I’d briefly considered it only after he’d pulled out of me in that darkened hallway. But I’d been so lost to the overwhelming moment that I’d brushed it off. It had been irresponsible of us, but I hadn’t wanted to ruin anything by freaking out.
I yawned. “I’m on birth control.”
Although I needed to find a doctor here and refill my prescription. I’d missed a day or two of taking my pill between leaving Moscow and arriving in Brooklyn. But that was the only time it had ever happened. And counting the days in my head—
“I’m pretty sure it’s not the right time anyway. We should be good.”
Oddly, the prospect of having Nico’s child didn’t send me into a crippling panic. That wasn’t to say I was ready to become a mother because I certainly wasn’t. But carrying Nico’s baby didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world.
In fact, it felt disturbingly…comfortable.
I evicted those thoughts from my mind. They were dangerous and impractical.
I wasn’t pregnant, and such a thing with Nico would never happen anyway. This marriage was temporary, not forever. Besides, it was clear he still wanted to avoid all aspects of permanence at all costs.
Which sucked.
Because I was pretty sure I was falling in love with the guy.
I adjusted my tuxedo one last time before the music changed and everyone rose to their feet for Jasmine’s entrance. I heard Cris’s breath hitch from his position beside me as he got his first glimpse of his bride.
And as beautiful as Jasmine was, she still wasn’t the most stunning woman at this wedding.
That honor belonged to my wife.
That word had been flying off my tongue more fluidly and less flippantly lately. I dared to say I was starting to really like the idea of being married to Lexi. I relished being able to say that she was off the market. Off-limits.
That she was taken—by me.
She sat in the second row of white chairs in my parents’ backyard, smiling ecstatically as she watched Jasmine walk down the aisle. Once Jasmine’s father gave her away to Cris, I caught Lexi’s eye.
She blew me an air kiss.
I winked back.
Jesus. It was like high school.
Only, I’d never done anything like this in high school. I’d never had a girlfriend, though not for the girls’ lack of trying. I’d just been too busy screwing them in the back of cars and on sofas right before their parents unexpectedly walked through the door. I was the boy mothers warned their daughters to stay away from and fathers threatened.
Now, I was making kissy faces at my wife like we were in homeroom.
I might as well pass her a note with a heart on it in the middle of this ceremony.
In a floor-length teal dress that made her ocean eyes pop, she stood out among the small gathering of wedding guests. Her blond hair was pulled up off her shoulders, one large hunk of it braided back. Her sleeves were long and see-through, the V-cut in the front was low, and the waist was high. She looked like some modern version of a Shakespearean maiden. All that was missing were flower blooms in her hair.
Since Cris wanted to keep the impromptu wedding lowkey, there was no better place to do it than Mom and Dad’s backyard. Thanks to Mom’s affinity for gardening, the entire space was a lush oasis, smack dab in the middle of Brooklyn. Cris, Jasmine, and the priest stood on a small walkway over the tiny pond that was glowing with floating lanterns. Luka, Rome, Ace, Kade, and myself stood to one side of the altar, while Sam, Roxy, Gia, and Giselle stood on the opposite side.
Canceling the big wedding had been the right call.
I’d never seen Jasmine glow like she had when she’d entered the backyard with her father. It was like the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. Of course, Mom couldn’t have been happier either, getting everything ready for the occasion. Even if there were only about two dozen guests in attendance, she might as well have been hosting three hundred people for as frantically as she’d been scrambling around trying to make everything perfect.
As Cris and Jasmine recited the vows they’d written to each other, I recalled the vows Lexi and I had repeated to each other on the day of our wedding. Remembering how alarmed and horrified she’d looked in front of