Page 21 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“Steal away,” Presley encourages, smiling at me.

I look at them. “But seriously.” I walk over to the rack of wedding dresses and spot a silky sparkly one. “How fast can we get married?”

Chapter Ten

Levi

I watch Eva walk out the door with the four ladies, waiting until the door is closed before I turn and look at Addison and then Stefano. “Okay,” I urge, holding up my hand, “let’s get it out of the way before she comes back.” What I really want to do right now is sit down and just take a second to breathe.

“Let’s get it out of the way,” Stefano repeats my words.

“Stefano,” Addison scolds him softly as she puts her hand on his arm. He turns to look at her. “Would you give him a chance?”

He watches her for a second before he turns to me. “This is…” He looks down at his shoes, shaking his head.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” I admit, “but it’s also the only thing I can do.”

“You are going to get married to her,” Stefano reminds me. “That’s a big deal.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Addison states and he side-eyes her, his glare softer than he would give anyone else because he loves her more than life itself. Something I’ve never had; also I don’t think I’ve ever really wanted it. I mean, I love Stefano and I know I love Eva, obviously. I just don’t think I have it in me to love someone like that. Okay, fine, maybe that isn’t true because I would go to the ends of the earth for Eva. “It’s a big deal if you make it a big deal. If you were listening to them instead of being all Hulk, you would have heard them say it’s for Cici. You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t do the same thing for anyone in your family.”

“Yes,” he agrees with her, “but—” I don’t wait for him to add more; instead, I speak out.

“Stefano,” I say his name and he looks back over at me. “It’s Eva, she’s the most loyal person I know. She is the most selfless person I know. She is the most genuine person I know. There is no one else in this world I would do this for besides her.”

“Wow.” He snickers. “What if I needed you to marry me?”

“You’d better be down on one knee and have a big-ass ring for me,” I joke with him and my hand comes out to squeeze my neck. “But seriously, I know how important this is to her. I know how important her family is to her. I also know I’m not going to let her down.”

“I believe you,” Stefano states. “It’s just, it’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s me, and you should know I would never do anything to hurt her.”

“But what if, like, things get blurry?” he questions and Addison slaps him. “What?”

“It’s none of your business,” she hisses at him. “Literally not your concern. Remember the other day when Avery got upset because of something that happened that had nothing to do with her. What did you tell her?” She raises her eyebrows. “Not your monkey, not your circus.”

“It is my monkey and it’s my circus. It’s my concern. She’s my cousin,” he explains, “and he’s my best friend.”

“And they are two grown-ass adults who can make their own decisions,” Addison puts in. “Now what you need to do is ask them what they need.”

“Yes,” I agree with her. “You need to help me.”

“With what?” Stefano gawks.

“Realistically, how fast can we be married?” I ask Addison and she looks at Stefano before turning back to me.

“It’s just the two of you?” she asks.

“Yes.” I nod, knowing that whether he agrees with us or not, Stefano will also be there. There is no way he wouldn’t be. At least I hope he’s there.

“You don’t want any decorations, right?” She walks over to the desk, leaning over it and grabbing a pad from the top of it and a pen. She turns to look at me, waiting for me to answer.

“Well, yeah.” I look at her. “Obviously, let’s add some decoration.” Stefano looks at me and I’m not sure what he’s thinking. Frankly, I’m not even sure what I’m thinking. “I’m not a savage,” I quickly add. “Even if it’s fake, I’m not going to the courthouse with her, so I think we should add some decorations. She deserves better than that.” At this point, even I’m unsure of what I’m saying or why I’m saying it.

“Okay,” Addison says. “I’m assuming since you will be having decoration, you will also be wanting flowers.”

“Her favorite flowers are orchids, but I’m not sure how that would be in a bouquet,” I tell her. “She also loves roses but the cream or white ones or the light pink ones, not another color.” They both look at me shocked. “I bought her purple roses once, and let me tell you, I will not make that mistake ever again. And I don’t want one carnation either.” I shake my head. “I bought her those once and she asked why I hated her.” I laugh thinking back to when I bought that for her. It was at the beginning when we were getting to know each other, and if I have to be honest, I was falling for her. But then I knew if I went there with her, I would lose her friendship, so I put her in thedo not even think aboutcategory since then, and that is where she is going to stay. Forever. I don’t have much in my life, relationship-wise. I have parents who I talk to maybe twice a year, Christmas and birthday. Then I have my work friends, who are more like colleagues. It’s not like I would tell them my deepest darkest secrets. So besides Stefano, who is my go-to all the time, Eva is my ride or die, and there is no way I’m losing any of that. “What else?”

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