Page 82 of Protective Phlox

“And here I thought I was the insatiable one.”

Nathan ran his knuckles down my cheek. “When it comes to you, I’ll never get enough.” He moved his head around. “Mind helping me to the door? I’m supposed to be getting married today, and my wife is insanely jealous. If she found out about you, she’d probably kill us.”

“Stepping out on your wedding day, that is a new low, and yet I’ll do it with you all over again in a heartbeat.”

“I love you, Savannah. I can’t wait to marry you again. The way it should’ve been the first time.”

“I love you too.”

Nathaniel

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Savannah as she walked down the aisle. Her cheeks were still flushed, and a few pieces of her perfectly styled updo were out of place. I smirked at my handy work, knowing that I’d hear about it later and looking forward to every second of the tongue-lashing.

Savannah’s mother dabbed at her eyes along with my mother. I was still shocked that Savannah decided to invite her, but for the few days she’d been here, there hadn’t been any issues. If that changed, I’d personally put her on a one-way plane ride out of town.

“Mommy looks beautiful,” Cutter said. I looked down and smiled. He stood tall in his suit and held the small pillow with the rings attached. Hailey and Holly were sitting right beside him with flower collars around their necks. He’d been taking his duties as ringbearer very seriously, and Titus had been feeding into it by having him practice his walk with the dogs. I glanced at my brother and wondered how we all ended up so different. Ronan refused to come if Father was banned because we were still family. How he expected me to call Dimitri father was beyond me.

Savannah asked if Goran could give her away, and I thought my best friend was going to cry. I’d never seen him shed a tear during our entire friendship, but he got choked up and feigned being called out to the guard house after he agreed.

My heart pounded in rhythm with each step she took until it felt like it was going to burst right out of my chest.

“You look like an angel,” I whispered, making her blush a bright shade of red. As I took her hands, Goran stepped up to be my best man while Kaylani stood by Savannah as maid of honor. After all the big plans, the guest list had been reduced to thirty people, most of whom were family and a couple of close friends like my secretary Cassandra and her partner Julie.

“You look so pretty, Mommy,” Cutter said, and Savannah smiled wide.

“Thanks, baby, you look very handsome,” she said before her eyes found mine again. “You look exceptionally handsome as well.”

“Careful, sweet talk like that will have me thinking naughty thoughts.”

“When aren’t you?”

“Touché.”

“Are we ready to begin,” Father Isaiah asked. I didn’t care that the priest just overheard us talk about having sex, but the blush on Savannah’s cheeks darkened. It only made her more beautiful and harder to resist.

“We are,” I said.

“Then please take your candles.” Turning to face him, we picked up our candles, and Isaiah held out a silver cup for us to sip from. We each took our three sips before Isaiah led us around the table three times. We’d just finished the three circles when a booming voice I’d know anywhere rang out from the back of the room. I growled profanities under my breath.

“So, you were really going to get married without your father? I thought you were brought up with more respect.” I ground my teeth together, happy that I’d left my gun with Goran, or I would’ve ruined this wedding, too. We turned to see Dimitri and Ronan at the back of the open garden. I couldn’t tell what Ronan was thinking, but he seemed less interested in being here with my father than my father did. “Well, invitation or not, I plan on staying.” He marched up to the front like this was his boardroom and sat down beside my mother. She turned her disgusted glare on him before purposely sliding further down the bench.

Clenching my fist, I took a step toward him, but Savannah grabbed my arm. “Let them stay.”

“What?”

“This is our day, and we won’t let them ruin it by showing up. If we have guards drag them out, it will be the only thing we think about on our wedding day, and I don’t want that.”

“But after what he did, what we almost lost….”

She smiled at me and cupped my cheek. “What better way to show him his opinion doesn’t matter to us than to marry in front of him? We don’t want bloodshed today, and Cutter is here on top of all that. So let them stay, and we can prove that no matter what he throws at us, we will stand together.”

I glared at my father’s arrogant face and then around at those quietly watching to see what would happen next. It was so quiet you could almost hear the butterfly wings as they fluttered by. The fury that had me wanting to charge my father and beat him until he stopped breathing was very real and alive in my chest, but Savannah was right.

“Fine, but I don’t want to hear another word from you or Ronan,” I said, and he smirked.

Sighing, I turned to face Isaiah again and decided I’d let Goran shoot my father if he tried to get up to do a speech later. I didn’t want to hear one word he said ever again. There was nothing he could say to make up for what he almost cost me. A father didn’t do that. I looked down at Cutter and knew in my heart that I’d never be that way with my children.

“I love you,” I randomly whispered to Savannah partway through the ceremony.