Page 34 of Why Not Forever?

My father walks up to me immediately after we enter, smiling his fake smile.

“Congratulations, you two,” he says, shaking Tanner’s hand. “Can I speak with you for a minute, Victoria?” He grins at Tanner. “Don’t worry. I’ll have your wife back before you can miss her.”

“That won’t be possible,” Tanner says.

He lets go of my hand and Dad leads me back out onto the deck where people are mingling in the sun.

“Did you change your name?” he asks.

“Yes. Once all the paperwork is filed, anyway. Is there a problem?” I know what his problem is. Tanner told me how he was certain Dad wanted me to keep my last name and potentially even have Tanner take the Sterling name. I’d asked if it had been written into the contract and Tanner said no. So I’d said screw him. If that’s what Dad wants, he can come and tell me and not try to manipulate me.

“I assumed you’d want to remain a Sterling,” he says. “Think of the connections, and your children.”

I grit my teeth at his mention of children. He knows I don’t want them, that I’ve never wanted kids. He and Mom are certain I’ll change my mind. I’m thirty-two years old. You would think I’d have changed my mind by now if I was going to.

“I have connections already, Dad. I don’t need to remain Victoria Sterling to keep them. People get married and change their names all the time and people don’t magically forget about them when they do.”

He narrows his eyes at me, and I know I’ve messed up his plans. I stare back, because I don’t care. It’s been a few years since I stopped caring about his opinion.

Since this is a temporary marriage, it probably would have made more sense if Tanner and I simply kept our last names the same. What can I say? I’m petty.

“Vic?” Tanner calls, coming up to us. “They want to know when to do the first dance. You wanted to do that before dinner, right?”

“Yes.”

He holds out his hand, allowing me an escape from my father. I take it, letting his fingers wrap around my hand, the warmth spreading up my arm as he pulls me away.

We move to the centre of the dance floor and a song starts. Tanner wraps his arm around my waist, holding me close. This is the part of the wedding I’d dreaded the most—dancing with people watching me—which is why I’d wanted it out of the way first. As we begin, Tanner distracts me by asking, “What song is this?”

I listen for a second. The woman is singing about how someone makes her feel like she’s never had her heart broken. “I don’t know,” I say. “I asked Derek to choose something. I think he said it’s by Jessie Murph? It’s good though.”

A male voice begins to sing next, saying something about love being a gamble, and Tanner says, “It’s not exactly a traditional wedding song, is it?”

I laugh. “It’s not exactly a traditional wedding.”

Tanner smiles, reaching up to trace a finger along my cheek. It’s a tender gesture that doesn’t really belong in our business relationship, but I don’t tell him to stop.

“Richard wanted to ask about you changing your name, didn’t he?”

I nod.

“I told you he’d be pissed.”

I shrug. “It’s my name. I can do what I want.”

Tanner smiles at me. “So, Mrs. Marcus, what do you want to do then?”

“Eat. I’m starving.”

He laughs and I can’t help but smile back. I hadn’t exactly meant it as a joke. Regardless that this marriage is temporary, the idea of the wedding still gave me jitters enough that I haven’t eaten much today.

He leans down and kisses my cheek, in the same place he’d been touching me before. “Another couple minutes and we can eat,” he promises.

I keep my hand in his and my other around his neck, even though I really want to touch my cheek where he just kissed me. Instead, I listen to the song we’re dancing to, and how she’d never thought she’d find someone who was good at being real. And I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone more real than Tanner Marcus. My husband.

Chapter 13

Tanner

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