Virgin Bride(45)

Still, I’m nervous, and I’m worried she’ll say no. I don’t know why I care, since it’s not like I want to marry her for real, although I sort of do. It’s a fucking complicated situation, and I’m suggesting we make it even more complicated, but goddamn I can’t help myself. Just looking at her makes me want to kiss those perfect full lips. I realize that I’d throw everything away for her, if she just asked me to, and that’s terrifying.

For a split second, I wonder if this is Rick’s plan all along. Maybe he told his daughter to come seduce me and then admit to the truth in the hopes that I’d fall even deeper for her. Maybe she’s playing the long game, and in the end she’ll turn around and destroy me as soon as they get what they want from me.

But I can’t think like that. I take a sharp breath and bite my lip. I have to trust her. I do trust her. I can’t second-guess myself, not anymore, not right now. If I want to win this thing for real, I have to follow through with my plan and put my trust in her. It’s a two-way street. She’ll be taking a big leap if she marries me just like I’ll be taking a big one marrying her.

I watch her face as she slowly meets my eyes. “Okay,” she says softly.

“Okay?” I ask. “That easy?”

“That easy,” she says, nodding.

“This could get messy, you know. Going up against your own father like this.”

“I’m not worried about that,” she says. “I’m done with that family, Griffin. I’m totally done with them. I don’t care what happens, as long as they don’t get to hurt you anymore.”

I watch her and feel a sense of growing pride. She’s really figuring out what she wants, and she’s learning to move past her abusive and controlling family.

“Okay then,” I say. “We’ll get married.” I look at her and laugh, shaking my head.

“What?” She grins at me, laughing too.

“It’s just crazy. You know that, right?”

“Of course I know that. It’s totally insane.”

“But we’re doing it,” I say.

“We are,” she agrees.

I grab her and pull her against me. I kiss her deep and full, not for any particular reason, not because I want to get back at her father, but only because I want to kiss her. It’s that simple at the end of the day. I want to kiss her and be close to her, and nothing will change that, not even getting married.





22





Griffin





As I stand outside of the judge’s chambers with Griffin and James, I can’t help but feel nervous as hell.

This isn’t how I imagined my wedding ceremony would be. I guess I always pictured some enormous affair with lots of guests and some beautiful flowers. Instead, I’m sitting on a wooden bench in the city courthouse with other couples scattered around, and to top it all off, I’m not even wearing a dress.

Griffin grins at me and squeezes my hand. “Nervous?” he asks.

“I guess so.”

“Don’t be.” He smiles at me warmly.

“I’d be nervous if I were you.”

I glance over at James. He’s sitting across the hall from the two of us, smiling a stupid smile, but I can tell that he’s nervous.

I don’t blame him. Griffin invited him to this little last-minute wedding, and apparently he wasn’t too eager to attend. He didn’t tell Griffin why, but he did say that he felt Griffin was rushing into this. He eventually agreed, since we need a witness, but he’s clearly not happy about it.

There are maybe five other couples in the courthouse this morning waiting for their turn. There’s one couple already in there, and I think we’re coming up soon. Nobody is dressed up, which makes me feel a little bit better, but still. I wish I had the big ceremony and the dress and all that.

I have to remind myself that this isn’t supposed to be real. This isn’t meant to be some long-term thing that we’re really committing to. Yes, we’re doing it for real and making it legal, but only because my father won’t be fooled by faking it. We need to make it look real if we really want to throw him off.

And I really do. I want that bastard to squirm. I can’t help but smile every time I picture the way he’ll react when he finds out that his precious daughter married his biggest enemy.

Well, “precious” is probably not the right word, but whatever. I’m still his daughter whether he likes it or not, and he’s going to hate this.

Griffin glances over at James, and I catch a glimpse of the anger and hate that I know he’s feeling.

“We know how you feel about this already, James,” Griffin says. “No reason to make things harder.”