Page 225 of By His Vow
Kingston smirks, more than aware of what’s distracted me.
He squeezes my hand as the officiant says my name again.
I startle and turn to him.
“I’m so sorry.”
He starts again, and I repeat his words, making my promises to Kingston.
I have to keep them for a year, just one short year, but as I say the words, I can’t help but feel like they’re more than they should be, that I’m promising so much more than the contract I signed, the terms I agreed to.
“Kingston,” the officiant says, before I listen to him repeat the same words.
With each one, my heart pounds harder and my hands begin to shake more violently.
The calmness I felt earlier ebbs away as the reality of this situation finally dawns.
This is serious. We’re really doing this.
And what’s worse, I’m not hating every second.
Everything is a blur as we say our vows. Everything feels like it’s spinning out of control. It’s all I can do not to fall into a full-blown panic attack—something I haven’t experienced since my parents first shipped me off to boarding school. The only thing that calmed me was Miles’s presence.
But while he might be in the room, he’s not going to help me now.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating the new Mr. and Mrs. Callahan,” the officiant says, earning a loud round of applause from our small audience. “Kingston, you may now kiss your bride.”
Without missing a beat, he closes the space between us and takes my face in his hands.
Resting his brow against mine, he stares down into my eyes.
Instantly, I’m a little calmer.
“Breathe, baby.”
“King,” I whisper, my eyes bouncing between his.
The air is charged, and despite the words we’ve just said to each other in front of our closest friends and family, there are so many more that go unspoken between us.
“Mine,” he breathes before finally pressing his lips against mine.
It starts innocent, but then his hand drops to my waist and he tugs me against him, or at least the best he can with my dress trying to keep us apart.
I gasp when his grip tightens on me. It gives him the opening he was obviously gunning for and his tongue plunges past my lips, kissing me the way I’ve been dreaming of since last Monday.
There are a couple of rumbling cheers, which I can only assume belong to Kian and Kieran, before Kingston finally lets me up for air.
“Missed you, baby,” he whispers, his eyes sparkling with a potent mixture of excitement and desire. “Can’t wait to make this official.”
“Pretty sure that’s what we just did.”
He chuckles. “For them, yeah. What I’m thinking about is a much more private affair.”
Heat pools between my thighs as my mouth opens to argue, to attempt to keep a level head.
“I know you need it as badly as I do, so don’t even try to argue.”
Before I manage to get a word out, he grabs my hand and turns me toward our smiling audience.