Amanda groaned. Damn sunlight. She must have left her curtains open the night before. Rubbing her eyes, she began to register things around her, and found she wasn’t in her apartment. Not daring to open her eyes just yet, her senses told her she was in a strange bed. In a motel, judging by the peculiar smell rising from the lumpy pillow her head rested on. She wasn’t alone, either, she discovered, as the dead weight across her middle turned out to be an arm that suddenly drew her closer to the warm body beside her.
She opened her eyes instantly, and was greeted with the deep brown eyes that were the center of her world the day before. As he smiled lazily at her, she scanned her brain for reasons, events, that had led to... this.
“Mornin’,” he greeted, his sandpaper voice sending shivers up and down her spine.
“Morning,” she said warily, not taking her eyes off his.
AJ felt her tense up in his embrace and stifled a laugh. ‘Wait till she realizes she’s not wearing a thing,’ he thought to himself. So far, he could tell she was trying to think of how, and why, she’d ended up here.
Amanda was getting there, she could feel it. ‘Let’s see,’ she thought to herself. ‘Cleaning up... sitting on the couch... talking to AJ.. how in the world did we end up in a place other than his house? What were we talking about? Ummm... Nick. Yeah. And San.. and then I said... and then he..’ her eyes grew even wider as she shot a surprised look at a seemingly calm AJ. ‘Oh, crap. Oh, shit. Oh, NO!’
She pulled away from AJ, and only then realized, as she looked between them, that she was wearing just about as much as he was. Gasping loudly, she tugged at the sheets, managing to cover herself somewhat decently. Looking at his serene gaze, the rest of the night came to her in a flood. The short drive to the airport, the impromptu flight to Vegas, the wedding, and... she groaned, bringing her hands up to cover her face... the honeymoon.
“We didn’t,” she whispered, her hands still over her face. “Did we?”
“We did,” she heard AJ reply. “Mrs. McLean.”
“Oh, man,” she groaned again, as AJ laughed. “And we... consummated..”
“We did,” AJ confirmed again, and she heard the amusement in his voice. “Many, many times.”
A surge of images flooded her mind then, and she was reminded of the “many, many times.” All the touching, the heated kisses, the caresses, the passion they shared as they...
“No,” she said suddenly, shaking her head clear of those thoughts.
“No?” AJ raised his eyebrows at her. “I clearly remember it being ‘Yes! Oh, yes!’ a few hours ago..”
“AJ, please,” she sighed, sitting up in the bed. “This... we can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what?”
“Stay this way.”
“So, we’ll get out of bed, and -”
“No,” she said again, looking down at him. “You don’t understand. We can’t stay married.”