That should ring out like another warning, but all I hear is Ty Reynolds falling for me.
When we park in the lot across from a towering hotel and casino, Ty informs me that this is our destination. I’m puzzled. I thought we were hiding out, and here we are, in the heart of the city, but like he said, plans change.
If it wasn’t for the tension emanating from him, making the air stale, an excitement would doubtlessly be thrumming through me. He’s dressed to kill in an all-black suit—a necklace and some of his ink peeking above his open collar, his Rolex and rings glimmering in the dark—which complements my black-and-pink strapless dress with dual thigh slits, classy but chic and teasing the perfect amount of cleavage and leg to leave me feeling sexy. The city is alive and thumping. It’s an unbelievable start to a date. But something is still awry.
He guides me up to a sky lounge on the top level. It’s two in the morning, and the sign says it closes at midnight.
“I don’t think it’s open.”
He ignores me and glides his hand over the small of my backas he flings open the door like he owns the place. As soon as we enter, Gage greets us.
“All clear,” he says over my head as he envelops me in a brief hug.
“Thanks, Big Guy.” Ty gives him a curt nod, laces our fingers together, and leads me out to a balcony that overlooks the city.
A small gasp catches in my throat as I take it all in. “This is stunning.”
The chilly air hits me. Even though we were out in it minutes ago, it’s fresh up here. Down below, it’s stagnant with a stench of coffee, alcohol, weed, and vanilla. Crowds and chaos. Here in the clouds, under the navy shadows of night, where no one can spot us, it’s invigorating.
“I’m glad you think so.” His eyes bore into the side of my face, a laden pause hanging between us until I peel my gaze off the twinkling rainbow lights and grace him with my attention so that he continues. “We’re getting married here.”
“What?” I shake my head at him and laugh at this out-of-the-blue topic. “I’m not sure we should be looking at venues yet. There hasn’t even been a proposal. Or dating for that matter. Talk about getting ahead of ourselves. And once we sell Axel on this, he’ll want to throw us something huge at La Lune Noire.”
“No.” He drags me closer, anchoring our hips together. “Tonight. We’re getting married here. Right now. Well, in twenty minutes.”
“In twenty minutes,” I parrot, as if that will enable me to digest the absolute insanity that is falling out of his mouth.
“Yes.” One unbudging word.
I step back with a huff as the lit-up world spins around me, and my back crashes into the solid balcony railing. “What the hell is happening? Two days ago, you didn’t think us being together was a good idea. Yesterday, before you left, we agreed to take it slow with my brothers. And now, you want to pledge forever to me?”
His thumb and index finger latch on to my jaw, lifting my chin. “I pledged forever to you the second my cock sank inside you. I told you that. And I …”
“Why?”
No hesitation. “Because you’re mine and I won’t risk losing you.”
He’s saying all the right things, but it’s all wrong.
“You won’t lose me, Ty. I …”
Stepping closer, he cages me against the railing, the city behind me and the man of my fantasies before me. His long limbs bracket me with both comfort and certitude. “Your brothers will respect this marriage. They’ll have to. Without it, they could try to take you away from me, and I won’t tempt fate like that.”
That’s not completely off base. But I was prepared to go head-to-head with them. I’m a grown woman. And Axel will be so glad I’m safe that he’ll be amenable. I know it. But this …
“Axel will be devastated. And Jax … if he got married without me, I’d … we’re connected, he and I; it will kill him. All of them. Ryker, Cash, Maddox. They’re difficult, and they fucked up, but they’re still mine. I can’t do this to them. I won’t.”
His jaw clenches. “I didn’t ask.”
“What?” The one-word gasp falls from my lips with a whoosh. No breath remains in my lungs.
“There’s a reason I didn’t get down on one knee and ask you to marry me, Rena. God knows you deserve that. You deserve everything. But this isn’t a choice I can give you. You already chose to be with me, and you will be, even if that isn’t what you want anymore. It has to be this way.”
“Ty, what happened?” Tears stream down my cheeks in utter disillusionment. This is everything I’ve wanted turned upside down. “Talk to me. I don’t understand. I do want to be with you. I’ve always believed you were my forever. It’s not that. It’s just that my family—”
“We’re your family now,” he insists, wiping my cheeks and peppering me with kisses that lend a perplexing tenderness to thismilitant acquisition. “Ivy, Celeste, Felicity. Liam, Wells, Gage. And me. Me. That’s who you belong to.”
An exasperated huff billows out of me. “Isn’t it a little fucked up that my new family is involved in something I know nothing about? You still haven’t told me what you allfell into.”
