Page 16 of Never Been Worse

“Spontaneous,”she says, then sits there, her eyes off somewhere else like the single word reminded her of… something. “I could be spontaneous.” It’s almost a whisper, her eyes still far off. Then something in her shifts and changes, her chin tipping up and her shoulders going back before she looks at me and smiles. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll marry you,” she finally says.

“Yeah?” I ask. I fully expected to have to convince her more, to push and prod until she agreed, but…

“I mean, as long as the terms make sense. Like...how long are we going to be married? And what kind of press will I need to be doing? What happens if my stuff starts to blow back and?—”

“It won’t,” I say decidedly because I won’t let that happen. Her face goes somehow both soft and disapproving.

“Wes, you can’t?—”

“I can. Leo is the best in the entire industry. Your ex and his new girl might have contacts, but they don’t have even close to what Leo has. The man knows the deepest, darkest secrets you’d ever imagine about nearly everyone, and if he doesn’t, he finds it. I don't know how he does it, but it’s insane.” Her face scrunches up like that’s of concern to her, and I smile. “Don’t worry. He only uses his powers for good. We’ll figure everything out later,” I say, then put a hand out to her. “But if you’re in, I’m in, Harper.”

She stares at my hand for long moments before eventually she sighs. “Fine. I’m in,” she says, then shifts back as if she’s shocking even herself by agreeing to this. Still, she reaches over and grabs my hand, shaking on our makeshift pact with a wide smile.

I return it, taking in how good her small, soft hand feels in mine.

“All right. Now that that's covered, are you ready to get some real food?” My chair scrapes back as I stand, then I use my grip on hers to pull her up. She’s standing right in front of me now, close enough to feel her body heat, our hands held together between us.

“What?” she asks, adorably confused.

“I’m not going to let my soon-to-be wife starve,” I say, tipping my chin to her plate filled with uneaten food. I don’t know if it was the nerves or the overly fancy cuisine, but neither of us really ate our meals, and I’m starving.

“What?” she repeats, and I change my question.

“Do you like burgers?”

“I love french fries,” she says low.

I let out a chuckle before I use my free hand to tug her closer, our chests touching, my arm wrapped around her lower back, her head tipped back to look at me. I lift a hand, letting my thumb graze over her jaw as she stares at me, wide-eyed and dazed.

I want to kiss her.

Badly.

I’ve wanted to for months.

But something tells me I’m going to have to tread carefully with Harper and do things on her terms, or else I could scare her off for good.

“Then let’s get you some fries, little wife,” I say, and when she smiles wide, I know I made the right choice.

EIGHT

WES

“Married?” Leo says, his face losing all color. “What do you mean you’re getting married?Howare you getting married?”

I smile wider at his stress and panic. Leo hates anything outside of his very carefully crafted plan, and the guys and I very much enjoy stepping outside of it and watching him lose his mind a bit.

“It just kind of happened,” I say with a shrug.

“That kind of thing doesn’t justhappen,Holden,” he argues.

“Happened to Riggs and me,” Stella says with a smile, hand on her stomach, speaking of their impulsive Vegas wedding years ago.

“You knew each other for years,” Leo says with a glare.

“And I’ve known Harper for two years,” I argue.

Our publicist sighs deeply, looking at the ceiling and trying to collect himself. I know, because we put Leo into that state pretty often. “You were supposed to go on a charity date to get good press, Wes, not to get fuckingengaged!Jesus Christ, the papers are going to be insane.” He must remember something because his eyes become saucers. “Wasn’t she just arrested?”

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