Page 24 of A Package Deal

Her eyes narrowed, clearly not trusting me.

“You look beautiful every day, no matter what you wear. But today you’re going to stand in front of a judge and promise to be my wife. And I have certain…ideas…about marriage.”

Her eyes blew wide. She swallowed hard again before trying to take a step back. I just followed, still holding on to her shirt. “I’m not sleeping with you, Dick!”

That stopped me short. I let go of her shirt and straightened up. “No, of course not. I would never expect that.” Frankly, I was offended she thought I’d pressure her into something like that. Then again, we weren’t your typical couple about to be married. We barely knew each other.

“Then what ideas do you have?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Tamping down the irritation, I tried to see things from her point of view. I held all the cards. The court held the power when it came to her daughter. Em, a proud woman with more might and strength than most grown men, was probably feeling powerless. I couldn’t fix everything in her life, even though I wanted to, but I could give her peace of mind about the decision today to marry me.

I put a hand on my chest. “I like to help people, Em. It’s what I do best. I built an entire business model around it and it was successful. But I’ve also gotten burned. Selfish people like to take advantage of giving people. You signed that prenup yesterday and that allayed a lot of my fears about this whole marriage. So let me allay yours.” I took a step closer and this time she didn’t flinch. “You’re about to be my wife, and I take care of what’s mine.”

Her nose lifted in the air. “It’s on paper only.”

I shook my head nice and slow. “Not in my mind, it’s not. You’re mine now, Emmerleigh, and for as long as that marriage certificate is valid, that means I take care of you and Georgia with every ounce of my being. I shower you with gifts. I make your lives easier. Anything your heart desires, anything you need, I’ll make it happen. And not in exchange for anything. Do you understand me?”

She simply stared at me, the two of us breathing the same oxygen, sizing each other up. I didn’t back down, didn’t give her a chance to doubt what I’d said. She had a choice here, but once she was mine, I would do everything in my power to take care of her and Georgia. Em probably didn’t understand. Probably didn’t know that taking care of someone is what drove me to get up every morning. It’s what underscored my entire business. It’s what made me insane the last few years, wondering if there was more to life. More people to help. I was lost in a sea of questions about my own worth now that I’d retired early. Doing this now with Em and Georgia was as much a gift for me as it was for them.

“Go put the dress on,” I finally said quietly.

Em huffed, but spun on the heel of her work boots. “Fine.”

I smiled at the back of her head as she marched out of the room.

“Quit smiling,” she snapped, disappearing down the hallway to her bedroom.

Which only made me smile harder, of course.

While she changed, I went out to my truck and grabbed the bouquet I picked up at the florist in Auburn Hill this morning. I fucking dropped the damn thing when I got back inside the house and saw Em come out of the hallway in the lacy white sundress I’d bought. It hugged her tiny waist and accentuated her breasts, something those T-shirts had hidden. Her legs looked like they’d been sculpted by a master artist, long and curvy in the simple white heel I’d picked out that gave a tiny peep at her toes, painted fire-engine red.

That was the detail that had me shifting uncomfortably in my dress pants. She was all sawdust, paint, and grime in her work clothes and yet she’d been hiding a gorgeous set of boobs and red-painted toenails. It made me wonder what else Emmerleigh Slaywright kept hidden.

She looked down at the flowers at my feet. “Already throwing the bouquet?”

I picked my jaw off the floor first and then stooped to grab the flowers. “Sorry. I was stunned because you’re stunning, Em.”

I shook my head to clear it and held out the flowers. I quit gawking at her long enough to see her cheeks take on a pink hue that matched some of the roses in the bouquet. For being mid-forties I was certainly acting like a teen boy who saw his first pair of boobs. I needed to get my shit together and get us to the courthouse fast, before I had her running away due to my awkwardness.

Holding out my elbow, I waited for her to take the flowers and then slip her hand through my arm. As I turned for the door, I saw her face dip to sniff the flowers. The satisfied smile never slipped from my face the whole way to the courthouse.

“Do you, Warrick Wolfe, take Emmerleigh Slaywright to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

I hadn’t taken my gaze off Em the whole time the judge explained how the ceremony would go. She, on the other hand, didn’t seem to want to meet my gaze. She’d handed her flowers off to the judge’s assistant, Wendy, right before the ceremony started. Her hands were trembling as I held them. I kept giving her reassuring squeezes, but they weren’t having much of an affect.

“I do.” And I took on all the responsibilities of that vow.

The judge turned to Em. “And do you, Emmerleigh Slaywright, take Warrick Wolfe to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.” Her voice was soft, like how she spoke to Georgia.

“Do you have rings?” the judge asked me.

Em inhaled sharply. I let go with one hand and reached into the inner pocket of my suit jacket. The two rings I’d picked up yesterday clinked together as I pulled them out. I handed them both to the judge who held up the diamond solitaire and whistled. Em gasped again, this time for a different reason. The three-carat diamond was probably more than a temporary, fake marriage called for, but I didn’t do anything half-ass. My wife should have a fucking rock on her finger.

“Warrick,” she breathed.

I held both her hands again, squeezing tightly. “My wife now, Em.”

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