28. Adam
Adam
“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Reyer. You’re officially married.”
My jaw clenches on impulse. There’s no regret tied to the wet ink still on that marriage license, but it’s now clear to me that I’ll be bringing up the topic of last names to Mia soon.
Her hand links through mine. “Thank you. Is there anything else we need to do?”
The officiant slides the paper into his briefcase. “Nope, I’ll take this over to the clerk’s office down the hall, and you’ll receive your marriage certificate in the mail in the next week or so.”
Mia smiles. “Perfect, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.”
He tips his head to us both. “There’re many times I’m in this courtroom for not fun things, so thank you for letting me do one of the more fun things. You all have a great day.”
You know with the baby appointment and making this huge life change—it really has been a great day with Mia.
God, the sound of our baby’s heartbeat is about to be my ringtone…hell, my walk-up song. And now she’s officially my wife.
The most breathtaking, amazingly confident, and capable woman is mine. Fuck, I need a ring on her finger soon.
Callie lets out a squeal behind us. “Congratulations, you guys. Thank you for letting me and Will be here.”
Turning, she wraps both of us in a hug.
“Thanks for coming, Cals.” I nod to Will. “You too, man.”
He pats me on my shoulder. “I’m happy for you. And when allowed, I would like the green light to rub this in Jett’s face. This qualifies as being your best man.”
“That’s a bit of a stretch—”
Mia wraps her arms around my waist. “Don’t ruin it for him. I think it’s sweet. I appreciate you all coming. I know it’s a bit lackluster, but we’ll do it better later.”
An ache shoots through my chest.
“We will.” I kiss the top of her head. “I promise.”
Whatever she wants. Whatever Pinterest, magazine, designer—I don’t know how, but I’ll make it happen.
Callie’s smile softens. “We’ll let you guys get back to your day off. But selfishly, I want to hear that baby’s heartbeat one more time.”
Mia shuffles on her feet. “Yeah, me too.”
I pull my phone out with a chuckle. Thank god, I’m not going to be the only insufferable one forcing everyone to listen.
Making our way back to Mia’s place, she tosses her purse on the counter. “This was quite the day.”
“It really was.” I wrap my arms around her waist. “A great day.”
“And it’s only four o’clock…we have the rest of the afternoon, what should we do, husband?”
“Well, unfortunately, I can’t take you on a very romantic honeymoon right away, but I did feel like we could do something. I wasn’t entirely sure what you would be up for today, so I planned a couple of things.”
Mia’s eyes widen. “Oh, did you now?”
“I did. We can either go on our very first conventional date at Lilacs. I made a reservation for seven, but we could cancel that and go on an unconventional date. Or we could just stay home and order some pizza. Clothing is entirely optional with that one.” Leaning in, I kiss her neck, and when she giggles, I nip at her ear and her body shakes against mine.
She pushes back slightly with a hum. “Do I get to know what the unconventional date is?”
“No. That’s a surprise until you pick.”
Mia gives me somewhat of a scowl, but there’s a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. There’s something about that little irritated smile that is so damn cute.
“Considering you know how I feel about surprises, it makes me want to pick that one less. But the need to know what it is right away makes me want to pick it at the same time.”
“I thought you might feel that way. I promise I’ll tell you what it is, no matter what…after you decide.”
She taps her finger against my shoulder as she thinks.
“Can I ask a question? Like, if we go on the unconventional date, is it going to be an activity? Because I really feel like I need to get some thoughts out about the baby and what we need to do to get the paperwork for the house. We still need to have a plan on when you move in—I think my dad’s a little worried my aunt might cause some issues because of how sudden—”
“Mia.” I run my hand up and down her arms. “I anticipated all of that, too. We’ll be able to talk about whatever we want with any of the options.”
Mia shakes as if a chill had run through her body. “I make high-stakes business decisions all the time without breaking a sweat, but with no pressure bearing down on my shoulders…”
I chuckle as she shuts her eyes and lets out an exasperated breath.
“Honey, I can pick for you if you want.”
“No, no, you’ve planned them. I can make the decision. Let’s do the unconventional one.”
I was hoping she’d pick that one. Damn near begging her to actually, with it being a secret. “Great, we’ll leave in about an hour, if that works for you?”
“Well, it depends. What are we doing?”
I open my mouth, but I don’t let the words come out just yet.
It takes her three seconds to register.
