With one look, she exposed everything I had ever been or would ever be. I stopped breathing.
Then her lips tipped upward in one of her gentle smiles. “My answer’s yes.”
“Really?” I choked and gasped for my next breath. “You mean it? Right now?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sure. Right now.”
“Oh good.” I smiled, kissing her mouth once… twice, considered a third but spoke instead. “I’m so glad because that would have been super embarrassing.”
Kiersten bit down on her lower lip and pulled back from me. Her gaze searched behind me then behind her.
I looked too. Nothing but swirling fog in both directions.
Those beautiful, accusing eyes returned to me, and she raised one eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“I read so many romance novels someone should seriously cut my balls off and take my man card.”
“Huh?” Kiersten wrinkled her nose.
“You think I don’t notice,” I said, smirking. “But I see what you and your Kindle do at night.” Laughing, I cupped her chin. “Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted me to storm your castle? I would have totally bought a horse.”
Kiersten’s face flushed red.
“And, really, there were so many highlights on that one contemporary romance where the guy was a hockey player that I almost thought about trying out for the NHL.”
Her blush deepened.
“But what really got me,” I whispered, “was that every single one of your quotes…were about true love. About surprises and a lot of them, about being fearless.”
Her eyes smiled. “You taught me that. To be fearless.”
“Yeah, well.” I slowly nudged her off my lap and got to my feet, bringing her with me. “I’m taking a cue from all that advice and all five hundred of those romance books and doing something really scary.”
“Marrying me is scary?”
“Hell, no,” I growled pulling her against my chest, kissing her head, damn just touching her shook my self-control. “But planning an impromptu wedding in front of all your friends and family without telling you? Yeah, it may have freaked me out.”
“What?” Her eyes went were so wide that I was afraid she was going to pass out from the strain. “I’m sorry, impromptu wedding?”
“Surprise?” I lifted her into my arms and carried her into the house.
“But I didn’t see anyone and—”
“Oh, thank God.” The words came out in a rush as Lisa slumped in relief and smiled. “She said yes!” The relief was short-lived, as two seconds later Lisa was running towards us with a hairbrush in one hand and some sort of torture device in the other. “We only have like two hours.”
“Two hours?” Kiersten repeated.
I set her on her feet and kissed her forehead. “See you girls at the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?”
Lisa and I both nodded then shared a high five behind Kiersten’s head.
“But…my aunt and uncle—”
“You think my dad would let me forget about Uncle Jobob? Geez, they’re worse than two old ladies. I’m shocked your uncle kept the secret this long. Now, go get ready. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Reluctantly, I left Kiersten in Lisa’s hands and went outside. Gabe was waiting around the corner in my SUV. When he saw me wave, he drove up and unlocked the doors. “So?”
“She said yes!”
“Thank God,” he grumbled.
I paused in the middle of climbing in and frowned at him. “Did you guys doubt me?”
“Girls are weird.” Gabe lifted his hands into the air. “I think we know this by now.
“True.” I smirked. “Oh, and I’m waiting.”
“Bastard,” Gabe mumbled under his breath then said, “Weston freaking Michels is a badass.”
I cleared my throat. “And?”
“Do we really have to do this?” He groaned.
I crossed my arms.
“And, when the time comes I’m naming my firstborn after him.” His head shook as he fought a smile.
We laughed the entire way to the ceremony location. Gabe said Kiersten would freak out—in a bad way. He said girls needed plans. Taking control from them—especially considering girly things like weddings—was like asking to get your balls chopped off with a rusty knife.
But he didn’t know Kiersten like I did.
And that was okay.
Chapter Two
“A love so deep. A love so wide. A love so extravagant—that even death wouldn’t deter me from an eternity by your side. Can you imagine that type of love, Kiersten? Can you fathom it? Well, can you?”—Wes Michels
Kiersten
Lisa tugged my hair with a brush and then set to work on braiding it into a loose crown around my head.
“How did you keep this a secret?” I gasped as she pulled a bit too hard and glared when she smiled like she’d done it on purpose.
“If I can keep my identity a secret as well as Gabe’s secret life—I can surely keep a surprise wedding a secret.” She grinned at me through the mirror. “Vault. I’m a vault.”
“Rrrriiiight.” I laughed, while she shoved a few bobby pins into the base of the braid and grabbed the hairspray.
“Hold your breath. I don’t want this to fall out.”
I covered my face with my hands and took a deep breath as the cold hairspray hit the base of my neck and top of my head.
“Now.” Lisa set down the can. “Makeup and the dress.”
I giggled—I couldn’t help it. Was this really happening? Was I going to be a wife in a few hours? How the heck had Wes planned everything? It was a tie between being so nervous I wanted to puke and being so excited I couldn’t actually sit still.
I hadn’t told Wes—mainly because I didn’t want to add to the stress, but with everything going on with Gabe, things had felt distant. I know he wanted to be there for his friend, but between practice and him making sure Gabe didn’t jump out a window—I’d kind of fallen into the cracks. Though if I were being completely honest to myself it felt more like a giant chasm.
“Hey…” Lisa held out a dress. “You ready for the fairy tale?”
I gasped when she zipped open the garment bag. The color white made everything more real. The material shimmered and beckoned from the bag. The lamplight from the room gave the beading a warm glow. I was almost afraid that if I touched the dress it would disappear. “Is that for me?”