Page 56 of Taming His Honeydoll
“Done!” She crowed. “But it won’t be eight, it will only be six.”
His eyes narrowed then and she could tell the moment he realized his mistake. “I get it,” he remarked ruefully. Levi isn’t going to be four for another week.”
“Yep,” she said smugly.
He rolled his eyes, but his grin was huge. “Let’s go get that ring, baby brat. When I toast your deserving little butt, I want to know you’re all mine to toast.”
Safe in the crook of his arm, Emma felt really good about her decision to let Sawyer spank her. She knew how much it bothered him that she hadn’t told him and a small part of her knew she’d been wrong. It was only fair. Besides, she’d survived one spanking, this one should be a piece of cake.
***
SAWYER WAS PLOTTINGin his head ever since they had left the jewelry store where he and Emma had picked out their rings. He discovered that Emma liked chocolate diamonds. He’d wanted her to have a beautiful clear diamond, so they had compromised. She’d picked a single diamond for the engagement portion and the marriage band that went with it was made of smaller chocolate diamonds that fitted in a horseshoe shape around the center diamond. It was gorgeous and matched her brown eyes.
Next, they went to city hall to get a marriage license. Now that they were legally ready to do the deed, all that remained was to pick a date.
“So, when do you want to get married?” He asked the question as they paused on the courthouse steps and took both of her hands in his.
She cocked her head to one side. “How do you feel about big weddings?”
He shuddered inside but was determined to have it her way. “Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”
Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. “I take that to mean that you don’t want a big one? How would your mom feel about that? Does she want a big wedding for you? You are her only child after all.”
He scratched his head. “Honestly, we’ve never discussed it,” he finally replied, still hedging his bets. He certainly didn’t want a huge society wedding like the one Henry’s family had put her through.
“Okay. So, what would you say to getting married right now, right here in the courthouse? And then your mom and Aunt Tootie can plan a nice reception for our friends and family as soon as they can put one together?”
His jaw dropped. “For real?” He finally sputtered when the shock had worn off. That wasn’t what he’d had in mind either.
She nodded with a laugh. “For real. I’ve done the big society wedding and truly have no wish to go through that again. A simple reception would suit me just fine. If it’s okay with you though. It’s your first marriage so you should have the most say,” she finished generously.
“This will be my first and only marriage,” he growled, dropping a hard kiss to her lips. “But no, I don’t want to do the courthouse thing,” he said after releasing her mouth. “I’ve always had a mental image of kissing my bride at the altar before a priest. The church we went to as a family is one of the oldest and most beautiful in Bevier. Even in November, the stonework is amazing for pictures and I want one of us in front of those picturesque painted glass windows when we come out as man and wife.”
“That sounds lovely,” Emma breathed, her eyes misting up. “What religion are you?”
“We’re Lutheran,” he replied. “You?”
“That’s what I am, but we had to get married by an Anglican priest to satisfy Marlene.” Her nose crinkled up. “I refused to join it though, even though she wanted me to.”
“Is that why you are in such a hurry to marry in the courthouse?” he teased. “As far as I’m concerned, you belong to me—married or not.”
Emma colored slightly. “You haven’t given much indication of that,” she sassed back.
His pants suddenly felt tight. “I was trying to be patient and win you back,” he growled.
“You just said I was already yours,” she replied, her eyes twinkling up at him. “I thought it was part of your punishment tactics. You know, making me want you so much I’d get around to begging you to make love to me again?”
His brows shot to his hairline. “Baby brat, you’re playing with fire.”
“Oh, really? All I’ve seen is sputtering embers so far,” she mocked lightly.
“No, what you’ve seen is a banked slow burn that just became a raging inferno.” He picked her up and carried her down the courthouse steps, around to the parking lot, and sat her down long enough to open the truck door.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly after he helped her into the seat and pushed her over so he could get behind the wheel.
“To celebrate,” he replied briefly. It was only a few moments before Sawyer pulled up in front of the most expensive bed and breakfast in Bevier.
“Sawyer, what are you doing...”
