it would take, and the length of time in which she’d thought about it made me happy.
Happy that she wasn’t jumping into something without first thinking it through.
It showed me that she had a good head on her shoulders as well as a pretty one.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said to my neighbor.
My neighbor that lived two warehouses down from mine grinned. “No problem.”
Then he drove away, leaving me outside the courthouse looking up.
Our courthouse wasn’t anything special.
A plain brick building that had seen better days.
It didn’t even look all that fantastical like most old courthouses did.
No big clock tower. No beautiful brick walls. No large pillars out front.
Just a dank, ugly white brick building with mildew on it that needed to be power-washed off two years ago.
But what made it beautiful was the woman that I could see at the front doors, waiting for me.
She looked serene standing there in a pale blue dress that reached to just below her knees.
She reminded me of a princess. Beautiful, regal, but refined.
I found that the enticement of seeing her long legs covered up by that gently waving dress was more of a turn on than seeing her actual legs would be.
And I would know. I’d seen enough of her photos—I was a grade A stalker at this point—to know what she looked like with less on.
Her friend, Six, posted a shit ton of pictures.
I’m talking so many that it wasn’t even funny.
I had enough spank bank material with Wyett looking directly at the camera to last me a lifetime.
Though, one day I hoped to experience her in real life.
The moment I breached the steps, her mouth all but fell open.
“I remember you! Eyelash puller!” she cried, pointing at me accusingly.
I laughed. “I call you eyelash girl.”
“I can’t… how… what are you doing here?” she all of a sudden blurted.
“I’m here to get married.” I paused. “Why?”
I had to play the game after all.
Her eyes widened even more.
“To, uh, someone you know?” she asked hopefully.
I shrugged. “I was actually meeting her here. Her name’s Wyett… do you know her?”
Her eyes closed briefly before she pried them open again, her spine straightening almost imperceptibly. “I’m Wyett.”
Fuck, she was cute.
“Ahh,” I said. “Well that’s good news then. I was about to ask you to marry me instead.”
At that, she burst out laughing. “Do you normally ask women you barely know to marry you?”
I know you very, very well. Almost as much as I know myself.
“No,” I admitted. “Not unless it’s necessary.”
She tilted her head. “Necessary? Why is it necessary?”
“I’ll tell you after we’re done.” I gestured to the door and then moved to pull it open for her. My chest brushed across her back, and she shivered. “The judge has us in about two minutes. And his day is full with other things. If we don’t go now, we might miss our chance.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were back in the same spot with a marriage certificate in my hands.
She blinked at me in surprise. “That was fast.”
I looked at my watch.
“I have a deadline,” I admitted. “I have to be somewhere at eight tonight.”
She shook her head, trying to clear it.
“I didn’t even get a kiss,” she said.
I wasn’t sure that she meant to say that out loud.
But she had, and that meant that now I had to kiss her.
I couldn’t not.
I leaned forward and captured her lips with my own.
Our marriage certificate was squished in between our bodies.
She gasped into my mouth in surprise, hesitating for a full ten seconds—I counted—before she returned the kiss.
When I pulled back it was to say, “I didn’t want the judge to witness that.”
She blinked owlishly at me. “I… okay.”
“I’m a very private person,” I said. “I don’t like people knowing my business.”
She licked her lips. “Okay.”
“Let’s go,” I urged. “We’re running out of time, and I have a lot to show you.”
• • •
“This is my place,” I said as I pushed open the front door.
She went to step over the threshold, but I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Wait.”
She looked back at me with a frown.
“Tradition,” I said as I picked her up and carried her over the threshold.
She grinned at me then, patting me on the chest.
When I set her back on her feet, I could have almost sworn a look of disappointment crossed her face.
“Now,” she said, turning around and ignoring the massive space behind her. “Start talking. I want to hear everything. What’s the rush?”
I licked my lips, not