“It’s weirdly easy,” he mused, a little disturbed.
“We’re both consenting adults.Why make it hard?”
There was something in her voice, a trace of bitterness, that he noted but left alone for now.He wasn’t ready to divest his past or hurts or secrets, so why should she be?He hadn’t even filled Cam in on everything.
What would it be like for someone to truly know him?
He hit submit, using his credit card to pay the fifty-three-dollar fee.His inquiry as to when they could marry resulted in a reply indicating that they had to be at the clerk’s office by four thirty this afternoon if they wanted it to be today.
They read the reply together, and he could hear the silence where he tried to avoid a shocked gulp.
“I’m dressed for it,” she said, her tone saucy and her bourbon eyes alight with what looked like courage and mischief.
“You haven’t changed your mind?”
“We have a contract.”
“We do.”Thank God.
“Let’s do it.”
He released the breath he didn’t realize had snagged in the back of his throat.“It’s a short walk from here.”
“Let’s stop by the chocolate shop first,” she suggested.“We can give the clerk a thank you and add chocolate to our romance package.”
His stomach pinched a little, and his face heated.“The hotel offered it when I booked, and it seemed like a… a… nice gesture,” he explained, feeling a little defensive.“I wasn’t… I’m not expecting… I know we’ve just met and”—mentioning sex sounded so clinical but really what else was he supposed to call it—“a physical relationship is not required in the contract unless you wish it.”
He cringed.That came out worse than it had sounded in his head.
“What if you don’t?”she queried.“Doesn’t seem fair if you’re subjected to me chasing you around the bedroom if you don’t want me to.”
He stared at her astonished.“Pretty confident that, like most men, I’m a sure thing.”
“I’m not your type,” she said quickly.
That brought him up short.She wasn’t.Or he would have said she wasn’t—it had been one of his first thoughts.He squirmed a little, because now he was having trouble remembering that this was a business deal.
“We have time to get to know each other,” he said feeling like the boring nerd Cam had teased him about being, especially when he was already semi-hard looking at her in that white dress that hinted at more than it covered.And the bright white for purity when it skimmed all her curves was hot as hell.
The wind had kicked up since they’d checked in.He was tempted to offer Ayana his coat, but she was dressed more appropriately for the fall weather than he was.He wasn’t sure what to make of the long velvet yellowy coat she wore.It looked like something out of the Victorian era.Was that what was called steam punk?She was far more interesting than he was.
What if she started trying to dress him—tossed his dark charcoal and blue and black suits aside and demanded he vibrant up.It was something a wife or a girlfriend would do, at least that was what he’d picked up over the years hearing men talk about their girlfriends or wives.
What kind of a wife would she be?
That thought felt like a shot across the bow of his consciousness, and it was quickly followed by the knowledge that he was going to be a husband.Probably a dull one, when that was the last thing Ayana was.She brought the color and vivacity and imagination for both of them.
Her face lit up when they entered Copper Mountain Chocolates, and she inhaled deeply and immediately engaged with the salesperson, wearing a copper-colored apron and had a nametag readingPortia.Ayana picked out an assorted box of chocolates both for the court clerk and for themselves.Portia suggested signing up for a chocolate-making class, and he was about to say no when Ayana bounced on her toes.
“What fun.”
Another reminder he was no longer the only one making decisions about his life.
“There’s one couple spot left,” Portia said.“You are in town for the wedding next weekend, right?”
“We are.”Ayana didn’t miss a beat.“We arrived early hoping to have some romance of our own.”She tucked her arm in his and leaned into him, smiling up at him like he was something special.
“I thought so.You are definitely on the groom’s side,” Portia said, warming up the hot chocolate.“You look so much like Cash and Taryn Telford.Let me get you two on the list for the class.It’s part of the fun group activities next Saturday planned out at the survivalist camp that Rohan Telford runs with some of his former Special Forces teammates.I’ve never been out there, but it’s been featured in a lot of western travel websites and shows.The wedding’s on Sunday.But you know all that.”She colored prettily.
