Page 67 of Down & Dirty

“So are you ready now?” he asked, his eyes shining with amusement.

I rolled my lips inward, a jittery giggle popping out. “Sure.”

“She’s meeting us there or do I need to pick her up?”

I reached for my cardigan and purse, letting the anxiety slip away. “Meeting us there. I told her if we didn’t show, it was ‘cause I’d told you and the wedding was off.”

He opened the door for me, his brow pinched in a frown. “You thought I’d call all this off ‘cause you told your best friend the truth?”

I shrugged. “We’d promised. You’d have been right to be pissed at me.”

A low, rumbling laugh tumbled out of him, startling me. “Of all the times you’ve pissed me off, this one is actually pretty forgivable.”

“Hey.” I elbowed him in the ribs, which only made him laugh harder. “I can still change my mind.”

He held up his hands in retreat as we went for the car, the roses still in his grasp dancing in the air.

“Those are pretty,” I said, looking at the lush white petals and catching a whiff of their perfume as I got closer to him.

“Fake or not, every bride needs a bouquet in her hands.” He held them out to me as we got to his truck and I took them, burying my face in their blooms like a kid.

“Thank you,” I muttered when I pulled them away.

“I’d have gotten two, if I’d known about Elle.”

“You’re really not mad?” He didn’t seem it, but I guess I’d been expecting a worse reaction.

He started the truck, carefully backing us up before he replied. “Not mad. It makes sense. I’m glad you’ve had someone to talk to about all this.”

“Thank you for understanding. She won’t tell anyone. We don’t have to worry about that.”

He gave me a reassuring grin. “I know.”

The drive downtown was quick, and we spotted Elle on the front steps, her eyes going wide when she saw me.

“Skylar,” she breathed, taking me in. She wasn’t acting, but if she was, she’d be winning an award. The sparkle in her eye was real enough.

“I’m glad you could be here,” Cory said, a friendliness to his smile that gave me new reason to think this wasn’t such a terrible idea after all.

She could see he meant it, grinning up at him when she replied, “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

When we got into the small room, there were a handful of benches lining the walls and a flower arch in the front that was a lot fancier than I’d been expecting, and for the first time I started to get nervous.

“You’ll stand right here in front of this podium,” the judge said. She was a tiny, older woman with purplish gray hair and a set of cat-eye glasses the shade of a California sunset in October. The bright orange was the only spot of color in the room, everything else shades of black, white, and gray. Including us.

“Did you prepare vows?” she asked cautiously.

My head swiveled to Cory so fast I had to pull the bangs out of my eyes. He shook his head, laughing under his breath at the shock on my face. “No, no vows.”

“Not a problem,” she whispered conspiratorially. “I have a few things with me for just such occasions.”

As she read from her little book, words likeloveanddedication, I kept my eyes on Cory. This was all fake and would be over in a year, but the way he was looking at me had my stomach filling with riotous butterflies. It was such a heady mix of anxiety and emotion, I nearly missed it when it was my turn to say, “Yes.”

When the judge asked whether we had rings, Cory pulled a small box from his pocket. “I’ve got them,” he said calmly.

He popped the box open to reveal a set of plain gold bands, one decidedly larger than the other. I was going to give mine right back to him after the ceremony so we could keep this thing a secret until I was ready. But even knowing I wouldn’t be wearing it for more than a few minutes, my stomach knotted excitedly as I offered him my hand. When the judge instructed and he slipped it on my finger, I was shaking. It was worse when I did the same to him, so after I was done, he took both my hands in his to steady them.

“By the power vested in me by Riverside County, and the State of California, I pronounce you husband and wife.” Her grin was wide and expectant as she looked between us. “You may kiss your bride, sir.”

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