Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
HUNTER
The second she says the words “I do,” my arms are around her waist, and I’m dipping her backward to kiss her.
In a courthouse. The fastest ceremony they could give us. No flowers. No music. No aisle. Just a clerk behind a desk, and the woman I’d burn the world down for standing in front of me in a white dress and the biggest smile on her face.
I pull out the little surprise I bought her in a boutique earlier while she was hunting for some earrings. A dainty little cherry necklace on a gold chain. Everything about it reminded me of my firefly. Holding it up between us, she runs her finger along the cherries.
“That’s beautiful, Hunter.”
“Just like you, wife,” I growl.
She spins around, holding up her hair in her arms, and I place it around her neck and clasp it.
“I’ll wear it forever.”
I smile, brushing my fingers along her cheek. “I might get some cherries tattooed,” I tell her.
And I’m not joking.
“Where?” she asks, biting her lip as her eyes travel south.
I lean in, my mouth brushing her ear. “If you want me to get a dick tattoo in your honor, I’ll do it, baby.”
She giggles, her fingers running along the back of my neck. “With my name on?”
“Whatever my wife wants, she gets. That’s the rule,” I tell her as I pull back.
Her face is now blushing the same color as the cherries on her necklace, and I chuckle.
Today, we still said the vows to each other before we signed the paperwork. Because this isn’t a fake marriage. It’s not just about signatures or legal armor or the strategic reasons that brought us here. Lola is my wife in every meaning of the word.
I’ll tattoo that on my dick. Lola Sterling.
And I am something I never thought I’d be.
A husband.
We bought rings on the way here. Gold bands from a jeweler three doors down from the boutique. And I’ll wear mine every damn day for her. I want people to see it. I want them to know.
She smiles against my lips. Her hands on my cheeks. Her eyes full of something I don’t have a word for yet.
“I’m Mrs. Sterling,” she gushes.
“Yes, you are,” I growl.
The clerk behind the table clears her throat, and I straighten up, tucking Lola into my side.
“Your paperwork, Mr. Sterling,” she says, sliding the folder across. “And we will finalize the other as soon as we can.”
I take it and tuck it inside my suit jacket. I’m itching to get out of this thing. But it made my wife smile when I walked out of that fitting room. So I’d wear it every day if she asked.
We head out of the courthouse hand in hand. But before we reach the truck, I scoop her into my arms. She yelps, then laughs, her arms locking around my neck.
I carry her to the passenger door, open it with one hand, and set her down on the seat. Before I can pull away, she grabs my tie. Holds me right there in front of her. “Are we telling people we’re married? Or keeping it on the down low?”
I raise my eyebrows. “In what world do you think I want to hide this from anyone?”
She blushes. “What about Wyatt? Are we telling him today, right?”
I cup her cheek, and she leans into it.
“I think he’s going to be one happy kid when we tell him later. And we can explain how we’ll do a proper wedding with him involved soon.”
Her face lights up. “I like that idea. I’d like to spend more time with him and really get to know him.”
That melts my dark heart in a way I didn’t know was still possible. “You will. I can already tell you with confidence, he’s a big fan of yours, Lola. I think he needed you to come into his life.”
She sniffles. I rest my forehead against hers, trying to contain my own emotions, because they’re threatening to crack through every wall I’ve built.
This past week should have broken Wyatt.
The arrest. Losing his mom. But I firmly believe that Lola entering his life has helped him more than any of us realized.
She gives him something the rest of us can’t.
She gives him permission to laugh. To be a kid.
To have fun when the world around him is falling apart.
She nods. I kiss her, climb behind the wheel, and pull out of the courthouse parking lot.
As a married couple.
My brothers are going to lose their shit. Violet probably will too. It’s worth it. Not everyone is going to understand our reasoning. Our faith in each other this early. The speed of it. The madness of it.
That doesn’t matter. So long as we get it. So long as we love each other. Everything else will fall into place.
My dad knew he loved my mom the day he met her. Maybe I’m the same with Lola. Perhaps that’s how the Sterling men love. Fast and hard and with everything they’ve got, like there’s no guarantee of tomorrow.
And maybe that’s why Ace will never get over his first love.
By the time we’re home, the house is empty. My brothers must be in the barn office. Ace is working on leads and organizing logistics with Romeo. Lola shakes me from my thoughts by dragging me down for a kiss. Her fingers pluck my hat from my head, and she places it on her own, tipping the brim.
