Page 99 of Taming the Boss

“Why are you out there? We talked about this.”

“I wanted a peek.”

“You can’t have a peek, dammit. Though you can have this, since you’re here. Might as well.” Carefully, I pried the sonogram picture out of the photo insert from my wallet in my purse and slipped it under the door to more coos and gasps.

Evidently, many people were now seeing our unborn child. Oh, well, Esme was perfect.

“Okay, it wasn’t me who wanted a peek, it was Owen. But not like I’d refuse another look at my beautiful bride. Or my beautiful baby girl. Look at her!” Jude sounded awestruck.

A chorus of awws rang out from the hall, along with two from the room—aka me and my mom. I didn’t even know who all was out there at this point. But I did know the stolen glimpse I’d gotten of my husband-to-be had revealed some shocking details.

One—he’d grown back the better part of his beard within the forty-eight hours he’d been gone for his bachelor extravaganza with his brothers and his partners and other new friends he’d made in town over the last few months.

I’d even heard one of his friends from Seattle, Max Chapel, had been in attendance. Yet another insanely handsome, wealthy man, of course. I knew that because the single ladies in the Cove had taken one look at him and hoped he was single. Spoiler: he was not.

Two—Jude was not wearing a tux or a suit. On purpose. In fact, he was wearing tight jeans that would make me known as a very lucky woman in town, as if I wasn’t already known to be that already.

In a truly shocking turn of events, I almost wanted to grab a length of the blue fabric Reagan had delivered earlier to wrap around his waist. She’d brought it so I could cut a piece from it to use as my something blue for the old wedding tradition thing of having something borrowed and something blue. He didn’t need to be advertising how hot he was, since he was mine, dammit.

But I had to say his defiance about wearing jeans to get married in was, frankly, cute. Since his brothers had teased him for being an Oliver Hamilton copy with the suits, he was wearing jeans to get married in, so there.

I didn’t have a problem with it. I would’ve been okay with getting married in jeans myself, considering snow was forecast by evening and it was below freezing outside. It was December, after all.

Jude had suggested us getting married on the pier so he could fully come full circle, since four years ago now he’d found his way to the Cove to spy on his brothers, and he’d ended up making Owen.

So, in a very real sense, his life had begun that weekend here in the Cove, even if he hadn’t realized it. Now we were getting married, which was a new phase in our lives for sure.

At the knock on the door, I looked at my mom and made no move to answer it. “Yes?”

“I just wanted to say I love you. And so does Owen.”

More awws, including one from me.

“I love you, Baddie,” Owen said in his baby voice, making me melt into an actual puddle on the floor.

Oh, nope, that was melted ice. Close enough.

Giving in to my sniffles, I flung open the door and motioned my men closer. Then I closed my eyes and puckered up. “Okay, I want kisses, but I’m not looking at you, so it doesn’t violate any long-standing wedding traditions.”

A moment later, someone kissed me, and it was not Jude or Owen, more like Reagan. Who made me laugh so hard I worried my tearproof mascara was going to be sorely tested.

“Sorry,” she said between giggles. “I couldn’t resist.”

“Wait until it’s your turn.”

“I’m going to take a vow of chastity. Besides, when I weaken toward babies, I can borrow yours.”

She did have a point. She was great with children, and Jude and I would definitely need some kid-free alone time now and then.

“Okay, okay, let’s get this wedding going. There’s a blizzard warning for tonight, so snap to, everybody,” my mom said, nudging me away from the door so she could bellow down the crowded hallway.

I didn’t even know who all was there. I didn’t have time to find out, either, since I had to get outside to get myself married by Father Dunn from the local Cove parish before we were snowed in.

A few minutes later, my mom bundled me into my fake fur wrap, since it was cold as heck outside and I was carrying precious cargo. Someone cued the wedding march on their old-school boom box, and the very small procession hurried across the road to the gazebo and the pier right beside it that extended out over the currently half frozen over lake.

I glimpsed Jude in his jeans and T-shirt with a black jacket that might’ve been leather or the nearest equivalent. At his side were his brothers and his father, every one of them in tuxedos.

Even Seth, which even I knew was as rare as Jude dressing down. I wasn’t even sure if Seth had worn a tux for his own wedding.

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