Page 176 of Restricted List

Harlow whispers to Knox. “Ugh, did we sound like that when we got together?”

He chuckles and kisses the top of her head. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we did.”

She sighs. “Moving past that.” Lo looks right at Rory and me now. “Did you just call Rory yourwife?”

Rory and I stare at each other before giving ourselves up in defeat. Can’t talk our way out of this one.

We stand up from the bed together and walk over to the drawer before sliding on our rings and holding our hands out for our friends to see.

“We kind of got… married overnight,” Rory answers, eyes never leaving mine.

“Rory is my wife,” I add. Her eyes flutter closed, and she smiles so sweetly.

But the moment is far from quiet.

Our friends are raucous, running over to inspect our hands, congratulating us, and saying how happy they are.

“My brother and my best friend got married!” Harlow cries. Literally cries, with tears streaming down her face. She’s always worn her emotions on her sleeve. “I’m so happy, but I’m so sad I wasn’t there to see it. Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“It wasn’t really planned in advance,” Rory replies sheepishly. “We didn’t even talk about it until you guys left last night.”

“How did that even come up?” Lucia says, taking my wife’s hand and inspecting her ring. “He even got you an engagement ring!”

“He kind of called my dad his future father-in-law last night, and the conversation progressed from there. We decided we didn’t want to wait.”

“And I got an engagement ring when we were at the jewelers picking out our wedding bands. I proposed to her on the Strip before we went to the chapel. She deserved to be engaged first, not to feel like this was a rushed wedding we weren’t thinking clearly about.”

“Because you’re so damn sweet,” she says lovingly, standing on her tiptoes and gently kissing me.

“Shit,” Ari says. “EvenIthink this is cute. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce.”

“Are you going to be a Pierce?!” Lo asks excitedly.

“Yes,” Rory says, smiling brightly and pressing her head against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and pull her tight, just holding her in my arms.

“I think Rory Pierce has a nice ring to it,” I grin. “And everyone will finally know that you’re mine.”

Ella smiles. “I can’t believe this is the same woman that literally told us before the season opener that youweren’tgetting married after Lo said she was going to be her sister-in-law one day.”

“Never been more happy to be wrong,” she says sweetly, looking only at me.

We didn’t go about this in the traditional way, but I wouldn’t change a fucking thing.

Rory owns my heart, and as long as she’s my wife, I’ll be the happiest man alive.

“Did Sage finally fall asleep?” Rory asks as she steps out of the bathroom after her shower.

Tonight’s game just ended, but we didn’t end up watching it. I couldn’t bear to see it when I couldn’t be there with my team. And since I was told not to come to the stadium, Rory stayed behind, too, and we watched Sage together here.

She was having trouble falling asleep, but I settled her down while Rory rinsed the day away.

I can’t lie and say that I don’t enjoy this glimpse of our future.

A domestic life where we’re hanging out at home, taking care of our child.

I’ve never wanted anything more.

Rory sits beside me on Lo’s bed since Sage is sleeping in hers while we wait for Lane to return. “Yeah, I got her down.”

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