Page 47 of Bad Boy Husband

JAMESON

I hadn’t seen Sadie in what felt like days . Technically, I had, but only for fleeting moments and kisses so rushed that they’d been on the cheek. We’d mostly spoken via text while she bounced between fittings, cake tastings, and last-minute changes to the adoption-fair plans.

So I hadn’t really seen her. Not in the way I was used to or the way I wanted. Between the wedding and the block party happening later today, she’d been so busy since we’d gotten home from Texas that I was considering drastic measures.

I had half a mind to kidnap her in her sleep, fly her to Fiji or Bali, buy a little shack on the beach there, and spend the rest of our lives alternating between making love and playing in the waves.

Alone.

With no one else around for miles.

Right now, however, I was stuck in a bespoke menswear boutique. Our wedding was only a couple days away and my brothers and I were shopping for tuxes for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night.

CC’s tailors buzzed around us, one of them currently pinning my tux like I was being readied for burial. I held my breath, too afraid of being pricked to exhale.

“I can’t feel my ribs,” I muttered.

“You don’t need ribs,” Callum said from the armchair across the room. “You need to look like a damn prince. Mom gave strict orders and I’m here to make sure they’re followed.”

“I’m not royalty,” I said. “Also, you’re here to get fitted, not to make sure her orders are followed.”

Harrison adjusted his cuffs and rolled his shoulders, eyeing himself critically in the mirror in front of him before he smirked at me.

“You’re marrying a girl who looks like a fairytale princess.

I mean, come on. The red hair? The blue eyes?

So yeah, you kind of do need to look like a prince.

Suck it up or risk losing her to me. Because I look like a fucking prince and I’m owning it. ”

Sterling brushed an imaginary piece of lint off his jacket and shook out his arms as he rolled his eyes at our youngest brother. “A prince-in-waiting, perhaps. Is there a special term for that, a baby prince?”

“A boy prince?” Callum guessed, but he’d been jittery as hell since we’d arrived.

So much so that he hadn’t even tried on anything yet.

Instead, his leg was bouncing like it was trying to win a contest and he was tossing back bourbon like he was afraid he might never get another taste.

“No, wait. I got it, the little prince .”

Sterling chuckled. “I loved that book. I’m not letting you ruin it for me.”

Meanwhile, I kept my eyes on Callum in the reflection of the mirror, unable to turn around and risk a needle piercing my heart, but something was definitely up with him.

“What’s going on with you? Are you okay?

I thought you’d be chomping at the bit for this, or did you pick out a dress when you went to the bridal store with the girls? ”

He blinked rapidly, like I’d just busted him with his hand firmly in the cookie jar. “What? Yeah. No. I mean, kind of. I’m fine.”

Harrison snorted. “That was convincing.”

Callum ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Then he glanced between Sterling and me. “I had a conversation with Dad yesterday.”

“Define conversation,” I said, but I had a sneaky suspicion I knew where this was going.

“The kind where he says I’m not getting any younger and I need to start looking for a wife,” he replied, deadpan, a flat look in his eyes and his jaw tight. “Apparently, it’s time I put down roots and build something meaningful. I felt like a damn peach tree.”

“Ah, the talk . Welcome to the club,” I muttered. “Arranged marriages aren’t that bad, though.”

Callum glared at me. “You’ve been in love with your fiancée since, like, forever. You don’t count.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still an arranged marriage.”

“Barely.” Callum paused for a beat. “Your version was arranged by fate or the universe way more than it was arranged by you.”

“I disagree,” I said but then inclined my chin toward Sterling. At least my head was one part of my body I could move without risking injury. “What about him, then? He and Laney are high society’s new favorite couple.”

“That’s only because he won the fucking lottery with her,” Callum grumbled. “I don’t have a long-lost love who also needs to get married, nor have I recently acquired the company of my dream girl.”

Harrison had been freed by the tailor working on him and he strode over to the drinks cart in the corner. Grinning, he looked back at Callum. “Maybe you should put an ad in the paper. I can see the title now, Billionaire Seeking Wife. Must be Hot .”

“Don’t think I won’t do it,” Callum muttered. “I’m considering my options. All of them.”

I winked at him, chuckling as I brought my hands up and moved them apart like I was writing the ad in Hollywood lights. “ Restless heir seeks emotionally stable woman with limited expectations and a deep tolerance for nonsense .”

Callum flipped me off, but the bounce in his leg slowed. There was a moment of silence before Harrison sighed dramatically, drink in his hand and a wide grin on his lips. “You know I’ll be the only one of us not getting married.”

“I’m curious to know why you think that,” I said, amused that he thought he was going to escape this. “Harlan will be having the talk with you soon enough, little bro.”

“Nah, Mom won’t want to lose her baby. She won’t let go.”

Callum laughed. “You are the baby. She cried more at your kindergarten graduation than she did at my college one.”

I grinned, relaxing for the first time all day. “Do you guys ever wonder who her favorite is?”

All four of us paused.

