Page 109 of Sins of Innocence

Mom studies my face. "You're not an impetuous woman."

If only she knew. "Not really, no."

"Do you want a proper wedding?" she asks. "Every bride deserves to feel special on their wedding day."

"I do feel special." Which is all kinds of silly, because marriage of convenience, right? But I do.

Mom nods. "Good. But this getting married without any guests, no wedding cake…" She lets her voice trail off. "Is it what you want?"

Mom likes Kieran. She thinks he's good for me. I know her well enough to know that. But she won't let me be railroaded into something I don't want.

I do want it. For lots of reasons, some I'm not remotely willing to admit to myself. "I did the big wedding before. I hated that dad wasn't there to give me away. That Brady was gone too."

I cried on my wedding day and it wasn't because I was nervous, or so happy I couldn't keep the tears in. I was grieving and Troy assumed they were happy tears. I bet Kieran wouldn't. If I cried today.

But I don't feel like crying. "I want this. And we do have guests. The girls and Ellie are here. You're here. No one else matters."

Mom squeezes my hand. "I won't say you and Kieran are the only ones that matter because you're right, family matters too and the ones who love you best are here."

"I'm a little scared," I admit, knowing mom can't know how deep that fear runs.

Maybe Kieran isn't the only one good at saying one thing while the subtext stays buried.

"Your dad proposed on our second date."

"You never told me that!"

"I didn't want your brother getting ideas about rushing into something. I made your dad wait six months for my yes, anyway." Mom shakes her head. "Sometimes, I wish I had told you children. Maybe Brady would have had a whirlwind romance and gotten married before…" Her voice trails off.

"He was dad's son too. If he'd met someone he cared about, he probably would have proposed to her on their first date."

"You're probably right. Brady jumped in where angels fear to tread, that's for sure." Mom pats my hand. "Let's get you married then, daughter. At Disneyland." She shakes her head. "Now that's a story the girls will be telling their little brothers and sisters."

Little brothers and sisters? My brain fritzes again.

Chapter twenty-two

An Unconventional Wedding

WRAITH

Celeste, the eccentric officiant Ellie hired for the wedding watches my fiancée talking to her mom with a slightly unfocused gaze of benevolent interest.

When it looks like they're coming back, that gaze shifts to me before soft brown eyes sharpen. "Yes. I see."

I'd ask what she sees, but she'd probably tell me and it would be something about my chakras aligning with Áine's, or the synchronicity of our energy.

One of the guys in my platoon at Basic talked like that. He got in trouble for wearing a bracelet with his power crystal encased in the leather. He sewed it into the hem of his OCPs. Don't know what it did for him, but he's still alive while other men who trained with us aren't.

Doesn't change the fact that the only thing I want to align with my soon-to-be-wife is my cock with her pussy.

And that can't happen until tonight.

Fuck, let it happen tonight.

I want to get my hands on all her luscious curves with no clothing barriers between us, but I told her I'd wait until she's ready. I meant it.

That doesn't mean I won't do everything in my power to make her ready though.