Page 21 of Won't Back Down
“So, what’s the answer?”
Florence carefully folded her hands as she seemed to search for the right words. “If you had a different next of kin, that would solve the issue.”
“How am I going to get a different next of kin? I can’t change my family. Do we need to try to get Jace back? I mean, he’s out of contact until God knows when.”
“That is one option, though not the only one.”
I gave a humorless laugh. “Are you planning to adopt me the way you’ve adopted all the Wayward Sons?”
Delilah laid a hand on my arm. “Oh, child, we would in a heartbeat.”
“But since you’re too old for that… Well, if you were married, your husband would be your next of kin. That would override any blood ties your parents have.”
Stunned, I could only stare for a long minute. “Where the hell am I gonna get one of those? I don’t even date. I can’t even remember the last time I had a date.” Because I didn’t trust men enough to get that far.
“I didn’t say it would necessarily be easy or truly practical, but getting married in a hurry would save you from all of this.”
The absolute absurdity of the suggestion left me speechless.
Before I could open my mouth to ask for more options, Sawyer announced, “I’m in.”
I frowned at him. “In what?”
“I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”
How many shocks could one person take before her head exploded? I couldn’t possibly have heard him right. Because this was my childhood crush, the guy I’d been at least halfway in love with from the time I was thirteen, saying he was willing to enter into what amounted to a marriage of convenience in order to save me from my parents.
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying. I couldn’t do anything to stop them from the bullshit they put you through when we were young.” He covered my hand with his. “Let me do this for you now, Wren.”
Conviction was written all over his face. He truly meant this. And though I suspected this was largely driven by an extra heaping of misplaced guilt, I was… actually considering it. There was no one else on offer. Not even any other candidates I could scare up in the next week or ten days before my parents made their filing. And I did trust Sawyer. Implicitly. He’d do whatever was necessary to protect me.
But if I did this… if I married him… who was going to protect me from my own heart? Because no question, if I made this choice, we’d have to sell it, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that the torch I’d carried for him for years wouldn’t fan to full flame.
It didn’t really matter. I trusted him a lot more than I trusted my parents, and God knew I’d survived far worse than heartbreak.
“This would only be temporary, until everything else is resolved.” Because even under the best of circumstances, I hadn’t seen much that made me believe in the institution of marriage.
“Until we’re certain you’re safe,” he corrected.
I couldn’t find fault with that.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but okay. Let’s get married.”
CHAPTER 10
SAWYER
Ididn’t ask what story Mama Flo gave to Rex Monaghan for why she needed to borrow his Boston Whaler. I wasn’t asking much of anything, because if I stopped to analyze what we were doing, I’d… Well, I sure as shit wouldn’t back out. Wren needed me. I was trying not to think about the wisdom of this decision and what the hell Jace was gonna say when he found out. I could think about damage control after the deed was done.
My brain helpfully conjured up an image of Willa’s long, tanned limbs splayed out for my feasting.
We’re not doing that deed, you cretin. You don’t get to really claim her as your wife.
Not that we’d talked about any of those details, either, since this plan had been hatched yesterday afternoon, but I’d sooner cut off my own arm than take advantage of her vulnerability. This was a business arrangement. I was going to be her live-in bodyguard. I’d have to be to sell this to everyone. But I couldn’t deny a deep sense of gratification at the idea of finally having the right to shield her from her asshole father the way I’d always wanted. If that made me the faithful dog Chet Banks and Marcus Hoffman had accused me of being, so be it.
There was no waiting period to acquire a marriage license in North Carolina, and the nearest place we could get one was from the Dare County Register of Deeds in Manteo, which was about sixty nautical miles north of Hatterwick, on Roanoke Island. Hence the Boston Whaler. We’d needed the speed. Conditions were favorable today, with the wind at our backs and a blue sky full of cotton candy clouds. We were already an hour into the two-hour trip, and Willa hadn’t said a word from where she sat beside me in the cabin.