Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(67)

“Like I said. It’s your choice.”

“Marriage isn’t handcuffing yourself,” I said. “Before I met Kira, maybe I would’ve agreed. But I want to marry her because, well—” I groaned. “You know what? I’m not about to say anything remotely sappy in front of you two. I know you’ll never let me live it down.”

Cade threaded his fingers together and begged. “Please. Don’t dangle it in front of me like that and then take it away. Besides, if you don’t tell me what you were going to say, I’m going to imagine something ten times sappier and make fun of you for it.”

“I was just going to say that I know I love her, so it doesn’t feel crazy. I always wondered how people knew. I thought it was bullshit when they’d say you just do. But that’s how it is. I just know. I know I love her.”

Cade held a serious expression for a few seconds, then acted like he was violently throwing up in the corner.

Nick patted my shoulder again. “I’m happy for you. He is, too, beneath the thick layers of idiot he communicates through.”

“Super happy,” Cade agreed. He wiped imaginary vomit from his mouth with the back of his hand. “Pussy,” he added with a smirk.

“Just watch,” I said. “It’ll get you too one of these days.”

“Fuck. I hope not.”

“Me too,” Nick agreed. “For the sake of the poor woman Cade might actually fall in love with.”





Chapter 25





KIRA


Iris and Miranda sat around my kitchen table. We couldn’t meet at Bradley’s, because Rich and I had to avoid being seen together in public. Rich was there, too, but he’d had to use an Uber and dress low-key with sunglasses and a hat to avoid being spotted. For once, my friends weren’t being obnoxious to him. I think the whole spontaneous engagement thing must’ve at least told them Rich and I were too serious to dissuade with snarky comments and glares. If they were going to have to live with it, they’d might as well make it comfortable.

We each had magazines full of wedding colors, gowns, and decoration ideas.

“I always thought cream and violet was gorgeous,” Miranda said. “Classy, but not stale.”

“What about red and silver?” Iris asked. “It’s got a kind of badass I’ll smile and be sweet, but if you cross the line, I’ll absolutely judo chop your throat kind of vibe.”

“What do you think, Rich?”

Rich jolted, like he had been sleeping with his eyes open. “I think whatever colors you pick will be great.”

I sighed. “That’s such a guy answer.”

“Okay,” he said. He snatched one of the magazines with color swatches and started flipping through the pages with an extremely serious look on his face. He finally shook his head in defeat. “I’m sorry. I just want you to be happy. To me, as long as they make our marriage official, I’m good with whatever decorations you pick.”

“Such a guy,” Iris and Miranda said at the same time.

Rich raised his eyebrows. “Guilty as charged.”

“So, Richard King,” Iris said. She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. It seemed like she wasn’t capable of speaking to Rich without turning it into an interrogation straight out of a low-budget TV cop drama. “You don’t care about the details of the wedding ceremony. All you care about is getting this show on the road as fast as possible. Curious, isn’t it? It’s almost like you have something to hide.”

“There’s nothing curious about it. I love her.”

He said it so simply that the words hit me with a new kind of shock. I’d heard him say he loved me before now, but his matter-of-fact tone made it sink in deeper than anything yet. I had to admit I was still secretly terrified that Rich was using the marriage as a tool and not because it was what he really wanted.

But his plain statement of love convinced me where nothing else had. He was telling the truth. Potentially getting his parents off our backs was just a fortunate side effect of the proposal. This was about love.

I squeezed his hand under the table. Rich looked back at me and gave me a little conspiratorial wink.

“So,” Miranda said, “do you really think your parents have no idea?”

“Yeah,” Rich said. “It helps that they’re so used to getting what they want. I don’t think it ever really occurred to them that blackballing us wasn’t going to work. So when it seemed like their plan had succeeded, they were more than ready to believe it.”

“And what happens if they go berserk at the wedding?” Iris asked.

“People will get a show?” I suggested.

Miranda and Rich grinned, but Iris was glaring at me. Iris was overprotective to a fault. She may have backed off exiling me for my interest in Rich, but she had apparently made some kind of internal vow to make sure he didn’t hurt me ever again.

“You’re okay with that?” Iris asked. “It’s supposed to be your dream day. Your wedding. You want two old farts throwing a tantrum in the middle of the ceremony?”

“I’m okay with it,” I said. “I think a wedding that goes off without a hitch is kind of boring. I actually always thought it would be cool to have a wedding where somebody objects when the pastor asks if anyone has any reason the bride and groom shouldn’t wed. It just seems . . . romantic.”