Page 11 of Jaylen

"My sentiments exactly."

*****

"I think I am drunk," she whispered as she clung to him.

"Think or know?" He was holding her against him as they made their way from yet another pub. The cold briskness of the night was doing nothing to sober them up, but that was fine by them.

"Know," she giggled. If she was not so deep in her cups, she would have been horrified at it. She did not giggle and always thought it was childish and stupid. But at this moment, she just felt pleasantly buzzed and her sadness had melted away as if by magic. "Oh look! A chapel."

"They have a few of them around. Want to step in for a minute?"

"I really think we should go in and pray for our lost souls."

"Mine is not lost," he retorted. "Just misplaced."

She giggled again and let herself be led inside the tiny sanctuary. She was actually starting to like him. Or was it the drinks she had imbibed? Shaking her head, she wrapped her hand around his waist as they made their way to the front.

"We should get married," he said suddenly, as if hit by a brainstorm.

"Or pretend to be. That would piss off your old man." She giggled again.

"You are right. Let's do it." He led them toward the slightly stooped priest who stared at them with kind eyes.

"We want to get married."

*****

The first thing she noticed was the horrible pounding inside her temple and the sickness in her stomach. Getting up slowly to ensure that her head stayed attached to her neck, she eased out of bed with a frowning look around the sumptuous gold and cream suite.

She was not in her room. Turning her head to the right, she felt a jolt when she noticed the naked man sprawled against the pillows.

"Oh no, no, no!" she whispered. "What have I done?" The memories of last night or was it early this morning? It came back in bits and pieces. The man in the bed was Jaylen Monteith. She had sex with her boss or rather her boss' son. Sliding off the bed, she gathered up her clothing, scattered with his, and went into the bathroom to get dressed.

The relief was palpable when she came out and he was still sleeping. Sliding out of the room, she opened the door and made sure that there was no one around to see her, before making her way back to her suite. The pounding inside her head had increased and the roiling in her stomach had her rushing into the bathroom to throw up.

Sitting back weakly against the tiles, she closed her eyes wearily and took stock of her situation.

She had had sex with Jaylen Monteith. That was bad. She had gotten drunk and had sex with her boss's son. Okay. She was going to chalk it down to temporary insanity and put it away in some locked compartment and pray that he would do the same.

They had both had too much to drink and somehow, she had ended up in his room. Bending her head to her drawn-up knees, she shuddered as some of the memories came creeping in.

Whispered words of passion, the feel of his mouth on her body, her breasts tingling as he suckled and him sliding into her. She had never done anything stupid before and she was guessing that she was making up for it. She would ignore the problem and pray that it goes away.

They would each go on to their separate lives as usual. No big deal. Firming her lips, she struggled to her feet and went to wash out her mouth. Some strong coffee would do the trick and it was early enough for her to try and get some more sleep. If that was possible.

*****

Jaylen struggled to surface from the deep sleep as if climbing out of a fog. His head felt as if someone was happily playing drums inside his temples and his eyelids were decidedly heavy.

Something was definitely wrong. Maybe he was coming down with a damn bug. But he never got sick and even if that happened, it would pass quickly. Slowly, turning onto his back, he tried lifting his head and it took several efforts for him to accomplish that.

The pain was like a white-hot dart and he had gotten up too suddenly, causing the nausea to rise inside his chest. Settling back against the pillows, he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to settle himself. It was then he noticed the rumpled pillows next to him on the wide bed.

A frown touched his brow. Had he invited someone back to his room? And if so, why the hell couldn't he remember? He recalled storming out of the hotel after yet another argument with his father and going into a pub.

Pub? His brow cleared as the memories came tumbling back. He had seen her inside the smoky room. Anika. His father's PR. And had joined her and then—

"Oh Christ!" He whispered, hands going over his face as the memories continued to tumble back.