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I’d find a way out of this somehow. I just had to wait until the right opportunity surfaced.
Chapter 6
“Grayson Asher and Zoe Parker, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?”
I stared at the priest blankly. I wondered if he knew how this whole ceremony had unfolded, how I’d walked into the building this morning and had been forced down the aisle to become Grayson’s bride by sunset. I sighed and looked out over his shoulder, seeing the sparkling glint of the rolling waves along the beach in the distance. It was as though I could hear them, each crashing roar of water hitting sand and stone, and a strange calm came over me.
“Yes. I do,” Grayson said firmly.
They were waiting for me to give my agreement, but I wasn’t here freely, nor was I here without reservation. No. I was here by force.
“I do,” I echoed. My voice came out sounding kind of flat.
The priest looked like a kind man with soft eyes. He was maybe in his early sixties, but the wrinkles along his eyes told me he’d led a happy life, a full life, and I absentmindedly wondered if I would be able to as well after today.
The whole thing was absurdly surreal.
“Will you each honor the other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?” the man continued.
“I will cherish her as my wife every day,” Grayson replied. He took my hands in his and gently turned me to face him. “I will take care of what’s mine.”
Men like this weren’t real. They didn’t talk like that. Men like him only existed in the movies.
“I will honor him as my husband,” I said softly, but I didn’t believe the words even though I said them.
“Are you ready to take your vows, Mr. Asher?” the priest asked, and Grayson’s firm gaze held mine with a steadiness that I couldn’t bring myself to look away from.
“I am,” he exclaimed firmly. His mouth set in a hard line and butterflies fluttered deep inside my core.
“Please repeat after me then. I, Grayson Asher, take you, Zoe Parker, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you all the days of my life,” the priest recited expectantly.
Grayson squeezed my fingers tight as he began to echo the priest’s words. He spoke with such determined resolution that I found myself caught on the edge of each syllable. His vow resonated deep within the depths of my soul. He never looked away once. He said every word as if he meant them and for the moment, I allowed myself to believe him, that he was saying them for me.
Me, of all people.
When he was finished, the priest turned to me expectantly.
“Dr. Parker, are you ready to say your vows?” he asked.
“I am,” I whispered.
“I, Dr. Zoe Parker, take you, Grayson Asher, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor and obey you all the days of my life,” the priest recited.
It wasn’t lost on me that my vows included obedience among them.
I swallowed hard, but Grayson was there, and his dark brown eyes were like a comforting embrace filled with warmth and safety. There was a hard edge too, a mysterious darkness shadowing the man beneath.
Curiosity killed the cat, but would my own kill me?
I hummed softly and then I took a leap of faith.
“I, Dr. Zoe Parker, take you, Grayson Asher, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor and obey you all the days of my life,” I repeated.
I narrowed my eyes just slightly when I reached the word ‘obey’ and Grayson’s gaze simply sparkled with dark promise. I couldn’t help but glance down at his hands, squirming just a little when I recalled how his palm could bring pleasure or pain across the expanse of my bare skin.
I lifted my chin proudly and finished reciting my vows. My voice remained strong and when I reached the end, I was rewarded with his smile.
I didn’t realize until then just how perfect it was. His cheeks drew in just a little, exposing two small dimples that were really quite handsomely adorable. I wanted to reach out and touch them, but I held back and squeezed his fingers tighter instead.
