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Our noses brush, and I suck in a shaky inhale. But when Shane’s breath ghosts my lips, he stalls, fingers tightening in my hair like he’s fighting a battle with himself. Something in me plummets and shatters as realization dawns.

Shane was supposed to marry another woman.

He’d wanted to start a life with Brielle, and now he’s marrying me.

This isn’t what he pictured for his future, and clearly, it’s just hitting him.

Delilah’s right. Shane has had a garbage year. But at least I can make this easy for him, especially since he’s going to make the next twelve months effortless for me.

“I’m going to kiss you,” I murmur.

He nods with a hard swallow.

When I fist his tie and tug his lips to mine, a masculine grunt leaves his throat, as if I caught him off guard, even though I warned him. I expect Shane to lean back, for our first and final kiss as a fake-married couple to end as swiftly as it started, but then his arm bands around my waist, tugging me against him. The hand in my hair expertly shifts as his lips slant over mine, pushing deeper, taking for the first time since I’ve met him.

Bliss licks down my spine as a resounding yes reverberates through my skull. I kiss Shane with everything I have, like this will be the last kiss of my life. When his hand shifts until his possessive fingers spread wide over my exposed upper back, my knees give out. I feel his appreciative hum in unexpected places—behind my earlobes, the insides of my wrists, low in my stomach.

My antsy fingers slip over his shoulders to dive into his hair, gripping and twisting slightly. Shane’s breath puffs out in a surprised exhale as every nerve ending in my body overloads. I barely register Allen loudly clearing his throat, almost as if it wasn’t the first time.

We break apart, breathing hard. Shane’s unfocused gaze remains trained on my mouth, and I can’t look away from his swollen lips.

“Well.” Allen chuckles.

“Indeed,” Delilah says, fanning herself.

Heat crawls up my neck and ignites my cheeks, but I can’t look away from Shane, not when a soft smile grazes his mouth as his thumb tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

He looks so different, so utterly…content? Mere moments ago, I thought Shane was going to crack his molars, his jaw was so tight.

A part of me wants to laugh then rewind time and experience that earth-shifting kiss again. Because, yeah, it was that good. That kiss was undoubtedly the best one I’ve ever had. A part of me whines that I wasn’t smart enough to write mind-blowing kisses into our napkin contract.

I exit the office and head toward security in a bubbly trance. Delilah keeps up a one-sided conversation as Shane and I sneak glances at each other. I feel hyperaware of the light brush of his thumb over the small of my back as he guides me through the crowd, of his presence at my side.

But when we get our phones back, Shane’s demeanor swings back to grumpy as he checks multiple missed messages.

“I have to go.”

“What?”

After our short ceremony, we were going to meet with his doorman and get a keycard for me before Shane, Delilah, and Adam helped me move. Delilah used one of her precious PTO days for today, insisting it was worth it. Since Adam works from home, he agreed to help with the heavy lifting until Piper got off the bus. Then Shane was scheduled to fly out this afternoon for his next stint of six away games, starting in Phoenix.

Shane exhales through his nose. “The team plane is leaving early. I need to leave now if I’m going to make it.”

“Okay.” I blink, ignoring the disappointment bursting in my chest. “I’ll move in when you get back.”

“Lolo, you have to be out of your apartment by tomorrow night,” Delilah gently reminds me. “Demo starts Saturday.”

“Oh, right.” My fingertips pinch the bridge of my nose.

Shane presses his keycard into my free palm. “Use my key. I’ll call Richard and let him know you have it. I already told the security team you’d be moving in.”

My cheeks flame again but for an entirely different reason. I used to joke with Richard, Kyle, and the rest of the security crew when I was Shane’s house cleaner. But now I’ll be entering Shane’s penthouse as his guest.

No, as his wife.

I sway a little as the finality of the word hits me. With our signatures scrawled on a filed marriage certificate, there’s no going back now.

Shane tucks me against his side, murmuring over my ear. “Are you okay?”