Page 27 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“How do I pretend to kiss your neck?” I chuckle as I lean down and I get as close as I can. “How’s this?” I ask and she giggles and lifts her shoulder.

Her hand comes up to touch my face. “That tickles,” she admits to me as I hear the clicking of the camera go off.

“Just a couple more seconds,” I say. I close my eyes, trying to focus on anything but the way her hand is on my face. How her hip fits in my hand perfectly, and especially how her ass feels on my cock.

“Perfect,” he says and we spring apart as if someone doused us with ice water. I slip my hand in hers as I help her off the rocks.

“You okay?” I ask as we walk toward the reception, our hands still intertwined with each other. The sun has gone down and you can hear the soft hums of crickets in the air.

“Yeah, Alice called before,” she says. “CPS is having a meeting with the lawyer tomorrow to go over the will and stuff. The reading of the will is in two days.”

“Okay, we can go together,” I tell her, our steps going slower than usual.

“You don’t have to do that; you’ve done more than enough.”

“I think I should, as your husband.” She looks over at me. “Don’t you think?”

“I have no idea what to think,” she admits, “this is all foreign territory for me.” I drop her hand out of mine and put my arm around her shoulders, bringing her to me. She puts her head on my shoulder. “Everything is so real right now.” Her voice gets low and I stop walking, knowing she needs a minute.

I turn her and pull her into my arms. She drops the bouquet at her feet as she wraps her arms around my waist, her forehead in the middle of my chest. “It’s going to be okay,” I reassure her, kissing the top of her head as she looks to the side. My hand rubs her bare arm as she looks out into the distance.

“You promise?” she finally whispers and I can feel wetness on my shirt.

“Yes,” I confirm. At this moment, I would promise her the world because there is no one who deserves it more. There is no one who has busted their ass more than Eva to get where she is. There is no one who has put other people before herself. There is no one, and I mean no one, who deserves to finally have smooth sailing more than Eva. “I promise.”

She finally looks up at me and I can see the tears in her eyes as she tries to blink them away. She puts a smile on her face. “Thank you,” she finally says to me.

I smile down at her. “What’s a fake wedding between friends?” She throws her head back and laughs. Filling the empty night with her laughter is like music to my ears.

“It’s going to be okay,” she finally declares. “Now let’s get in there and eat some food. Maybe drink a little and head on home.”

“Sounds like a great plan,” I tell her as she slips out of my arms. “I, for one, need a nice big drink.”

“Wow, married for an hour and I’m already pushing you to drink.” I look over at her and she winks at me. “It’s starting off very promising.”

I don’t answer her; instead I walk into the reception space where everyone is sitting down to eat. I walk over and pull out a chair for her as she sits down. For the next three hours, it feels like it’s normal. Or at least our brand of normal. Until I’m at the bar getting a bottle of water when Markos slides up to the bar. “What are you drinking?” he asks, leaning on the bar and looking toward the dance floor where the girls are dancing.

“Water.” I lean against the bar looking at him. “Do you want anything?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m just here to do my duty.” My eyebrows pinch together. “Her father was my uncle,” he starts, “and it’s my place to inform you that if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”

I look at him. “Why would you even think I’m going to hurt her?” I ask. “I would never hurt her.”

“Well, I had to make sure you know that if you do, I’ll kick your ass.”

“Message received,” I assure him as the bartender gives me my bottle of water. “Sadly, this isn’t the weirdest thing that has happened to me today.” I unscrew the top of the bottle and take a sip, looking back at the dance floor, watching Eva throw her head back and laughing. Her hair is now pinned up in a ponytail.

“Something tells me this day is going to change your life,” Mark states before pushing off and walking over to his wife. I don’t move from the bar; instead I watch Eva dancing around to “Dancing Queen,” thinking that maybe Mark isn’t wrong.

When the plane touches down the day after, I have to wake her up. “Eva,” I say softly to her and she opens her eyes. “We’re home.” She nods for a second, closing her eyes and getting up. I unbuckle my seat belt, standing up and opening the overhead bin.

The black band on my hand catches my attention. “I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she says as I hand her her bag. She reaches out and grabs it and her ring catches my attention. “We really did it,” I say to myself as she steps out of the row and walks off the plane.

We walk down toward the baggage claim, neither of us saying anything to the other as we wait for our bags to come out. They are the first two out, and when we get into the car, I look over at her, her head buried in her phone.

I pull up to her house. “I have to head home and pack,” I tell her and she nods at me, “get things settled there. I’ll swing by and get you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” She opens the door and I follow her out to grab the bag for her.

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