Wooing His Accidental Wife: Unexpected Lovers, #6

By JB HELLER

Marrying my nemesis was not part of my weekend plans... Yet here I am.

Last week I woke up married to my baby sister's best friend. I blame Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol and a ridiculous amount of readily available chapels in Vegas.

But the catalyst behind our nuptials is of little consequence. It doesn't change anything. Adley Jane Grander is my wife, and I'm not mad about it. She, however, isn't as on board as I'd like. In fact, she's freaking the hell out.

 

But, I'm nothing if not determined. And while changing her mind is going to be a massive task, I'm the man for the job.
Step One- Get her to agree to a deal that involves us living together as man and wife for three months.
Step Two- Make her fall in love with me.

I totally got this... I think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JB Heller
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393899051

Book preview

My eyelids flicker open as rays of sunshine blanket my face. I squint into the light, my temples throbbing as I shift in bed to dodge the bright beams. A delicate feminine body is curled around me, preventing me from getting very far.

I drop my head back onto the fluffy pillow, then throw the arm that isn’t curled around my current bedmate—a woman I love to hate—over my eyes. She grumbles something as she snuggles in tighter against me and I give her a little squeeze, then I drift back off to sleep.

I’m woken sometime later by Adley, and not in the way I would have liked. She’s pacing at the end of the bed, staring at her hand as she mutters, No, no, no, no, no.

Propping myself up on my elbows, I glance at the clock on the bedside table to find it’s after ten, then shift my attention back to Adley. What’s wrong?

Her head swivels towards me, her eyes wide and terrified.

Ads. I clamber over to her, then grasp her arms as I search her gaze. What’s wrong?

She swallows, then holds her trembling left hand up between us. I glance at it, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. I’m not following, babe, did you hurt your hand?

Adley grits her teeth and shakes her head. Look! she says, waving her fingers in my face. "There’s a ring where there absolutely should not ever be a ring."

I take another look, and sure enough she’s sporting a new ring. I release my grip on her arms and drop back onto the bed. I don’t know why you’re freaking out about a new ring. You’ve got one on nearly every finger.

Oh, my God, she mutters, then demands, Show me your hand.

I lift one and wave it around in the air above me.

"Not that hand, you idiot. Your left hand."

Dropping my right, I lift my left and sunlight glints off a silver band around my ring finger that definitely wasn’t there yesterday. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh, she mocks. What the hell happened last night?"

I fixate on the ring I’m now wearing as snippets of our evening filter through my thoughts. We had dinner with my baby sister, Tia, her fiancé, and our friends. Tia got tipsy and started taking her clothes off, so Bates had to take her back to their room. Then my twin, Danika, wanted to go dancing, so we went to a club in the hotel… What happened after that?

We ordered more drinks, danced a little, drank some more. Obviously, a lot more because, after that, I’ve got nothing. I scratch my temple, drawing a complete blank on the rest of the events of the night.

We need to fix this, Adley says, hands on her hips as she stares at me sprawled across the bed.

I tilt my head to the side, watching her carefully. There’s nothing to fix.

Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows shoot up as she gapes at me. Wha— Of course, there is! She points at the white gold filigree band on her ring finger. We got married, Dax. What about that do you not understand? We need to get it annulled, like, yesterday!

I frown and shake my head. Yeah, that’s not going to work for me.

Adley’s eyes narrow into slits as she attempts to murder me with a glare. "Excuse me?" she hisses.

God she’s cute when she’s sassy, which is all the freaking time. She can’t help it really. Try as she might to be a tough-as-nails badass, she’s just too damn adorable. I smile at her, patiently, as I explain, See, I only ever planned on getting married once. And as you’ve so eloquently pointed out, we did in fact, get married. So— I shrug then sit up, my legs hanging over the side of the bed —it’s a done deal as far as I’m concerned. Annulment-shnnulment.

Her little hands clench into fists at her sides and she takes what I’m assuming is supposed to be a menacing step toward me. There she goes again, being all cute and shit. She’s like an angry kitten attempting to maul your hand because you dared to pet it.

Dax Matais Riley, this is not up for discussion, she hisses.

Her full naming me just makes me grin even wider. Her shoulders are stiff, and her gaze is crazed—a regular morning-after with Adley. Except, now she’s my wife. And I really like the sound of that.

Why are you smiling? Stop that, she demands.

I would if I could, but I can’t, I sing-song.

She squeezes her eyes shut, takes a deep breath, then begins muttering to herself about my mental state.

What was that? I ask. "Speak up. I didn’t catch what you said, wifey."

Her eyes fly open as she grinds her teeth together then snaps, There is something seriously wrong with you.

My grin widens into a full-blown smile. Meh, normal is overrated.

She shakes her head and turns her back on me, pacing across the room while flexing her fingers. She’s so cute and tiny. I’ve always enjoyed watching her when she’s in a mood.

Stop looking at me like that, she growls.

It’s not my fault you look hot as fuck when you stomp around all pissed off and cranky. I stand and move toward her. Come back to bed, Ads. We don’t have to meet the others for another hour or so.

You can’t be serious.

Stopping less than a foot from her, I tug her into my arms, securing them around her waist as I hold her to me. Oh, I’m deadly serious.

She rolls her eyes. You’re so annoying.

My lips curve on one side. But you like me.

Pfft, do not. She keeps her arms stubbornly crossed between our bodies, then shifts her gaze away from me and out of the floor-to-ceiling window to the view of the Vegas strip.

Dipping my head, I trail the tip of my nose up the side of her neck, then whisper in her ear, I don’t know why you keep saying that. We both know you do, otherwise you wouldn’t keep falling into bed with me.

Her jaw clenches, and she remains silent, but her body is lax in my arms, so I’m not too worried about her reaction to my closeness. Adley has always fought this thing between us. Over the years, I’ve become a pro at reading her mixed signals and knowing when it’s time to back up and give her space. This is not one of those times.

I smooth a hand up and down her spine while keeping the other locked on the small of her back. I’m not going anywhere, baby. You’re officially stuck with me, Mrs. Riley. Fuck, that sounds good. I really, really like it and, apparently, so does my dick. I gently roll my hips into her, showing her what those words do to me.

Adley drops her forehead to my collarbone and groans. How can you be horny at a time like this? And don’t call me that. I’m not now, nor will I ever be a Mrs. anything.

Oh, baby, I beg to differ. That ring on your finger says it all. You’re mine now and I’m not letting you go.

I’m a man with a plan. I haven’t always been this detail-orientated guy who has everything planned out meticulously, but it’s who I became after my pops died and I inherited the title "Man of the House" at nineteen.

It wasn’t an easy transition, but I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. Looking back, it was for the best. Amá’s happy. Well, happy enough for a woman who lost the love of her life way too soon. Tia’s about to marry a hotshot baseball player. And Danika, she’ll be just fine. My twin always manages to land on her feet.

I figure it’s my time now. I’ve been half in love with Adley since I was seventeen and she practically lived at our house, hanging out