Flash Burned (Burned 2)

Dane said, “Ari, you’re my wife now. Everything I have, everything I acquire in the future, is yours. Sign the papers.”

“Jesus. Dane.” I couldn’t quite process what he was saying.

I owned the Lux along with him?

Whoa.

I needed to sit down. Damn me for not setting out chairs.

Even more unnerving was that it fully hit me why Dane was so massively paranoid about my safety. The reason for all the secrecy, most important as it related to our marriage.

Now that I owned half of everything, I was an even greater bargaining chip for his axed investors. A much more invaluable pawn. If anything were to happen to Dane—

I anxiously glanced about. Found Amano standing off to the side, rather than joining the others on the terrace.

He watched me carefully. I realized he didn’t think of himself as a guest at mine and Dane’s wedding. He was on-duty. As always.

Were we going to convert one of the spare bedrooms for him?

I let out a borderline-hysterical half laugh. Knowing Amano, he’d prefer to stake out the house from his SUV, monitoring every square foot on his laptop, iPad, and phone.

I suddenly felt a bit claustrophobic, imagining they insist I start wearing a suit of armor for added protection.

Beyond all that, I couldn’t fathom the sudden and extreme hike in my monetary worth.

I’d married a billionaire.

“Ari.” Said billionaire nudged me gently. “Sign the papers,” he repeated. So calmly, so steadily. “Our guests are waiting.”

I stole another glance at Amano. Clearly, he saw the struggle in my eyes. He gave me a shadow of a grin, then nodded slightly.

I took the pen Mr. Conaway offered. He gave me the abbreviated version of what I had committed to on-paper. Dane signed as well. Then Amano, as our witness.

My heart palpitations continued, but Dane wrapped an arm around my waist and dipped his head to mine. “If you ever need anything, and for some reason you can’t come to me, Jack will help you. Don’t ever forget that.”

The grave expression on Dane’s face sent a chill down my spine. “Like … if something ever happened to you?”

“Yes.”

“Dane,” I gasped.

“Shh.” He kissed me tenderly. Then said, “Just promise you’ll remember.”

“I promise.”

He led me to the terrace while I agonized over this aspect of marriage I’d obviously not put enough thought into. Any, really.

I’d wanted to be Dane’s wife so that I’d never lose him. But I’d only been thinking in terms of him walking away from me—not being taken away.

It dawned on me that he’d desperately wanted me to be his wife—to be his. So much so that he’d take the risk of marrying me during a volatile time. And cover his bases with people like Amano, Kyle, and Mr. Conaway close at hand to help me if anything ever happened to him.

There was a somewhat selfish angle to us marrying this evening. Yet I couldn’t say it was all on Dane’s shoulders. I could have told him we needed to wait—I could have insisted and he would have allowed it, because he always gave me whatever I wanted. But I’d agreed to this because it was something I wanted just as badly.

Did love justify being just a little bit reckless?

In this case … yes.

I just needed for all of the random variables to make up a smart conclusion.