AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then I’ll have baby puke all over me,” he argued with her. “She was crying and wanted her daddy.”
“Ma, stop worrying about the baby and focus on the fact that Axton is trying to talk my bride out of marrying me. I’m going to need you to find someone to dig a hole on this freaking island so I can bury him. Wait, have there been any shark sightings? That would be even better.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. It was funny as hell, but the distress in Jagger’s voice was too real for me to giggle over—although holding back the urge was almost painful.
Dad opened the door. “Relax, kid,” he said with a snort. “Even if I’d been serious, Shaw would have kicked my ass if I tried to get her to back out.”
“Language!” Luca growled, sounding closer. “Innocent ears, people.”
Violet carefully got out of the stylist’s chair and smoothed her hands over her hips, making sure her matron-of-honor dress was perfectly in place before walking toward the door. “Luca, take Love Bug to my dad,” she commanded. “The wedding will be starting soon.”
“Shane and Dad have Isaac and Ian. Your mom is in there with you, and Love Bug wasn’t happy with Mom. I’ll just keep her with me.”
“The wedding is about to start,” Vi argued. “Babe, please. This is Shaw’s day.”
Suddenly, Luca’s hulking body was in the doorway, his arms full of tiny baby, holding my goddaughter as if she were the most precious person in the universe. And he wasn’t wrong. I adored Love Bug, much like Aunt Harper adored me. If I was never blessed with children, that would be fine with me because I could spend my life spoiling and loving that beautiful little girl.
“Shaw.” Luca’s voice and eyes were full of a plea that I’d rarely seen or heard from him. “Please, I’ll do anything you want. Just let me hold her during the ceremony. She will be a good girl. I promise. She’s always a good little princess for her daddy.” He looked down at the baby with so much love on his face, my heart turned to mush. I’d never thought Luca Thornton would ever care about anyone more than himself, yet he’d proved to me over and over again since Remington’s death that he would spend his life loving Violet and Love Bug with every fiber of his being.
“Won’t you, my beautiful princess?” Love Bug gurgled happily up at her daddy, her little hand waving around in an attempt to touch his face. “Yes, you will, precious baby.” He kissed the top of her head while looking at me with pleading, swirling brown eyes. “Please,” he whispered.
“Luca—” Vi began, but I cut her off.
“You can keep her with you,” I announced. “Besides, she’s my goddaughter. She needs to be a part of the ceremony too, right?”
“Of course she does!” Jagger exclaimed, still out of sight of the door. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that earlier.”
“Thank you,” Luca said with true sincerity before raining kisses all over Love Bug’s giggling face.
It was such a sweet sound, I nearly teared up. Ugh, he was making me emotional before I even walked down the aisle. I didn’t know if I wanted to hug him or slug him.
“All right, people,” Emmie called so everyone could hear her. “We have five minutes until go time. Get to where you are supposed to be!”
Luca paused long enough to kiss Violet. “You look beautiful, Vi,” he told her in a husky voice before he disappeared in a hurry, almost as if he were scared I might change my mind about the baby at the last second.
“Dimples?” Jagger said my name hesitantly.
“Jags?” I called back, letting him know I was there.
“I’ll see you soon.”
My heart leaped. Soon, I would be his wife, and life would be complete.
“Jagger?”
“Yeah,” he said, sounding reluctant to move away from the door.
“Today has already been perfect,” I assured him, knowing it was what he needed to hear. “I can’t wait to see you on the beach.”
Chapter 8
Jagger
The ceremony passed in a blur. One minute, I was standing by the water with all eyes on me; the next, every gaze was on my breathtaking bride—mine included. I’d seen Shaw with red, swollen eyes, snotty nose, and no makeup while wearing sweats two sizes too big for her. I’d seen her wearing couture dresses with perfect makeup and hair. And everything in between. But no matter what she did or didn’t wear, I could honestly say she was always the most beautiful woman I’d ever set eyes on.
Yet right then?
My knees actually went weak. There could never be a more stunning bride in the universe. Tears stung my eyes as her dad walked her down the aisle, which was basically a silky liner that was placed on the sand. Other than the first rows on either side of the aisle that were filled with our parents, my sister, and brother-in-law, everyone had been told to sit wherever they wanted, because it didn’t matter whose side they were there on. We were all family, after all.
