Page 75 of Mating of Convenience
“How did you…” I kept staring at the phone in my hand. Part of me wanted to be upset that my wedding had been planned without my input, but how could I be, when Raph did everything exactly the way I would have?
“It actually wasn’t that hard,” Raph tried to downplay what he’d accomplished. “You used to talk about this shit a lot. I mean, you’d usually act like you were just telling me about your dad’s work, but I’m not that dense. I asked your dad to let me look at your old room and I found this folder under the bed that was full of--“
“Stop.” He didn’t need to keep going because I knew exactly what he’d found. A folder full of cut-outs from wedding catalogues. My sinful shame.
Raph laughed. Probably because my face was going deep red. Oh, whatever. My omega had planned the perfect wedding for me. I had no reason to feel ashamed or unhappy. Reaching out over the table, I took his hand. “And here you were saying you don’t deserve me. I’m starting to think the opposite is true.”
Raph beamed at me. “So you’re okay with marrying me a second time the Saturday two weeks from now?”
“Sure I am. I might have to call Aaron and ask about--“
“No, you don’t. I already did.”
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“I tried! I really needed this ceremony to be soon.”
“Yeah, why?” I took a sip of my water and nearly spit it out when Raph responded.
“Because I don’t want to look like a fat pregnant whale rolling down the aisle,” he said. “I want to fit in my tux.”
“Really? I wouldn’t mind if you were heavily pregnant in our wedding pics.”
“Alphas…” Raph shook his head. “All the same.”
“And yet you just proposed to one. For the second time.”
“And I’m so glad he said yes.” His eyes sparkled. “Let’s drink to that.”
“Yeah, let’s.” Clinking our water glasses, we drank to our future.
35
Raphael
The day of our wedding ceremony was a beautiful day in July, just as I’d planned it. The skies were blue and the sun shone brightly down on us as my father walked me down the aisle. I felt a little ridiculous, having himgive me awayto someone I was already technically married to, but there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to make Nathan happy.
And to be honest, this whole thing mademea little happy too.
Nathan and I were starting a new chapter in our lives; we needed something to mark it, and this ceremony would do perfectly.
I’d even invited my grandmother--who’d started this whole thing--and I’d shown my gratitude to her by assigning her the seat right next to Mrs. Rosewood. I could see the two of them conversing amicably as I let my gaze sweep the crowd. Well, at leastMrs. Rosewoodwas smiling. I had no idea what she was telling my grandmother, but I could guess at a few possibilities and all of them had me cackling on the inside.
In the front row, I spotted my siblings, along with Nathan’s family. My sister shot me a grin and I smiled back at her. Just the week before she’d told me that she and my brother had a bet running on whether or not I’d still be fitting my tux and now that they could see me in it, she’d won.
Neither of them had to know about the acrobatics I’d performed to get into this thing this morning.
But none of that mattered now.
Looking away from my sister, I focused on my mate waiting for me in front of the altar. He’d picked Aaron for his best man while I’d picked Conner for mine. I smiled briefly at both of them when my father ‘handed me’ to Nathan, and then I kept my gaze on the only alpha I ever wanted to marry.
Nathan looked handsome in his suit. Almost as handsome as he looked in his birthday suit. As much as I loved the way his clothes accentuated the lines of his body, I liked him best when he was naked. Especially now that I knew that, tonight, I was going to get to put more ink on him.
“You’re beautiful,” Nathan said in a hushed tone of voice.
“You too,” I said as if I hadn’t just entertained any dirty thoughts.
It was a good thing nobody could read my mind--and that our officiator started speaking before I could say anything more. I didn’t know the guy. Nathan’s dad had hired him for us, saying he was good. I didn’t really care, to be honest. I was hardly even listening to a word he said. Something about love and eternal bonds and all that shit. I didn’t need anyone to tell me about those things.
