Page 42 of Just Say When

For a moment, we simply stood there, mouth against mouth, chest against chest. And then he made a low sort of noise and he moved. I found myself shifted against the wall, his strong arm around my back tethering me to his body, and he licked his way into my mouth.

I had feelings about that, strong feelings, but I couldn’t seem to anchor myself to a single one. They all rioted inside me like a summer storm. Hunger and rage, joy and sadness, need and longing.

His fingers tangled in my hair, digging into my scalp. He tasted like honey and strawberry jam from the biscuits he’d had for breakfast. I let it all consume me, the feel of him, the taste of him, the familiar scent of him that made my eyes sting with tears.

It was too much.

I couldn’t get enough.

Damnhim.

I nipped his lip. Maybe to punish him, maybe because it felt good.

He chuckled quietly against my mouth. “Behave, hellion, or we’re not going to make it to our own wedding.”

“I don’t care.” I clung to him, rocking my body against him, feeling the evidence of what I did to him wedged hard against my belly.

“Fuck!” He tore his mouth away on a rough, ravaged groan.

We stared at each other. He looked stunned…shattered. His hands flexed against my back, my scalp, like he was considering going in for more.

But then he released me and stepped back. And I hated that. Hated that he always let go first. Hated that I was always the one who wanted more.

“Let’s go get married,” he said.

And all I could do was nod.

When the magistratetruly said “You may now kiss the bride,” I looked at Brax and straight-up panicked.

Because now I knew what it was like to have BraxtonHale’s mouth on mine and hell, no, that couldn’t happen again. I wouldn’t survive it.

Maybe something of this was on my face, because the glint in his eyes turned downright mischievous. Before I could do something smart—like run—he wrapped one arm around my waist and cupped the back of my head with his other hand.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered so quietly that only I could hear.

And then he dipped me low and kissed me while the crowd whooped and hollered their approval. Despite his dramatics, the kiss itself was almost chaste. Sweet and light, and solicitous of my cherry red lipstick.

When he brought me right side up again, we linked hands and raised our arms overhead in victory, like we had accomplished something to be proud of, when all we had done was trick everyone here into believing they were witnessing true love.

Maybe I should feel bad about that, but I didn’t. Look how happy it made them, to believe love conquered all. I had lost count of the number of folks who had approached me the last two weeks just to tell me they had always known it would be me and Brax in the end, that we were meant to be. I didn’t want to take that away from them too soon. There would be time enough for that later.

“I now present, Mr. and Mrs. Braxton Hale!” the magistrate announced.

Brax and I looked at each other. I wrinkled my nose and gave an almost imperceptible shake of my head. I had no intention of changing my name. He smirked a little and nodded.

And then it was done.

We were married.

19

Brax

All things considered, married life was not what I had expected, and I’d had pretty vague expectations to begin with. I hadn’t put much thought into the day-to-day merging of our lives, but I had figured that, at the very least, life would be different.

So it came as a bit of a surprise that it wasn’t.

One week after we had pledged to cherish each other every day for the rest of our lives, we had barely spoken a handful of words to each other.

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