Side Squeeze (Jasper Falls 6)

The front doors leading into the lobby parted, and she walked quickly, trying not to make a scene, only Harrison’s foot caught on the mat and he cursed, falling down to his knee. It was the same place she’d tripped the day their paths crossed again.

“Oh my God, are you okay?”

His head bowed over his leg as if he were in pain. “Help me up?”

She reached for his hand only to have him tug her closer. Then he smiled up at her, something cool and heavy sliding over her finger. “Gotcha.”

An enormous emerald cut diamond glinted up at her. “What the hell is that?”

“A show of commitment. I told you I was serious.”

She looked at the ring then back to him. “Did you rob a jewelry store?”

“Do you like it? We can exchange it if you’d prefer something else.”

Her mind wasn’t computing. An hour ago she was on a date with another man. She and Harrison had just made up. They were on their way to have sex. Crazy monkey sex. Now there was a diamond on her finger.

“I’m confused. Is this…” She was embarrassing herself. Of course it wasn’t an engagement ring. It couldn’t be. Because that would be insane.

“Marry me, Mariella.”

Or maybe they were just that nuts. “Seriously?”

“We waited long enough. It’s our turn to choose, and I choose happiness. I choose you.”

He chose her.

She looked over at Leon, the night time desk clerk, her eyes filling up with tears as he mouthed the word wow and waved her back to the question at hand. She looked down at Harrison, her tears spilling down her cheeks as she nodded, staring at the man who had always been her first choice. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Harrison bolted to his feet and lifted her into a bear hug, kissing her hard and carrying her to the elevators. Leon rung the desk bell, cheering them on, and yelled, “I’ll send up champagne!”

The moment Harrison broke the kiss, she looked down at the ring. “This is stunning.”

“You’re stunning.” He nibbled her ear and she melted into him. “Mariella Montgomery. I like the sound of that.”

So did she.

EPILOGUE

“Do you think the crepe station is still open?”

There was nothing more awkward than trying to pee while wearing a forty-pound wedding gown as your very pregnant sister-in-law held up your train. “Erin, you have to lift it higher. I don’t want the train to fall in the toilet.”

Erin huffed, lifting the skirt and suffocating Mariella in a nest of tulle and crinoline. The quiet bathroom filled with the slow trickle and Mariella finally felt some relief.

“Great. Now, I have to pee too.”

“Well, you’re going to have to wait. And don’t you dare threaten me with a stye. It’s my wedding day. I have stye immunity.”

“Fine.”

Once Mariella’s bladder was empty, they shoved the dress down and shuffled out of the stall in a cloud of white. Erin swatted the material into place, challenged by her inability to fully bend over with the size of her protruding belly.

“Just go to the bathroom and I’ll get the rest,” Mariella said, as Erin bounced impatiently and crossed her legs.

“Thank you.” She rushed into the stall, and Mariella continued to adjust the sides and back of her dress.

“This is an ordeal. How the heck did they do this all the time in Victorian days?”

“Oh, please. This is the first time you’ve gone since the start of the wedding. I think I’ve been in here six times in the last hour, all the while your niece has been stomping out the beat to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ on my bladder.”

Mariella inspected her makeup in the mirror as the toilet flushed. Erin huffed out a breath, her large belly putting her back at an awkward angle as she waddled out of the stall.

“You’re still as beautiful as ever.”

“I better not have missed the crepes. There are only so many joys in life during the third trimester.”

Mariella rolled her eyes. “Go.”

It was her first moment alone all day and she took a few seconds to slouch her shoulders and catch her breath. The ceremony had been perfect, traditional, and done at the same church where her parents were married.

The moment her dad ushered her through those tall doors and her eyes set on Harrison, everything nervous inside of her seemed to settle. They said their vows, exchanged their rings, and she finally became Mrs. Harrison Montgomery. Life was perfect.

The door to the bathroom opened and Mariella straightened, fixing her dress and glancing into the mirror with a smile.

“Oh.” Perrin King paused inside the door, realizing the bathroom was occupied.

Mariella never expected the other woman to attend her wedding, but as her boss’s wife there was really no way around the invitation. “You can come in. I’m almost finished.”

Perrin drifted into a stall and Mariella did a final inspection of her gown only to realize part of the lace train was hooked on a pearl, causing the back to rumple and hang wrong. She tried to unhook the material, but her corset was too tight, and she couldn’t bend that way.