Animal Instincts (27 page)

Maybe he was there, explaining to the guests that I was a flake who’d run out on him.

When I arrived, I threw open the double doors. “Royce,” I called. I don’t know what I expected to find inside, but what I found wasn’t it. “Royce?” My shocked gaze scanned the building and tears welled in my eyes.

Everyone stood in place, and they were staring at me expectantly. There had been no cars in the lot, but everyone was here.

Mel and Kera were at the altar on Royce’s left and Colin was on Royce’s right. My mom and Jonathan smiled encouragingly at me. Even Rachel was there.
And Jennifer. She blew me a kiss. Royce’s mom and dad nodded at me, and I noticed they both had tears of happiness in their eyes.

“About time,” someone muttered.

“Quiet,” someone else scolded.

I clutched a hand over my stomach and stared down the aisle. Royce’s expression was neutral and didn’t change when our gazes locked. He was in a tux, so unbelievably handsome, while I was in jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt. My hair was in complete disarray.

Determined, I strode to him. Gulping, heart hammering, I handed him the list I’d made. “Here,” I said. “This is for you.”

He didn’t say anything. Just read over it, expression unchanged.

“Why are you here?” I asked him quietly, my gaze never leaving his face.

“I decided to take a chance that you’d come,” was his only response. Still no change in his expression. “Why are
you
here?”

He’d decided to take a chance. God, I loved this man. And I, well… “Didn’t you read the list?”

Fierce now, his dark lashes swept up and he met my gaze. “I need to hear you say it, Naomi.”

Tears spilled from my eyes. My chin trembled, making speech difficult. “The list tells all the reasons I can’t live without you. All the reasons I love you.” I was going to take a chance, too. “You’re smart. You’re honorable. You’re funny. You’re passionate. And you’re…you. You’re mine.”

I turned to the crowd. “I love this man,” I shouted.
“I love him, and I want to marry him. I want to have his babies.”

Several ohs and sniffles drifted from the crowd.

Royce and I might stumble along the way, but the journey would be worth any hardships. Slowly I faced him. “I love you,” I said. “I love you so much, and I want to be with you, as your wife, forever. It might have taken me a little while to figure it out, but I still made it to the church. Consider this my application.”

He grinned, his lips inching upward, and he dragged me into his arms with a murmured, “Thank God.”

“Do you still want to marry me?” I asked hopefully.

He palmed my cheeks. “Well, your BlueJay says we’ve got an appointment today.”

I grinned, too. “Give me the words.”

“Yes, Naomi,” he said, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “I still want to marry you. I’m nothing without you. I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you. You were wearing green, and I’ve been obsessed with the color ever since.”

His words hit me full force, and I thought back to all the women in green who had camped out in his office. All the women who had sent him pictures of themselves wearing green lingerie—or green body paint. I was the reason for that. Me. I covered my mouth with a shaky hand, more empowered in that moment than I’d been my entire life.

If I’d had any lingering fears about Royce’s commitment to me, they vanished instantly. This man loved me so much he remembered the first outfit he’d
seen me wear and wanted everyone else in the same color. He was crazy-insane in love with everything about me.

Like I was with him.

I lowered my hand and beamed up at him.

“Then may we at last begin?” the pastor asked on a sigh.

My smiled widened. Royce kissed me again. “You may begin,” we said simultaneously.