Page 87 of Their Greatest Strength

Nate shoves into the back row while Jamie takes the seat beside me. It’s too hard to hide my approving smile as he releases a breath and squeezes my knee.

He’s becoming too hard to ignore, as if I’d want to in the first place.

“I’ll be upstairsif you need me!”

Nathan takes off ahead of us and enters the code for the security alarm before swinging open the front door and strolling inside. I stare at the empty doorway for a beat too long, drawing Jamie’s attention.

“Are you waiting to be carried inside, wife?”

Still in my dress, I smooth a hand down my silk-covered hip. “Are you offering?”

He bends and sweeps me into his arms without a second thought. I latch onto his shoulders, both terrified and impressed. I’m big-boned and not weightless, so it’s no surprise that the ease of his movements and controlled strength he uses to carry me up the sidewalk turn my breaths shallow.

“Are you impressed yet?” he teases, taking the porch steps slowly, for my benefit, I’m sure.

I hardly jostle in his arms, only my legs swaying where they hang. The break from standing is appreciated, and the lack ofthrobbing in the soles of my feet while he carries me only goes to show why I didn’t want to wear these damn heels in the first place.

They’re the same shoes I wore while trying on dresses at the very expensive, very posh shop Gracie brought us to on Wednesday. Avery convinced me to buy them, claiming that Jamie’s credit card was weeping from lack of use.

The white satin heels came home with me, and still, I debated wearing my safe pair of flats instead.

Once Jamie moves us inside the house, he shuts the door with his elbow and continues walking, showing no sign of setting me down.

I’m too tired to argue.

As he turns into the kitchen, I rest my cheek on his chest for just a second. Only to fully enjoy the princess treatment I’m getting.

“Are you hungry?” he asks softly.

I hadn’t realized that we didn’t have dinner. With only a wedding ceremony, it wasn’t even a thought in my mind until now.

He stops walking and, with gentle movements, sets me on my feet. “I’ll order pizza.”

“I can make something,” I argue, already bypassing him to pop open one of the fridge doors.

He’s there a second later, standing so close behind me that I can feel every lift and fall of his wide chest.

“You’re not cooking tonight. As much as I love your food, we just got married. I’m pretty sure it’s against the law to spend our wedding night in the kitchen.”

“Most weddings have catered receptions, Jamie. We didn’t have one of those.”

“Ordering pizza counts as catering. Or we could get something else. Anything, as long as you don’t have to cook.”

“Mexican, then. Tacos.”

“Tacos it is. But first, we have to finish getting married.”

I furrow my brows and look at him over my shoulder. “We’re already married.”

“Not without a first dance, we aren’t.”

I squeak as he takes me by the waist and spins me around. My feet ache with the movement, but the pain isn’t distracting enough to keep me from laughing at his antics.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I say.

He doesn’t back down. “It is for us.”

Fighting him feels like a waste of time. I slowly take his hand and hold his shoulder, falling into the easy dance at the slow pace he’s set.

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