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Unsure, but intrigued that he’s so interested in my sartorial choices, I pull out a cream-colored dress dotted with wildflowers in shades of pink, yellow, blue and lavender that actually came with me from New York. I’m not sure why I bothered. I haven’t worn it since college. “I haven’t worn this in years, but it might still fit.”
“Perfect.”
It’s empire-waisted, so it skims over my wider-than-they-were-before-Chance hips easily enough. A quick mirror-check reveals it doesn’t look as dated as I thought it might.
“That’s pretty,” Z says, coming up behind me.
I turn and press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’m going to grab a sweater in case I get cold, since you won’t tell me where we’re going.”
The taunt doesn’t pull any more information out of Z.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lilly
It’s not until we pull into the county clerk’s office that I get an idea of what Z might be planning.
“What are we doing here?” I push as much suspicion as I can into my tone.
“Going to file to have your mail forwarded.” He grins at me.
“That’s done at the post office.”
“Really? Huh.” He feigns confusion. “Family outing day?” He glances in the rearview mirror and catches Chance’s eye. “Right, buddy?”
“Road trip!” Chance shouts.
“Right after we conduct some business.”
“What business?” I ask.
“Let’s find out.”
My knees wobble as Z pulls me down the hallway to the little window at the county clerk’s office.
Z flashes a dazzling smile at the elderly woman behind the counter. “I called earlier about applying for a marriage license.”
I yank my hand out of his. “You did what?”
Ignoring me, he hefts Chance up in his arms. The woman behind the counter smiles at him. “Hello there, young man.”
“Hi,” Chance says, waving one small hand at her.
The clerk’s gaze shoots to me. “Identification?”
Without even thinking about it, I set my purse on the counter and search for my wallet.
Wait a second.
“Can we have a minute?” I ask.
“Sure, hon.” She winks at Z before stepping away.
Grabbing Z’s arm, I drag him away from the window. “What are we doing?”
“Getting married,” he says the same way he’d say picking out a new puppy. Cheerful and full of mischief.
“Yay!” Chance yells.
Z tips his head at Chance. “Thanks.”
“Shouldn’t we talk about this?”
“I thought we did. A lot.”
“Back home.” I pause and bite my lip. “Shouldn’t we have our families here?”
For a second, he hesitates. “I think they’ll understand. Do you need to have your family to watch you get married?”
Do I? It’s not like my parents are all that supportive. They’re still angry about the family dinner that ended in turmoil. Z’s certainly not the man they want me to marry, so they won’t be pleasant. If they bother to show up. And my brother…While he’s been more supportive lately, the last thing I need is Alex making one of his thug-baby-daddy “jokes” on my wedding day.
I don’t care about dresses, cakes, dances, and other wedding-related nonsense. All I want is Angus Frazier to be my husband.
Still, this is crazy, isn’t it? “My parents would probably be rude anyway.”
“Babe, I give zero fucks what your parents or anyone else thinks about us, but if you’d rather have them at your wedding, we can wait.”
Maybe I’m the one who’s nuts, but I’m sort of touched he went to all this trouble to surprise me into marrying him. Today. Right now.
He’s decisive. More importantly, he’s so eager to lock this down, make us official, he went to the trouble of planning an ambush wedding.
It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.
“You want to marry me this much?” I whisper. “This bad? You don’t want to think about it?”
“I’ve thought about marrying you for a long damn time, Lilly.” A more serious expression slides into place. “I don’t need more time. If you do, I’ll understand, but I can’t stand another minute not being your husband.”
“I really want to be your wife.”
“Nothing will make me happier. We can still have a celebration when we get home with our friends and family. Anywhere you want.”
I reach out and run my hand over Chance’s head. “This is perfect. The three of us. Let’s do it.”
“Are we ready?” The clerk asks. “We have an opening at noon. There’s some paperwork you need to fill out first.”
“We’re ready,” I answer.
