Page 113 of Wild Love
I have an email from Hugh asking what I want to do about the marriage—his way of nicely asking if I want to file the paperwork for an annulment. I don’t respond. Not necessary, Hugh. I’m gonna fix this.
But first, I open up Instagram and post the picture of Dakota, cropped so it’s just a sexy leg tangled in the sheet with one single word.Mine.
She’s mine, and it’s time to figure this out so I can tell the world.
I shower and make her morning smoothie. I can be an epic husband. I’ve already been an epic summer hookup, if I do say so myself. I just need to show her how serious I am about this. Big and bold gestures, baby, bring it.
I grab my phone and scroll through local jewelry stores while I wait for her to wake up. I’m anxious, foot tapping, mind racing with possibilities. Is she a round cut or square cut kind of girl? Regular diamond, or would she like a yellow or black or something totally different than a diamond?
“What the hell, Johnny?” I look up from my phone as she rushes out from the bedroom, still in the oversized T-shirt she slept in.
“Morning, baby. Sorry about the noise. I tried a new smoothie recipe. It sucked, so I had to start over.”
“I’m not talking about the noise. I’m talking about this.” She holds out her phone to show me my post of her leg on my Instagram.
“You should see the original. Your veil is covering your face, and your arm is around my chest—”
“Why would you post this?”
“I wanted everyone to know I’m taken. I’m in this. Not just for the summer, for real. And I didn’t show your face or tag you.”
She closes her eyes and blows out a breath. “They know, Johnny. They know it’s me.”
“Who? Our friends?” I shrug. “They already know.”
“No, my boss, your teammates, my coworkers.”
I look at the picture again. “Your legs are memorable, but I doubt they’re going to be able to tell from a grainy picture. I blurred it a little, so it’s harder to tell.” I wink. I thought of all of this already.
I get another sigh. “The shoes, Johnny. They know because of my shoes.”
I bring it up again and see the red Converse at the bottom of the photo. They’re such a staple in her wardrobe, I didn’t even notice. “You said you wished you had white ones that night.”
She places a hand on top of her head and paces. “Oh god. I’m going to be fired.”
I come around the counter and stand in front of her. “They’re not going to fire you.”
“Why don’t you understand how serious this is?” She raises her voice. “This is going to cost me my job.”
“It won’t. I’ll take it down. Fuck. I just wanted to tell someone. I’m tired of keeping this to myself. I’m crazy about you. I’m in this.”
“Someone? You toldeveryone.”
Her phone pings, and she whimpers as she looks at it. “That’s Blythe. She wants to meet with me first thing this morning.”
Already? Damn. Panic makes my throat tight. “I’ll talk to her.”
“No.” Her tone is stern. “You might as well tag me in it if you show up to talk to her.”
“I know you don’t want to tell people, but we are married, Kota. If you tell her, she can’t fire you.”
“You really think I want to pull the Johnny Maverick card again to keep my job? I wanted to earn this job. I wanted to do things the right way.”
“Fuck the right way, Kota. It’s bullshit. Do whatever makes you happy.”
“Like you?” She scoffs and then sighs. “I’m Johnny Maverick, and I do whatever I want on a whim. Fuck the consequences.” She stops, eyes wide like she can’t believe she said that out loud. “I didn’t mean that.”
“No, you did, and I guess I deserve that. I haven’t done things the way I wanted with you, but I don’t regret it because of where it brought us.”
