Page 113 of Menace in Vegas

I’ll throw her over my shoulder and marry her upside down if I have to.

I fidget with my cufflinks, standing at the altar of a ridiculously over-the-top Vegas chapel. There’s a velvet aisle runner, fake roses exploding from every surface, and I think there’s a neon Elvis in the corner.

The second the music shifts and she appears at the end of the aisle, nothing else exists.

Holy. Shit.

She’s fucking stunning inthedress.The one I stalked her Pinterest boards to find. The one I sent to Harper in a desperate email titledOperation Destroy Connor. The one we had overnighted from a boutique in Chicago.

She’s glowing like sin and heaven had a baby and she walked out of the wreckage looking like a damn dream designed to ruin me.

Her hair. Her lips. The look in her eyes when they find mine.

I stop breathing.

She hesitates at the back of the aisle, like she’s still debating this whole thing.

And then… she smiles.

Not just any smile. That soft, knowing smile that says everything I dreamed of.I see you. I’m still here. I want this, too.

My heart fuckin’ detonates.

As she walks toward me, it’s like every step syncs with the beat of my heart. I suck in breath after breath just to stay upright.

I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.

Somehow, impossibly, she’s choosingme.

When she reaches me, I take her hand without hesitation.

Her fingers tremble. So do mine.

“You ready, wife?” I whisper, voice low and rough from the weight of everything I feel.

“Yeah, baby. I’m ready.”

Fuck. Me.

We face the officiant, who starts talking about rings, vows, and eternal commitment, but I don’t hear a single word.

All I see isher.

Lips parted.

Chest rising too fast.

Expression fierce and soft all at once.

Then it’s my turn to say my vows.

“I don’t have anything traditional to say,” I rasp. “I just know one thing. You’re mine, Allie. You’ve always been mine. You just took your sweet time figuring it out.”

Her breath catches. Tears gather in her eyes.

Then she whispers, “I hate you,” with a megawatt smile on her face.

I grin. “Love you too, baby.”

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