Love in Flame (De La Fuente Family 5)

RAE

Diego has gone quiet and as I glance at him from the corner of my eye, he’s staring intently at the wedding chapel. My eyes widen and I quickly stare straight ahead.

The thought of being married to Diego doesn’t scare me as much as it would have done a few weeks ago. He’s said numerous times that he wants to be with me forever, but I’ve never really thought that far ahead…until I’ve just caught Diego eyeing the chapel. My eyes widen even more when I spot the cardboard Elvis.

Chuckling aloud, Diego moves in front of me and walks backwards, wiggling his eyebrows. “See something that interests you?”

“Hmm,” I eye him up and down then admit, “I was imagining you dressed as Elvis.”

He stops moving, his brows rise in surprise. “Seriously?”

“No!” I shake my head, laughing. “I noticed that Elvis is the preacher. I found it amusing.” I press my finger against his navel before I trace along the band of his jeans.

He catches my hand. “You keep doing that and we’re going to be finding the restrooms.”

I catch sight of the others waiting for us over Diego’s shoulder, but I still can’t move away. “Can we leave the others? I’m tired of not being able to touch you because of who might see us. I want to go somewhere that we can be ourselves with no secrets.”

Diego closes his eyes and when he opens them again, he holds my gaze. “I’ll make our apologies, and then I’m all yours.” He winks and walks toward his family with me trailing behind. I don’t want to just abandon him to them, but at the same time I’m lost for words—an unusual occurrence for me.

In a blur though, Diego has us excused, and his siblings moving away. He moves closer and surrounds me with his warmth. My belly flutters at his nearness and my insides quiver at the look on his face. It’s his serious, don’t mess with me face, but when his features soften the look he gives me is so full of love that my heart melts.

“I love you,” I whisper as tears threaten with the overwhelming feeling of content that comes over me.

Diego’s arms wrap around my shoulders as he holds me close. A large hand gently presses my face to his chest and then his chin rests against the top of my head. “Ever wanted to

get married by Elvis?”

“What?” I meet his gaze.

The nervous look that crosses his face makes me realize he’s serious. “You want to marry me?”

“Yes. The minute I saw that chapel I knew it was meant to be. I love you, Rae. I want to marry you. I want and need you tied to me so that it will take more than an army to separate us.” Laying his hands on my face, I feel them tremble. “We can have a wedding back in Montana with Andie and my family at a later date. But the more I think about it the more I want Elvis to marry us tonight.”

“Wow.” He’s shocked me speechless, but I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind because it had just minutes ago. I look at the chapel and then back to the only man to ever look at me this way. There’s only one way to answer. “This is a crazy idea after only being together for a short time, but, I love you. So yes, I’ll marry you tonight in Vegas.”

Diego beams with happiness and I know that the decision I’ve just made is the right one. He lifts me up to him, my legs go around his waist and he cups my bottom to keep my short dress covering my assets. “You will never regret this and I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you,” he promises. “And I’m so damn relieved that you changed your mind about us. Until tonight that was the best day of my life.”

My lips hover over Diego’s as I whisper, “My heart won over common sense.” I kiss his lips. “Now, I’m too much in love with you to care about age. It would kill me to see you with someone else.”

“Baby, that’s something you’ll never see.”

Our lips seal together and then the next hour becomes a blur of excitement as I become Mrs. Diego De La Fuente. I know reality will eventually sink in and when I’m not with Diego, I’ll panic wondering what I’ve done without talking to Andie first, but for now, I’m not going to worry. Instead I’m going to look forward to spending the rest of my life as the wife of the man that I love, knowing that he loves me just as much.

13

Diego

When Elvis announced us husband and wife, the reality of what exactly we’d done came crashing down and caused a flare of panic to race around me. Not because I was married but because right then in that chapel I had the woman I loved, and the thought of loosing her terrified me.

On our wedding finger we both wore matching cheap bands, which will be replaced as soon as we get the chance. I couldn’t wait though and had needed everyone to know that she was my wife. We haven’t discussed telling our families, but I’m planning on getting Andie alone with us early on tomorrow. She needs to know before either one of us slips up. Everyone else can wait until we’re back home, which makes me wonder how that is going to be possible when I’m reluctant to even consider removing my ring.

Now that the wedding was hours ago, I still can’t help holding my hand out to admire the cheap band and I smile when my eyes find the marriage license, open on the dressing table. She’s mine and I’m not letting her go.

Sleep evades me as I lie on my side with Rae snuggled up against me. One of her thighs is thrown over my hip as she softly snores. In sleep her features are relaxed and the worry and stress of being together has disappeared. I know she loves me and I know that her real worry is her daughter’s reaction, which I think will surprise her—I hope. I haven’t admitted that I think Andie knows about us because I think that’s for them to discuss, but I want to see all the worry leave Rae’s face for good.

The biggest hurdle is going to be my mother. Just the thought of it makes me nervous as hell. But as I caress Rae’s face I realize that she’s worth it. She’s worth everything to me. I wince as I consider my twin. Emelia is going to be pissed that she wasn’t here to watch me get married. That’s just something that I’m going to have to make up for. Our connection is solid and always will be, but my connection to Rae is so much more.

I brush a strand of hair away from her face causing her to twitch and roll to her stomach giving me an amazing view. My gaze travels down the sleek line of her spine to the curve of her bottom, continuing down her shapely legs to her dainty feet. She’s a small package that constantly has me hard and aching.