Own the Eights Gets Married - Krista Sandor Page 0,71
love for this beautiful, intelligent, driven woman washed over him.
He sank onto one knee, blinking back tears. “I did this all wrong the first time. I thought proposing on TV would be romantic. I had no idea everything would turn into a circus. All I want in this world is to walk through it with you. Georgiana Jensen, we don’t need the cameras and the fame and the notoriety. Between you and me, right here, right now, I am asking you to marry me.” He glanced at his watch. “In four hours and forty-seven minutes.”
A heartfelt chorus of sighs erupted around them.
He held Georgie’s gaze. “Are there a bunch of people watching us?”
She looked from side to side. “Yep.”
“Are they recording us with their phones?” he continued.
She nodded. “Along with a couple of news crews and Barry.”
“Hey, guys! This is some great stuff,” the CityBeat producer chimed through a sob.
“So, what do you say? Are you ready to join the Empire of Asshattery to rule the blogosphere together?” he asked, unbothered by the spectators because only one person mattered now.
The one person who always mattered.
Georgie parted her lips, but before she could answer, a horn rang out, playing the first four notes of “Here Comes the Bride.”
They looked up to see a giant RV with Acme Pet Grooming Mobile painted along the side.
The tinted driver’s side window cracked an inch.
“Jensen and Marks, get in,” came a woman’s commanding voice with a thick German accent.
13
Georgie
“We have the assets. Let’s move,” the wedding frau said to the driver of the enormous vehicle.
“Mrs. Lieblingsschatz, what is all this?” Georgie asked, climbing the few steps into the mobile pet grooming RV.
Dressed in her signature black, the frau gestured to a sofa. Georgie and Jordan sat on plush cushions in what looked nothing like the interior of a mobile pet grooming vehicle.
“This is crazy,” Jordan said under his breath, glancing around at the marble flooring and sleek cabinetry in what could only be described as the most luxurious recreational vehicle on the planet.
“Is that a fireplace and wine chiller?” Georgie asked, hardly able to believe her eyes.
The frau huffed. “Of course, there’s a wine chiller! You can’t drink champagne at room temperature.”
“What is all this?” Jordan questioned, tapping a computer screen built into the wall only to have his hand smacked away by a miffed German wedding planner.
“This is the last resort,” the frau answered.
The woman pressed an icon on the screen, and an actual table rose from the floor while the mobile mansion’s engine purred as the RV merged into traffic.
The frau settled herself into a posh club chair across from them. “Do you know what my marriage success rate is?”
Georgie shared a look with Jordan. “Pretty high,” she guessed.
“It’s one hundred percent,” the frau replied, crossing her arms.
“But that almost changed, didn’t it, liebchen?”
They glanced over and found Hans from the Denver wedding underground, pushing past a curtain hiding the rest of the RV and sauntering toward them.
“What are you doing here, Hans?” Georgie stammered.
“Did you think I lived in that warehouse like a wedding ring elf with the dildo guy?” the man asked with a teasing expression.
Georgie shared another perplexed look with Jordan.
What the hell was going on here?
The man took the chair next to the frau, then patted her knee.
“We weren’t sure about you two after that business with the alpaca,” he said with a sly grin.
Jordan frowned. “How do you know about the alpaca?”
Hans glanced at the frau.
“Tell them,” she said with an exasperated wave of her hand.
“What did you think you were wearing around your necks at the wilderness boot camp?” Hans asked.
“A tracking device,” Georgie answered.
“Yes, it was a tracking device, but it was also a microphone,” Hans replied. “Didn’t you notice you were the only ones at the boot camp wearing them?”
Georgie gasped. The whole boot camp experience had been so jarring, so utterly discombobulating, she hadn’t even noticed if the other participants were wearing the special lanyards.
“Syd and Buck said it was for our safety and that it was court-mandated?” she answered.
Mrs. Lieblingsschatz chuckled. “Aren’t they creative! They’re dear friends of ours.”
“Ours?” Georgie repeated. “You two are together?”
“Married fifty years today,” Hans said.
“You’re kidding?” Georgie exclaimed.
She’d pegged the woman as a spinster matchmaker!
“Don’t look so surprised. To orchestrate love, one needs to understand it completely,” the frau replied.
“Happy anniversary,” Georgie sputtered.
Jordan lowered his voice. “How do you know Syd and Buck? Were you guys all in the special forces together, or were you spies, once upon