She made it to the doors and then turned around with her hand on her hip. “Did you forget how to open a door for a lady?”
He shook himself. That was more like Maggie. She’d insisted he treat her right from the very first. Because she knew she was worth it, he’d worked overtime to make himself a gentleman. He cleared the steps and reached for the handle. “High maintenance.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She winked as she pulled her sunglasses off.
“How could I?” he mumbled. He remembered everything about her, which made noticing the differences between high school Maggie and grown-up Maggie that much easier. Something he shouldn’t spend too much time doing, because he liked everything on the new version.
They went inside, filled out the paperwork, and were soon in front of the judge. The man was one wrinkle away from an old folks’ home, but he had a deep voice that rang through his chambers as if there were thirty people in attendance instead of the receptionist and another woman who stepped in as witnesses.
In hindsight, he should have asked James to stand up with him. Dang. There were times when he realized how messed up he was with relationships because he just didn’t think.
James would forgive him, but still …
“Please join hands.” The judge smiled at them as if they were so in love.
Cash held out his hands, waiting for Maggie. She looked down at his palms, her eyes wide like those of a deer ready to bolt. Instead of waiting for her to come to him, he slid his fingers down her arms and took her hands in his. Hers were cold, and so he rubbed the backs of them with his thumbs.
Her fingers were slack at first, and then they slowly tightened their hold on him. He squeezed her in return.
“Do you Cash, take this woman …?” The judge went on.
This woman. Yes. This woman. Not any other woman. Just Maggie, who’d been in his thoughts every day since he’d said goodbye. This woman he would take as his wife. Her and no one else. Perhaps God really was in this, because there was no other woman Cash could have stood here with and said, “I do.” Not even for his inheritance. A miracle. That’s what this was.
“Do you, Maggie, take this man …”
Me, Cash silently pleaded with her.Please take me.Take my broken and my bruised and my damage and my destruction. Take me, Maggie, and make me yours. I’ll be a better man for you. I’ll be my best man for you for always. You’re a lady and a seductress and a Sunday morning at church following a Saturday night under the stars. Take me, Maggie, and I will hold your heart in my hands forever.
“I do,” Maggie whispered, barely loud enough for the elderly judge to hear and not at all the declaration Cash needed.
With time, maybe he could convince her that they were better together than they were on their own. Heck, he might even get the dream, like the preacher had with his make-believe marriage becoming a true-life love.
“You may kiss the bride.”
Cash grinned. He’d been looking forward to this moment since Maggie had stood in the broken-down house, waved her hand around, and created a vision of her dream kitchen in his head. He’d planned it out—how he was going to hold her cheeks, slow time down, kiss her just lightly enough to whet her appetite and leave her wanting more.
He gently cupped her face, noting the way her chest rose and fell quickly. Breathing was hard for him too when she was this near. It was all he could do to remember the plan, because his body wanted to take over. Kissing Maggie was like no other experience in his life. He was made to put his lips on hers. He inched his feet closer, needing to hold her tight but also wanting to see how close she would let him get before she pulled back.
She didn’t move away from him, and his heart rate tripled.
“May I?” He lifted an eyebrow in question, adding just enough sarcasm to his comment that she wouldn’t see just how much he wanted this.
“If you think you can handle it.” The heat in her eyes undid him and all his carefully laid plans.
He crushed his lips to hers in a storm of desire and long-lost love. For a moment, he was so caught up in the fact that their mouths were pressed together that he missed the knowledge that she was kissing him back. And not just kissing—taking control.
He angled her head and deepened the kiss, drinking in all the fight she had in her, all the angry words she wanted to throw at him for leaving and then all the anger that he’d stayed away when he should have come back.
He gave to her too—telling her how desperate he’d been to have her, hold her, be her one and only.
She suddenly stepped back, her fingers touching her lips and her eyes searching his for something—no, foreverythinghe’d just said in a kiss. She didn’t believe him and turned her face away.
“Sorry,” she said to the judge. “Guess we got a little carried away.”
The judge chuckled. “Happens more than you know.” He winked as he handed over their marriage certificate. “You two have a good day now.”
“Thanks.” Cash plucked the thick paper from his hands and held tight. He wasn’t sure if he’d been rejected or not, and he had a strange sense of having fallen off a cliff only to never hit the ground. Incomplete.
They made their way out of the offices in silence. Cash took a left in the hallway, and Maggie took a right.
