Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,70

chest. “You’re crazy.” I shouldn’t have said anything. We were too young. He thought I was just messing with him. “Are you hungry? I’m starving.” I tried to move, but he kept his hands locked on my thighs, holding me in place.

“I’m crazy in love with you, Brooklyn. I wasn’t joking about Vegas. But we never really talked about what kind of wedding you wanted. Do you want the whole shebang? The white dress?” His hands ran down the sides of the t-shirt I’d borrowed from him. “The flowers? All that?”

Honestly I had never really thought about it before. All I knew was that Matt was everything I wanted and needed. And I could so easily picture walking down the aisle toward him. I nodded. “I do want all of that.”

“And when do you want it?”

“I assumed you were thinking after college?” I asked.

“I wasn’t thinking after college.”

“You weren’t?” I stared down at him.

“No.”

The way he was staring at me made my heart race. I swore it was beating so loudly that he could hear it. “Then when were you thinking?”

He smiled up at me. “I asked you first, baby. When do you want to get married?”

“Well, I heard the fall is a great time for a wedding.” At least, that’s what Justin had said. And I trusted him.

“It’s fall right now,” Matt said.

“Is it?” I laughed as he tickled my side. “Stop it!”

Somehow I wound up beneath him, his body pressed against mine.

“The fall is pretty busy with school and football practice,” he said.

True. Justin acted like my fairy godmother, but I wasn’t sure he actually had magical powers. A fall wedding would have to wait for a long time. “Which is why you do want to wait till after college?”

He shook his head. “I was thinking more of a winter wedding.”

“The winter after we graduate from college?”

He laughed. “No. This winter. We could do it during Christmas break. And if we do it at the start of break, then we’ll even have time for a honeymoon.” He smiled down at me.

I couldn’t help but smile back. “This winter? Is that really what you want?”

“No, I want to marry you in Vegas tomorrow.” He leaned down and kissed the side of my neck. “But I can wait till the winter if that’s what you want.” His kisses slowly trailed down my neck. “I like the idea of you in a white dress saying I do.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm.” He lightly nipped at my earlobe.

“Okay. Let’s do it this winter.” A fall wedding may have been Justin’s dream, but it wasn’t mine. I didn’t care what season I married Matt. I just wanted to marry him. And now I was already picturing snow in our wedding pictures.

He kissed me slowly. “I’ll make sure you have the wedding of your dreams. But the only thing I really care about is having you.”

Something about the way he said it reminded me of James’ fears about Rachel just wanting to be with him for his money. And I needed Matt to know that he didn’t need to ever doubt me. “Matt?” I grabbed both sides of his face so he’d be looking down at me. “I love you. For you. I know you can give me the wedding of my dreams and everything I could possibly ask for, but I don’t want you to ever think that’s why I want you.”

He let his forehead drop to mine. “I know. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t need it. I’m going to give you everything you’ve ever wanted.”

***

As far as I was concerned, we were never leaving this bed.

Matt had breakfast sent up and I’d been lazily brainstorming ideas for our wedding in the journal I was supposed to be using to track my panic attacks.

“How many bridesmaids do you want?” he asked.

“Well, Kennedy of course. What about you? How many groomsmen?”

“I’ll just ask Mason.”

I stared at him. He couldn’t just ask Mason. James and Rob were his best friends too. He needed to make up with them before our wedding or he’d always regret it.

“Actually, there’s a girl that’s always nice to me in my English class,” I said. There wasn’t. “Maybe I’ll ask her too. And I could always ask Justin. I think he’d say yes. So I actually want three. Who will your other two be? It would look silly if it wasn’t even.”

“I can ask Brett and Jason.”

“Who are Brett and Jason?”

“A couple of my football friends. They danced with me on the