Page 22 of Every Single Vow
Ivy giggles and I roll my eyes.
“Come on you little baddie.” I wink. “Let’s go find my groom.”
Chapter thirteen
Cooper
“She’s late,” I grumble.
“Did you expect anything less?” My father chuckles. “That girl will be late to her own funeral.”
“Can we not talk about her dying.” I eye him, tugging at the silver chain around my neck.
For some reason I’m nervous. Like she might change her mind and run. Try to handle this on her own like she does most things.
Like changing three tires on a trailer in the middle of the night coming back from San Antonio. Or like when she tried to put the fire out at the farmhouse with just a flimsy garden hose. I’dnever been so fucking scared in my entire life when I saw her running toward those flames. Trying to savemyfamily home.
I blow out a breath, my pulse jumping when the doors to the courthouse open. My mother leads the group, then she steps aside, holding the door open with a bright smile. Ivy enters first, followed by Ari, and then….mygirl.
Dakota enters the room, a short white sundress hitting mid thigh. Her tan legs are visible, but barely because a pair of turquoise cowboy boots hit just below her knee. Her long dark hair is in lose curls, and her lips are painted a soft pink.
Her smile grows when she struts to me. “You ready to do this, cowboy?”
My neck feels hot. My shoulders tense.
She’s absolutely stunning. Ryder slaps me on the back, so I clear my throat and turn on the typical Cooper charm
“Ready and willing, darlin.” I hold out my elbow.
The banter has always been easy between us. Natural. Sometimes flirty, but never beyond a simple tease. She may think I’m kidding most of the time, but truth is, I’m not.
“Right here.” I open a mahogany door, leading us into the office, leaving the rest of my family to wait in the area of the courthouse designated for marriages. We had already gotten our license earlier this week, we just needed the officiating to make it legit.
I approach the counter, smiling at the woman in her late sixties. “Cooper Mayson and Dakota Sterling.”
She eyes me through her glasses. “Well didn’t you turn into a handsome young man.”
I give a lopsided smile. “Thanks, Trudy.”
She picks up her desk phone. “Let me just call Ernie.”
Dakota and I stand at the counter as she talks to Ernie in a hushed tone that she thinks we can’t hear.
“Yeah. The Mayson boy.” She pauses. “No, not the mean one.” She glances over at us. “And he’s marrying thatgirl.”
She holds her hand over the phone, pulling it way from her mouth. “You can head into room three, hon. Ernie will meet you in there. You got a witness, right?”
“Yes ma’am.” I nod.
“Wow,” Dakota says as we leave the office. “Thatgirl.That’s actually one of the kinder descriptions I’ve had.”
“Well Trudy is no innocent herself. It’s been rumored she gets sticky fingers during tithing on Sundays.”
“No way.” Dakota snickers. “Scandalous.”
I motion a hand to the small group we have now hovering in the waiting area. Maddox, Laiken, and her son Trace have now joined.
“Dakota!” Trace shrieks.
