Page 62 of Climbing Everest

Everest

F lora and I are standing at the back of the church behind the closed doors leading into the sanctuary, waiting for our cue.

Not like we’re alone. Flora’s regular guards – Lev and Pyotr – and my former prison wardens – Dmitri and Karolos – are currently acting as sentries, their eyes intentionally averted from us while they make sure no one comes through the front doors.

Kind of silly when the doors are locked, and both my guys and Flora’s dad have their men guarding every entry point and even have guys standing under the windows outside.

There isn’t a snowball’s chance anyone could get into this cathedral. Not without an invite and a thorough level of vetting from both Kato and the Pakhan.

“You look so beautiful,” Flora says as she adjusts my veil to ensure it’ll trail along with my dress.

That’s right – I have an eight-foot train, but it’s detachable so I won’t get tangled up in it when it’s time to dance.

I wish I had more friends and family to invite, but that’s okay. I’ll have my men, and I’ll have Flora.

And Kat. My new friend made my dream look come to life and is currently sitting up front near the Pakhan. Yes, she’s Greek. Yes, she has once again been seated with the Russians. But…my side is damn near empty.

She’s my friend, damn it. I’ll have her sit wherever I want, regardless of bloodline or loyalties.

Kato hadn’t done a terrible job when he originally started the plans for the wedding – I just made sure it was polished and something straight out of a fairy tale.

All three of my men are wearing matching tuxes without a single difference. I even made sure they’re wearing matching underwear. This wedding is to legally tie me to Kato, but I’m marrying all three of them today.

“You sure you want to do this?” Flora whispers when the music switches over. It’s her cue to step through the door before me. She jerks her chin at her guards. “My guys can get you out of here and back to my house before anyone notices you’re missing.”

“Flora,” I say with a roll of my eyes. I can’t hide my smile, though. There’s too much humor in her eyes to take her seriously.

Oh, I know she really would have her guards speed away with me if I asked, but she knows there isn’t a thing in this world short of death that could keep me from finally marrying the men I’ve loved my whole life.

She leans forward and plants a quick peck on my cheek before grinning sweetly. “See you down there.”

The doors sweep open, and she steps forward. I wait a few more moments until the music fades. I’d chosen the standard Canon in D for her walk.

But for me…

The violin notes of At Last by Etta James begins. It might be cliché for a wedding, but it sure as hell fits for the four of us. Because, after four years, after so many forces doing their best to keep us apart, we’re here.

At last.

I wait until the singer I hired sings the first line before nodding for the doors to open, then take my first step toward my future.

Everyone is standing, my side super empty with the exception of the Pakhan, a few of his guards, Kat, and the team who helped plan all of this. Yep. That’s it.

But the three most important people to me are standing up front, looking so delicious in their tuxes.

We saw each other before leaving the house, but I’m still struck dumb by how ruggedly beautiful, how sexy as sin my men look in their black tuxes complete with black vest and tie over the crisp white shirts.

Kato’s hair is smoothed back and styled to perfection. Brix has wrangled his long hair into a low ponytail, a small wisp of hair has come loose but he’s tucked it behind his ear.

Maddox. I smile when my eyes land on him. I can tell he styled his dark hair but has apparently run his fingers through it enough times that it’s disheveled in that just after sex kind of way. Kind of like how he looks after the two of us make love.

What can I say? It’s sexy, but super endearing and sweet. Why endearing? Because my slightly unhinged husband was apparently nervous for today.

I chose a simple bouquet of three red roses held together with an ivory ribbon while my men have a single red rose pinned to their jackets. I chose the roses to match the flowers tattooed around my men’s initials.

Maybe I should have chosen to keep the thorns intact on the stems. How fitting that would have been? Something dangerous and painful with something so delicate and beautiful.

The room is dimly lit with the warmth of the candles around the room along with the faux candles flickering along the aisle.

I can feel the eyes on me, can see everyone from my periphery, but my sole attention is on the men waiting for me at the end. My attention is on my future now standing mere feet away.

To my surprise, Maddox and Brix both look on the verge of tears, their eyes shimmery with tears.

Kato…

A smile stretches across my lips when we lock eyes.

There is nothing short of love and adoration all over his gorgeous face.

Our reunion might have been rocky, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have found not one but three men who love me unconditionally, who would give me the world without a second thought.

Hell, they’d gifted me with one of the men who nearly destroyed me, one of the assholes who not only stole the life of my child, but came close to taking mine, as well.

That might not seem romantic to the regular woman, but I’m not regular. Our lives are nothing even close to what society would consider normal.

My eyes stay on my guys as I feel like I’m floating down the aisle toward them. There are so many people on the Greek side. We kept the invite list to the wedding small, but there should be over two hundred people in attendance at the reception.

Then I’m standing inches from the only three humans on this planet who will ever truly know me, inside and out.

Kato had originally asked the clergy who worked for this church to officiate, but I’d changed it.

It feels sacrilegious enough to hold this wedding in a church; no reason to compound that feeling by having a man of God oversee a wedding of this type when everyone in attendance knows I’m marrying three men.

