“Baby…” My voice is a low growl. “I’ll fucking ruin you if you let me kiss you right now.”
Her lips betray her, deepening into a sly little smirk, her green eyes flashing with something dark and taunting. I press closer, the ache between my legs near unbearable, my lips barely brushing hers, just a taste, just enough to make my lungs burn, but she lets go of my t-shirt, gently pushing me away.
She smirks as she slips out from under me, leaving me braced against the wall, breathless and throbbing, her perfume and laughter clinging to me.
“You always this mean to your husband?”
“You’re not my husband.”
“Tomorrow, dollface, I will be.”
If you’d toldme two weeks ago I’d be standing in a small chapel in Ruby Ridge, wearing a black suit, waiting for Amelia Hamilton to walk toward me, I would have laughed in your face and told you to lay off the whiskey.
Amelia’s walking toward me like a goddamn vision in black lace, her tattoos peeking beneath the sheer sleeves of her dress, her chin tipped high. Every step, the fabric parts just enough to flash her leg, and my knees damn near buckle. The cameras fire off behind us, shutters clicking in greedy rhythm, but I don’t care.
She’s all I see.
She’s all I’ll ever see.
“You look fucking stunning,” I mumble when she reaches me, keeping my voice low enough that the officiant can’t scold me.
Her green eyes cut straight through me. “Thanks, I know.”
I grin, tugging her hand into mine. “Oh, and I’m the cocky one?”
She doesn’t say anything as she scoffs, digging her nails into the back of my hand.
Christ, she’s deadly.
My pulse races, my mouth goes dry, and the officiant is already rambling, trying to get us to say the vows. But I lean in anyway, my mouth brushing against her.
“You have any idea what that dress is doing to me right now?”
She doesn’t glance at me, her gaze locked forward. “You’re supposed to be saying ‘I do,’ not narrating your… situation.”
“Dollface,” I whisper, my lips curving against her skin, “I could say ‘I do’ to a lot of things right now. Most of ’em are illegal in a church.”
Her smirk cuts sideways, though her pulse jumps beneath my thumb where I hold her hand. “Good thing we’re in a church.”
The officiant clears his throat, trying to wrangle us back. “Maverick Hayes, do you take Amelia Hamilton to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
I don’t even let him finish. “Hell yes, I do.”
Amelia shakes her head, sighing.
When the officiant turns to her, she doesn’t blink or fidget. She lifts her chin and says in a velvet voice that cuts straight through me, “I do.”
The cameras go wild.
The officiant sighs, clearly over it. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
That’s all I need.
I don’t wait or hesitate. My hand snaps to the back of Amelia’s neck, the other to her waist, pulling her close as I press my mouth to hers.
She gives me a quick peck, pulling away before I can deepen it, leaving me stranded with the taste of her lips and a hollow ache in my chest.
I freeze, jaw tight, because fuck, I wanted more. Just one second longer. Just enough to lose myself in her.
