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The thick straps of the white dress crossed over on my chest, lace interweaving with the delicate fabric. It pulled in at my waist then in a gentle A-line flowed down to my ankles, allowing the bright-red shoes to peek from beneath.
It was reminiscent of a wedding dress, but also not too over the top. It was perfect.
“Luna?” Aida called from outside the walk-in closet. Her voice had me springing into action, so I took a step, wincing at how high the heels were. I was so used to flat shoes that it took me until I got to the top of the stairs to get used to them. Maybe I should have waited to put them on. “Here she is,” Aida announced, moving to the side.
My stomach dipped as I spotted Mateo waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Lorenzo was on the opposite side to him, and although all I could see when I looked at him was the memory of his knife close to my wrist, I felt…safe.
Glancing back at Aida, she made a shooing motion at me, her lips spread into the biggest grin I’d ever seen. I guessed that was my signal.
Blowing out a breath, I prayed that I wouldn’t fall down the stairs in these skyscraper heels and slowly moved down them. I could feel the burn of Mateo’s eyes on me, and when I was a couple of steps from the bottom, I finally met his stare.
His eyes were lit on fire, tracking each and every one of my movements. His chest heaved on each breath, his nostrils flaring, and his jaw clenched tight. I wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but whatever it was, it was too much for him to handle by the way his expression was.
“I’m ready,” I whispered when I made it to the bottom of the stairs, thankful I’d at least looked semi-graceful.
Mateo’s body snapped forward, his eyes clearing as he sauntered over to me. “Damn, Luna.” He halted right in front of me but didn’t touch me. I both hated and loved when he did that. I wasn’t even sure he was aware of how crazy it drove me when he was this close but still too far away.
“Is that a good ‘damn’?” I asked.
“Hell fuckin’ yes, it’s a good damn.” He slid his palm over my shoulder, down my arm, then captured my hand in his. “You look incredible.” He lifted my palm and placed a kiss right in the center. “You ready to get hitched?”
“I…” I swallowed, wishing the butterflies in my stomach would stop swarming around like they were trapped in a cage. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
I wished we could have stayed like that forever. His hand wrapped around mine, his eyes only focused on me, his attention not wavering for a single second. But he let my hand go, breaking our connection. It was all a veil of lies. We were doing this for survival.
“We’ll meet you there,” Lorenzo spoke up. We both turned to see his arms wrapped around Aida from behind, both of their stare’s directed right at us. “We’ve got twenty minutes until your slot.”
Mateo jerked forward. “Shit. I lost track of time.” He pulled his cell out then gripped my wrist, leading me out of the mansion and to the SUV. He didn’t say another word as he drove us away and toward a town I’d never been to before.
Everything whizzed by, and then I was in a hallway, waiting for our names to be called by the person who would make this official. It was a blur, one that I felt like I wasn’t present for.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the man standing between us, holding a book in his hands said. “You may kiss the bride.”
My hands shook as our eyes met. We hadn’t kissed since that morning in his apartment, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to feel his lips against mine. I flicked my gaz
e down to his mouth, trailed my tongue along my bottom lip, and stepped forward.
He stood still, his eyes widening as I closed the distance between us. Maybe he hadn’t had any intention of sealing the deal with a kiss, but if this was the last person that my lips would ever touch, then I was going to take what I could when it was required.
I lifted my hand, placing my palm on his cheek. His muscles twitched at my touch, but I didn’t take notice of it. I simply lifted up a little higher on my tiptoes so that I could be level with him, and slowly connected our lips.
I was soft. Gentle. Not wanting to push my luck too much. But as I went to pull away, his arm banded around my waist and he held me to him. He deepened the kiss, swiping his tongue against my bottom lip, his control snapping as he took everything he wanted from me.
His growing erection pressed against me, spurring me on, so I tangled my tongue with his, hoping that what we had wouldn’t end here. There was no denying the chemistry between us, and I was sure he’d give into it now. We wore matching rings, had signed a legal document stating we were now lawful partners, what more had to happen to solidify us being together?
But as he pulled away, separating every piece of him that was touching me, his eyes were shuttered. He was closing down, but I couldn’t let him. Something good had to come out of this. Right?
The man who had pronounced us stepped forward, talking in hushed words with Mateo. I lifted my hand, pressing my fingers to my lips, committing the kiss to memory as I waited for Mateo to look back at me.
He didn’t though. He grasped my hand and walked me outside to the SUV. We said our goodbyes to Aida and Lorenzo then went home. I tried to speak to him several times, but he used Cardo and Chiara as a buffer. We spent hours talking to them about us getting married and explaining that I would be living here permanently.
I kept everything trapped inside, knowing that as soon as they were asleep, we’d be able to talk properly. We could figure out what we were going to be—if we were going to be anything. Maybe it would all be a front, a real marriage of convenience. A marriage that would serve a purpose but have no depth behind.
I slipped out of the dress as Mateo put the kids to bed, and hung it in the bathroom, ready for Mateo to take back to Aida tomorrow, then I lined my shoes up in the closet. I’d never wear them again, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep them. They were a gift, one that I would look at and instantly remember the day.
Footsteps creaked across the hallway, so I stepped outside the bathroom attached to our bedroom. For three nights we’d slept in the same bed, not touching, not doing anything but knowing what our fate to come was.
But now we’d made the final step.
