Page 16 of A Very Unhinged Christmas
She laughs, and she sounds so carefree that my chest squeezes with emotion. “We’re not married yet,” she says and then rolls her eyes playfully when I glower at her for reminding me.
“Roll your eyes again, and your ass is going to have a date with the palm of my hand,” I playfully scold her, smacking her once on the left cheek of her ass. I do it hard, but in the exact spot she likes it, and I’m rewarded with a whimper and her wriggling closer against my chest.
“Did you look at the ring?” I ask, chuckling when she hides her face in my neck.
She shakes her head no. “I’m always just looking at you,” she whispers.
My fucking heart.
I kiss the side of her head, then slide her slowly down my body until her feet touch the floor again. Her eyes shine up at me as I slip the ring onto her finger. She wasn’t lying, she really is always looking at me and I fucking love that. I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss the back of it before turning her hand to let her see the sparkling diamond that reminds me of how she makes me feel.
Ellie doesn’t speak at first. She just stares at the ring like she’s afraid to touch it, lifting her hand slowly into the light. The diamond catches and throws little flashes across her skin, and she gasps. It’s a quiet, soft sound like she can’t believe any of this is real. “Cillian,” she whispers, turning her hand slightly. “It’s… it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Her voice cracks on the last word. And I swear I stop breathing. Because she isn’t looking at the diamond like it’s expensive. She’s looking at it like she knows how much thought I put into it.Like it’s a promise she actually wants from me. Her thumb brushes over the band, gentle and careful, and she smiles up at me. She’s glowing, sofucking full of love it hits me like a punch. And all I can think is that the ring could never be as beautiful as the girl wearing it.
And that’s it. It’s done. Ellie is mine, and anyone who sees that rock will know exactly who she belongs to. She beams up at me, pushes up on her tiptoes with another request, “Kiss me again.”
Who am I to disappoint my beautiful wife? I give her the fiercest kiss I can manage, scooping her up again because I don’t fucking like when she’s not in my arms. I wish I could keep her like this all day, just locked around me where I can put my mouth and hands on her any time I want.
“I’ll kiss you every moment of every day if you ask me like that,” I murmur against her lips.
When we finally pull apart, she laughs breathlessly. “I’m going to get so many questions.” She waves her ring at me.
“Anybody gives you a hard time, you let me know and I’ll?—”
She cuts me off with a soft brush of her lips. “You’ll behave like the perfect gentleman?”
“No.” Flat. Immediate. I’m not fucking playing when it comes to Ellie, and she’s going to have to get used to that idea. I’m a trained fucking sniper, and I haven’t been able to even use my skills on any of the little fuckers who have approached her on this campus.
She laughs, and I swear I feel it sending tingles up my entire body.
“I’ve had to tread lightly since I brought you to this school so that you could live a normal life. I wanted you to have the type of normalcy you never had before,” I tell her, curling my hand around her waist. “When someone looked at you too long or walked up to you in a way I didn’t like, I had to deal with it quietly because I didn’t want to ruin things for you.”
She grins up at me, “But now I’m going to be your wife so you can ruin things for me?”
“Yes,” I snap and then narrow my eyes at her for playing with my words. “No, but yes. You’re going to be my wife, and I’ll fucking let everyone know to stay away from you when I damn well please.” I feel better just getting the words out, and to my enjoyment she seems to like my little outburst because she’s practically beaming up at me.
I lift her hand again. “You’re mine now, baby. And everyone’s gonna know it. I’ll snap their necks in broad daylight if they make you uncomfortable.”
Ellie laughs again, breathless, like she thinks I’m joking to make her feel protected and loved.
I’m not.
Not even a little.
I mean every fucking word.
I cup her face. “I love you, Ellie. More than you could ever know. You’ve given me the peace I’ve always searched for, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to repay you for that.”
Her arms slide around me, tight and warm. “I love you too, Cillian. Thank you for always protecting me… even when I didn’t know you were doing it.”
We stay like that for a moment, wrapped up in each other, and I’m annoyed that we can’t stay like this all day.
Then she pulls back, like I sensed she was going to. She’s the responsible one out of the two of us. I’m fucking faculty and trying to figure out how to get her to skip her first day of the new semester. “We’re going to be late. I have class, and you have early practice.” She touches the end of my nose playfully, and I pretend to try to bite her making her scream playfully.
I slip my arm around her and walk her toward the door. Before she steps outside, I hold out my hand.
“I’ll walk you, baby. I can be a little late for you any day.”
She smiles up at me, the same smile that destroyed every wall I’d ever built, and twines her fingers with mine.
We head toward campus together to start our new lives.
Ellie is my girl. My wife-to-be. My whole damn world.
And I dare anyone to look at her too long today.
Because they’ll learn real quick exactly who she belongs to.
