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“Are you okay?”
“Yes, but we need to talk about last night and what you offered me.”
He shifts so I can meet his eyes. “Now? You want to talk about it right now?”
I nod. “You made me an offer. I told you I’d consider, and when I was ready to give you an answer, I would.”
He grinds his teeth and tugs my hips into him. “Any decision you make right now is made in grief.”
I keep my face neutral, force him to see I’m serious and that I’m making the choice willingly. “Does that mean you don’t want to hear my answer or my conditions?”
It takes time for him to answer me. No doubt he fought some sort of inner struggle over it. But then he says, “Tell me.”
I wrap my hands around his neck and arch up to press my forehead into his. “I’ll marry you, but under one condition. It’s non-negotiable.”
His hands tighten on my hips, and I feel him growing hard between my thighs. “Tell me, stellina. It’s not nice to tease a man.”
“I’ll be your wife if, and only if, when it comes time to kill my father, it’s my finger on the trigger, and my eyes are the last ones he sees.”
17
Nic
Only a few days have passed since I asked Celia to be my wife, and any minute now, she’s going to walk into my office and tell me she’s changed her mind. I catch myself every few minutes, halting my pacing to stare at the door. Simply to make sure she’s not standing on the other side, bolstering her courage to reject me.
I have confined myself to my office, as every single person I encounter today seems to try to get in my way. After Sarah refused to make lunch for me, Soo suggested I prepare for the ceremony and then hide out in my office until it’s time.
The result is I’ve not seen Celia since we woke up this morning, which has set me on edge. I’m not the kind of man who needs reassurance, and yet, I long to hear her voice in my ear, confirming she’s mine. Hell, earlier, I even thought about sending a staff member out to buy her a cell phone, so I could at the very least call her.
I spin away from the door for the tenth time in the last hour and stalk toward the fireplace. The pacing is the only thing keeping me from ripping off my tuxedo in favor of something less restrictive.
The lowball of brandy in my hand doesn’t hurt either. But the fear, the lack of food, and alcohol create a toxic sludge in my gut that threatens to end the celebration before it starts.
The afternoon sunlight is beaming through the windows. We could’ve held the ceremony outside, but it’s always hard to know if the weather will cooperate in this part of the state. There is more room in this house than I will ever be able to fill, so it is nothing to have the staff decorate an empty ballroom for the event.
A sharp knock on the office door sends my hands shaking. “Come in,” I shout.
Soo pokes his head through the door and peers around the room until he spots me practically huddling in the farthest corner. “Are you okay?”
“What do you want?” I growl.
He closes the door behind him. “You asked me to come and find you once the room was prepared. The priest is already waiting, and I think Celia is almost ready.”
That snaps through the haze. “Have you seen her?”
“No, she refuses to let anyone into her room.”
I cross to the door in a couple of long strides. “Why? Does she need anything? Is she having regrets? Maybe she’s afraid to call everything off for fear of me.”
Soo claps me on the shoulder, takes the drink from my hand, and swishes the rest of it back. “Let’s go look at the room, so you can stretch your legs and calm the fuck down.”
I follow him to the main floor and off to a rarely used ballroom. Soo shoves the doors open with little fanfare. But the inside of the room jerks me to a halt at the threshold.
A long white carpet runs up the center of the room to reach a small stage. A collection of chairs is arranged on either side of the carpet. But only a few, as this is going to be a very private ceremony. The staff has somehow erected a trellis above the chairs and strung tiny white lights from the wooden supports. And on top of those: white lilies. The scent of them hangs heavy in the air, giving the room a magical touch.
“Do you think she’ll like it?” I ask Soo.
He nods. “I think she’ll love it. But there’s one more thing you need to take care of before she’s done getting ready.”