“You’ve got a very important job to do, Mr. Sterling,” she tells me.
“Oh yeah?” I mutter against her lips, digging my fingers into her ass.
“Our marriage means nothing until you consummate it.”
I chuckle. “Well, I better get to it then. How would you like your first fucking to be delivered as a married woman, firefly?”
She chews on the inside of her mouth. Her eyes dart around the room, and when they come back to mine, there’s something different in them. Almost as if there is a shy side to her.
“I’d like you to make love to me this time,” she says quietly.
I rub my stubble. I’m not sure I’ve ever made love to a woman. I fuck. I take control. I dominate. That’s who I am, and it’s never been a problem until this woman looked at me and asked for something I’m not sure I know how to give.
But for Lola? I’d learn. “More specific, baby.”
She twirls her red hair around her finger. “I want you to take it slow. Kiss every inch of me. Let me do the same to you.” Her voice is barely above a breath. “Trace every line on my skin. Feel everything you do to me.”
The air leaves my lungs. “I can do that,” I tell her, and my voice comes out rougher than I intend.
She bites her lip. Leans in close. “And I want you to tie me to your bed so I can’t move. I want to be at your mercy, Hunter.”
I choke on a cough. “That’s a dangerous game you’re playing there, wife.”
“I know.” She traces her finger down the center of my chest. “I want to play… with you.”
I grip her throat. Her pulse jumps against my palm. My mouth is an inch from hers, and I’m about to carry her upstairs and not come back down until morning.
The door crashes open behind us.
I let out a groan.
“What?” I shout at whoever just signed their own death warrant.
“Hunter. We need you.” Ace is standing in the doorway, almost breathless.
But I can see in his eyes he isn’t fucking around. I close my eyes, tip my head back, and let out a breath that carries the last shred of my patience with it.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’ll be back soon once I’ve sorted whatever mess this is.”
She presses a kiss to my lips. Understanding without me needing to explain. That’s who she is. “I’ll go have a bath. I could collect Wyatt from school if you’re not back in time?”
“I’ll try to make sure I’m back, baby. I love you.”
“And I love you,” she whispers.
As I pull away, I take one last look at her in that dress. My hat on her head. My ring on her finger. My name on the paperwork inside my jacket.
“You can put this dress back on later. Okay?” My voice is stern.
“Yes, sir.” She winks.
It takes every ounce of willpower I have to turn away from her.
Ace is standing in the hallway, frowning. His eyes move from my suit to my face, then down to my hand. To the gold band on my ring finger.
I watch the lightbulb go off. “Hunter… you got something to tell me?”
“We got married earlier.”
He grins. Looks past me toward the stairs where Lola has already disappeared. Then back at me.
He leans in. “Is she pregnant?” he asks under his breath.
“Fucking hell. No. I just love her. And wanted to marry her. But I’m going to put a baby in her as soon as she will let me.”
He shrugs. Like marrying a woman you met weeks ago is the most reasonable thing in the world. Maybe in this family, it is.
“As long as you’re happy. Congrats.” He claps a hand on my shoulder. Then the grin fades. “But I might be about to get in the way of your big day.”
“How?”
I glance up the stairs. Lola is gone. The bathroom door clicks shut above us.
“I grabbed a guy who’s been snooping around Ashley’s place. Figured you’d wanna be there for the questioning.”
Part of me almost says no. Almost tells him to handle it. Because upstairs there’s a bathtub and a woman in a wedding dress and a promise I made about tying her to my bed.
But I need answers. I need to avoid jail time. And I need to know who is systematically trying to dismantle my life. Lola knows exactly who I am and what I do. This is the part of my life I can’t hide from. Not when I’m the one in charge.
“You made the right call,” I tell him. “Let’s get some answers.”
I loosen my tie as we head out the back. Pull it over my head. Roll up my sleeves.
I got married today. Kissed my wife in a courthouse. Carried her to my truck. Listened to her ask me to make love to her for the first time. And now I’m walking into a barn to interrogate a man who might hold the key to my freedom.
This is my life. Both halves of it. Running side by side. Never slowing down. And the woman upstairs in my bathtub chose it. Chose me. Knowing all of it.
That makes her braver than anyone I’ve ever known.