Page 206 of Wait for Him

I push a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "If my heart hadn't already belonged to someone else, Rian..."

"Don't." She smiles, and there's enough affection in it that I stop. "We don't need to give our failed wedding a participation trophy."

I laugh wetly and nod. "Fair."

She leans forward and kisses me softly. Nothing hungry in it this time, nothing to prove. Just goodbye.

When she pulls back, she pats my cheek again.

"You suck."

"I know I do."

"Good. I'd hate for this experience to teach you nothing." She leans in and kisses me again, then sits back and studies my face. "You'll go to her?"

I don't answer immediately.

"Marcus." She rolls her eyes. "For fuck's sake, don't make me cancel our wedding and manage your love life on the same day. I'm already over capacity."

I laugh and wipe a hand over my face. "Yeah. I'll go to her."

"Good. Life's too short, you know?" She looks down at herself and spreads the massive skirt with both hands. "I'm going on our honeymoon. I paid for the damn thing, and there's a private villa with a pool and twenty-four-hour room service waiting for me. I'm going to find a hot pool boy, drink things out of coconuts, and make several decisions my mother will strongly disapprove of."

"That sounds healthy."

"Extremely. And when I get back, I'm selling the company."

That catches me. "You're what?"

"Selling it." She says it easily, but then lets out a long breath. "I've spent my entire adult life trying to prove I could protect my father's legacy. I outperformed him. Grew the portfolio. Fought off the board. Nearly married a man I knew was in love with someone else because I thought having you standing beside me would finally make them believe I belonged in his chair." She shakes her head. "And you know what I realized while I was standing out there?"

"What?"

"My father left me long before he died, Marcus. I've been trying to impress a dead man who wasn't particularly impressed with me when he was alive."

I squeeze her hands.

"So fuck the chair. Fuck the board. Fuck the legacy." Her mouth curves into a smile. "I'm thirty-three, disgustingly wealthy, newly single, and I look phenomenal in a bikini. I'll figure out the rest when I get back."

I laugh, and this time she does too.

"You know what? I think that's the first decision either of us has made in this relationship that isn't completely fucking stupid."

"Agreed." She points toward the door. "Now go find your girl before I change my mind and make you reimburse me for the wedding."

"That sounds fair."

"It would bankrupt a smaller man."

"I’m going to miss you."

"Me too." She smiles. "Go."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rose

I stare out at the city lights, take a chug from the bottle of champagne I swiped during my quick getaway from the church, and swing my legs in the pool.