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I don’t appreciate him telling me to calm down when he’s kneeling at the side of the bed, but I settle back on the pillow and jerk the sheet up to cover my naked skin. His eyes track the movement, but he doesn’t comment on it.
There’s only one other reason a man kneels on the floor like this, and something strange clogs my throat at the idea. I want this, but not out of obligation or guilt.
Doing it to protect his life is something different. At least that’s what I tell myself.
Shit. Now that he’s there, not even asking the question yet, I don’t think I can do it. “Please, get up. Let’s talk about this for a second.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you joking? We have been arguing about this very thing for days now. Well, that and sex, but…”
Thankfully, he gets off the floor and slides into bed beside me. Which I realize is a very bad idea the moment his warm hands slide over my bare skin. When he touches me, I can’t think straight. Even harder when I catch sight of his completely naked body and feel the evidence of how much he wants me. “What do you want, Rose? I don’t want to marry you so I don’t ruin your life and you push for it. I decide we should get married, so I can lick between your creamy thighs every day, at least until you get tired of me, and you tell me no and look like you want to bolt.”
When he puts it like that… I clear my throat and sit beside him so we aren’t touching. The white sheet isn’t much of a barrier, but I have to do something, or this will devolve quickly, and nothing will get solved. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you. I just don’t want you to feel trapped into it. Bound by your circumstances.”
“Isn’t it the other way around? You are bound by these circumstances just as much as I am. You didn’t have to make that deal with the council. You could have left me to rot on my own and protected your own ass.”
He reaches for me, and I shake my head, holding him at bay with a hand on his chest. “I don’t need protection anymore, not the same way you do.”
“You don’t think Sal’s family will come for you when they learn what truly happened that night.”
I jerk my eyes from him and look away. “You think they will come after their son’s victim, even if his death is related to someone else’s attack. I have no disillusions that Adrian went after Sal because of what he did to Valentina. It has nothing to do with me. He probably knows very little about me, save him helping me medically when I needed it.”
He snatches my hand up so fast I can’t react before he pulls me into the curve of his shoulder and settles me there. “Adrian knows who you are and what you mean to Valentina, which makes you important to him. He might have killed Sal for her, but I doubt his family will care when it comes to details. They want all of us dead.”
I swallow down the guilt, still clogging my throat, unable to admit the last part of my hesitation.
A tiny part of me wants him to agree because he actually cares, not because of some obligation or threat.
After a moment, he whispers one word into my hair, cupping the side of my head to his mouth. “Please.”
I can’t resist the soft plea in his tone. “Yes. Fine. I’ll marry you, but I at least want a dress that won’t make me feel like an idiot to wear.”
He rolls me over onto my back and settles between my thighs. “Really?”
I nod, and his smile makes my throat tight. Fucking hell, I’m falling in love with him. It hits me like a damn Wylie Coyote anchor. Shit. This won’t make things easier when, one day, we must go our separate ways. I know he’s only been stuck with me to keep me out of the spotlight while Adrian deals with the threat to him and the council. But, in the short time I’ve been with him twenty-four seven, I’ve gotten to know him better. He’s smart, so fucking smart, and the way his mind works is fascinating. I don’t think a lifetime would be long enough to figure out his every nuance.
Isn’t that why people marry, so they can spend a lifetime learning about the person they love?
Except this will be one-sided. Protection for both of us, maybe, and a little fun in the sheets. I doubt after him, I’ll be able to find someone who makes me feel as safe or cherished when I’m touched.
While I’ve been thinking, he plants a kiss on my cheek, climbs out of bed, and enters the closet. “We need to get dressed. I can have your outfit, the lawyer, and a judge here within the hour. Is that too soon?”
Too soon to trap him into a marriage? Probably. Too soon to spend my life with him? No, never.
I swallow hard and roll away so I can get a hold of myself before I climb out of the bed. “Just let me know if you need me to do anything.”
He rushes over, kisses my cheek again, and then heads out of the room, calling after him. “You just need to show up.”
When he said within an hour, he wasn’t kidding. Not an hour later, before I’ve even had breakfast, two strangers and one creamy silk dress are waiting for me. It takes a minute to put on a little makeup and make the dress look purposeful. I leave my feet bare since I don’t have shoes to match, and when I enter the living room, Kai hands me a white rose to carry in front of the severe man standing near the door.
“Ah,” he says, his voice like the scratch of tree branches on a windowpane. “Let’s get this over with since you didn’t seem to want to wait for the proper time.”
I lean into Kai, who is dressed impeccably in a black-on-black suit, a white rosebud in his lapel. “You didn’t kidnap him, did you?”
He brushes his forehead with mine. “No, but I’ll save that idea for next time since he might complain less if he thinks I’ll actually hurt him.”
We go through the entire spiel, and I try to keep my face neutral and blank as we say our empty vows. He doesn’t, each word laced with emotion, and I have to remind myself it’s probably an act. He’s making sure these people think this is rushed out of love, not necessity.
When it’s over, we sign the paperwork, everything is notarized, and Kai opens the door wide. “Get out. I have to fuck my wife to within an inch of her life.”
