All Chapters of ALPHA'S LAST MINUTE BRIDE: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

CynMy eyes popped open, and I stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out the images that were playing over and over again inside my head. It had to be my imagination trying to make sense of the flood of memories that suddenly came back to me tonight. It was the only thing it could be.She couldn’t possibly be the one who ran me down with her car!The last six months have been insane. One minute I was engaged to marry the man I loved, the next I was leaving him and calling off the wedding, telling everyone it was because he lied to me about a brief marriage to his friend and my mentor Margaret Wallace. But in truth, I left him because he was embroiled in a mess involving Margaret’s father, and we’d concocted a scheme to pull us both out of the fire before it was too late.I had a friend, an ex-boyfriend really, whose father had connections.My friend, Philip, arranged to help us deliver proof of Grant Wallace’s business dealings with suspected terrorist groups to an undercover FBI ag

CynI must have fallen asleep. I rolled over and Ace was gone. I could hear the water in the shower running and the slight buzz of a cellphone vibrating. It took me a minute to realize the cellphone was in the pocket of my sweats. I leaned over the bed and grabbed them, freeing the cellphone just before the call would have been sent to voice mail.“Hello?”“I didn’t think you were going to answer!”“Sorry. I got a little distracted.”Paul cleared his throat, his imagination clearly supplying information I hadn’t. “Yes, well,” he mumbled as he cleared his throatagain, “he has agreed to meet with you today.”“Good.”“He’ll meet you at Conti’s. Do you know where that is?”“Yes, I think so.”“Two o’clock.”“Thank you, paul.”“Be careful, Cyn. The last time you went to meet with this guy…”“I know. I will be careful.”I disconnected the call just as Ace appeared in the bathroom doorway, nothing but a towel around his waist.“Who was that?”“Paul.”I climbed out of bed and went to him, kis

CynI had dreams about her even when I didn’t know who she was.Dreams that I knew now were a mixture of memory and something else, something angry inside of me.As I came out of my coma, I dreamed I was in a dress shop with a dark-haired woman I didn’t know. I remembered thinking this woman had betrayed me even though I couldn’t say if she had been a friend or a foe.And then again, later, I had the same dream. But this time we were arguingabout Ace, about the marriage I hadn’t learned about until the day Ace and I went to get our marriage license.We did fight about it. Not in a bridal shop. My mind had mixed that up for some reason. But the words had been the same.“I can’t believe you would betray me that way! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that? I thought we were friends. You were supposed to be a part of my wedding, for God’s sakes!”“It wasn’t my place to tell you. Ace should have done it.”“But we worked together all this time”“I thought he’d already told you. I tho

CynI wanted to stay there for…well, forever. I didn’t want him to let me go. I didn’t want his kiss to stop lingering against my lips. I wanted to feel his heart pounding under his shirt and the heat of his skin, the heat that proved just how alive he was, to forever warm me up. He was my reasonfor getting out of bed in the morning and for facing life with a smile and a little skip in my step.“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.“I love you, too.”He ran his finger along the angle of my jaw. “I kind of like your hair like this. I can see every inch of your face all the time.”I groaned. “You would.”“Don’t you like it?”I laughed. “I should go to the hospital for all my haircuts.”He chuckled before pressing his lips to my forehead.“You look like a pixie. Or a little fairy.”“Gee, thanks.”“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”I ran my hand up his chest again before letting it slide down, hooking my fingers under the waist of his slacks.“If you like it, I would go bald. Wear a

CynI curled up in the bed next to Ace and took another bite of pizza.“I’m sorry,” I said, as I nibbled at a slice of pepperoni.“For what?”“For not remembering you. For putting you through that whole ordeal.”“It’s not like it was your fault.”“It must have been hard, though, living here with me when I didn’t even know who you were.”He reached over and rubbed a smear of grease off my chin. “It was rough,” he said, his eyes softening as he studied my face, “being near you and not feeling free to touch you.”“It must have been surreal.”“It was…difficult.” He chuckled a little as he picked at his own piece of pizza. “I thought it was all over when your parents showed up and demanded that you go home with them.”“Yeah?”“I thought for sure that you would agree to go. I mean, I was standing there, imagining you and your mom in the spare room packing your things while your dad lectured me about forcing myself on you after you made it clear that you no longer wanted me.”“He would have,