Page 68 of Insta Bride
I tried to read his expression. Excitement? Lust? I wanted to see, love.
“Can you repeat the question?” I managed, needing to buy time and suddenly noticed Kenzie and Benjamin standing next to me. I’d been the last to enter. As for Georgia and Harris, she was standing off to the side, crying.
JP answered for Kye, “Every contestant signed a marriage license application before you came on the show. We have a priest, and we have a celebrant here today.”
Crap. That would teach me for not reading the fine print.
“Ladies, you all look lovely, but if you want your wedding day to be today, we have a selection of bridal gowns backstage for you to get into.
“Is this even legal?” I asked, trying to pull Kye to his feet.
“Yes. This isn’t like other shows where you go through the commitment ceremony without making it legal.”
“You want to marry me? For real?”
“If you didn’t hear me before, I said, yes before they finished asking the question. Elena, I want this to be the first day of the rest of our lives.”
“But, why?”
“I want to marry you,” he said, again.
“For the money?” JP had said something about a wedding bonus of fifty-thousand dollars but if we lasted six months, we’d get half a million dollars.
I could pay off my home. But, was the price worth having a fake marriage to a man who didn’t love me?
“Elena, it’s not the money. This is about you and me.”
“But we won’t last.”
“Why not? You’ve already seen every side of me. You’ve seen me be a dick with other women and then stop because of you. You saw me after a five-hour hike, when I was exhausted and hungry and thirsty, and I was being an ass. Remember what we did?”
“We laughed.”
“Yes, we laughed. There hasn’t been a day since I met you that we haven’t laughed. We’ve fought, yes. But we’ve laughed more. Why not laugh with me for the rest of our lives?”
“Laugh?”
“Why not? You don’t find me ugly, do you?”
He stood up with a pitiful puppy expression and took my hand. “I might get better looking with age.”
“You know you’re the sexiest man on the island,” I teased.
“Really? There’s not much competition, sorry JP.”
“You know what I mean. We get along fine, but marriage?”
“Why not? What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
It hit me. The worst thing that could happen would be if I fell in love with my husband.
Harris had refused to get married, and Georgia refused to be maid of honor for Kenzie. I didn’t need or want anyone but Kye. Truthfully, even after I’d said, yes, I held my breath. Waiting for Kye to back out.
The wedding ceremony passed in a blur.
On the show, it would probably look like we went off stage got dressed and then came back to get hitched. In truth, the wedding happened two days later. Apparently, we’d surprised the producers with who would say yes and who would say no. Gowns needed to be fitted and sized. When the shoes they had bought me were too narrow, I offered to go barefoot. Instead, production was delayed by three hours while they flew—yes, they actually flew—a new pair of nude heels from the mainland.
The night before our wedding, Kye and I felt like we were the only people alive. Romantic candlelight dinner out on the beach while Kenzie and Benjamin dined in the restaurant.