Page 26 of Romanced By the Mountain Man

17

BLADE

Three hoursand one shower quickie later, I find myself in the back room of the chapel. The whole second floor of the hotel is a wedding chapel, complete with dressing areas for the happy couple.

I adjust the bowtie for Alvin. He keeps swatting it sideways. His brother, Simon, is much more relaxed about the little vest he’s wearing. I picked Simon up on my way to California. I couldn’t go and demand my girl marry me without all of our family being included, especially our four-legged babies.

“Hold still, Theo,” Rafe grumps. He’s trying to wrestle my little mangy mutt into a doggie tuxedo along with Roman. Yeah, I figured his days of wandering my back yard as a stray are done. He’s now proudly wearing a purple collar with his name on it, although the tuxedo is still a work-in-progress. Between Roman’s swollen hands and Rafe’s twisted arm thanks to cerebral palsy, it’s taking both of them working together.

“That’s Theodore,” I correct my friends. He’s already bonding with Alvin and Simon, and I think the three of them will be buddies soon.

Roman rolls his eyes and mutters something about me being whipped.

I ignore the comment, too excited about the possibility of marrying my girl today to care what anyone else thinks. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best day of my life. I’m getting to start my family with the most beautiful woman on earth.

Rafe’s phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket to scowl at it again.

“Is that the fake princess?” Roman asks.

Some scammer keeps calling Rafe and insisting she’s a princess and needs to urgently speak to him. Not that he ever returns her messages.

He rolls his eyes and mutes the call.

“Block her number,” I tell him.

He smirks. “You’ve never heard her voice.”

I get it then. He likes the sound, that’s why he keeps letting her leave messages even though she’s obviously trying to run a con on him. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if he calls her back one day and lets her play the game just so he can listen to her speak.

“Done!” Roman pronounces and leans back on his haunches. He’s panting like he’s run a marathon but Theodore is now in his snazzy tuxedo. I’ve always thought dressing up animals for events was stupid, but I know it’ll make Gwen smile. That’s all the matters to me anymore, finding ways to make my woman happy.

There’s a knock on the door, and I call out. I expect to see Gwen’s parents. After I sobered up, the first thing I did was go to the fancy college where they teach and demand to see both of them. I made it clear that I’m the man that loves their daughter and if they didn’t shape up, they wouldn’t be seeing her or any future grandchildren. They were on the plane within two hours of my lecture.

But it’s not Gwen’s parents. It’s the bride herself. She gives me a dazzling smile. She’s wearing a white dress with over the shoulder sleeves and a tight, fitted bodice. The puffy, tulle skirt has me longing to stick my head underneath it to find the exact shade of underwear she’s wearing.Is she wearing underwear?

Fuck, I definitely shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.

“You’re not supposed to see the—” Rafe starts.

I hold up my hand to stop him. No one reprimands my queen. No one dares to speak to her with anything less than complete respect and adoration. All she has to do is look at me, and I will lay siege to cities. All she has to do is whisper my name, and I will lay the world at her feet. She’s my everything.

Gwen gives me a soft smile, taking in the animals. “You made them all look so cute! The girls are going to flip!”

I don’t care about impressing her friends. There’s only one woman whose smiles I want to earn every day.

“We’re going to go check on…” Roman says. I don’t even pay attention to how he finishes that sentence. All of my attention is focused on how sweet Gwen looks standing there. Like something out of a dream or a fairytale.

My friends exit the room, leaving the two of us alone.

I cross the floor to take her hand in mine. There’s something troubling her, and I want to know what it is. I don’t want this day to be anything less than perfect for her. “What do you need, sweetheart?”

“This is beautiful and amazing and so perfect…”

“But?” I prompt. Normally, there’d be a rock in my gut and I’d be expecting her to leave me. But it’s not there today because I’m confident that she loves me just as much as I love her. We can overcome anything together. “You don’t want it?”

“It’s not that.” She shakes her head and puts her hand on my shirt. Even with the layers of fabric between us, her touch warms me. It always will. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to make some big, over-the-top gesture. I love you, Blade, just as you are. And I need to know you know that. That you understand how much—”

I stop her words by pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. My heart is too big for my body. It’s filled with too much love, and I’ll never be able to contain it all. “I want to marry you. I want to watch you walk down the aisle in a white dress. I want to hear you tell your friends and family that you’ll be mine forever. And then I want to take you back to our hotel room and make love to you again and again.”

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