Tough Luck Hero by Maisey Yates

times. But it was the worst of times now, and he was halfway to wasted. That combination made it something else entirely.
    â€œDo you feel sorry for me?” he asked.
    â€œWell, kind of. But really, only a cold-hearted jerk wouldn’t.”
    â€œFeel guilty for anything?”
    â€œWhat?” she asked.
    â€œDid you have any idea she was going to do this?”
    â€œNo,” Lydia said. “She never said anything to me. And I had absolutely no idea she was going to stand you up.”
    â€œYou sound upset.”
    â€œI am. No one deserves that. I know that we don’t—” She took a deep breath. “I know that we haven’t always seen eye to eye. Or ever seen eye to eye. But that doesn’t mean I thought she should leave you like that.”
    â€œAnd that’s why you told me to ditch the reception? Why you came out after me? Out of...all of the people at the wedding, you’re the one who came?”
    â€œI couldn’t stop thinking about how bad you must feel.” The words made his stomach bottom out. She frowned. “Do not let that go to your head. I also can’t stop thinking about those ASPCA commercials with sad dogs.”
    â€œSo this is all because of your overdeveloped sense of pity?”
    She tucked her hair behind her ear, her shoulder brushing his, sending an unwelcome bolt of lightning straight through him. “Mostly, I just think people shouldn’t be left alone when they’re sad.”
    â€œIf you expect me to cry you’re going to be sadly disappointed. I intend to get hammered.” He picked up the shot glass in front of him and held it out toward her. “If you want to join me in that, you’re welcome to.”
    She hesitated. He expected her to get that pinched look on her face. To lecture him.
    Instead, she reached out, grabbing hold of the shot glass. Her fingers brushed his, and he felt that all the way down to his dick.
    Then she put the glass to her lips, her tongue touching the rim. He felt that, too.
    She tilted it back, taking a long swallow, gasping when she set it back down on the counter. “All right,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
    He was supposed to be a married man tonight. Committed and firmly arrived at the place his straight-and-narrow path had been leading him.
    But his intended bride hadn’t showed up.
    Suddenly all of the tension he’d felt from the first time he’d met Lydia Carpenter exploded inside of him. He wanted her fingers on him. Wanted her tongue on him.
    Tonight was supposed to be the finish line. But it hadn’t been.
    Now he wanted to make it something else entirely.
    That was when the memory got fuzzy. His night to remember, his night of rebellion, had turned into a completely forgotten night with far-reaching consequences.
    That figured.
    â€œBack to the topic at hand,” she said, her tone authoritarian, arch, as though she had been reading his thoughts, “why exactly do you need me to join you for lunch with your mother?”
    â€œBecause. I’m not going to tell her that we got married over the phone. And I need to tell her before it makes it back to her through the rumor mill. Because it will.”
    â€œAll right. Though I’m not sure how it hasn’t already.”
    â€œI’m not, either. Mainly, I imagine it’s because she hasn’t left the house in a few days. It’s possible my dad knows, but even if he does, he might not have gotten around to telling her. I don’t think they talk much.”
    â€œHad I known that this was how the West family conducted their marriages I might have gotten on board with this sooner. It sounds exactly like the kind of marriage the two of us could have. Never speaking. Never touching.”
    Touching . That word pushed to the back of his mind. Ruffled the gauzy veil that had been drawn over the night they had spent in Las Vegas.
    He could feel it. That’s how