She\u2019d done this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d prepared everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was offering herself to me, completely, legally, forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And all I had to do was sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She pulled a pen from her purse and set it on the table next to the certificate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hand was shaking as I picked it up, and I looked at her one more time, needing to see her face, needing to know this was real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was crying now, smiling and crying at the same time, and she nodded at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMake me your wife,\u201d she whispered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pressed the pen to paper and signed my name, the letters coming out a little shaky but legible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
68\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan Hayes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment I finished, I dropped the pen and pulled her into my arms, kissing her with everything I had, not caring that we were in\u00a0<\/p>\n
the middle of a restaurant, not caring about anything except showing her how much this meant to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She kissed me back just as fiercely and I could feel her smiling against my lips.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we finally broke apart we were both breathless and I realized I was crying, tears streaming down my face without my\u00a0<\/p>\n
permission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe you did this,\u201d I said, my voice breaking. \u201cI can\u2019t believe you\u2019re actually my wife.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it,\u201d she said, wiping at my tears with her thumbs. \u201cYou\u2019re stuck with me now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed and cried at the same time, overwhelmed by emotions I didn\u2019t even have names for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you,\u201d I said, pulling her close again. \u201cGod Athena, I love you so much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you too,\u201d she whispered against my chest. \u201cMy husband.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word sent a thrill through me and I held her tighter, feeling like the luckiest man alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We stood there holding each other for a long time, neither of us wanting to let go, both of us overwhelmed by the magnitude of what\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:34 Thu, Jan 29\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 358\u00a0<\/p>\n
had just happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
68\u00a0<\/p>\n
real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally we sat back down, though I kept my chair pulled close to hers so I could keep touching her, keep reassuring myself this was\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me everything,\u201d I said. \u201cTell me exactly how you did this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She laughed and launched into the story of how she\u2019d spent yesterday pulling strings, calling in favors to get the special license processed so quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked Orion and Derek for help\u201d she said with a grin. \u201cTold them that I needed to surprise you, and they came through.\u201d They always come through. I\u2019m grateful for the people I\u2019m surrounded by.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed my part yesterday, and I\u2019ve been carrying it around all day waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was perfect,\u201d I said, looking down at the certificate again, at our two signatures side by side, making it official. \u201cYou\u2019re perfect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I picked up the marriage certificate, studying it carefully now, drinking in every detail. Our names, our signatures, the official seal\u00a0<\/p>\n
that made it real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m holding our marriage certificate,\u201d I said, my voice full of wonder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter put it somewhere safe,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only copy until we file it with the courthouse tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I carefully slid it back into the envelope, my hands still trembling slightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow?\u201d I asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted you to have tonight to process it all before we make it official\u2013official,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut yes, tomorrow morning we\u2019ll go\u00a0<\/p>\n
file it, and then it\u2019s done. Legally married.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife,\u201d I said, testing the words out loud.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYour wife,\u201d she confirmed, and the smile on her face could have lit up the entire restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Author\u2019s note: I wanted to surprise my readers, hope I did a good job.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I love you all for still being here and loving my book. I\u2019m grateful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:34 Thu, Jan 29\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 358 She\u2019d done this.\u00a0 She\u2019d prepared everything.\u00a0 She was offering herself to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}