Page 170 of His Juliet

When it was finally,finallytime to get dressed, Sienna and I headed to my bedroom so she could zip me up.

“What do you think?” she asked, resting her chin on my shoulder as she stood behind me.

“I love it.”

She grinned. “Good, because you look so fucking hot Romeo isn’t going to know how to cope.”

I walked out of the bedroom to my gathered guests’ gasps and tears. Even Arturo got choked up. While everyone fussed over me and told me how beautiful I looked, it finally sank in—I had a family now.

79

JULIET

The sky was streakedwith pink as the sun started to set, and Matteo and I stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the rooftop, waiting for the ceremony music to cue us. I had never dreamed of a fancy wedding and would have been perfectly fine with Romeo and me just signing a marriage certificate and calling it a day, but now that I was in the dress with our friends waiting for us, I understood why he had pushed for this.

Our relationship was the greatest thing I’d ever experienced and deserved to be celebrated.

My stomach swirled with butterflies. “Were you nervous before your wedding?”

Matteo arched an eyebrow. “No.”

Well, then.

“But I would have been if I had known I was marrying the most perfect woman in the world.”

I grinned. A couple of weeks ago, Matteo and I had been practicing self-defense, and he had awkwardly stumbled through offering to walk me down the aisle. When I’d said yes, I swore he blushed.

Marrying Romeo wasn’t just tying me to the man of my dreams, it was officially making me a part of this family.

The music started, and Matteo gifted me a rare smile. “Ready?”

I took his offered arm. “Ready.”

We headed up the steps and emerged onto the roof, which had been completely transformed. Sofiya and Sienna had forbidden me from seeing it before now, and my brain could barely comprehend what I was seeing. The cement ground had been covered with what looked like grass and an explosion of colorful springtime flowers. String lights above us glowed softly as the string quartet played one of my favorite songs.

The only thing Romeo had insisted on for the ceremony was that we had pink flowers. Pink, he said, for the color of my hair and the brightness I brought into his life.

There he was, standing underneath a flower arch.

My Romeo.

Matteo chuckled as I walked faster. Our surroundings, the decor, the smiling faces of our guests all blurred together until he was all I could see. His black tux stretched across his broad shoulders and was accented with a light pink boutonniere. I wanted to run my fingers through his perfectly tousled hair. But it was his smile that took my breath away and almost made me burst into happy tears.

When Matteo and I arrived at the front of the aisle, Romeo wasted no time snagging me by the waist and crushing me to his chest. I squeezed my arms around him, my anxiety instantly vanishing.

“Fuck, baby,” he said, lips brushing against the shell of my ear. “I thought I told you to choose a dress that didn’t force me to gouge out the eyes of all our guests.”

I snorted. “No eye-gouging, please.”

Arturo loudly cleared his throat, and I pulled away with a blush. I hugged Matteo before he sat down, and then my hands were back in Romeo’s.

“We’re gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Juliet Leka and Romeo De Luca,” Arturo said. “This is a very special day for Romeo, who knows he could never in a million years deserve Juliet and that if he ever hurts her, his death will be slow and painful.”

“Arturo!” I shouted, but Romeo just laughed.

“You are correct, sir. I will never forget how lucky I am.”

“See that you don’t,” Arturo said sternly before winking at me. I rolled my eyes, but secretly loved that he cared so much.

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