Page 12 of A Different Husband

“I don’t.” Her insistence was sharp as I guided her down to the limo that waited for us. I opened the door and helped to get her and all the material from her dress into the car before I got in. “I guess the dress was made to be walked in and not to be stuffed into a car,” Courtney tried to joke.

I smirked in her direction as I shut the door. “I’ll spend the time to tuck you in properly because it was worth the effort to see you walk down that aisle looking like a fucking queen. My queen.”

“Flynn,” She whispered.

“I know, you didn’t marry me because you love me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take my vows seriously, Court. I need you to know that. As long as you want this, tolerate it, or whatever it is you’re doing, I will treat you exactly like the queen you are.”

“And what happens when you get tired of playing happily married couple with me?” She asked. Immediately she started to nibble on her bottom lip, something she had always done when she was nervous.

“That won’t be a problem.”

“It could be. This was a convenience for you.”

I shook my head. “Courtney, if you hadn’t happily been my cousin’s woman all this time, I would have made you mine a long time ago. This is anything but convenient for me. I’ve always wanted you and lived with the knowledge that I’d always come in second to my cousin where you were concerned.”

I could tell by the look on her face that she remembered the one time we almost tried to make it work between us. It had been back in high school, in our Junior year. She and Beckett had been on the outs for a while. It was another case of wandering eye for him, though I don’t think she ever knew the truth of what he was up to back then. If she did, I don’t see how she could have gone back to him. The truth of the matter was that she did.

“Are you feeling up to the reception, or did you want to skip it?” I asked after she remained quiet for so long the silence started to feel uncomfortable.

“We need to go to the reception,” She said. It took a moment, but her eyes finally found mine. “I want to go to the reception with my husband and celebrate with our families. No matter how we got to this place, we’re here now and I won’t let anything take these memories from us. Maybe one day, we’ll look back together on fond memories. Maybe, this will just be a fleeting footnote in our lives.” She shrugged her shoulders. “No matter how it turns out, I want to be present in the now and not worried about a future we can’t predict.”

I knew there was something wrong with the way she answered because Courtney was a planner. She was always worried about the future and planning for everything. The fact that she was willing to give up that control made me ache for her in a way I couldn’t describe. I knew it had to be because today she truly lost the future she had been planning so long with my cousin. I wasn’t stupid enough not to realize the reason for her response. That didn’t mean it had to sit well with me, though.

“Whatever you want and need, Court.”

She shook her head and reached up to touch my cheek. “No. It’s not just about me, Flynn. We’re a team now. So, whatever we both need should be our priority.”

It wasn’t a declaration of undying love from her, not that I expected it, but I would take it for now.

Chapter 9

COURTNEY

I wasn’tready to acknowledge the zing of excitement that shot through me as I touched Flynn’s face in the limo. What I told him wasn’t a lie. We were a team now, for better or worse, according to our vows. Despite how easily Beckett thought that could be transferred to another person, I believed in standing by my promises and, that included my wedding vows. Even if he hadn’t been running around with other women, I would never forsake the vows I took with Flynn to go back to Beckett. I wasn’t sure if Flynn was in the right place to hear that though. He was just as much a victim of circumstance in this as I was.

“Are you ready to do this?” Flynn asked as the limo pulled up to the reception hall.

“Yes,” I whispered as he took my hand in his. The warmth was a welcome balm to my nerves. “Is it weird that I’m more nervous about the reception than I was about the wedding?” I turned to see Flynn’s grinning face beaming down at me.

“Not at all. I think we can quell some of those jitters though. Smash cake or no?”

“Definitely not.” I pointed at my dress. “We are not ruining this masterpiece.”

“On that we agree. Okay, we’ll feed each other in the least messy way possible.” The man winked at me and all I could offer back in response was a giggle. A freakin’ giggle. Come on… He seemed pleased with that, though, so he nodded and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “I have a song picked out for us to dance to, but we can change it, if you’d like.”

“What is it?”

“Is it okay if it remains a surprise? Do you trust me with that?”

I thought about it for a minute. If Beckett asked me that same question, my answer would have been absolutely not. There was no telling what he would have picked. For some reason, I trusted Flynn to remain classy about things. “I trust you with it.”

He let out a breath and smiled at me again. “You won’t be disappointed, I promise.”

“I believe you.” We were lost in a sweet, secret stare-off when the door to the limo opened and the driver reached his hand in to offer me help out. I took it and then looked back over my shoulder one more time at my new husband. “Whatever else happens tonight, I need you to know that I feel like we did the right thing today.”

“Then I will make sure you never regret it.”

Flynnand I made our way to the penthouse suite, which he rented out for our first night together, while all of our guests made their way from the church to the hotel where the reception was being held in one of their ballrooms. “Do you need help changing into a different dress?” My new husband asked me, and then his cheeks burned red. “I can call down for your mom or my sister or someone else, if you aren’t comfortable…”

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