Z
“Wait, we don’t have rings.” Lilly stops before stepping into the clerk’s office.
Now that I got her to say yes, I don’t want anything holding us up. “All covered.”
She raises an eyebrow. “How long have you been planning this?”
“Since before we left.”
“Really?”
“If you want to get technical, since the night I met you.”
Her expression relaxes. “Z.”
“Come on.” I pull her into the office and the clerk happily hands us some forms to fill out. Lilly sets Chance down and he wanders over to peer at the photos on the clerk’s desk.
“Hey.” I tug the pen out of Lilly’s hand. “I want to do something first.”
The “what” she’s about to ask doesn’t make it out of her mouth before I’m down on one knee in front of her.
“What are you doing?” She presses her hands against my cheeks. “I already said yes,” she says against my lips before kissing me.
“I want to tell you this first.” I wait to see if she has any more protests before continuing. “You’re the smartest, most interesting, prettiest, sexiest woman I’ve ever met. I want you to know I plan to protect you, provide for you and our children, and love you until I die.”
Her eyes shimmer and she leans forward, pressing her forehead against mine. “You’re the best and biggest surprise of my life.” She strokes her fingers against my cheek, the sensation sending all my blood rushing south. “You make me laugh, you make me feel safe, and I want to love you for the rest of my life.”
“You going to marry me?”
She waves the papers in the space between us. “I’m trying to.”
I stare at her.
“Yes, Angus, I’m going to marry you.” She flicks her gaze toward the clerk. “Right here. Right now.”
“Good.” I slip the box out of my pocket and pop out the ring inside.
She gasps and presses her hands to her mouth. “Z, oh my. When did you? I wasn’t expecting—”
Taking her left hand, I slip the ring on her finger, thankful it actually fits. It’s flashy but not tacky. A solid one-carat square diamond with a shit ton of other smaller diamonds scattered around it are embedded all the way around the white gold band.
“Z, this is stunning. Thank you,” she whispers.
“You like it?”
“I love it.”
I pull a small envelope out of my pocket. “Hopefully you like these too.” I shake the rings into my hand and hold them out to her. “They’re silicone rings. We can go shopping for real ones when we go home.?
?
She plucks the thicker one out of my hand and studies it. It’s a dark iridescent blue-black color. I actually like it because it’s safer to wear. Since I work on my bike and with my hands a lot, but it’s probably not what Lilly was expecting. “When I saw the color was called mermaid, I knew I needed them,” I explain.
“This is as real as it gets, Z. They’re perfect.”
Chance shuffles back over and inspects the rings. He’s getting bored and restless, so we should probably hurry this up. I hoist him into my lap. “Want to help me fill this out?”
He gives me the cutest you-realize-I’m-only-two-and-a-half look and grabs for the pen.
As soon as we’re done, we’re called into the back for the actual ceremony.
Lilly stops me from following the clerk. “You’re sure, Z? After this, you’re stuck with me forever. You won’t regret this later, right?”
The only thing I regret in my life is letting her get away the first time.
Chance tugs on my hand. The clerk stops ahead and turns, clearly exasperated with us.
“Zero regret, Lilly.” I brush a quick kiss over her lips. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lilly
Wife.
Mrs. Angus Frazier.
Two things I never expected to be called.
After our quickie ceremony, Z drove us to my apartment, asked me to pack a few bags, and we hopped back in the car.
“Now where are we going?” I’m thoroughly amused by his excitement.
“You’ll see.”
He drives up the coast. A drive that became my favorite when I had a lot on my mind. One of a handful of things I’ll miss about California.
Chance yells as soon as he glimpses the ocean.
“Yup, you’re going to get more up close and personal, buddy,” Z says.
His ability to keep this a secret seems to be slipping. “Now I’m really curious.”
I’m not kept in suspense long. We turn off the Pacific Coast Highway and eventually wind our way up a secluded road, opening to a large resort situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean. “Wow, how did you find this?”
