She laughed. “I don’t have any objections to that, but do you think that’s enough publicity for a while?”
“Mm,” I hummed like I was genuinely considering it, but my hands found her waist and I gripped her tight. “It’s hard to say. I think we could’ve made a bigger scene.”
“Oh, absolutely,” she joked. “Next time, maybe a flash mob?”
“Don’t tempt me.” I grinned, but then I lowered my head and kissed her, and everything else dropped away.
Her breath caught against my mouth, her fingers tightening in my shirt as I backed her up step by step to her bedroom. There was nothing rushed about it, even if the energy between us was anything but calm.
She was mine. I was hers. And our future? That was ours.
“That’s enough publicity for now,” I said quietly against her lips, finally answering her question. “Right now, the only plan I have is consummating our semi-legal union. The world can wait.”
Right here, right now, I had everything I wanted and I wasn’t letting go.
CHAPTER 48
JACQUELINE
Married. I, Jacqueline Calhoun, was married.
After being engaged to Thomas for so many years and never even setting a date, I’d been convinced that I’d never walk down the aisle after all, and in a way, I’d been right. Because I’d chosen a man who hadn’t even wanted to wait for an aisle.
Jesse Westwood and I had been engaged for less than thirty minutes before we’d been pronounced as husband and wife, and right now, I didn’t even care that it wasn’t fully legal. As I kissed my husband and lay down on my bed with him, I didn’t care about anything at all, other than the fact that this man, this incredible, unbelievable bloody man, was all mine.
Forever.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips, one of his palms warm against my cheek. He pulled away to look at me. “I love you so fucking much, but I still can’t believe you said yes.”
“Neither can I,” I admitted past the lump of happy emotion in my throat. “I can’t believe you asked either, or that you made it happen quite that fast.”
“We waited long enough,” he murmured without even taking a beat to think about it. “God, Jacque. The very first time I sawyou, I couldn’t think of anyone but you. If you think about it that way, it didn’t happen fast at all. I fell for you immediately.”
I smiled and ran my fingertip across his clean-shaven jaw, tears of joy pressing at the backs of my eyes. “I know you didn’t want to hear it before, but I really am sorry, Jesse.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then trailed his lips to my temples, my eyelids, and dotted kisses across both of my cheeks. “I know you are, baby. That’s why I didn’t want to hear it.I’m sorrydoesn’t get us anywhere. Only moving forward does. We’ve done that now.”
“We have.” I stared up into his eyes, then pulled him back to kiss his gorgeous, smart, and somehow also occasionally insightful mouth. “You really have changed my life.”
“Is it because of all the money you’ll get now?” he asked, deadpan, but I could see the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “I would have given it all to you anyway, you know.”
I gave his shoulder a playful shove. “Don’t be daft. I don’t care about your money and you know it.”
“Right,” he said, nodding solemnly. “It’s my cock, isn’t it? That’s what you’re after.”
“Well, yes.” I grinned and kissed him again, wriggling slightly underneath him. “That’s one of the things, anyway. I would have included it in my vows, but your whole family was there.”
“It’s the biggest thing, though. Right?”
I laughed. “Of course.”
He smirked and pressed his lips back to mine, but instead of deepening the kiss, he frowned and ran his hands up and down my sides like he was searching for something. I arched an eyebrow at him. “What exactly are you after right now?”
“A way to get you out of this dress.”
“if you’re motivated enough, you’ll find a way.”
Mischief glinted in his eyes. “Tell you what, if you don’t tell me how to get you out of it, I’ll just make love to you in it. I can’tsay that wasn’t the first thing that popped into my head when I saw you walk into that room earlier.”
