Page 84 of A Fine Line

Her eyes jump to mine, and her lips curve up slightly as she nods. “I’m all right.”

“What the fuck happened here, Carolina?” I ask hesitantly. “Were you really going to marry a man who wasn’t me?”

She grimaces and squirms a bit but then takes a shaky breath in and spits out, “Not on purpose!”

I raise my brows at her, one hand rubbing over my face as I wait for her to explain further, and finally, she says, “Lilith had me meet with Mr. No Name, who explained to me that the best way to secure power, even in this day and age, was through strong marriage ties. Then he told me to meet him at this address in three hours. I had no other explanation, and I didn’t have any other options because our backup plans had to do with him, so when I showed up here and a woman was waiting to help me dress, I was more than a bit anxious as to what it meant. But the only way I could find out was to go through the motions and not draw attention to myself. And then, when I got into the main congregation and saw a man standing at the end, and well—“

She abruptly stops talking and looks down at the ground, so I prod, “And well, what?”

“I’d rather not say,” she whispers to the ground.

I laugh softly, shaking my head in confusion. “Why not?”

“Because it’s embarrassing,” she mutters under her breath.

“What’s embarrassing?”

She makes a face, her eyes flitting around the room as she actively avoids meeting my gaze. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then opens her eyes, and looks up at me, her face twisting as she visibly swallows, then she exclaims, “For a split second, I thought he was you!”

Her hands come up to cover her face as her cheeks redden, and that familiar warmth is back in my chest. I gently pull her hands away from her face, then cup her cheeks in my palms and tilt her head back so she has no choice but to meet my eyes as I ask softly, “Are you saying the only reason you walked down that aisle in the wedding dress was because you thought you were walking toward me?”

She winces but nods and says, “I was so angry when I realized it wasn’t you, but by then, it was too late, and I had no choice but to confront the issue.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, my eyes searching hers as I adjust my hands, so one is gently gripping her neck and the other slides down the silk of her dress to her hip.

“Sorry for what?” she whispers.

“For not being the first guy you walked down the aisle to today,” I answer roughly, pulling her close so I can lean in and brush my lips over hers. She doesn’t so much return my kiss as allow it to happen, so I pull back and add, “But I’ll accept being the last man you ever walk down the aisle to, if you’ll have me.”

Her breath catches, and a broken laugh escapes, her eyes suddenly glassy as she stares up at me. “What?”

“You heard me, sweetheart,” I respond clearly, pulling the front of her body flush with mine. “You got one more aisle walk in you today?”

Chapter Thirty-One

Carolina

I’matalossfor words. Of all the conversations I thought I might have today; this is not one of them.

He wraps his arms around me, and I press closer as the amused look on his face is replaced by one of yearning, and he murmurs huskily, “You know I’ll protect you and Flora with my dying breath regardless, but you’d be doing me a great favor if you’d put me out of my misery now and say you’ll make it legal.”

“Doesn’t that take a bunch of paperwork, planning, and stuff?” I ask breathlessly.

“Is that a yes?”

I can’t speak through the lump in my throat, so I nod, and he smiles then leans forward and places a kiss against my lips before wrapping his arms around me fully and pulling me against him.

“We’ll have to manage the whole marriage license nonsense since somehow there’s already one filed with your name on it,” Dare says. “But if you want to get married here, I think it’ll only take a few days once the other one disappears.”

“Who the hell filed a marriage license in my name?” I ask as Tony releases me and steps away. “I sure as shit didn’t sign anything.”

Dare shrugs and replies, “Could have been anyone, really. It’s not difficult to forge and file government documents, and marriage licenses are rarely looked at after they’ve been indexed—“

“Um, guys,” Matt interjects. “As it turns out, you can get married right now if you want because it appears that Tony is the man listed on the marriage certificate that was filed five days ago.”

Silence falls over the room as this news sinks in, and then everyone starts talking at once until, finally, Tony’s voice cuts through the din, quieting everyone down. “How is that even possible, Matt?”

“That was me,” a voice says from behind me, and I turn to see Mr. No Name standing there, looking a little worse for wear, Lilith, and Agatha on either side of him.

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