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Rocco cleared his throat, and I hurried to fill the silence. “Rocco, this is my best friend Will, and his partner Colin. Uh, guys, this is my fiancé—and I guess in like, eight minutes, my husband—Rocco Passero.”
Willy just raised a single eyebrow, like he always did when he thought I was doing something stupid, but not dangerous. Like, when I was twelve, holding a kitten I’d bought for ten bucks from Johnny Lipitski, and trying to get him to help me convince my parents I’d found it on the side of the road. He’d known it was a dumb idea that’d end in heartache when my parents made me get rid of it, but he’d backed me up anyway, even if he thought I was being an idiot.
Colin, bless him, stepped forward and shook Rocco’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Rocco.” His eyes bounced between the handsome Italian and the guys still sitting across from us, unanswered questions filling the hall.
“Palmer-Passero?” someone called from the end of the corridor, and I swallowed down the lump of trepidation that was threatening to choke me. This was the right decision. It was the best way to ensure I could keep my baby, and give her safety and security for a long time.
So I gave Willy one last imploring look and turned toward the attendant who was calling our party. We all walked single file into a small room with folding chairs and a judge in a black robe.
Willy grabbed my hand, turning me softly. “You’re sure?” I nodded quietly. Letting out a heavy sigh, he kissed my forehead. “You look beautiful.”
I’d found a white dress in a boutique on the way there, a simple sheath with white lace sleeves. Jesse and Hayes had helped me pick it out, a small contribution to a big decision. Jesse had paid for it, merely kissing me softly and telling me that if I was going to be a bride, I was going to do it properly.
“Thanks, Willy.” He kissed the top of my head and went to sit beside Colin, who had somehow taken possession of Bobbi-June and was blowing raspberries on her cheeks and whispering to her. The lawyers also sat down in the room, and I gave a tremulous smile to my guys.
“Hello, folks. My name is Judge Jovianni. Let’s get you two hitched, shall we?”
Forty-seven minutes after entering the courthouse, I emerged onto the steps as Mrs. Rocco Passero.
Sixteen-year-old me would have been losing her shit right about now.
THIRTY-ONE
JESSE
It felt like I was living in a telenovela. Or one of those holiday romances where the scrappy single mom married the billionaire. Except I wasn’t sure where that left me.
Tally and Rocco hard launched their relationship with a courthouse steps photo shoot, complete with a ring that included a diamond almost the size of Bobbi-June’s fist. They’d sat on the steps, and someone from Rocco’s PR team had taken photos as he held her close and kissed her cheek.
It was… not awful. It was disconcerting, though. I wanted to marry her, and I guess Hayes might have wanted that too. I’d experienced my first true wave of jealousy when she stood up there opposite a man I hardly knew and said, “I do.”
Now I was packing up my house and moving into a mansion across town. They’d rushed into this, and all I could see were problems and pitfalls. What if someone saw us kissing Tally? What if someone realized we lived with them too? What if the media got hold of the real story and made it somehow worse?
No, we just had to make it through the custody case, and then it didn’t matter what happened at the end of the day.
Someone knocked on my door, and I instinctively knew who it was. It was like my body was as tuned to her as a flower to the sun. “Come in.”
Tally moved into the room hesitantly. “I came to see if you needed any help packing?”
I was just taking essentials. I’d lock this place up tight, but I’d keep it, in case we ever needed a little escape. The house next door was already on the market. We’d done that the day after Tally had been served with legal papers.
I shook my head. “I have it all sorted, but I wouldn’t say no to cuddling my girlfriend while pretending to pack.” I gave her a lopsided smile, and she launched herself across the room and into my arms.
I fell back onto the bed with an oof, wrapping my arms around her back. She nuzzled her face into my neck, and I rolled us both onto our sides, so I could tangle our legs together.
“Are you doing okay, sweetheart?”
“I should be asking you that,” she muttered against my chest. “I think Hayes is angry at me.”
I kissed the top of her head. “No, he’s not. We’re all just figuring this shit out. Besides, we both know he’ll take one look at the cars in Rocco’s garage and be too aroused to be mad.”
She laughed softly and squeezed me tighter. I wanted to hold her like this forever.
“I feel like a fool, though,” I murmured into her hair.
She pulled back a little to see my face. “Why?”
“I should have offered to marry you first. You could have been my wife.”
