“Great.” Charlie grinned again. “Okay, lovebirds, let’s head up to my office and get you two hitched.”
Finn turned to Ellie and put out his arm. “Are you ready to become Mrs. McKenna?”
Was she?
She lifted her gaze to Finn’s blue eyes. She barely knew this man, but what she knew she liked. Respected. Trusted. Would that be enough?
She thought of Jiao again, and realized it would have to be. In the end, running WW would be fulfilling, but not nearly as fulfilling as coming home to Jiao’s contagious smile and wide dark eyes.
“Why, Mr. McKenna, I can’t think of another thing I’d rather do in the middle of the day.” Then she linked her arm in Finn’s and headed toward the judge’s chambers.
THE whole thing took only a few minutes—including Charlie’s beginning jokes and closing quips. They called in his assistant and a court clerk to serve as witnesses, the two of them looking like they’d seen more than one impromptu wedding. Charlie thought they were getting married out of love, and in typical Charlie fashion, strove to make the event fun and memorable. Finn stumbled when Charlie asked him about rings, which Charlie racked up as bridegroom nerves. “I can’t believe you, of all people, forgot a major detail like the rings,” Charlie said. “No worries, but be sure you make it up to her later with a lot of diamonds,” he said with a wink, then in the next breath pronounced them man and wife.
Man and wife. The words echoed in Finn’s mind, bouncing around like a rubber ball. He’d done it. And no one was more surprised than Finn himself. He, the man who hadn’t operated without a plan since he was writing his first research paper in fourth grade, had run off in the middle of the day and—
Eloped.
Holy cow. He’d really done it.
“And now for the best part,” Charlie said, closing the book in his hands and laying it on his desk. “You may kiss your bride.”
Finn stared at Charlie for a long second. Kiss the bride? He’d forgotten all about that part. He’d simply assumed a quick civil union in a courthouse would be devoid of all the flowers and romance part of a church wedding. “Uh, I don’t know if we have to—”
Charlie laughed. “What, are you shy now? Go on, kiss her.”
Finn considered refusing, but then thought better of it. Charlie would undoubtedly question a marriage where the groom didn’t want to get close with his bride. And if they were going to pull off this fiction in front of their friends and colleagues, they needed to at least look the part. Finn turned to Ellie. Her green eyes were wide, her lips parted slightly. In shock? Anticipation?
She looked beautiful and delicious all at the same time in that simple daffodil-colored dress. In that instant, his reservations disappeared, replaced by a fast, hot surge of want. No, it was more than desire, it was a … craving for whatever inner happiness was lighting Ellie’s features.
She stood there, looking as hesitant as he felt. A faint blush colored her cheeks, disappeared beneath her long blond hair. She looked like a bride—pretty, breathless, yet at the same time she possessed a simmering sensuality. He wanted her, even as he reminded himself this was a purely platonic union.
There would be no kisses. No lovemaking. Nothing but this moment. And right now, Finn didn’t want to let this moment pass.
Her gaze met his and a curious tease filled the emerald depths. “Well, Mr. McKenna, are you going to do as the nice judge says?”
“I would never disobey a judge,” Finn said, his voice low, hoarse. Just between them. Charlie, the witnesses, hell, the entire world ceased to exist.
He closed the gap between them, reached a hand to cup her jaw. Electricity crackled in the air, in the touch. A breath extended between them, another. Ellie’s chest rose, fell. Her dark pink lips parted, her deep green eyes widened, and her light floral perfume teased at his senses, luring him closer, closer.
Damn, he wanted her. He’d wanted her from the minute he’d met her.
With one kiss he’d seal this marriage. But was that all this kiss was about? This moment?
No. He knew, deep in his gut, that there was something else happening here, something he wasn’t sure he wanted or needed in his life. He could have been standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to plunge—
Into the cushion of water, or the danger of rocks? He didn’t know.
All he could feel was this insistent want. For her. For just one taste. He lowered his mouth to hers, and at the instant that his lips met hers, he knew.
Knew that kissing Ellie was going to change everything.
Her lips were sweet and soft beneath his, her hair a silky tickle against his fingers. She leaned into him for one long, blissful second, and he inhaled, drawing in the scent of her, memorizing it, capturing the moment in Technicolor in his mind.
Ellie.
Then she drew back and the kiss was over, nearly as quickly as it began. The flush in her cheeks had deepened to a light crimson. Her gaze met his for one hot, electric second, then she looked away, and turned back to Charlie.
Platonic. Business relationship. The heady rush gone. He told himself he was glad. That it was exactly what he wanted.
“There. It’s official now.” Charlie grinned, then he reached out and shook hands with both of them. The witnesses murmured their congratulations before slipping out the door. “Congratulations,” Charlie said. “May you have an abundance of happiness and children.”
Children. Or, rather, a single child. Half the reason they’d embarked on this fake union. Finn glanced over at Ellie, but her gaze was on the window, not on him, hiding whatever she might have thought about Charlie’s words.
A few minutes later, they left the courthouse, a newly minted marriage license in hand. The paper weighed nothing, but felt heavier than a concrete block.
Married. To a near stranger.
A stranger whose kiss had awakened a roaring desire inside Finn. He had thought he was doing this just for business reasons, but that kiss was as far from business as the earth was from the moon. And he needed to remember his uppermost goal.
Don’t get involved. Don’t fall for her. Don’t lose track of the priority. Don’t get swept up in a tsunami that would leave him worse off in the end.
As they walked down the street toward the parking garage, Finn dug his car keys out of his pocket, then paused. They were married. And that meant the occasion, even if it was merely a professional alliance, deserved some kind of celebration. “How about we get some dinner before we head back to Boston?”
“I should probably get back to work. I left in the middle of my day and have a lot on my To Do list.” She stepped to the side to allow a quartet of lunch workers to power past them. “But thanks for the offer.”
His To Do list was probably just as long, but for the first time in a long time, Finn didn’t want to go back to his office, didn’t feel like sitting behind that mahogany desk, even as the sensible side of him mounted a vigorous objection. “It’s not every day you get married, you know. We should at least have a glass of wine to celebrate. Or iced tea for you. I’ll have the wine.”
“Don’t you have work to get to, too?”
“Always. But it’s waited this long. It can wait a little longer. Regardless of why we got married, this is a big moment for both of us.” He grinned. “Don’t you agree?”
It