Alexander
“Would you quit it?”
McKinley’s shoulders droop. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood here.”
Aarya pats him on the shoulder. “Read the room, dude.”
He’s been singing, “Chapel of Love,” by The Dixie Cups, “Let’s Get Married,” by Jagged Edge, and Prince’s, “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” since we got to the courthouse.
But this isn’t a happy moment. We aren’t two lovers about pledge our lifelong love to each other.
A beautiful woman wearing my mother’s ring sits beside me, yet everything about this moment is all wrong.
This day is only a reminder of the piece of shit my grandfather is, forcing me to make an insane decision to marry someone in order to keep my parents’ villa.
I don’t mean to take out my frustration on McKinley. He’s doing me a favor by being our witness today. Still, I can’t shake this awful mood I’m in.
It doesn’t help that people are snapping pictures and asking for autographs, no doubt posting the news of our marriage for all the world to see.
Anxiety sits heavy on my chest, constricting my throat, and the tremor in my hands has me pushing out of the chair. “I’ll be right back.”
I head to the bathroom and splash some cold water on my face. I brace my hands on the counter, and let my head hang down between my shoulders as I breathe in.
One, two, three, four.
Out through my lips.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
I jump at a gentle touch along my back.
“You’re okay, Big Man. Just keep breathing.”
I lift my head to meet Aarya’s concerned gaze in the mirror. “You’re in the men’s room.”
She smirks. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“I’m sorry I—”
“Don’t apologize.” Her palm makes small circles between my shoulder blades. “I know this is a weird day, but remind yourself why we’re doing this. We’re taking control. You hold the power, and you hold the key to your parents’ villa.”
She’s right.
I’m in control. Not my grandfather.
I turn around to face her, and brush my knuckles against her cheek. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
She glances down at her cream-colored sweater dress. “I had to buy something for the occasion. I didn’t realize how many black clothes I owned until I had to find something white to wear.”
“You look stunning in any color.” I drop my hand from her face, resisting the urge to pull her in for a kiss.
Something I’ve been having a difficult time doing since we got back from Greece.
I knew she was going to sneak off and look for that video I posted on Kourtney’s website.
But I didn’t expect to walk in on her touching herself while she watched it.
Catching her with her fingers in her panties, the heated flush on her cheeks, the look of lust in her eyes...
my restraint snapped. We crossed a line that night, yet I can’t find it in myself to regret it.
The image of her completely naked in front of me with her ankles on my shoulders while she rubbed my cum on her pussy—how could I ever regret that?
It’s like the rational part of my brain shut down, and now that I’ve gotten a taste of her, I only want more.
I shake the memory from my mind so I don’t give myself a raging hard-on before we stand before the judge. “I was thinking, since it’s not too cold out today, maybe I can take you riding before I have to get Giuliana from school.”
She waggles her eyebrows. “And I was thinking we could consummate our marriage.”
I huff out a laugh and shake my head. “You’re relentless.”
“But it made you laugh.” She grins. “Sure, I’d love to take a ride—on the bike, but to be clear, I’m down to ride you as well.”
My shoulders shake with my laughter. “Come on, spitfire.” I swat her on the ass. “Let’s go make an honest woman out of you.”
When it’s our turn in the courtroom, we face each other, hold hands, and recite the vows to make this arrangement legal.
To have and to hold.
From this day forward.
For better or worse.
For richer, for poorer.
In sickness and in health.
To love and to cherish.
Until death do us part.
They’re generic vows, yet they wrap around my heart when I say them as I look into Aarya’s big brown eyes.
What’s more is the earnest way she looks at me when it’s her turn to repeat after the judge.
I know this is fake for her, a means to getting one-hundred-thousand-dollars deposited in her bank account.
But for the mere seconds she holds my gaze and promises to love and cherish me, I let myself believe that she means it.
Because I want her to mean it.
Because I mean it.
Because no matter how hard I’ve tried to keep my heart safe, I’m falling in love with the woman I’m marrying.
Fully aware that she may never feel the same way.
“You’re not going to go too fast, right?”
I spin Aarya around and collect her hair in my hands. “You’re safe with me.”
“Funny how that doesn’t answer my question.”
“I’m not going to push my bike to the limit with you on the back.”
“I don’t like the idea of you pushing it to the limit at all.”
“I don’t anymore. Not like I used to.”
She pauses. “Are you...are you braiding my hair?”
“It’ll get tangled if I don’t.”
