She pulls back further, but doesn’t move her arm from my neck. “What?”
“I’m all fucking in, Penny. We’re in Vegas, we could do it tonight. You wanted to know that this was real, that I wasn’t going anywhere. Marry me. Our family can learn to deal with it.”
She blinks at me rapidly. “How much have you had to drink?”
“This is my third since the event.”
“You’re being impulsive.”
“No, I’m not,” I tell her sternly, and her eyes search mine.
“You’d really want to marry me?”
“I want everything with you. I’m sick of not showing you off, of not being with you in the way I want to be. Be my wife, be my everything.”
She thinks for a long moment, and I wonder what Penny always pictured her wedding looking like. Did she want something big and extravagant and I’m crushing her dreams?
“Why do you want me to be your wife?”
I fist her hair, holding her face close to mine. Everything and everyone around us is irrelevant.
“Because I’ve never been this happy. You make life worth living, Penny, and I want to spend the rest of mine with youproudly on my arm, my ring on your finger, our kids running around. I want everything and I want it with you.”
She wraps her other arm around my neck, squeezing me tight.
“You are actually the most romantic person I’ve ever met.”
“Is that a yes?”
She pulls back, smiling. “Yes, it’s a yes.”
Her lips crash against mine. The music blares in the space as relief fills my chest. Fuck the repercussions, what anyone thinks. I’m marrying her before she has a chance to change her mind.
We endup in Downtown Las Vegas. There’s a woman in a motorized scooter with duct tape over her nipples, a man contorting his body, and another dressed as a politician dancing.
Penny tugs on my hand as we head to the small wedding chapel. It’s not classy by any means.
“It’s a bit of a hole-in-the-wall,” I say, and Penny smacks my chest but laughs.
“It was your idea.”
“You’re still good with this?” I ask, cupping her face looking down at her. As bad as I want it, I’d understand if she said no.
But this is how our relationship works, zero to one-hundred with everything we do. Her hands drag down my chest and she looks back up at me.
“I don’t know how I’m going to tell my parents that I got married without them and it’s to you. But I want this, I want you, Lincoln.”
I kiss her as we enter the door, and the hostess runs us through the packages.
We go with one of the mid-tiers that includes a witness and photos. It’s almost serendipitous that she’s in a floor length dress and I’m wearing a suit as we get situated in front of the officiant.
He’s fast and concise.
“Little lady, do you take this man to be your lawful husband?” he asks.
“I do,” Penny says, holding her shitty looking bouquet with a massive smile on her face.
“And do you take this little lady to be your lawful wife?” he turns and asks me, he isn’t dressed like Elvis, but it’s clear he plays the role often enough.
