It was hard enough to keep my composure as it was. But damn, Theo was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, and in minutes he was going to be mine.
I was so caught up in my future husband that when the music started over the speakers and the familiar rhythm played overhead, I’d forgotten the out-of-the-box decision I’d made on our wedding song.
I could only hope the slow smile that curved Theo’s lips meant he approved of my choice. He shook his head, slipped a hand into one of his pockets, and began to stroll down the aisle with all the charm and swagger I knew him to possess to “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”by The Proclaimers. Because really, who wouldn’t walk five hundred—or five thousand—miles to fall down at this man’s feet?
I grinned wider with every step he took, and when he finally reached me I took his hands in mine and drew him in close to me.
As the music faded out and Wilson moved up beside us, Theo rubbed his thumb over my fingers and winked at me.
“Shep and Theo, we are here tonight at your request because you have decided to join your lives together in holy matrimony.”
I raised my brows at Theo, who didn’t even flinch as he stared into my eyes. There wasn’t one ounce of hesitation there. He was as certain of me as I was of him. And nothing had felt more right in my life.
“Have you prepared anything you’d like to say?” Wilson asked, and honestly, it was a shock either of us heard him. It was as though we were in a bubble. Me and him. Him and meforever. Everyone else could leave us alone and we’d be happy right here.
“Shepard?”
Oh right, I needed to say something if I wanted this to end the way my fantasy did.
“We prepared something,” I said, my voice a little deeper than usual as it tried to get past my heart that was suddenly in my throat. “Theo, we’ve known each other a long time now. Through our families, then as…colleagues,” I remembered to say for the sake of outside ears. “We’ve been friends for years. But over the last few months you stepped out of that box and into a brand-new space in my life, an empty space, one that was waiting for someone to fill it—my heart.”
Theo’s eyes grew a little glassy as he blinked at me.
“I had no idea that the person that would finally complete me was standing right next to me all along. He just wasn’t in focus yet.” I reached up to run my fingers down his stubbled cheek. “But you are now. You are all that’s bright, all that’s light in my life. You step into a room and every other person disappears out of it. I always thought I knew what love was. But I had no idea until I fell in love with you.”
“Damn.” He reached up to wipe at the corner of his eye, shaking his head slightly as he met my stare. “That right there is why I’m in love with you. I think I have the words to say, just like I thought I had my life planned out, but then you come along and I can’t remember what I thought was so great. Because life with you is already so much better than I imagined, and considering what we’ve been through lately, that tells me all I need to know about our future.”
He squeezed my fingers and smiled as a lone tear escaped down his cheek.
“I love that I can be myself with you. That you accept me, all of me, without question. That you know me well enough to know I’d love that fucking song you just played.”
I grinned.“It’s because I—” I stopped myself to add what I’d been practicing in my head. “Jet’aime.”
I’d probably butchered that, but it made Theo’s smile bigger, and that was all that mattered.
“You better,” he said, leaning in to kiss my lips before whispering, “Because I’m gonna be the man that grows old with you.”
“Damn right you are.”
He kissed me again, and to Wilson’s credit, he didn’t interrupt our moment to keep going until we were ready.
“Do you, Shepard, take Theodore as your husband and lifelong companion, for as long as you both shall live?”
Theo’s brow quirked ever so slightly, a mischievous spark still peeking out of those gorgeous blue eyes.
“I absolutely do,” I said.
“And do you, Theodore, take Shepard as your husband and lifelong companion, for as long as you both shall live?”
“Oui. I do.”
“Congratulations to you both. I now pronounce you husbands—” Wilson said, and before he could grant us whatever permission to kiss that was usually said, I’d grabbed hold of Theo and had his mouth under mine to seal our vows.
We’d done it. We’d really gone through with it, and as Theo pulled back and a cheeky smile lit up his handsome face, I realized that holy shit, I’d just married the Prince of Monaco—in Vegas.
30
THEO
