“For now,” I said with a chuckle, kissing his cheek when he turned to glower at me.
We’d all managed to keep this surprise to ourselves, and I had been chill about it until we’d piled into the cab. It should’ve been anticlimactic after all this time, and I doubted he’d say no, but nerves got to me all the same, heightening every mile we drove from the lights of The Strip.
Caden and I had been living together for years, ever since Emily had given me her apartment to move in with Jesse and his niece. Friends and family would ask when we’d make it official, and we’d always blow them off without an explanation.
Truth was, we were as official as I could handle. I was still terrified of marriage, even with Caden. I’d always trusted him with everything, but holding that last and final piece of myself felt so crucial—if silly after all this time.
While Caden always insisted he was happy with the way things were as long as we were together, I’d spot a wistful gleam in his eye at the weddings we’d attend or how he always made it a point to ask Jesse about his “wife” when he referred to Emily.
He’d never push me and had always put me first. Some would say living together for so many years would make marriage a moot point, but to him, I knew it was an important one. And to me, because that one little concession would mean everything to him.
I’d never told Caden what his mother had told me, even after she’d passed away. She might not have been connected to reality when she’d said Caden had always loved me, but I believed it to be true. He’d shown me every single day. Not just when we reconnected years later, but as teenagers too.
Whenever I’d had a problem, either at home or with some stupid boy, he’d made it his mission to make it better. And he was still like that.
Being his wife wouldn’t be a concession. It would be an honor. And while this trip was sort of an ambush, it was my way of showing him I had zero doubts.
“Why do you need a marriage license to get married out here if you’re already married? Isn’t it valid everywhere?” Caden asked after we stepped out of the cab.
“No, they don’t need one,” I said, biting back a smile when Jesse and Emily shared a laugh behind Caden’s back.
“Okay,” he said, eyeing all of us with a deep crease in his forehead. “Then why are we here?”
“They don’t need one, but we do. So, if we are going to make our appointment at the chapel, we need to go inside.”
“Wait? What? Our appointment for…” He trailed off, his eyes popping open as realization dawned across his face.
“I love you. And I’ve made you wait long enough. Yes, I said I never wanted to get married again and you insisted you were fine with it, but I want to be married to you.” I took his hand as his eyes still blazed into mine. “I think it’s time I gave you everything since that’s all you’ve ever given me. Please marry me today.”
He stood, frozen, as I watched the roll of his throat.
“You’re asking me to marry you? Here? That’s what this trip was about?” He glanced over at Jesse and Emily. “And they were in on it?”
“Yep,” Jesse said. “And the look on your face already makes the cost of airfare and hotel worth it.”
“Absolutely,” Emily said, a watery laugh escaping her. Shit, my best friend was going to make me cry even harder.
“Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee?” Caden asked, chuckling as he swiped at his cheek with the heel of his hand. “I mean, a job worth doing is worth doing right.”
I raised a brow and shrugged as I sank down to the floor.
“If that’s what you want…”
He pulled me up by my arm, grabbing my face to press his mouth against mine, his hands shaking against my cheeks as he slanted his head, kissing me deep enough to leave me breathless.
“I love you so fucking much,” Caden murmured against my lips.
“Hey, save it for later. Are you in line or what?”
We broke apart and craned our necks to the couple behind us. A man in a Hawaiian shirt draped over a woman with smeared makeup, adjusting her halter top as she glared at us.
“Sorry, we’ll be quick,” I said, pulling Caden over to one of the clerks.
“Should we change?” he whispered, nodding to where they now stood behind us. “Pretend we’re on a bender so it looks like a real Vegas marriage?”
“I think we’re good, babe. I just want to marry you as soon as possible.”
A slow grin spread on his beautiful face, his chocolate eyes dancing as they held mine.
