Page 157 of The Anchor Holds

I snapped my laptop shut. “I would not. I’ve got a reputation to maintain, after all.”

“I thought your reputation was crafted from your oath to never walk down an aisle unless it was to the Supreme Court,” Elliot stated somberly.

I scowled. “I hate that you’re so close with my family.”

A lie.

I loved it. All of my family welcomed him with open arms. Who wouldn’t? He’d already taken my father out fishing, same with my brother. My sister adored him, my mother baked him cookies regularly, and my nieces and nephews idolized him.

Everyone was sufficiently surprised and delighted that I was not only getting married to someone so nice but that I was moving in with him, therefore settling in Jupiter for the foreseeable future. My apartment in New York had sold for a bomb. I’d bought a brownstone in the Village instead. I still planned on traveling there, working for a bit longer. I hadn’t become a completely new person because I’d fallen in love, almost died, killed my childhood sweetheart, been poisoned and almost drowned.

A small-town girl I’d never be.

“You’re going to be happy here?” It was like Elliot could read my mind. I looked around the house, at my books on his cluttered shelves, my martini glasses on his small bar. Elliot seated across from me.

“As long as a double sink and walk-in closet are installed in a timely manner,” I joked.

Elliot didn’t smile.

He was truly worried. It was rare to see a lapse in Elliot’s trademark confidence, but it was there.

He happily took me when I reached out to climb onto his lap. “Elliot Shaw, the man who orders me to my knees, who fucks me like a stallion, who got me on a boat, who makes a mean lobsterroll—better than his brother’s,” I winked. “You make me happier than I thought I was capable of. So yes, I think I’m going to be happy as your wife. As long as you promise to fuck me like a stallion till the end of my days.”

His grip tightened as he ground me against his rapidly hardening cock.

“Oh, I think I can do that.” His lips claimed mine.

Even though it took great effort, I pulled myself back. “Are you going to be happy with me? I’ll never be a traditional wife. The only time I’ll submit to you is when I get an orgasm out of it, I don’t cook, I can’t bear you children.”

Although I had little reason to doubt Elliot’s feelings toward me, I couldn’t help the sliver that crept in. As it often did when I thought too hard about how I’d marred Elliot’s life with my sins, my barren womb, sharp tongue, and my U-Haul of emotional baggage.

“Calliope Derrick.” His hand bit into my hip, the other cupping my jaw. “You’re the most powerful person I know. You get on your knees for me, you rescue kittens, you are fierce, you love like no one else I’ve known, your smile is rare but worth a trillion dollars. Yes, fuck I’ll be happy with you till my dying days.” He stood, holding both of us.

I’d anticipated wrapping my legs around him, but he set me down.

“Now get on your fucking knees,” he growled.

I licked my lips.

He’d just said a lot of wonderful things.

Who was I to argue?

I got on my fucking knees.

Happy endings, I found, were much too simple. Tied everything off in a neat little bow. They created unrealistic expectations for everyone involved, especially women. The only end in life that served to be final and concrete was death.

Everything else was followed by unpredictable messiness afterward.

I was happy. As much as someone like me could be. But I wasn’t under any illusions that it would stay that way. I self-sabotaged by nature. But I also knew Elliot wasn’t going to let me sabotage us.

He’d fight for me. With me. For us. To the end.

And I’d been so sure the whole ‘till death do us part’ thing was a load of shit. But I wouldn’t accept the grave unless I was still wearing Elliot’s ring, unless my life had been filled with him.

“Do you, Calliope Derrick, take Elliot Shaw to be your lawfully wedded husband, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?” Kip asked, a smile on his handsome face.

I ignored him and looked into the endless eyes of the man I’d come to love. Who was my anchor to a life I was starting to believe I deserved.

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