She teeters. “R-really?”
“Of course.” I switch hands and cool her other cheek. “You deserve nothing but the best.”
Unwisely, she takes an unsteady step closer and peers up at me with dewy eyes. “You mean…at the very first inclination of consent…you wouldn’t pounce?”
Dipping, I kiss the bite mark on her neck. “Oh, August.” I smile against her skin and pull her into a hug, planting the icepack against her back and refusing to relent when her sharp intake leads to violent squirming. “I’d hope it’d be clear my feelings go deeper thanthatby now.”
Breath ragged, she chatters. “Clear? Yes. For why? I still can’t tell.”
Once she adjusts to the cold, she sinks against me, her water glass all that separates us. Eerie calm takes hold, and my eyes close. “You were talking about something interesting earlier,” I murmur. “I was wondering if, in all the haze, you’d reached an answer to your moral dilemma.”
Half lost to the late hour, she mumbles, “What moral dilemma?” as her eyes close.
“Would you still like me if I didn’t look like this?”
She snuggles. “Do you secretly have elf ears?”
“No.”
Hopeful little brown eyes peek up at me past her glasses. “Horns, maybe? Jagged wings?”
I sink, falling ever harder, every moment. “Sorry, dear. Nothing so fun.”
Her lip juts. “The beasts inBeauty and the Beaststories are often moreterrifyingthanplainorunfortunatein their features, and the characters so rarely staybeastlyat the end. Nevertheless, I do usually fall for them before they’re transformed and miss what they were after.”
That doesn’t bode the greatest if she’s gotten used to this blond hair.
“Why do you ask?” Her voice holds its mellow. “Are you worried I’m being swayed by the superficial, too?”
“If only it were that easy to sway you. How can I make you fall in love before the end of August, my darling lotus?” I kiss the crown of her head. “Another year without you as mine might kill me.”
“Have you already known me for at least a year?”
“What a thing to say.”
“Weddings take time to plan. Guests need time to adjust their schedules.”
“Ceremonies take time to plan. Marriage is far quicker than all that.”
“What if…” A smile lilts in her voice. “…we get married as slowly as possible? I suggest we move to a common law state and let time marry us.”
“Contrary to popular belief, a common law marriage isn’t established based on a rudimentary timeframe. It requires the couple to present themselves as married in multiple official ways, and ultimately creates issues as the only true difference between a traditional marriage and a common law marriage is the absence of documentation, which can make several legal processes irritating.”
August blinks at me.
I peer down at her. So pretty… Still so flushed… Pressed nice and close…
She says, “You… Did you look into common law because of me?”
“Yes. Obviously. I’ve been exploring my options where it concerns coercing you into an unbeknownst union for weeks.”
A laugh escapes her, and a hint of delirium skates into her eyes above the mad flush in her cheeks. “Any hope?”
“My lawyer strongly urged me against what he suggested might be considered grounds for legal action.”
“Yourlawyer?” she blurts. “Are you actually well off? Or are you still joking?”
“Well, what is rich, really?”
