Free The Wedding Wager by Regina Duke

I’ll get back, and the only thing I’ve seen in Seattle is the inside of a hospital. I’m sure we can find a snack there.”
    Kevin grinned. “Why not?” He pressed the switch to talk to Jeffrey. “Megan would like to see the Pike Street Market,” he said. “Would you drop us off at 1st and Pike?”
    As they emerged from the limo, Kevin instructed Jeffrey to return in two hours. “We’ll be ready for a quiet ride by then,” he added to Megan. “And the Market closes at five on Sundays.”
    “Oh, I’m so excited!”
    Kevin couldn’t help but admire the handsome picture their reflections offered in passing shop windows. His six-foot-four frame usually meant he stood out from a crowd, but with Megan on his arm, the crowd parted for them. Her face was alight with touristy joy, and he found himself seeing the Market through her eyes and experiencing it as if for the first time.
    “Use your phone and take some pictures,” said Kevin.
    “That’s a great idea,” said Megan. She held the phone up, pressed the camera app, and stared with a frown at the screen. “What do I press to take a picture?”
    Kevin angled to stand behind her and gave instructions over her shoulder. “There, that’s it. Just press right there.”
    She did so.
    Kevin cleared his throat. “You just took a picture of your feet. It helps if you aim the camera at something not so easy to carry around with you.”
    “Very funny,” said Megan. “At least I can say my feet were at Pike Place Market.”
    “Try again.”
    Megan clicked off a series of photos in a circle. Then she said, “Oh, we need someone to take a picture of us together.”
    Kevin touched another spot on the screen and Megan was looking at her own face. She shrieked with delight.
    “Here, you do it! My arms aren’t long enough.”
    Kevin took the phone and held up up in front of them, centered their images and made sure to include the Public Market sign right over their heads.
    “That’s perfect,” said Megan.
    The aroma of fish and saltwater from Elliot Bay permeated everything. Before they moved on to the food vendors, Megan bought herself a couple of post cards and a plastic key ring shaped like a salmon.
    “I need a tee shirt!” she cried as they rounded a corner into yet another gift shop. “The gaudier, the better.”
    Kevin picked out a pink girl’s tee with Pike Place Market emblazoned across the front. “How’s this?’
    “Perfect!” She sighed happily. “Okay, we can eat now. I have now officially been there, done that, and—”
    Kevin joined her in the chorus, “—bought the tee shirt!”
    They laughed together and Megan leaned into him and looked up into his eyes with genuine affection.
    The moment was over too soon for Kevin. But he made a mental note of yet another expression of Megan’s that he wanted to experience again.
    They were pulling into the hotel parking garage when he realized he’d forgotten to check out her hospital story.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    MEGAN RUSHED AHEAD of Kevin into the suite and down the hall to her room.
    “Be back soon!”
    She didn’t want to be any more specific than that. Fiancée or not, sometimes a girl just needed privacy.
    A few minutes later, she collapsed on her bed and let the day’s events do reruns through her mind. The iPhone was a delight. She picked it up and reviewed the photos they had taken. When she got to the one that Kevin had taken of the two of them, her breath caught in her throat.
    Megan’s first thought was, what a lovely couple. Then in an instant, she realized that she was part of that couple and Kevin was devastatingly handsome! Was it because he was so photogenic? Or was it because he seemed to be having as good a time as she was at the Market? His smile lit up the little screen, dimmed only by her own. They really did look like a couple in love.
    Odd that a man of his wealth and standing did not zip around the country on a private plane. She could understand that he didn’t want to