Page 31 of Her Inconvenient Wedding Date

“We go togetherlike copy and paste, a perfect match but with occasional formatting issues.” ~Unknown

If I wasn’t behind the wheel driving to work, I’d be pinching myself right now. Instead, I’m holding the hand of the woman I love while we sing “We are the Champions” at the top of our lungs. It turns out that not only is my wife a Q-tip-wielding superhero, she also has the voice of an angel. She can harmonize a third aboveandbelow the melody line without breaking a sweat. It’s only our second day of marriage, and I’m falling even more in love with Lily.

I glance over at her while we wait for the signal light to change. She’s dressed more casually since it’s a Friday, but she still looks amazing in jeans, a white shirt, and a leopard-print jacket. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, revealing the curve of her neck that I’m now familiar with after last night.

Our kissing session may have ended with each one of us sleeping in our own bedrooms, but I’m confident we’ll continue to grow closer and more comfortable together thelonger we’re married. Because the enthusiastic way Lily kissed me last night tells me I’m not the only hunter in this relationship. But I certainly don’t mind being her prey.

Oh man, it’s a good thing these puns are only in my head. I don’t think Lily could handle that much cheese.

“What are you smiling about?” she asks me when she notices me staring at her.

“I’m just thinking about how perfect you are.”

She rolls her eyes. “I already like you, Hunter. You don’t have topai ma piwith me,” she says, referring to the Mandarin idiom that literally translates topat a horse’s bottom.

“I’m not kissing up to you, Lil. I mean it. You’re the perfect wife I prayed for.”

“You don’t know when to stop, do you?” She nudges me with her elbow. “It’s our turn to go.”

“Oh, thanks.” I step on the gas and continue driving along the local streets of Mountain View. “See? Even the way you told me the light changed is perfect. Harper, my older sister, would be screaming ‘Green light, go!’ at the top of her lungs, and Heather, my younger sister, would be kicking my seat until I stepped on the gas.”

“Are you talking about when you guys were younger?”

“If by younger, you mean a few months ago, then yes.”

She laughs. “They sound like fun. I can’t wait to meet them… assuming you want me to meet them.”

“Of course, I do. I told them this morning about you. They sent me a dozen texts each, half of them in all caps yelling at me for not telling them we got married yesterday and the other half asking me about you.” I pause, wondering about the uncertainty I picked up in her voice. “Why would you think I wouldn’t want you to meet my sisters? You’re my wife, the most important person in the world to me. I’d send out acompany-wide email announcing our relationship status if you’d let me.”

“I’m pretty sure neither the HR nor IT folks would be okay with you doing that.”

“Then people will just have to find out one by one when they see this.” I flash my wedding band at her for a split second before grabbing the steering wheel again.

“I thought we weren’t going to wear our rings to the office?” She gasps. “Is it because yours is too tight and you couldn’t take it off? I know a method you can try; I read about it in a rom-com. You just stick your hand in a bowl of ice water?—”

“The ring fits fine,” I gently interrupt her as we turn onto the corporate campus. I find the closest open spot to park in, then shut off the engine. Facing her, I say, “I’m keeping my ring on because I’m proud to be married to the most gorgeous, smartest, kindest, and sexiest woman alive. I don’t want to hide the fact that I’m off the market. You wouldn’t want other women going after your husband, would you?”

“Of course not. But…”

“But what?”

“You and I have an agreement. This marriage of convenience is only supposed to be until January. I don’t expect you to stay longer than that.”

My chest tightens. I suppose we should have done more talking than kissing yesterday. “I’m not going anywhere, Lil. I went into this marriage hoping that it would last longer than three months. Iwantto be married to you. I thought last night made that pretty clear. I wouldn’t have spent all that time kissing you if I wasn’t serious.”

She shrugs. “I thought maybe you got caught up in the moment, you know, after I saved your eyeballs and everything. You did say you wanted to show me yourgratitude.”

“The gratitude was in the first kiss. After that, it was all for pleasure.” I cup her chin and lock gazes with her. “It was a man kissing the woman he loves.”

“How are you so sure?” Her eyes narrow suspiciously like someone who doesn’t believe that rebooting solves 99% of computer problems. “You hardly know me. Sure, we’ve worked together for a year, but is that really long enough for you to know you want to be stuck with me for the rest of your life? We’re not characters in a romance book, Hunter; this is real. You shouldn’t make a rash decision like this without considering what it all means.

“Last night was amazing,” she admits with pink cheeks, “but marriage isn’t only about kissing. It’s a lot more, like dealing with my parents, especially my mother, who, by the way, wants us to go over for dinner tomorrow. She left me the longest voicemail ever; it was almost ten minutes.”

“Ten? I thought the maximum length of a voicemail you can leave is four minutes?”

“It is. She left three voicemails, but it was one big, long guilt trip. She started off by telling me for the umpteenth time about the thirty-six hours of labor she endured to have me, then ended with her last check-up where the doctor advised her to cut down on her stress, specifically stress related to her kids. It was quite the mom-ologue, I tell you.”

I wince to hear Lily break out with a pun, but I think I’m starting to understand her hesitation. “I know we’re still getting to know each other, Lil, so it makes sense that you don’t trust me fully yet. I get it. But I want you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to show you that you can trust me. No matter what comes our way, whether it’s guilt trips, family dinners with your parents, or anything else, I’m going to be by your side. You can’t scare me that easily.”

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