“Perks of being a girl dad, I guess.”
I chuckle. “I had to YouTube a lot of videos when Giuliana was younger. Thank God for the internet.”
“If you need a hair tie—”
“Got one.” I slip the black hair tie off my wrist and wrap it around the end of the braid. Then I take the helmet off my bike seat and carefully push it over the top of her head.
As a wedding gift, I bought Aarya a riding jacket and gloves so she didn’t have to keep wearing mine, and had a new helmet fitted to her size.
Her eyes flick up to mine as I tilt her head and adjust the buckle under her chin. “Promise me you won’t let me die?”
I tug the bottom of her helmet and bring it until it clinks against mine. “If you feel unsafe or scared at any time, you can tell me to slow down and I will. But I promise, I will always be careful with your life in my hands.”
She nods. “Okay.”
I turn to my bike, gesturing to the electronic screen between the handlebars. “So, once you turn the key and everything lights up, you’re going to hit the kill switch over here. This is what turns the bike on and off. And then this button underneath ignites the engine.”
She leans over to glance down at everything I showed her. “Can I start it?”
“Go for it, spitfire.”
She reaches out and goes through the steps I just showed her, and then the bike roars to life. I mount the bike and lift the kickstand before holding out my hand for her. She steps onto the peg and swings her leg over to the other side, sliding her hands around my waist.
“I’m going to teach you how to be a good backpack.”
“A backpack?”
“That’s what it’s called when someone rides as a passenger, because you’re clinging to me like a backpack.
So, you don’t want to lean too much against me, especially when I’m stopping.
You can brace one hand against the gas tank here.
” I take one of her hands and plant it in front of me.
“When I lean into a turn, we won’t fall over.
Just go with the motion of the bike. And when I tap you like this,” I reach my hand back and tap her knee, “You hold on tight.”
I hear her say, “Got it,” through the Packtalk speakers in my helmet.
I pull out of my driveway and onto the main road. I take my time, weaving in and out of traffic, and make sure she feels comfortable.
“How are you doing back there?” I ask several minutes into the ride.
“Good. You can go a little faster if you want.”
I chuckle, and then I twist the throttle to accelerate.
Riding always calms my nerves. The world and all of its problems fade away as everything blurs around me.
Riding takes concentration and control, and it quiets my mind.
With Aarya holding onto me, it’s like I’ve unlocked a new level of peace.
Her body pressed against mine, holding onto me for security, trusting me to protect her with her life in my hands.
It’s intimate. It means something.
When I reach the destination about twenty minutes later, I slow down and pull off the road to park. We stand and stretch, hanging our helmets off each handle.
Aarya scans the area. “So, where are we?”
“It’s nowhere really. It’s not a park or a well-known spot. I accidentally stumbled upon it right after I signed with the Goldfinches. I needed the quiet, away from the chaos of it all.”
We disappear between the trees, our shoes crunching on the dead grass beneath us.
“What’s that?” Aarya visors her eyes with her hand as she squints against the sunlight.
I bite back a smile as we walk over to the plaid blanket laid out on the ground with a picnic basket sitting on top of it. “It’s our post-wedding celebratory lunch.”
Her mouth drops open as her eyes fly up to mine. “You planned this?”
“I know it’s not our real wedding day, but I wanted to do something...special.” I shrug, suddenly feeling foolish for thinking this was a good idea. “It’s silly, but—”
“Stop.” She rushes over to the blanket, and pulls out the bottle of champagne sticking out of the basket. “We’re pretending, right? So why not pretend that we’re a pair of happy newlyweds having a picnic under the Eiffel Tower in Paris?”
I laugh as I lower myself to the blanket beside her. “Okay, I’ll play along. I’ll be Anthony Spinelli, founder and CEO of a billion-dollar tech company.”
Her eyes light up. “I’ll be Regina Spinelli, world-renowned fashion designer.”
I pop the cork, and pour each of us a glass of champagne. “To my beautiful wife. Thank you for marrying me and making me the happiest man alive.”
She giggles as she clinks her glass against mine. “And to my handsome husband, thank you for taking me on the honeymoon of my dreams around the French riviera.”
“Anything for you, shnookums.”
She tosses her head back as she laughs, and my heart bursts at the sight of it. She’ll smirk, or give me a smile every now and again. But the sound of her laughter is something I don’t take for granted.
And after the weird morning we had, it feels good to be silly and let loose a little.