Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“You too, Addison.” He ducked his head out of the car, straightened, gave the hood a light slap, and then stepped back. “Drive safely. And welcome to the family.” With that, he waltzed away.
I felt my jaw drop. He knew. He knew about the pact.
I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised. He and Dax were very close, so they were bound to share such things with each other. After all, I’d told my sister about it—at this point, she felt certain I’d go through with the wedding. Evidently, so did Caelan.
Driving off, I wondered how they could be so sure while I kept bouncing back and forth in my head from Okay, I’ll marry him to I’d be nuts to do this.
Even though the final preparations for an upcoming wedding I’d organized—one that would be taking place in just two days—consumed a lot of my attention, I found myself constantly chewing on Dax’s proposal and all that Brooks had advised me to consider.
Could I marry someone who took justice into his own hands and who broke the law when it suited him? Well … I certainly wouldn’t blame Dax for it. What had the law ever done for him? Nothing. But then, I supposed I wasn’t the sort to be fazed by that when I’d been raised by a man who disregarded the law on occasion. So yes, I could handle it.
Could I marry someone whose connection to a deceased death row convict would potentially touch my life at times? I’d be an absolute bitch if I held it against Dax, which I didn’t. It wasn’t his choice. Wasn’t something he had any control over. So yes, I could handle that, too.
Could I marry someone who I might never get emotionally close to? As it happened … though it might be incredibly sad, I actually could. This man wouldn’t be able to hurt me, because he didn’t have that power over my emotions. And if anything tragic were to happen to him, I would of course find it absolutely awful, but it wouldn’t destroy me.
They said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But when you’d lost again and again and again, you started to wonder if maybe that was pure bullshit.
But that was the thing … I didn’t like that I’d emotionally thrown in the towel. I didn’t like that I could so easily turn my back on searching for something I’d once treasured the thought of finding. It seemed wrong. Unnatural. Sad.
As such, I was still struggling to make a decision on what to do. Though, if I was honest, the more I thought about it the more I leaned toward saying yes. So maybe Caelan and Alicia were right to be confident I’d follow through with my promise to Dax. Maybe.
Chapter Five
“The vicar is cute.”
Stood at the back of the church, I frowned as I turned to Sabrina. “What?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“I’m just saying, you don’t often come across a vicar so young and cute,” she whispered with a shrug. “Maybe you should go talk to him after the ceremony is over.”
“About what?”
“Feel him out. See if he’s single.” She paused. “If you don’t feel any inclination to become a vicar’s wife, you could sniff out what his stance on flings happens to be.”
Adjusting the position of my headset, I sighed. “You think I should suggest a round of premarital sex to a vicar? Seriously?”
“Why not? They don’t all frown on stuff like that.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll pass.” I cut my gaze back to the couple at the altar.
It had taken a year of hard work—not to mention numerous meetings, hundreds of emails, and an ungodly amount of phone calls—to get to this moment, but finally we were here. And I was loving it. Seeing all our work and creativity come to life, seeing the joy on our clients’ faces as their dream wedding became reality, was like a shot of bourbon every time.
The bride was smiling so wide it surely had to hurt. The groom was looking a little teary—as was her father.
The church décor was perfect—Sabrina and I had made sure of it. We’d come here early and set up the flowers, ivory aisle runner, and the tulle pew end bows. Meanwhile, other members of our team had taken care of setting up the tables at the party venue.
Amped up on caffeine, adrenaline, and sheer determination to ensure all went as planned, I’d been on my feet since dumb o’ clock, going back and forth, doing this or that, and double-checking things. Okay, triple-checking them—I liked to be thorough.
Even now, my focus was split in a dozen directions—the food, the lighting, the band, the table set-up, etc., etc. Luckily, I’d always been a person who thrived under pressure.