Page 22 of All Bets Are Off

FIVE

Iwas not in my bed when I woke up.

That was the first thing that popped into my head. The second was that everything hurt. Sure, the dentist had given me painkillers. They didn’t appear to be doing much good, though. My jaw throbbed like crazy as I tried to get my bearings.

The room I was in had a bed, two nightstands, and two chairs in front of a wide window. I recognized right away that it was a hotel room. A very nice hotel room, but a hotel room, nonetheless. As I struggled to a sitting position, I looked out the window and realized I was staring at the mountains, not the strip.

“Huh,” was all I could manage. Then I immediately reached for my cheek because the throbbing was back.

“Hey, Shortstack,” Zach sang out as he strode through the open door. He had a bed tray in his hands, one of those that you only dust off when you’re home sick from school, and there looked to be a bowl of something on it.

“Don’t call me Shortstack,” I said automatically, cringing when a pain jolted through my jaw. “And, as nice as this is, I don’t think I can eat.” I sent him an apologetic look beforereaching up to touch my hair. One quick feel told me I had a tremendous case of bedhead. I didn’t want to get a gander at my face because nobody—meaning me—had been cognizant enough to wash away my wedding makeup after surgery last night.

Ah, well. I should’ve thought of that going in. I’d been too excited for the surgery, though.

“The dentist said you were going to be in pain.” Zach put the tray down on the bed and sat next to me. “He also said you need to try to eat. So…” He held up a pharmacy bottle and shook it. “I have pain meds. I also have soup that needs to cool. That soup has nothing hard in it. We’re talking soft noodles and carrots and I made the chef cut the chicken into teeny tiny bites. He is not happy with me by the way.”

I was both touched and annoyed. “You can’t have soup for breakfast,” I groused.

“What would you prefer?”

I was a huge breakfast fan, so the order wasn’t difficult. “Eggs, hash browns, bacon, and whole wheat toast.”

He arched an eyebrow. “I could probably make the eggs work. The rest is going to be a no-go until your mouth heals.”

“Yeah.” I was disgruntled with life as I regarded the soup. It smelled good—to the point where my stomach was growling—but my mouth wasn’t going to allow much in the way of food. “How bad do I look?”

“Oh, you look smoking hot, Squirt.” He surprised me with a kiss to the top of the head. “You look fine,” he added when I shot him a dubious look. “You look better than fine in fact. You look amazing.”

He was full of it. I didn’t have the energy to argue that point just yet, though. “Pain meds.” I held out my hand, palm up.

Zach tipped two capsules into my palm and then unscrewed a bottle of water. “Here.”

I was suddenly thirsty as hell and started downing the water. Since my mouth wasn’t working like it normally would, I drooled down the front of my shirt.

“I’m so sorry,” I said dumbly as I looked down at my shirt, which happened to be a standard issue Stone Casino & Resort T-shirt from one of the gift shops. I fingered the wet material and then slowly raised my eyes. “Did you change my clothes?” I was horrified at the thought.

“Don’t apologize,” Zach replied. “I know how dental surgery works. I was a mess after having my wisdom teeth removed. You shouldn’t have to apologize for something like that.”

That was all well and good, but he hadn’t answered my question. “Did you change my clothes?” I repeated.

He leveled his gaze on me. “Yes.”

I frowned. “Don’t you think that was rude?”

“Well, you are my wife.” His grin was quick and cheeky. He shut it down almost immediately. “You needed to be comfortable. I didn’t go anywhere near your underwear.”

I threw my hands in the air. “Oh, man! For all I know, you could’ve molested me when I was out!”

Zach’s lips quirked. “Well, I didn’t. Believe it or not, I can refrain from molesting my best friend’s sister who just had dental surgery.”

There it was again. My best friend’s sister. He seemed to be using that phrase as a shield, and I didn’t quite understand it. At present, it wasn’t important, however. “What did you see?”

“I didn’t look.”

“There’s no way you didn’t look. Even if you didn’t like what you saw, you looked. Don’t be ridiculous.”

My response had him smiling again. “Well, I didn’t look.” He was firm. “I did all of it in the dark. Your clothes are over there, but we’re going to have to figure out how to get your stuff overhere so I recommend staying in your pajamas until the hard stuff is finished.”

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