Page 96 of It's Complicated

Strong arms wrap around me from behind. “So.” Jace’s warm breath tickles my neck as he whispers in my ear, “If the bride and groom have discreetly fled their own wedding, does that mean we’re free to go, too?”

“I suppose so…” I turn my head to stare up at him. “Did you come in your car?”

“No, I walked.”

“I took a taxi, should we call one?”

Jace’s eyes darken a little and he nibbles at my earlobe. “I’m not sure I can wait that long. Want to see if the hotel still has free rooms?”

“The cats will murder me, but yes.”

“Welcome home, darling,” Jace announces fifteen minutes later as he kicks the hotel room door open, struggling to get past the threshold while carrying me in his arms—wedding-night style.

I chuckle before a thought hits me. “We haven’t even decided where we’re going to live. My place or yours?”

Jace kicks the door shut behind him. “I can’t fit six hens in my apartment, so it’s probably going to be your place for now… but it doesn’t really matter…”

“Why not?”

“Because wherever you are it’s home.” We cross the room, and he gently lowers me onto the bed, scooting next to me—more half on top of me. Pushing aside a lock of my hair, he whispers, “It’s been a long road, but we’re finally here.”

“I’m glad Professor Quilliam made us steal garden gnomes,” I say. “I would’ve never struck up the courage to talk to the coolest boys in our year otherwise.”

Jace quirks an eyebrow. “Anything else you’re glad for, I mean, besides my thieving skills?”

“Everything about you,” I whisper. “And I’m glad you made the pact with Aiden.”

Jace’s eyes widen at this. “Really?”

I nod.

“Why?”

My fingertips trace the edges of his bow tie as I say, “Because it made us wait until we’re both mature enough to see this to the end. Because it made this love possible, uncomplicated, pure, real.”

The expression of unaltered joy on Jace’s face melts my heart.

My husband kisses me, long and slow. “You’re with me.”

“Always. And there’s no one else I’d rather have by my side than you,” I tell my husband again and again because I know he’ll still need reassurances. I love him all the more for it. For sharing all his vulnerabilities, for being an open book. And there’s nothing I look forward to more than telling him times and times again how much I love him. Only him.

EPILOGUE

LORI

On the hotel room bed, Jace kisses me. We’re alone. We’re sure. We’re married. Nothing is standing in the way anymore. Except maybe our clothes. I swear, I’ve never loathed three-piece suits more than at this moment.

What’s the purpose of a blazer? I mean, other than keeping me from getting to feel my husband’s chest against mine, skin to skin.

We’re kissing and touching, and I’m all about tearing off his tuxedo, but the rotten buttons won’t budge.

Jace is suffering the same frustration with my bridesmaid dress. He’s fumbling with the tiny pearl buttons, unsuccessfully trying to pry them open. Soft, impatient grunts escape his lips as he loses the battle with fancy haberdashery until I whisper in his ear, “The buttons are fake, my darling.” I tilt my body up, giving access to my back. “There’s a clasp at the top and a hidden zipper.”

Jace’s fingers are swift. He flicks the hook free and pulls down the zipper. Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes lock on mine in a way that threatens my sanity.

As the zipper bottoms out and I think we’re about to solve the first part of our hang-up—getting me naked, Jace pulls back, leaving me still fully clothed.

He shifts slightly to the side, holding his weight on his elbow in a way that can’t be comfortable, but that only makes me think of the level of muscle definition ready to be uncovered under that darn tux.

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