Holiday Bridal Wave - Gwyn McNamee Page 0,61

me, Blaire. This is the wedding you wanted, isn’t it?”

Please let me be right about this.

I glance back at Brandy.

“Brandy told me what you been doing—using your own wedding plans.” I shake my head and pull her hand to my lips to kiss it. “Only you would be so selfless as to plan your dream wedding for someone else.”

The perfect day planned for another woman. And she never complained once. She went ahead with all that needed to be done, even after the fiasco on Christmas Eve.

I brush my hand over her dress. “I had this made for you based on a photo Brandy gave me from your book. I hope it’s right. I wanted everything to be perfect.” I take a shaky breath, one that gives away the nerves running through my body in this moment. “I thought if it was perfect, there might be a chance you’d forgive what a fool I’ve been and say yes. So, please, Blaire, become my Mrs. Warren. Help me navigate all the bullshit that comes with being part of this family. Because I need a partner I can trust and who understands. Someone who will stand up to me and my mother and father—”

Her eyes widen again, and she shakes her head. “Oh, God, what about your parents?”

I push to my feet and step up to her until my chest brushes against hers and I can take her face between my palms. “I don’t care. Even if the trust had some sort of stipulation that meant choosing you would lose me the company, I would still be marrying you. Because I love you.”

She struggles for words again, when there is really only one I want to hear. “Archie, you know how I feel about you, but—”

“No but. There’s absolutely nothing stopping us. Nothing standing in our way except ourselves. We have the perfect venue,” I wave a hand around, “your best friend is here to be your maid of honor. We have an officiant, my brother and sister, and a beautiful reception. I don’t need anything or anyone else. This wedding is for us, not the hundreds of people I invited out of obligation. And I made it clear that my parents weren’t to be admitted if they showed up here.”

“You forgot to warn them about me, though.” Grandmother steps up next to Athena and grins at me.

“Hello, Grandmother.”

Blaire glances at her with concern etched on her beautiful face.

Grandmother winks. “I told you he would come to his senses eventually. Have you agreed to marry this idiot yet?”

I chuckle and shake my head. “No, she hasn’t.”

She waves a hand. “Well, get on with it.”

Blaire grins and shakes her head. “This is all so insane.”

I lean in and drop my forehead against hers. “It is, but so is my life. And I need you in it. Please marry me.” I pull back and look into her emerald eyes, ones I hope I get to gaze into for the rest of my life.

She leans in and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

They’re the sweetest words I’ve ever heard, and the rush of relief that floods my body has me dragging her against me. “I know I’m supposed to wait until you say ‘I do’ but—” I press my lips to hers in a hard, demanding kiss—one this is probably inappropriate in front of everyone, yet she wraps her arms around my neck and responds to me, her lips moving against mine almost desperately.

When I finally drag myself away, I take her hand in mine. “We’ll walk down the aisle together.”

She grins up at me. “Not very traditional.”

“I don’t think anything about this wedding is.”

Her laugh floats through the room, and the sound of her pure joy fills my chest with the warmth it’s been missing for the last week.

“That’s true.”

Athena and Grandmother take their seats at the front, and Artemis and Brandy smile at us from either side of the altar. The piano starts up, and we walk down the aisle hand in hand to take our places in front of Judge Allenson.

He smiles at us. “We’re gathered here today to join Archimedes Warren and Blaire Hall in marriage. Given the circumstances…” he flashes a smile and chuckles, “we’re just going to wing it.”

Everyone laughs, and I squeeze Blaire’s hand, refusing to let it go for fear she might bolt out of here.

The judge inclines his head toward me. “Archimedes, are you ready to say your vows?”

I clear my