“Oh, don’t you dare. This was not mentioned before the decision was made. In fact, I believe the words you used were ‘I’ll tell you what it is, no matter what.’ Cough it up, All-star.”
I laugh, pulling her tightly against me. I lean in for a kiss, but she immediately pulls back. The look on her face clues me in that I’m pushing the line.
“We’re going on a picnic…of sorts. We’ll be outside, but it’ll be sort of an upgraded version of a picnic.”
“Oookay.” Her eyebrows pull together.
I knew the phrasing would be a little risky, but I think she’s at least intrigued.
If I flat out told her where this “picnic” would be, then she’d have zero hesitations…
but the thing is, Mia likes surprises to an extent.
She likes them controlled and doesn’t want to be completely in the dark, and she definitely doesn’t want to wait on them to happen either.
But she likes the thrill of knowing she has the information she needs, and she can hold onto that excitement of not knowing the full thing.
“So you Mia-fied it?”
I fucking adore her.
“Yes, I Mia-fied it.”
“So, I can still wear a dress and heels?”
“You can wear whatever you want, honey. It’ll be just us there.”
Her smile has me halfway wishing she’d pick option three and I could get her naked right here in her kitchen, but the pure joy in her eyes makes it worth it.
That, and the fact that this picnic really did require a decent amount of planning. I would’ve had it be the only option, but I wasn’t entirely sure how this day would go. Her parents would likely kill me for not doing it, but Mia’s happiness holds the priority every time.
After about an hour, I’ve already changed into my dress pants and button-up, then Mia walks downstairs. Her gold dress looks like it was poured onto her body.
“What do you think?” She holds her arms out, showing off her dress. “Is it too much? I wanted to wear it one more time before the bump interferes.”
Stalking toward her, I run my hands against the soft silk on her hips. “Never too much, honey. You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks turn a pale pink, and her hands rest on my chest. “You look pretty incredible yourself. You smell absolutely amazing.”
I kiss her forehead. “You ready to go?”
“Yes, my anticipation is starting to get a little too high, and I very well may start an interrogation of the complete setup of this picnic if we don’t leave soon.”
I laugh as I force myself to let her go so we can walk out the door. “Go ahead, honey. I can handle it. You won’t get anything out of me until I want you to.”
“You say that now…”
“And I’ll keep saying it.” I turn back before we head out her door. “Should I break it to you now that I have an eye mask in the car?”
Her eyebrows pull closed and her smile drops. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh yes.” I take her hand in mine as we head down the hallway.
“Adam…my hair and makeup are not about to get ruined with an eye mask.”
I’m totally kidding, but now that we’re married, I’m pretty sure the threshold of teasing goes up.
She argues the whole way down and into my car. It doesn’t annoy me one bit; I love hearing her voice, no matter the context. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something in the way that she articulates her words. They’re always so sure and confident, even when she’s being silly.
Her arguments always come with merit and other angles of the situation. I suppose that’s her captain of the debate team coming through, but fuck, I just love it.
When we settle in the car, I hold her glare before backing out of my spot.
Her face softens. “Please don’t make me. I’ll close my eyes, I swear.”
I don’t let the chuckle slip out. “I was kidding, Mia. I won’t ruin your hair or makeup until after dinner.”
She lets out a heavy sigh as she bites her bottom lip. “You let me rant the whole way down.”
I start the maps on silent to keep the location from being announced. I may have been joking about the mask, but I want to attempt some sort of surprise until she figures it out herself.
I reach for her thigh as I start to back out. “I told you, I can handle it.”
Her eyes narrow. “Wanna bet? I can do so much worse.”
I turn the radio off, then give her a wink. “Do your worst. You have about thirty minutes until we get there.”
Bringing my eyes back to the road, I wait for the first hook of hers to come, but her hand links through mine with a squeeze.
“Thank you for this.”
I give her a quick glance. Her shoulders are no longer at her ears and her face is relaxed. “For what? A date?”
“For planning it. For planning three of them, actually, and keeping me in mind while doing it.”
“Mia, honey, that’s a pretty standard thing for a partner to do. You don’t need to thank me.”
She weighs her head back and forth with a small smirk. “Maybe not, but I wanted to. I appreciate the effort, and I know I love it when someone points out that I did a good job.”
Yeah, Mia loves some acts of service, but words of affirmation is her main love language. I bring her hand up and place a kiss on the back of it. “You’re right, thank you for saying that.”