“Are you sure you don’t want to have a huge, fancy wedding at some exclusive beach somewhere?” Gage asked, his worried expression contrasting with my happy-as-fuck-let’s-do-this attitude.

“I am so sure. Crowds freak me out and I just want to be your wife so marry me already, you chicken,” I teased.

“What about your family?” he persisted. “I don’t want them to hate me before they’ve even met me.”

“My sister will love you because she wants me to be happy; my parents will love you because you have a steady income. They’ll get over the wedding situation, I promise. Especially after we send my parents on a booze cruise to make up for our eloping.” I winked, only half-kidding. “No seriously, they’ll be estatic that I am finally ready to turn in my Fuck Up Club membership. After everything I’ve done, eloping will seem tame in comparison.”

His brow rose playfully. “Is there anything else I should know about my future bride?”

I made a show of checking my watch, saying with a shake of my head, “Too late to ask questions now. Let’s just say…there may or may not be an outstanding bench warrant in my name for something that was a complete misunderstanding.” At his look of concern, I shrugged and added, “Hey, they were our rival high school and honestly, they shouldn’t have left their mascot unattended. It’s not my fault that Jingles the Goat wandered from his pen and accidentally got eaten by a mountain lion.”

“You had a hand in the death of a farm animal?”

“I said accidentally. Besides, I did feel really bad. Truly.”

“Any other deep, dark, demented secrets you need to get off your chest before we do this?” he asked.

I smiled sweetly. “Nope.”

“Okay, then.” Eyes sparkling, he turned to the Justice of the Peace, nodding. “You heard the lady…help me make an honest woman out of her. Marry us before either one of us discovers more skeletons falling from the closets. Or, she discovers I’m truly just an asshole and I’ve tricked her into loving me.”

I giggled, that cat was out of the bag a long time ago but he was my asshole, so it was all good.

Besides, he wasn’t actually that bad. Gage had spent so much time hating himself for not taking that bullet instead of his brother that he’d never allowed himself any slack.

It was always all work and no play because he hadn’t felt he deserved anything good in his life but that bullshit mentality was over.

At my suggestion, we had Dustin moved to a private plot in New York where we would live part-time so that his little brother would always be near and once that happened, Gage started to smile more. That haunted look began to fade and the real Gage started to appear.

And the real Gage was fucking hilarious. If he wasn’t making me cum, he was making me laugh. Oh, and he could grill like Guy Fieri.

Now, you tell me why I would hesitate to lock that shit down?

Exactly. I wouldn’t — and I’m not.

We said our vows, quick and painless. Gage slipped a simple white gold band on my finger — I didn’t want anything more — and then we sealed the deal with a really hot kiss that made the clerk squirm and clear her throat.

“Are we married?” I asked, tremulously.

“We are fucking hitched,” Gage replied, beaming, looking very much like a kid who’d just scored a candy platter of Willy Wonka proportions. Suddenly, he scooped me up into his arms, shocking a startled squeak from me.

“What are you doing, you lunatic?” I asked, laughing.

“I have to carry you over the threshold, right? It’s like, a tradition.”

“Gage…we are in the court clerk’s office,” I whispered, noting with flushed embarrassment that we were creating an entertaining spectacle. “Put me down.”

“Nope. Gotta carry you over a threshold. This will have to do,” he said, proudly making a huge deal about stepping over the metal separator nailed into the old linoleum flooring. A round of applause followed and I buried my head against his chest.

“Okay, you can put me down now,” I said around my adoring smile. “Seriously, though.”

Then, in a tone so sweet and true, he said to me, “Baby, I will never put you down. The only place you belong is in my arms. I’ll never give you a reason to doubt that single truth. I love you, Mari Donnelly.”

I blinked back tears as my throat closed. “I love you, too Gage Donnelly.”

Temporary had turned into forever.

And that’s all we’d ever need.