger in her tone, but I did sense a wariness. I couldn’t blame her. It was strange, but it was also the only way I could know anything about her life.
“Not physically. I followed your social media,” I admitted.
She shrugged. “Considering it seems we’re married I guess I can understand that.” Sabrina took a deep breath. “I do go to clubs now. After that trip, something changed in me. I was a bit of a bookworm prior to my twenty-first birthday. Afterward, I stopped worrying about what everyone else expected or thought.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear you’ve started living for yourself,” I praised.
She stared straight into my eyes, and I knew she was going to say something I didn’t want to hear. “Your brother had a lot to do with that.”
“I guess that’s one reason not to hate him. I’m glad he’s been a good friend to you.” The words tasted sour in my mouth, but I wouldn’t put her in the middle of my feud with my brother.
“Back to that night. My friends came back from the club around three,” she continued.