“Laney,” we said in unison a beat later.

“Hands down,” Harrison added. “It was me, but now it’s definitely Laney. No contest.”

Sterling laughed. “There have been times when I haven’t wanted to take her to the house, simply because I knew that as soon as we got there I wouldn’t be seeing her for the next few hours.”

I nodded enthusiastically. “She cried when Laney wore that yellow dress to brunch. Do you guys remember that?”

“Yeah, because it made her look so much like Grandma Cece.” Callum smirked. “I think she might’ve forgotten that Laney’s not actually her blood. She bears no resemblance to Mom’s family at all.”

“And yet, I’m pretty sure she would have framed that dress in honor of her own mother if Laney would’ve let her have it after,” Harrison said somberly. “Now the grandbaby is a girl, too. Move over boys. We’ve had our time in the sun.”

We all stared at each other blankly for a second before we burst out laughing. God, I needed this.

By the time we were done with the tailors, we had to head right over to the Baby Blossom Back to School block party. It was already in full swing when we got there, a whole section of their street roped off for the festivities.

Lined with booths and balloons, the block was packed with families and volunteers. There were tables stacked with cupcakes and lemonade, a face-painting stand, a bouncy castle, and of course, what Sadie had nicknamed the pup parade.

There were dogs everywhere. Puppies, teenagers, and older dogs alike were in playpens or clipped to leashes, not a single cage in sight.

Shelter volunteers walked around with those on leashes or sat with them in the shade of their massive stand, water bowls and food containers dotting the ground around their space.

As soon as my brothers and I arrived, I went over there and spotted Sadie instantly. She was crouched next to a giant Saint Bernard wearing a neckerchief that read Adopt Me , laughing and helping while two toddlers fawned all over him.

My chest tightened like it always did when I saw her like this, in her element. She was so radiant. So real. I couldn’t get enough.

“Hey, stranger,” I said as I walked up to her. “I’d almost forgotten what you look like. Care to stand up and let me stare at you for a minute?”

Sadie looked up and flashed a smile that made my breath stall in my lungs. “Jameson. You’re here!”

“I wouldn’t have missed it, but it turns out tuxedo fitting is serious business. CC left strict instructions with the tailors not to let us leave until we were completely done. How’s it going here?”

“Most of the dogs are already adopted,” she said excitedly, getting to her feet. “It’s going so well. Joan and Lisa have been inundated with all the applications and they haven’t been able to stop with the paperwork since we got here.”

I glanced around, noticing them sitting with new pet parents while doing the paperwork and a line of others already waiting to do the same. “Wow. That’s amazing. You really did it, Sades. This is incredible.”

“It really is.” Happy tears glistened in her eyes as she followed my gaze.

“This community Laney is part of is just amazing. A lot of them didn’t even know about the shelter, but now that they do, I think we’ve also gained a few more volunteers and a couple of businesses have even pledged financial help.

Plus, Luella thought it was ridiculous that so many people didn’t know about us, so she’s going to step in with some content for our social media. ”

For a moment, I was speechless. Then I reached for her, wrapping my hands around her hips and pulling her closer. “God, I’m so proud of you. You really turned this season around for those animals, baby. This was all you.”

She looked proud, but when her gaze turned back to mine, it was sheepish.

I raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

She winced. “Don’t be mad.”

I held her tighter, my eyes locked on those exceptionally guilty-looking blue ones. “That’s never a great way to start a sentence.”

“There’s a new litter of puppies,” she said. “And kittens. Tiny ones. So small.” I waited, listening as she rambled on. “They’re not ready for adoption yet, but they need to be fostered for a few weeks and I might’ve told the shelter we had room.”

I stared at her. “You might’ve ?”

She gave me that look. Wide eyes. Guilty smile. How the hell am I supposed to say no when she’s looking at me like that?

I sighed but then laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead, breathing in the sweet scent of her and trying not to think about what a whole litter of puppies and one of kittens was going to do to my pristine floors. “At this rate, Hooch and Winkle are going to stage a coup.”

“We’ll ease them into it,” she promised. “They’ll barely notice.”

“You could’ve brought home a goat today and I probably still would’ve said yes,” I admitted quietly against her forehead. “It’s all part of the deal, isn’t it? Dogs. Cats. Chaos. You. I love it. All of it, so I’ll keep saying yes. I’m sure I’ll even get used to the chaos part eventually.”

She reached for my hands and gave them a soft squeeze. Looking deep into my eyes, she pressed herself up on her tiptoes and smiled. “I love you , Jameson Westwood.”

I went completely still, entirely frozen as I stared at her. My heart rioted, my entire being suddenly warm. With the noise of the street behind us and the smell of warm pretzels in the air, I felt something settle deep in my chest. Like the last piece of something finally clicking into place.

“Fuck,” I breathed, heartbeat hammering in my ears as a grin broke out across my face. “You’re going to have to say that again and keep saying it. Often. All the time, really. Every damn day. Forever.”