Chapter 7

Zeke

I knewwhat it felt like to have a broken heart. Mine was crushed twice, one right after the other when I was still a teenager. I also knew it was possible to keep right on living with your heart severed into pieces. Somehow, you just limped along with the pieces working enough to survive, but never sewing back together again.

This? Marrying Rainey so she could inherit her dad's money?

This was going to break my heart all over again.

Knowing it didn't change my decision, however. As I mulled it over last night, I realized my love for her wasn't something I could choose. I couldn't shut it off after it had begun. Believe me, I'd tried. Neither time nor distance had made that love falter, and now that she was back, she needed me. Of course I was going to be there for her. Even if it broke my heart all over again. Might as well go out in a hot bonfire of brokenheartedness and live out the rest of my life in the ashes.

As we stepped into the waiting room for the judge, I got Rainey seated on one of the chairs while I went to the side table where they displayed refreshments. I couldn't stomach any of the donuts offered, but I needed one of their square white napkins. Grabbing the pen used for checking in, I scribbled out a simple sentence and signed my name. Coming back to the chairs, I handed the napkin to Rainey.

She glanced up, looking stricken but so damn pretty she made my lungs constrict. Her lashes lowered and she studied the napkin. I thrust it at her and she took it, her head bowed over it as she settled it in her lap next to her bouquet of flowers.

Whatever possessions Rainey brings to this marriage before, during, or after are hers to keep. Zeke Burns

"It's not a fancy prenup, but hopefully it calms your fears." I had a seat next to her, wishing I could take her hand in mine. If I had my way, this marriage would be very different. One hundred percent real and there would be no moment in time where I wasn't touching her.

"Thank you," she whispered, folding the napkin and tucking it into the top of her dress.

The door next to the check-in desk opened and a woman my mother went to bible study with—Whitney? Willa?—poked her head in, reading from a clipboard. "Rainette Shaw and Danny Day?"

My head jerked toward Rainey. "You agreed to become Rainey Day?"

She looked up at me finally, her lips rolled inward as she stifled a laugh. I shook my head.

"Damn. I really did save you."

Rainey lost the fight and let a wide smile take over her face. It almost felt like we were eighteen again, sharing some inside joke while the world went on around us.

I held my hand up in the air, but didn't take my eyes off Rainey. "There's been a change in grooms."

"Zeke?" the woman asked, clearly confused.

I stood up and offered my hand to Rainey, looking over my shoulder. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be the groom today." Was her name Winnie? Wanda?

Her eyes were comically huge behind her wire-rimmed glasses, her mouth dropped open in surprise. Ah ha! Wendy was her name. Wide-eyed Wendy. Her gaze darted to our joined hands and she snapped her mouth shut.

"Well, I'll be," she muttered. Then she smiled brilliantly at us both. "I always thought you two would get hitched one day!"

Rainey let out a giggle that was tipping toward hysteria. Not wanting this to get any more awkward than it already was, I pulled Rainey through the door with me, giving the woman a polite smile.

"Thanks, Wendy."

She ushered us into the judge's office, blathering on about how cute we were in high school while Rainey blushed and kept making that weird giggling noise that sounded like she was choking. I just wanted to hurry up and get this ceremony over. If it had been our real wedding, I'd have wanted it to last forever. Under the circumstances, all I cared about now was making Rainey mine. Even if she thought the whole thing was temporary.

Before I could strangle Wendy and her chatter mouth, we were standing in front of the judge, holding hands and repeating his short vows. Wendy kept Rainey's bouquet safe as she hovered behind us. Rainey's hands were shaking as I held them. I gave her a squeeze for encouragement.

"Did we bring rings with us today?" the judge asked me.

Rainey inhaled sharply at the oversight, but I'd spent four years of my life covering the pesky details that went along with her impulsive decisions. I let go of her hands and reached inside my suit jacket to the inner pocket that held the rings.

"This is my father's ring. I hope it's okay if I use it." I held up the plain gold band between us.

"But…" Rainey searched my face for an answer to her unspoken question about why it wasn't on my father's finger.

