for our vows, after much debate, Rick and I decided to say only a few short sentences each. Enough to get the point across to each other without the world knowing our private thoughts. The priest explains this to the crowd. Rick goes first. “There’s a song called Love You Like I Used To. I don’t love you like I used to, Candace. I love you more than every single day before.”
Now I tear up because those few words speak so much to our lives we’ve shared together and apart. Now it’s my turn and I say, “You’re a good man, Rick Savage. I know it. Everyone in this church knows it. It is my vow that one day you will know it, too. You make me whole. I need you. Don’t you dare forget that.” And now I’m crying.
Rick kisses me again, and the crowd goes nuts. The priest clears his throat. “Not yet.”
Rick and I laugh, as does everyone else, as he says, “The rings please.”
Eagerly, impatiently, Rick and I exchange rings, and then it’s time to say I do.
“Do you, Rick Savage, take Candace Marks as your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” he says. “With every fiber of my being.”
I smile as the question is reversed. “Do you, Candace Marks, take Rick Savage to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” I say. “With every fiber of my being.”
The priest has barely said the words, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” before Rick is kissing me again, and it’s a toe-curling, intense kiss. I’m pretty sure we leave the entire room breathless, even the priest. And when it’s done, Rick whispers in my ear, “I love you, Candace Savage.”
“I love you, too, Rick Savage.”
Now, Rick is smiling as the priest turns us toward the crowd, and what a crowd it is. Luke is watching Julie from the front row. Lauren is between her husband, Royce, the eldest Walker, and Kara. Asher and his wife, Sierra, are there. I even find Smith and Lucifer, too. I see so many faces of those I now call family. The priest proudly announces, “I now introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Savage.”
The room erupts in applause, whispers, and claps. And together, hand in hand, Rick and I walk down the center row toward the doors of the church, married. And it only took us what feels like a lifetime. But what matters is that we still have a lifetime before us.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Candace
I change into a chic, shorter version of my dress for the reception with a few sexy surprises underneath for Rick later.
This portion of our special day is held in a gorgeous building adjacent to the church, complete with a covered and heated courtyard, decorated with the same lilacs in my bouquet. And appropriately, it seems, that is where I throw my bouquet. To my delight, Linda catches it, but then she panics and hands it to Jessica.
Rick and I are laughing as we head back inside and to the front of the room where the cakes await us. One is a towering white coconut cream with all white flowers because Rick insisted that I’m “pure as snow.” Silly man. And his is all chocolate because he’s a “dark as fuck bastard.” His words, not mine. Whatever the case, they turned out beautiful and as a room full of people sitting at cute little tables watches us, we cut the cakes, laughing as we feed each other bites.
When it’s time for the first dance, Rick has them play the song he’d referenced from our vows, Love You Like I Used To, and it’s magical. Everything about the night is magical.
Rick and I dance, we sing, we pose for photos, and we laugh, we laugh so much.
Hours later, we depart the reception and climb into a limousine that drives us home. We’ll leave on our five-hour honeymoon flight tomorrow. Tonight is for us.
We arrive at our apartment and I swear I’m as nervous as the first night I met Rick. Which is ridiculous. He’s my husband now. We walk through the lobby hand in hand and the doorman waves and congratulates us on our new union. Once we’re in the elevator, Rick knows just how to get me over my nerves. He presses me against the wall and his fingers dive into my hair. “Mine,” he says softly. “Wife.”
Just that easily, my nipples are puckered, my sex clenching.
I slide my arms under his jacket and say, “Mine. Husband.”
“Now you can do anything