Entwined with You(98)

His second stipulation was that I accept ten million from him upon the wedding, doubling my personal estate just for saying I do. Every year thereafter, he gave me more. I would receive bonuses for each child we had together, be paid for going to couples therapy with him. I agreed to counseling and mediation in the event of a divorce. I agreed to share a residence with him, bimonthly vacations, date nights …


The more I read, the more I understood. The prenup didn’t protect Gideon’s assets at all. He gave them freely, going so far as to stipulate up front that fifty percent of everything he acquired from our marriage onward was irrefutably mine. Unless he cheated. If that happened, it cost him severely.


The prenup was designed to protect his heart, to bind me and bribe me to stay with him no matter what. He was giving everything he had.


He joined me on the terrace when I flipped to the last page, strolling out in a pair of partially buttoned jeans and nothing else. I knew his perfectly timed arrival wasn’t coincidental. He’d been watching me from somewhere, gauging my reaction.


I brushed the tears from my cheeks with studied nonchalance. “Good morning, ace.”


“Morning, angel.” He bent and pressed a kiss to my cheek before taking the chair at the end of the table to my left.


A member of the staff came out with breakfast and coffee, arranging the place settings quickly and efficiently before disappearing as swiftly as he’d appeared.


I looked at Gideon, at the way the tropical breeze adored him and played with that sexy mane of hair. Sitting there as he was, so virile and casual, he wasn’t at all the cut-and-dried presentation of dollar signs I’d seen in the prenup.


Allowing the pages to flip back to the first page, I set my hand on top of it and said, “Nothing in this document can keep me married to you.”


He took a quick, deep breath. “Then we’ll revisit and revise. Name your terms.”


“I don’t want your money. I want this,” I gestured at him. “Especially this.” I leaned forward and placed my hand over his heart. “You’re the only thing that can hold me, Gideon.”


“I don’t know how to do this, Eva.” He caught my hand and held it pressed flat to his chest. “I’m going to f*ck up. And you’ll want to run.”


“Not anymore,” I argued. “Haven’t you noticed?”


“I noticed you running into the ocean last night and sinking like a damn stone!” Leaning forward, he held my gaze. “Don’t argue the prenup on principle. If there are no deal breakers for you in it, live with it. For me.”


I sat back. “You and I have a long way to go,” I said softly. “A document can’t force us to believe in each other. I’m talking about trust, Gideon.”


“Yeah, well—” He hesitated. “I don’t trust myself not to f*ck this up, and you don’t trust that you’ve got what I need. We trust each other just fine. We can work on the rest together.”


“Okay.” I watched his eyes light up and knew I was making the right decision, even if I was still partially convinced that it was a decision we were making too soon. “I do have one revision.”


“Name it.”


“You just did. The name issue.”


“Nonnegotiable,” he said flatly, with an empathic swipe of his hand for good measure.


I arched a brow. “Don’t be a f*cking Neanderthal. I want to take my dad’s name, too. He’s wanted that and it’s bothered him my whole life. This is my chance to fix it.”


“So, Eva Lauren Reyes Cross?”


“Eva Lauren Tramell Reyes Cross.”


“That’s a mouthful, angel,” he drawled, “but do what makes you happy. That’s all I want.”


“All I want is you,” I told him, leaning forward to offer him my mouth for a kiss.


His lips touched mine. “Let’s make it official.”


I married Gideon Geoffrey Cross barefoot on a Caribbean beach with the hotel manager and Angus McLeod as witnesses. I hadn’t realized Angus was there, but I was pleased that he was.


It was a quick, beautifully simple ceremony. I could tell from the beaming smiles of the reverend and Claude that they were honored to officiate over Gideon’s nuptials.


I wore the prettiest dress I’d found in the closet. Strapless and ruched from breasts to hips, with petals of organza floating down to my feet, it was a sweet yet sexy romantic gown. My hair was up in an elegantly messy knot with a red rose tucked into it. The hotel provided a bouquet of white-ribboned jasmine.


Gideon wore graphite gray slacks and an untucked white dress shirt. He went barefoot, too. I cried when he repeated his vows, his voice strong and sure, even while his eyes betrayed a heated yearning.


He loved me so much.


The entire ceremony was intimate and deeply personal. Perfect.


I missed my mom and dad and Cary. I missed Ireland and Stanton and Clancy. But when Gideon bent to seal our marriage with a kiss, he whispered, “We’ll do this again. As many times as you want.”


I loved him so much.


Angus stepped up to kiss me on both cheeks. “It does me good to see you both so happy.”