“Mine’s giving me a rash,” I admitted, holding up my hand where the gaudy plastic diamond was threatening to exfoliate my knuckle off. “I thought you said you were never taking it off, though.”
“That was before I remembered that limbs need blood in order to stay healthy.”
“Right.”
We climbed out of the truck, walking into the cool interior side by side. The saleswoman took one look at our matching tacky rings and burst into delighted laughter before she slapped on a professional smile.
“We, uh, had a theme,” I said, trying to sound dignified.
Trent murmured, “Don’t lie to the woman, Charlotte.”
I elbowed him and he smirked, but somehow, this absurd little moment so far away from Chicago, and my father, and any expectations, was like breathing fresh air for the first time in days. It just felt like, right now, neither of us had to pretend or strategize.
We could just be two hungover idiots trying to upgrade the evidence of their impulsive Vegas marriage. Trent picked up a simple gold band, turning it between his fingers.
As I watched him inspect it, a strange ache bloomed in my chest when I realized that I would see that ring on him every day. On his hand. On myhusband.
He glanced at me and something almost tender passed between us, but then he cleared his throat and pointed at the display case. “Let’s try that one for you, yeah?”
I nodded, but I didn’t even glance at the wedding band he’d suggested until he slid it onto my finger. It was stunning and regal, nothing like the bargain-bin set we’d grabbed last night, and I forgot how to breathe for a second watching it slide into place.
I looked up at him, noticing that he seemed slightly breathless as he stared down at the ring too.Or maybe that’s just me projecting. Yeah, that’s definitely what it is.
This was Trent I was looking at, the cowboy bound by duty… to me. His motivation for doing this wasn’t that deep. It had nothing to do with feelings.
Even though I still felt like I’d never actually climbed out of the deep end of that hotel pool and was currently drowning in too many feelings. He smoothed his thumb over my finger and murmured, low and sure, “I think this is the one.”
Yeah, he is.
I mean. The ring. The ring was fine.Just. Freaking. Fine.
CHAPTER 28
TRENT
We got back to Texas late that night, the drive from the airstrip to my house completely quiet. The shift from being free of both our families to being back in the real world was hitting both of us harder than I’d expected.
Almost like stepping out of warm water into cold air.
Once we got home, I parked, grabbed her suitcase out of the truck bed, and carried it inside on autopilot. Muscle memory had me heading for the room she’d used the last time she’d stayed here, but halfway down the hall, I stopped.
I didn’t know why. My body just knew to do it before my brain had even caught up. Behind me, she suddenly spoke, her voice soft and uncertain. “I guess we’re, uh, married now. Do we… share a bed, too?”
I set the suitcase down slowly, like it might explode if I handled it wrong. I turned to face her. The hallway light framed her in a warm golden glow, and for some stupid reason, my stomach did that drop it only ever did around her.
The whole dang flight, I hadn’t been able to stop looking at her. Her head had been tipped to the side, her hair falling across her cheek while she slept all the way from Vegas to Dallas. Ishould’ve slept too, gotten rid of the rest of the hangover. But I just hadn’t been able to do it.
My wife.
The words settled in my head with a weight I didn’t hate. This time around, it felt too good. Better than it probably should’ve.
Charlotte didn’t know this yet, but Alex hadn’t even pushed me into this. That was the part that kept looping through my head like a bad song.
He hadn’t cornered me, hadn’t brought up duty, or the ranch, or the legacy. I’d walked into Douglas Westwood’s office on my own two feet and told the smug bastard that I was marrying his daughter, but he could keep her inheritance locked in a damn vault if that made him sleep better.
I didn’t care about the money. Still don’t, but the thought of someone else having her?
That had knocked something loose inside me. I didn’t have words for it, but the mere thought of losing her to another man, any other man, hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced.