When my head dipped like it always did when I thought of my father, Rainey sucked in a shaky breath and wrapped her hand around mine. When I looked up, there were tears in her eyes. She nodded once, grief and understanding shining back at me. I gave the ring to her and she held it reverently in her hand for a moment before slipping it onto my ring finger as she repeated the vow the judge supplied.

My heart, the one that barely limped along these days, suffered another blow seeing that ring on my finger. While he wouldn't approve of a temporary marriage, my father would understand my enduring love for Rainey. That was how he'd always felt about my mother. I reached back into my pocket and fished out the last two rings. I held out the diamond ring I'd bought this morning, slipping it onto Rainey's finger as she gasped again.

"Engagement ring," I said, then slid the twisted band of gold I'd kept for twelve years in the back of my dresser drawer onto her finger also. "Wedding band." I repeated the vow and then held her fingers tightly as she stared down at our hands.

When she lifted her head, right as the judge pronounced us husband and wife, there were twin tracks of tears sliding down her cheeks to pool against her lips where she held a soft smile instead of a look of fear.

"You may kiss the bride, son." The judge, a man I'd known my whole life, shot me a wink and clapped me on the shoulder.

My heart galloped in my chest, putting on quite the effort for being broken. Perhaps the pieces didn't understand that this situation had an expiration date. This marriage wouldn't last, so there was nothing to get excited about.

I'd dreamed about kissing Rainey so many times to the point I wondered if the real thing could ever live up to my expectations. As I took one careful step closer to her, the judge and wide-eyed Wendy as our witnesses, clutching her hands to her chest a few feet away, it all faded away. I let go of Rainey's hands and cupped one hand beneath her jaw. She tipped her head back, her eyes nearly as wide as Wendy's.

My thumb swept across her smooth cheek and collected her tears, as if I needed to feel the liquid against my skin to make myself believe this moment was actually happening. Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. Pink stained her cheeks. I dipped my head and breathed her in, that sweet fruity scent of hers swirling through my brain and bending time. I could have been eighteen again, begging her silently for a kiss that would never come. Rainey's eyelids went heavy and slid shut.

With barely an inch between us, I closed the gap, my lips finally touching hers for the first time. I froze, all finesse and talent out the window, but then Rainey responded, her lips softening under mine. A groan threatened to spill from my throat and I tilted her head to deepen the kiss. My other hand gripped her waist. My tongue teased her bottom lip, and for a second, her body tensed against me. Then she melted, her breasts pressing against my chest as her body conformed to mine. Her lips parted and I took advantage, my tongue sweeping in to taste her. I wanted to know every part of this woman and it started with consuming her mouth. My arm slid around her waist and not one inch of space could be found between us. My brain went to a place where all I knew was Rainey. Her heady scent, her little moan in the back of her throat, her tongue tentatively touching mine.

A deep chuckle brought my awareness back and I ended the kiss with a soft pluck at her lips. Regret already filled my veins, not of the kiss, but of having to end it. I'd probably never get the chance to do it again. I knew without a doubt that kiss had ruined me for any woman in my future. Rainey's eyes were still closed as I pulled back. She was breathing hard. Her entire body leaned against me, as if her legs had decided to quit working.

The judge clapped me on the shoulder again. Rainey's eyes blinked open, unfocused. "I marry a lot of couples and the kiss tells me everything I need to know. You two are going to make it."

And with that proclamation, he turned to walk away. Wendy was ushering us out of the office in a rush, handing the bouquet back to Rainey and offering us her congratulations.

We stood alone on the steps of the courthouse, blinking into the midday sunlight, our hands still clutched together. We both turned and looked at each other at the same time. I imagined my face held the same shock and confusion as Rainey's. She licked her lips and my brain went fuzzy, hoping she still tasted me there.

"Um…" she whispered, cheeks flaring beyond pink and into red hues now. "What now?"

A deep sense of satisfaction settled in my chest, like a key that I'd held forever had finally found the lock it was made for.

"We go home, wife."