Page 171 of Mr. Wicked

But each one meant everything to me.

My father handed me the diamond band I’d chosen for Jovana, and I held it in front of her ring finger.

“Repeat after me,” the officiant said. “With this ring, I thee wed, and pledge you my love, now and forever.”

As I looked into Jovana’s eyes, I pushed the diamond circle onto her finger, repeating the phrase.

And when it was her turn, she turned toward Sloane to get the band she’d picked out for me, aiming it at my finger, and as she pushed the metal higher, past my knuckle, she repeated the identical statement.

“By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” the officiant said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride.”

I cupped her face with my hands, and I leaned down, hovering my lips above hers, whispering, “I love you so much,” before I locked our mouths together.

BREAKING NEWS: Boston’s Biggest Bachelor Is Now a Married Man

Grayson Tanner, 30, and Jovana Winters, 22, have officially tied the knot. Sources confirm that the wedding took place in Boston, where their guests were overheard gushing over the lavish, fancy, pricey affair.

You can keep the overpriced caviar, we’re gushing over the bride. She may be a Winters, but there’s nothing icy about the way she looks in that dress.

Baby Hooked news coming next?

We hope so.

Good luck to the newlyweds.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Jovana

Even though Grayson and I had made all our wedding plans together, our honeymoon was one aspect he’d asked to handle alone. He wanted me to be surprised with the location, or locations—he wouldn’t give me even that detail. My only request was that wherever we went and whatever he had planned, I wanted the use of both hands. So when my orthopedist scheduled my cast to come off two weeks after our wedding, Grayson booked Hooked’s private plane to fly us out the following morning.

Delaying the trip gave us a chance to relax after all the festivities. To bask in the warmth of our marriage and get to know each other as husband and wife.

They said it was just a piece of paper, that nothing would change.

But Grayson and I knew something about paper—we’d had a contract between us since almost the very beginning. One that had kept us legally bound.

Our marriage license didn’t do that. It could be shredded anytime we wanted.

But since we’d both signed the license, things had become so different.

The first thing he said to me every morning when we woke up was how much he loved me. He uttered the same words before we went to bed.

In the two weeks that had passed, he proved his wedding vows.

He showed his promises.

And there wasn’t a moment that had passed when I didn’t believe him.

How much I meant to him.

How much he cared for me.

How much he loved me.

Even if those gestures were subtle, like the way his arm hung over my shoulders and his lips pressed into the top of my head as we got out of the SUV and walked the short distance to Hooked’s plane.

I felt the passion.

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