Chapter Eight
Dec
I plastered on a genial smile and waved to the cameras as they zoomed in to introduce me to the audience. My bride was going to step out at any moment, and I hadn’t been told who she was. The audience knew, though, and apparently the bride was also told seconds before heading down the aisle. Typical wedding, really—leave the groom out of everything. Ha.
The guests began to turn their heads, and I looked up the aisle to see a petite brunette haltingly making her way toward me. Oh, shit. Was this show actually fucking serious?
It was Liv.
Holy. Fuck.
She looked utterly breathtaking in a princess-style wedding dress, and for a second, it all felt real. The wedding. My fiancée. The priest and the altar. I pictured the guests as my friends and family, radiantly happy and cheering me on as I married the most beautiful woman alive.
But of course it was all bullshit. Liv was the most beautiful girl alive, as far as I was concerned, but she couldn’t stand me, and to be honest, after yesterday I wasn’t sure I liked her attitude either. She was so damn paranoid, always thinking people were out to get her. I wasn’t manipulating her; it wasn’t my damn fault she fell apart under my touch the way she did. It was because our bodies melded together perfectly, and the mere sight of her made me want to ravish her for a week straight. That was just pure chemistry, not manipulation on my behalf.
I watched her face as she approached. There was a vague look of impressed desire on her pretty features as her eyes skated over my suit, but it was quickly replaced with shy embarrassment. This couldn’t be easy for her, being on live TV at such a young age, only to be married to her own mother’s trophy husband, whom she apparently couldn’t stand.
I almost snorted out loud at the sheer ludicrousness of it all.
How the hell did Ellen not put a stop to this? I knew the show was live and therefore difficult to cancel, but come the fuck on! Did she have no soul at all? Was she really willing to watch her daughter pretend to marry her own husband just so the show could go on? Of course hardly anyone else knew that I was Ellen’s husband (and it was a sham marriage, so I used the word ‘husband’ rather lightly) but still….seriously? It was bad enough I was in one fake marriage with her, but to be in a second fake marriage with her hot-as-fuck daughter…
Jesus.
Liv finally reached me at the altar. She looked like she was about to have a heart attack at this point. Poor little girl. I didn’t blame her in the slightest. My own heart was racing like I’d just completed a triathlon.
I put on a big smile to try and calm her nerves. It was fake as hell, but so was this whole damn wedding. Liv’s eyes flitted around anxiously, and I held out my hand and offered it to her. She took it hesitantly.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Declan. Dec for short.”
“I’m Liv,” she said, voice barely above a whisper.
“Well, now that you two have met, let’s get you married!” said the priest, who was about as godly a man as Stalin.
Liv’s hand was clutching mine in an almost painful grip. “Hey, it’s okay,” I whispered. “Calm down.”
“Has no one ever told you that telling someone to calm down usually has the opposite effect?” she hissed back as the priest began to recite some bullshit introduction to the vows.
I winked. “Careful, wifey. The cameras are on you right now. Don’t want to look like a ball-buster already, do you?”
“Oh, I’ll bust your balls for sure if you call me wifey again.”
She was using this attitude of hers to cover her true mood right now, which was pure panic. I could see it in her eyes. So fine, if that’s what helped her get through this, then I was happy to play along and crack annoying joke after annoying joke. Just so long as she was okay.
“Today, I have the pleasure of joining the beautiful Olivia with her handsome partner, Declan,” the priest went on.
The crowd practically swooned. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not roll my eyes. ”Pretty sure incest is actually illegal,” I whispered to Liv, barely moving my lips. “But here I am, marrying my daughter. Well, stepdaughter, anyway.”
She smiled sweetly as the camera zoomed in on her again, but I could see the murderous intent in her eyes. The camera swung around to sweep across the audience, and she finally replied. “I’m pretty sure polygamy is also illegal, yet here you are, marrying your second wife.”
“Hardy-har-har.”
The priest finally managed to spit out the vows, which we recited after him.
“I do,” I said, giving Liv another wink. There was a little vein twitching on her forehead now.
Then it was her turn. “I do,” she said, practically through gritted teeth.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife!” As the priest spoke, the guests went wild, whopping and cheering. They’d already witnessed three other weddings before this…weren’t they sick of this shit by now? I suppose they were huge fans of the show, though.
I grabbed Liv’s hand again and pulled it up in the air along with mine in a celebratory gesture, and the priest waved his hand at me. “We’re not done yet!” he said with a grin. “You still have to kiss your bride!”
Shit. I forgot about that part.
“Please don’t bite my tongue off,” I murmured, looking down at Olivia, who looked as if she’d just been told she had five minutes to live.
“I’ll certainly bite something off if you don’t shut up,” she replied in a low mutter.
I smiled for the cameras again, then leaned down and pressed my lips to hers. Hey, it was for the show. Had to be done. Wrapping my arms tightly around her, I deepened the kiss, immediately forgetting everything around us. The guests, the cameras, the producers…none of it was here now. It was just Liv and me.
Heat surged through me, and my skin seemed to burn where it touched hers. Blood rushed hotly through my system as our lips and tongues clashed, and my cock quickly stood to attention.
Kissing Liv was pure magic.
She finally moaned into my mouth and pulled back, and I stopped and flashed her a wink. “That was nice.”
As we turned and waved to the guests again, Liv spoke up, knowing none of the mics could pick up on what she was saying over our cheering audience. “This won’t last,” she said. “I’m going to get us voted off this show as soon as possible. Leave it to the real contestants.”
I arched a brow and plastered on a big fake smile again. “Really? Well, we’ll see about that. I think I rather like the idea of staying married to you for a while, if it’s gonna get me kisses like that.”
“I’m not playing around. We are getting off this island as soon as possible. If we aren’t the first or second couple voted off in the next couple of weeks, I’ll eat a shoe.”
“Not playing around, huh?” I laughed. “Oh, yes you are. This show is technically a game, wifey. Big prize to win and everything.”
I didn’t tell her that being forced to spend time with her was the big prize, as far as I was concerned.
“Oh, of course you’d care about playing the game for the prize, you gold-digging man-whore. Married my mom for cash, after all. Another million dollars wouldn’t hurt.”
I grinned. Her words had no effect on me, although if they came from someone else it’d be a different story. “I have one thing to say to that, wifey.”
Her eyes flashed with disdain. “Oh?”
My grin grew wider. “Let the games begin.”