Page 98 of Offside Angel

“—or how you’ll like any decision I make for the wedding?—”

“You’re agreeing to marry me. Your decision-making skills are obviously impeccable.”

She thumps lightly at my chest. “But what I need to hear is how in the hell I’m going to pull off a full wedding ceremony in seven days, Zane. Can’t we just elope? There’s got to be a non-Elvis-themed chapel somewhere nearby. Or, what the hell? Elvis it is! Let’s get married and have the King of Rock and Roll seal our eternal vows himself.”

“As good as I’d look in a tuxedo t-shirt, I want to do this right, Mira.” I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “We’re doing it fast because I can’t wait ‘til the end of the season. I want to wear an actual tux and I want you to wear a white dress. I want to kiss you in front of Aiden and all of our family and friends so that they know who we are to one another. So that everyone knows how serious I am about making you mine for the rest of our lives.”

Her cheeks flush even as she scowls. “Dammit. I knew you were going to say something sweet.”

I lean forward, my hand gripping her hip. “I also want to carry you down the aisle and over the threshold so I can rip that white dress off of you and fuck my wife in every room of our new house.” We’ve shifted closer with every word. I can feel Mira’s exhale against my lips when I smile. “Or was that too sweet for you?”

She blinks up at me, slightly dazed. “My one truth is that I don’t think I care what our ceremony looks like as long as I get the reception you just promised me.”

I hook a hand behind her thigh and bring her leg over my hip. I’d be happy to give her a taste of what she has to look forward to right here and now?—

Until there’s a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Daniel calls.

Mira drops her leg and pulls away from me. “Who is that?”

Before I can answer, the door flies open and the condo is filled with voices.

“Daniel told me Zane bought a ring two weeks ago, and I’ve been dying!” Taylor shrieks. “I’m no good with secrets.”

Neither is my best man, apparently.

“Tay!” Daniel hisses. “I was sworn to secrecy. You weren’t supposed to know.”

“No one told me,” Jemma says, “but Reeves and I are happy for you both, anyway. Aren’t we?”

Aside from our friends, only Hollis knows about the proposal. I need to tell Coach—invite Coach, actually. And most of the team, Carson and his goons excluded. Then I’ll have to tell the team’s PR people so they can draft a statement before the press gets wind of the wedding and rumors start to build.

Mira might be right. A week could be a tight turnaround.

“I don’t even see them,” Reeves mutters. “Are they here?”

“Yeah, probably feeling each other up somewhere,” Daniel sighs. “They’ve been nauseating to be around all morning.”

For the first time all morning, Mira smiles. She buries her laugh against my chest. “What are they all doing here?”

“I called in the cavalry.” I tip her chin up and kiss her, long and slow. “I’m going to give you the wedding of your dreams, Mira McNeil.”

37

ZANE

Davis tugs on the lapels of his suit as the tailor measures his inseam. “You’re really taking this whole ‘hooking up with the nanny’ thing to the next level, Z.”

I shoot him a lethal look in the three-paned mirror and he holds up his hands. “No nanny jokes. Roger that.”

“You’ve gotta be careful what you say around this one, Davy.” Jace wraps his arm around my shoulders. “He’s newly coupled and feeling territorial.”

“Mira and I are not new. We’ve been together for…” I’ve known Mira for almost five months, but we weren’t together that whole time. There was some fake dating and then some back-and-forth. She was also gone for an entire month, which I probably shouldn’t count.

Jace saves me the trouble of doing the math. “Newly committed, I mean. Something happens when you make a woman your wife.”

Reeves whistles. “It really does. Jemma and I paid for this all-inclusive honeymoon package, but I don’t think we left the room once. I’d say it was a waste of money, but we put that room to good use.”

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