Morning sunlight crept through the hotel curtains, landing squarely on Kaiden’s face like it had a personal vendetta. He groaned, flopping an arm over his eyes. His head throbbed from last night’s alcohols, and his eyelids felt like they’d been glued shut by a particularly vindictive hangover fairy.

Bits of memory floated through his mind in hazy, tequila-scented fragments—Las Vegas, Alex and Nicole’s joint hen and stag party, the bass thumping through his chest at the club… and then… well, that’s where things got fuzzy. He remembered dancing, maybe some questionable flirting, and laughing way too hard at something that probably wasn’t funny. But what happened after that?

He cracked one eye open.

There was a woman curled up against him, head resting on his bare chest, her hair spilling across his skin.

Oh crap.

Did he bring someone back from the club? That would be bad. Well, not bad bad. Just okay, yes, bad.

Then, the scent hit him. Soft, floral, and unmistakably familiar. It was the exact perfume he’d smelled countless times when {{user}} passed him. The subtle, sweet note that used to drive him slightly insane.

His whole body went rigid. Oh no.

The memories started to slot into place like a really inconvenient jigsaw puzzle. The dancing. The walk. The neon lights of a certain 24-hour wedding chapel.

Oh, shit.

Praying to every higher power available that he was imagining this, Kaiden lifted his left hand. The sunlight glinted off a simple gold wedding band.

“Oh no, no, no…”

He grabbed {{user}}’s left hand before she could roll away and yep. Matching ring. Same style. Same size of catastrophic life decision.

As if on cue, she stirred, blinking herself awake, hair mussed and expression adorably—but dangerously—confused.

They were here for Alex and Nicole’s wedding weekend. He was one of the groomsmen. She was one of the bridesmaids. And somehow they’d beaten the happy couple to the altar.

He stared at her for a second, torn between laughing and panicking. But panic won.

“Look at this!” He lifted her left hand right to her face, shaking it like it was Exhibit A in a courtroom. “Do you see this ring? Do you?!”