Page 25 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
I slowly turned my head toward the road and found dozens of eyes watching us in anticipation. “Wow, they really gathered, didn’t they?” I murmured.
But, when Michael took my hands in his own, my eyes snapped up to his. “Mags, you’ve been paramount to this entire thing happening. You’ve been such a big help to me with your creativity and your organizational skills, and I know damn good and well, I couldn’t have pulled this off as smoothly as it’s happened without your hands in the pie, so to speak.”
I smiled so big, my cheeks started hurting. “You’re more than welcome, Mike.”
He took a step toward me. “I’m serious, Maggie. I know you’re still grieving, and I know you still hurt, but the fact that you’ve decided to throw yourself into helping me instead of throwing yourself into bed not only speaks to your strength and your character but the kind of woman you’ve become. I’m proud of you, and I’m proud of us, and I can’t wait to help you the way you’ve helped me.”
I blinked back tears. “Michael, you—” I swallowed hard as I closed my eyes, trying to gather my thoughts. A tear streaked my cheek before a pointed source of softness and warmth pressed against my skin. And when my eyes fluttered open, I found Michael wiping away my lone tear with his fingertips as his eyes studied my face. “Michael?” I asked breathlessly.
His gaze met my stare. “Yes, Maggie?”
I swallowed hard. “I won’t be able to say much without absolutely breaking down, so here’s the gist of it: I’m glad you’re in my life. I’m glad we’re here together because I’m not sure where I’d be without you, especially after burying my father. You stuck by my side when I had no one else. When I had no one to lean on. And as God is my witness, with you at my side, I know it’s only up from here, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. Thank you for all you’ve done and all you will continue to do in the coming months… and possibly even years.”
He chuckled as a smile crossed his face. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with me until I fire you, Maggie. And that’s not happening anytime soon.”
I squeezed his hands. “At least the feeling’s mutual.”
I heard a few people in the crowd go “aww” as we concluded everything we had to say. Then, we both turned to the magistrate as he slapped his leather-bound book closed.
“Then, by the power vested in me by the State of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
I peeked up at Michael. “Now, you’re really my work husband.”
He barked with laughter. “And you’re stuck being my work wife forever. Who would’ve thunk it?”
The crowd standing in the middle of the road clapped and whooped and cheered for us as Michael linked my arm with his. We waved at everyone as Michael announced that the magistrate was available for any kind of wedding ceremony they wanted to conjure. With a monetary donation came the ability to get funny and silly pictures taken, and I’d never seen so many people line up simply to participate in a fake wedding chapel.
It really was a sight to behold as Michael and I made our way across the road, away from the raging crowd.
“How much?”
“How can we do it?”
“Do we have enough time to go get changed?
“Can we actually renew our vows here? There are so many cute places to eat and enjoy ourselves, and we’ve wanted to do it for years.”
Michael unlinked his arm from mine before he pulled out his wallet. “Let me go get that man’s tip jar started really quickly.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed as I started rummaging around in my pocket, “put this in there for me, too.”
I handed Michael a ten before he matched my donation, then he jogged back across the street. He placed our money into Mr. Benetti’s tip jar, and pretty soon, everyone started following suit. By the time Michael made his way through the crowd and got back to my side, the tip jar was half full, and people were still chucking money at the poor man.
“Sometimes,” I said as I drew in a deep breath, “someone has to take the first step to get the ball rolling.”
Michael’s voice sounded lowly in my ear. “Did you mean it?”
I peeked over at him. “Mean what?”
“What you said up there. Did you mean it?”
I looked up at him. “Yes. Every word. Did you?”
He smiled softly. “Every word, and then some.”
Part of me wanted to ask him what “and then some” meant. But, another part of me feared the answer he might give me. I mean, I saw the way he looked at me sometimes, and I certainly felt the way he stared. And while Michael was a very handsome man with incredible boyfriend potential, I wasn’t near a point in my life where I could take on something like that with him, especially because of our age gap.
That would bring about enough questions without tossing everything else into the mix.
