But this ring? It shows Ryder put a whole lot of love and attention into picking out something that reminded him ofme.
Mayte’s voice drags me back. “By the power vested in me by the online officiating course I took last night, I now pronounce you wife and husband.” A chuckle escapes my lips, and at the same time, Ryder pulls me into him, clutching my cheeks in his warm hands and planting a firm kiss against my mouth that knocks the wind from my lungs. It’s so chaste my lips miss him when it’s over.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Chapter Nineteen
OURS
SATURDAY, MAY 3
Last night,after the ceremony, we all met at the main house for family dinner. It was casual, everything Lola and I had talked about.
Small and comfortable with our immediate family.
José, Lola’s dad, madechoco-flanas a makeshift wedding cake, and afterward, Lola and I went on a ride with Penny and Asier.
It was perfect,despite having to pull her onto Asier with me when she felt too weak to lead Penny herself.
My feet are heavy as I make my way up the steps of her parents’ cottage.This is really happening.
My knuckles scrape across the worn wood of their front door, and it bursts open, Lola standing on the other side. Her curls frame her face in a halo of perfectly styled ringlets, those big brown eyes of hers wide, her pouty lips in a surprisedoas she stares up at me.
“I-I thought you’d be here later. I’m not packed yet,” she tells me.
I chuckle, moving past her into the cottage. “I figured, darlin’, which is why I came over early. I wanted to help youpack.” Despite having about a million things to get done on the ranch today, I'll always make time for Lola.Always.
Her throat bobs as she gulps, still wide-eyed in those black spandex shorts and her oversized white sweatshirt. And of course, she still looks just as beautiful as she did yesterday, all done up.
When will the sight of her stop being so potent? Like I’m a caged animal, dying to break free of my restraints so I can wrap myself around her and kiss her every moment of the day. It’s clear following our rules will be harder than I’d believed when I first agreed to them, but I’m pleading with a higher power that she’ll eventually come to agree that ourrulesare merely suggestions made to be broken.
“Okay,” she finally says. Lola blinks rapidly, as if clearing her mind, before heading to her room. I follow behind her. “I guess there’s not a whole lot left to do. I hadn’t had a chance to fully unpack since I got here, and most of my stuff wouldn’t fit in my room anyway.”
“So what’s left? Put me to work, darlin’.”
We work in silence, packing up the photos on her walls and dressers, making sure to take extra special care of each knickknack. We’re almost done. Her clothes are the last thing to be packed, and when I open the top drawer of her dresser, my tongue feels thick in my mouth.
Silk, lace, satin, and everything in between is shoved to one side of the drawer, but her panties are the least exciting part. Lying beside the underwear are vibrators and other sex toys in varying shades of purple and pink, a large black toy with a curved nub that looks like a tongue on top. I gape at them, jaw unhinged, my dick stirring to life in my jeans, balls tightening as I swallow around the lump in my throat.
Lola’s hand smacks down on mine. “I’ll get that,” she rushes out.
I manage to nod, very fucking slowly. “I’ll, uh, start taking these things over to our place.”Our place.The words settle onmy tongue like a secret I’ve been holding for too long, a warm rush spreading through me, as if saying it somehow makes itmorereal. Look at me, already breaking rule number three:If romantic feelings begin to develop, we tell the other person immediately.If I tell her how I feel the day after our wedding, she’s going to regret ever having agreed to this in the first place, and I’ll never have a chance to convince her we could give a relationship, areal relationship, another shot.
“Thanks,” she says, positioning herself protectively in front of the drawer.
“I’ll be back soon, darlin’,” I tell her, my voice hoarse.
Chapter Twenty
CLEANIN’ UP
SATURDAY, MAY 3
Ryder sawmy fuckingunderwear drawer.
Not only that, but the other thingsinmy underwear drawer.
It’s already bad enough that I’m moving in with him today in order to sell this marriage to anyone who might question it. I didn’t need him catching a glimpse of my toys too!
