Page 136 of Sweet Wicked Vows

This was a mistake.

I shouldn’t have done it without talking to her.

Everything went silent the second I spotted her in the veranda. Time itself stopped moving. Elliott guided her down the steps, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the gazebo.

She was wearing my favorite floral dress.

My heart stilled. The collar no longer choked as I watched her face light up brighter than a sky full of stars. She squeaked with excitement, waving at all those who came to see her—to see us.

When she finally looked my way, her beauty stole the air from me like always.

She truly was beautiful inside and out.

I was the luckiest man in the world to be able to call her mine.

“Hi,” she said softly. “What’s going on?”

“We didn’t get a whole lot of things right at the start,” I said. “One of those things was that we never got a proper wedding.”

She bit her bottom lip.

“Last Christmas, I told you that I’d never be able to let you go,” my voice croaked. “I meant what I said. I never want to let you go. And if you’ll have me, I want to marry you again surrounded by those who love you most.”

She failed to blink back a tear. “You never fail to surprise me.”

Olivier appeared in my eyeline with a shit-eating grin. He’d become completely unbearable since I asked him to be my bestman. You would have thought I gave him a piece of the moon when I asked.

He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a black velvet box.

Opening it, a sapphire and pearl encrusted engagement ring sat in the middle alongside a new white-gold wedding band.

New rings for a new start.

“Evelyn,” I cleared my throat. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me again?”

I laughed as she threw her arms around me and landed her lips firmly on mine. “Yes! One hundred times, yes!”

We kissed like our lives were dependent on it.

Pure, hopeful, and filled with nothing but love.

“Hey, lovebirds! You’re meant to wait until you say I do before sucking the face off each other,” Lola joked, causing the guests to laugh.

Laughing mixed with joyful sobs broke us apart, Evelyn wiped away the tears on her cheeks and smiled wider as I slipped the new engagement and wedding ring onto her finger.

We both listened, hand-in-hand to Olivier, who insisted on doing the ceremony. As we were still legally married, we didn’t need it to be official, but I wanted to give her what she missed out on.

All I could do was stare at her.

My wife.

She wasmywife.

And I almost lost her.

“I now re-pronounce you man and wife,” Olivier cheered. “Go on and kiss her.”

Lifting her from the ground into my arms, I did just that.

The noise of everyone cheering fell away as she returned my kiss, her hands stroking my face as she giggled against my lips when someone wolf-whistled.

“You know the best part?” she mumbled between kisses. “The best sex is apparently honeymoon sex.”

I chuckled. “Is that so, Mrs. Dade?”

She nodded. “Looks like we’ll be having plenty more sex on the beach, Mr. Dade.”

Holding her in my arms, calling her my wife once more, the rest of the world could have burned to ash around us, and I wouldn’t have cared.

I had everything I ever wanted and needed right here in my arms.