Page 56 of Cruel Kiss

Isabella whispers, loud enough for the whole room, "Doctor Fuzz says yes."

A couple people in the hallway laugh softly. I don't. I can't. My eyes are burning and I'm furious about it, because I said no crying, I said no romance, I said this is a paper thing, and the man just went andmeantevery word with his whole damn chest.

There's not an ounce of liar in him. There never has been, not when it comes to this.

The officiant clears her throat and turns to me. "And you?"

"I—" I start.

And it comes out wrong. It comes out thick and cracked and completely, humiliatingly full of feeling.

"I said I hated you," I tell him. "I've said it a hundred times. I said it to a federal agent in my own foyer."

His mouth twitches. "You did."

"She didn't believe me." I laugh. "I didn't believe me, either." I squeeze his hands, hard, harder than gripping-isn't-in-the-deal allows, but I don't care, because the deal is dead, everything is on fire. "You took my mirrors so I couldn't make myself small. You got down on the floor and said goodnight to a caterpillar and youmeantit. So I'm not going to stand here and say a flat little line," I finish. "Just… yes. Okay? Yes. This. Whatever this is. Yes."

The officiant looks between us, over her glasses, like she's decided this is above her pay grade. Then she does her job.

"By the power vested in me by the City of New York," she says, "I now pronounce you married. You may?—"

I don't wait for her to finish.

I go up on my toes and kiss him, and this time, there's no rehearsal about it. His hands come up to frame my face, careful, still asking even now, and I answer by fisting the front of his shirt and pulling him down into it. Hayden makes a disgusted noise. Isabella cheers.

When I pull back, Ronan looks like a man who's been hit by something large and moving fast and doesn't mind at all.

"For the record," I whisper against his mouth, "I still don't know what we are."

"We'll figure it out. We've got time now."

Hayden marches up. "Do I sign something? I'm the witness."

"You do," Ronan tells him, dead serious. "Right here. Your best signature."

Hayden signs with his tongue stuck out in concentration. Isabella insists Doctor Fuzz gets to sign too, so Ronan holds the pen and makes a tiny scribble in the corner while she directs him how the caterpillar wants it done.

Then it's over. Signed. Sealed.

Except it doesn't feel that simple. It feels like the earth moved under me.

I think I might love him after all,I told myself, weeks ago.

I'm not going to say it out loud yet, because I have some pride left and a divorce that finalized about a week ago, but I know. I've assembled the data. That's the one thing I've always been good at.

We walk out into the daylight, the four of us. Isabella's telling Hayden that she's going to be a flower girl next time even though there won't be a next time, and Hayden's explaining that you can't have a next time if the first time worked, and I'm laughing at both of them?—

And there she is.

The exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time.

Agent Gia Mercer is leaning against the stone rail at the bottom of the steps, arms crossed, gray blazer, sunglasses pushed up on her head. She's got a scowl on her face that could curdle milk.

Ronan's arm moves, just slightly, and I realize he's putting himself a half step in front of me.

"Congratulations," Mercer says, though she clearly does not mean it. "Beautiful ceremony, I'm sure."

"Agent Mercer," Ronan intones. "You didn't RSVP."