Page 108 of Dirty Pool

Her gaze drifted to his, and held strong. “See? Stupid. I just thought if I made it clear how I felt with something like that, then what could he really do? I would be somewhere else with you, and I couldn’t make my position any more obvious if I wasn’t even a Casey anymore. It’s … foolish, isn’t it?”

“Gabbie.”

“What?”

“Gabbie.”

“What?” she asked, sharper.

Michel laughed, but it was dark and beautiful. Like sin had come to coat her in all of its wickedness, and she just couldn’t get enough. “If you wanted to marry me today—like none of this was happening—it’s the first thing I would do.”

She blinked.

He just smirked.

“No, you wouldn’t,” she said.

“I would.”

“Michel, that’s crazy.”

“And either way, today or ten years from now, I am still going to be yours. You’re mine. That’s how this works—it’s how love works, Gabbie. So yeah, if you wanted to really marry me, I would do that in a heartbeat.”

She just blinked again.

Michel stayed quiet.

“Okay,” she whispered.

His stare darted away before coming back to her. “I don’t know what that—”

“It means okay. City hall is right there.”

Michel made a noise in the back of his throat.

“What was that for?”

“Three-day waiting period after getting a marriage license in Michigan.”

“How do you even know that?”

Michel shrugged. “Not important. New York, though … it’s a twenty-four hour waiting period, and since we’ll already be there, it’ll be safer for us.”

“You think?”

“Home is always safe. Even if they might kill me for doing this.”

Gabbie smiled. “Home, huh?”

“New York has always been home for me, but it’ll be better with you.”

“New York, then?”

“We have to get the hell out of here.”

Gabbie nodded. “Now.”

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