51. Oath of Devotion #3
I don't look at anyone else.
When the song ends, Austin hugs Dex, congratulates both of us, and makes his exit before the room can turn his appearance into something bigger than the wedding.
Dex watches him leave.
Then he turns back toward me. “You're fucking ridiculous.”
“You wanted a memorable first dance.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Later, Dex pulls Cami onto the dance floor.
She laughs as he spins her badly, and Griffin moves toward the bar while they're dancing.
I notice because his attention never really leaves her.
He watches Cami with a softness I recognize.
I step beside him. “You okay?”
Griffin glances toward me, then back toward Cami and Dex.
“Yeah. I am.”
His voice doesn't match the way he's still rubbing his ring, so I wait instead of asking again.
After a few seconds, Griffin exhales.
“I've been thinking about your ceremony.”
I follow his gaze toward the dance floor, where Dex has attempted some kind of turn that Cami barely survives.
“When Cami and I got married, it was the right thing to do,” Griffin continues. “I don't regret it. I wouldn't change it.”
“I know.”
“But she needed something from me then. Insurance. Stability. Something practical enough that saying yes wasn't just about whether she wanted to marry me.”
His thumb moves across his empty ring finger, and his eyes stay on Cami.
“I think I want to propose to her for real,” he says. “And do it right this time.”
There isn't shame in his expression, and there isn't regret. He isn't looking at Micah-and-Dex's wedding as proof that his own marriage failed some test.
Watching today just gave him a comparison he didn't have before.
He wants to ask Cami when there's no crisis to solve.
No insurance deadline.
Nothing she needs from him except whatever answer she wants to give.
I look back toward the dance floor.
Cami is laughing against Dex's shoulder now, the two of them barely dancing anymore.
“I think she'd like that.”
Griffin finally looks at me. “Don't tell her.”
“I won't.”
His shoulders settle slightly.
Then his eyes drop to my ring.
“Congratulations, man.”
“Thanks.”
Dex brings Cami back a minute later, and she immediately takes my hand.
“My turn.”
She pulls me toward the dance floor before I can object.
My dance with her is quieter than Dex's. Her arms rest around my shoulders, mine at her waist, and she smiles at me like she's been crying intermittently for six hours.
Over her shoulder, Griffin watches us.
When Cami turns her head toward him, his face changes so quickly that she probably doesn't catch it.
I do.
Later still, once the floor is crowded enough that there isn't really a spotlight anymore, I hold a hand out to Ronan.
He looks at it.
Then me.
“No.”
“Nobody's watching.”
“They are statistically capable of watching.”
“Ronan.”
He sighs, then takes my hand.
We make it through most of one song before Dex notices and loses his mind loudly enough that Ronan immediately walks away.
Worth it.
Two hours later, Dex stands outside our hotel suite with his arms folded.
We booked it for two nights.
No household.
No wedding plans.
No people knocking on the door unless they're delivering food.
Just us.
I hold the key card against the lock.
The light turns green.
Dex doesn't move.
I look at him. “What?”
He glances toward the open doorway.
Then back at me.
“You know.”
“I don't.”
“Micah.”
“Dex.”
His eyebrows rise. “The threshold.”
I stare at him.
“You're serious.”
“We had an aisle. We had cake. We had a first dance. I wore white.”
“So?”
“So you have to carry me.”
“You weigh almost as much as I do.”
“Love finds a way.”
I laugh, but he doesn't move.
Apparently he's serious.
A minute later, I have one arm behind his back and the other under his knees.
Dex wraps both arms around my neck.
“See? Romantic.”
“You're moving too much.”
“I'm helping.”
“You are objectively not.”
He starts laughing, which makes him harder to carry because now he can't hold himself still.
I get him through the doorway anyway.
He reaches one foot backward and misses the door completely when he tries to kick it closed.
“Very graceful.”
“I'm a bride.”
“You are not.”
“I wore white. Legally counts.”
I set him down.
His hands stay looped around my neck.
For a moment, all the noise from the day disappears.
Dex takes my left hand and turns it over, studying the black ring.
His thumb brushes across it.
“You really like it?”
I think about the words hidden against my skin.
Thanks for putting up with me.
“Yeah.”
His smile softens. “Good.”
I kiss him.
Slowly.
When I pull back, his forehead stays against mine.
“My husband,” he says again.
The words still do something to me.
“My husband.”
Dex smiles, then glances past me toward the enormous bed in the center of the suite.
“So, traditional question.”
I already know I'm going to regret asking.
“What?”
“Do we have to consummate the marriage, or can we order room service first?”
I laugh against his shoulder.
And after a day full of vows and rings and people watching us choose each other, that ridiculous question feels as much like marriage as anything else.