“What?”
“When I said I didn’t want to wait, I meant it. We’re getting married today.”
“You didn’t even know I’d say yes.”
“Of course I did.”
He raised his brows and glared. “Fine. I didn’t, but I hoped you would.”
“Damn it. You know I hate it when you give me that look.”
That look being the one that could bring Joe to his knees anytime. “Then don’t be so stubborn. Angelo is going to meet us there. Why don’t you call Lindsay and see if she’s available to be your witness?”
My former partner on the force was the perfect choice. “I’m surprised you didn’t do that for me.”
“I will if it will get you moving.”
“Your family is going to murder you.”
I pretended to consider that. “Yeah, they are, or at least Lucien and Aunt Sabrina will. Angelo is in on it, though, so really they should kill him too.”
“Sabrina will be devastated if she doesn’t get to plan this whole business.”
And Angelo’s brother, Lucien, was head of the family and expected us to run everything by him. I waved away Joe’s protest. “Like Lucien and Peter or Angelo and Cameron won’t be having a big wedding sometime soon.”
“Are they…”
“No, but I bet we’ll inspire them.”
“Or at least make them realize the price of eloping.” He took a few steps in the right direction, then turned. “Isn’t there a waiting period after we apply for the license?”
“I may have gotten the license already.”
“Without me there?”
“I’m a Marchesi. I always get what I want.”
“And you signed my name for me?”
I pushed him toward the bathroom. “Get in the shower.”
Joe looked like he was going to protest more. Instead, he changed the subject. “I thought you wanted me to call Lindsay.”
“You can do that while the shower heats up.”
“So pushy.”
“You’ve known that since the day we met, and you still said yes.”
Joe pulled his phone from the pants he’d discarded last night before holding me down and fucking me into submission. I watched his naked ass as he disappeared into the bedroom. Damn, I loved that man.
“Hurry up. You don’t want to be late for your own wedding.”
2
Joe
I made a third attempt to get my tie knotted properly. I’d insisted if we were going to get married at the spur of the moment we were at least going to dress up and take some pictures. Sabrina would still have a fit, but at least we would be able to show her something. I wished Devil would hurry up with his shower because apparently my hands were too shaky to tie my own damn tie, and it was all his fault.
I gripped the edge of the dresser as the world started to spin. Was this really happening? Was I really about to marry Devil Marchesi, the man I’d once hunted down, certain he was responsible for the murder of a young girl?
He wasn’t the man I’d been looking for, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t killed numerous times, though none of his victims were ever innocent. Now I was a part of his world because one thing I learned as a cop was that justice was nowhere near as clear-cut as I wanted it to be.
I’d had such high hopes for what I could accomplish in law enforcement. It had been my dream since I was a kid. Now I was marrying into an organized crime family.
“Joe, are you okay?”
I turned to see Devil sauntering into the room wearing nothing but a towel loosely wrapped around his waist. He’d gone to shower in his cousin’s room so we could speed things up.
It didn’t seem to matter how many nights I spent with him; the sight of his body always affected me like I was seeing him for the first time.
“I thought something was wrong,” Devil said. “But now I know why you looked sad. It was because I wasn’t here. Sorry I took so long. Angelo tried to object to me stealing his shower.”
All I could do was laugh at his ridiculous antics. “This whole marriage thing is a lot to process.”
Devil shook his head. “It was inevitable.”
“Me and you?”
“Yeah.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. “You’re mine, and you always will be.”
“And you’ll always be this annoying, won’t you?”
“You wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Even his damn smirk made me want him, and he was right. I rarely even had to ask for what I needed from him.
He took hold of my shoulders, turned me toward him, and quickly did my tie. Then he stepped back and gave me a slow once-over. “Perfect. Everything about you is perfect.”
I shook my head.
“Joe, I mean it. You’re everything I want.”
“Jesus. Stop being sappy and go get dressed.” He laughed as he opened the closet door.
Several minutes later Devil, Angelo, and I were on our way to city hall with Devil cursing Boston morning traffic at regular intervals. I was somewhat surprised he hadn’t demanded I ride behind him on his motorcycle. That would’ve been typical, but he didn’t want to ruin his suit, so we took his SUV, one of the numerous intimidating black vehicles his family owned.