So, instead of a man of the cloth, I had one of Kato’s men get ordained. His job is solely to stand there while we exchange vows, then declare us married. Oh, and sign the wedding certificate to make this whole thing legal.

Fucking finally.

I’ll be honest – the ceremony kind of flew by like a dream.

But now…now it’s time to party.

Kato surprised me with a limo – with reinforced panels and bullet proof glass, of course – so he had Karo take the SUV home for the night.

Maddox grabs me and drags me onto his lap while I protest and giggle at the same time. “Wait! You’re going to tear the train!”

“You said it comes off. I was just checking to see if the rest of this comes off as easily,” he says as he dips his fingers into my cleavage and tugs gently. No way would he risk ripping it and exposing me to everyone.

Doesn’t mean he’s not going to take every chance possible to cop a feel, and maybe have a backseat limo quickie on our way to the reception.

I’m not exactly against the idea, but I don’t think he or the other two realize how difficult it is to adjust this dress to pee, let alone hike it up enough for them to position themselves between my thighs.

“Madd!” I squeal when he tries to shove a hand down the front of my dress. “I’m getting tangled up in my veil!”

I can’t stop giggling, even when I hear the telltale ripping of the delicate fabric.

Luckily, it’s only the veil tearing and not the dress.

I contemplated bringing a backup to party in, but once I remove the veil and adjust the train, this dress will be comfortable to move around the room and dance.

If he keeps pawing at me, we’ll have to make a detour to a store and be late to our reception so I can find something else to wear.

“Dude. You’re going to hurt her,” Brix says as he unwinds the snake of lace and tulle from around my ankles.

With a put upon sigh – and the cutest fake pout in the world – Maddox finally releases me and helps me slide to my own seat.

Technically, he wasn’t hurting me. I mean, had I tried to step out when we got to the hall, yeah, I might have twisted my ankle or something, but I was more worried about being late. Especially with so many people waiting for us.

That and I’m starving. I snacked this morning and a little this afternoon, but I haven’t had a full meal since dinner last night. My nerves were getting to me.

Not that I was nervous about getting married. I was nervous about something going wrong like the musicians not showing up or the florist being late. Typical planning jitters.

How the hell could I be nervous about getting married when I’ve been waiting for this day since I realized the butterflies in my stomach any time I thought about one or all three of these guys was my first hint I’d fallen in love?

I keep twirling the ring around my finger and I notice Kato is doing the same.

A frown draws my brows together when I look at Madd’s and Brixton’s hands. “You guys don’t have rings.”

They look at me with confusion.

“We have rings,” I say, waving my hand between Kato and me, “but I married all three of you.”

“We can wear rings if you want some physical representation of ownership,” Maddox teases.

“It’s not that. I mean, maybe it’s a little of that. I just want the world to know you chose me as much as I chose you.”

Maddox turns his attention to Brix. “What about your buddy?”

“Nico?”

How the hell did Brix catch on to Madd’s line of thought with a four worded question?

More importantly, are they suggesting getting rings tattooed on their fingers? I mean, yeah, they carry the scarred initial of my name, and I carry a humongous tattoo of their initials, but…

You know what? There is no but . There was only the briefest time when I doubted how they felt about me, and that was when I first came back and they believed the lies my father told.

Since we were kids, I never doubted how much they loved me and I sure as hell hope they’ll never doubt how deeply in love with each of them I am.

Looking at Kato across from me, I smile. “We should get them, too. I’ll still wear my ring after it heals, but let’s all four get them. Like when we…” I motion to my chest.

And yes, I intentionally chose a fairly low cut, strapless gown for my wedding so the big, bold tattooed B K M would be on full display. Let the entire world see my heart belongs to all three of them.

“Anything you want,” he says with a heart stopping smile.

Brixton is already texting Nico beside me even though he’ll be at the reception.

Is it weird I invited my husband’s former lover? Not to me. No weirder than sharing my heart, body, and soul with three men. No different than all three of them not only being okay with sharing me but enjoying it when we’re all four together and they can make me forget my own damn name.

Besides, I like Nico, and maybe I secretly want him and Flora to hit it off.

It’d be nice to see my best friend in a committed relationship.

Even better if she’s in a relationship with someone Brixton approves of so we can hang out together all the time without the constant comments from my husbands or the snide remarks from my best friend.

“Hey,” I say, turning to look up at Brix. “Is Nico single by any chance?”

This is one of those moments when I should have really thought about the question before voicing it.

Asking whether another man is single while still wearing my wedding gown and riding to my reception with my three husbands…

After being gagged on Brixton’s dick, getting my dressed ripped when Maddox made a show of spanking my ass until it was pink and tender, then fucked against the seat by Kato, we had to make a detour for another dress.

So much for trying to keep their hands off me until we got home tonight.

Who am I kidding? I’m still glowing from the intense, mind melting orgasm they ripped from me as the limo pulls into the parking lot of the banquet hall I reserved.