Page 13 of Leave Me Not: Nick & Elissa #2 (Badger Creek Duet #8)

13

NICK

“W ith the power granted to me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

I turn to the guy standing before us and he gives me a smile and a small nod, before adding, “Yes, you may kiss your bride.”

I turn back to Elissa, unable to wipe the smile off my face. The smile I know mirrors the one on hers. And without waiting for a single second longer, I let go of her hands and wrap my arms around her as I pull her close and kiss her deeply.

Our wedding day might be a last minute, spur of the moment decision, and it might be unconventional given we’re both dressed casually in jeans and sweaters, none of our friends or family present, but I don’t care.

Because the only person who matters is here.

Elissa.

My wife.

“I love you so much, Lis,” I murmur against her lips, before kissing her again.

Lis smiles as she whispers, “I love you too,” her arms looped around my neck as she returns the kiss, our bodies pressed together, both of us completely oblivious to the people watching us, the people waiting for their turn to get married.

When we eventually pull back, the guy who served as both our witness and cameraman, hands me back my iPhone. “Got some good shots,” he says with a grin. “Congratulations.”

I pocket my phone, my arm still wrapped around Elissa, not wanting to ever let her go. “Thanks, appreciate it,” I tell him, before looking down at Lis. “What do you say, wife? Wanna get out of here?”

Lis smiles, hooking her arms around my waist as she says, “Absolutely, husband.”

Outside on the street, I grab Elissa, swinging her around, her laughter filling the busy street. Without putting her down, I hold her close, my lips finding hers again. “This is the best day of my life.”

“Mine too,” she says, smiling against my lips.

“You are everything to me, Lis,” I whisper, my eyes locked with hers. “Thank you for saying yes,” I add, knowing I will never mess up this second chance she’s given me. I kiss her once more before finally lowering her back to the ground.

She smiles up at me, her hand resting on my cheek as she says, “I love you.”

With a grin, I take her hand in mine, pressing a kiss to her palm before we walk to the car. Once inside, I don’t head back to my place though, wanting to make one more stop before we go home.

When I pull into the parking area, I glance over to see Lis smiling, her hand still in mine. “Back here again, huh?” she says.

I park the car, leaving the engine running so the heat stays on. It’s nearly dark, a light sprinkling of snow is now falling, and it feels like we are the only two people in the universe as we park here by the lake.

“It’s our place,” I say, undoing my seat belt as I push my seat back and then reaching over to undo hers. “We have so many memories here,” I add, knowing that although not all of them are good memories, there are definitely more that are.

This is the place where we’ve both shared so much with each other, none more so than a couple of months ago when Lis finally admitted that she still loved me. When we finally agreed that being apart was no longer an option for either of us. When we finally got back together.

Lis smiles, climbing over the console without me even asking as she sits herself in my lap. “We do,” she says, her hand resting on my cheek. “This is the place where you kissed me for the first time, remember,” she adds, pointing to the lake. “Right over there, in front of all of our friends.”

Chuckling, I wrap my arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I know. Max told me to stop being such a pussy and just do it already.”

Lis huffs out a breath, her eyes wide. “That’s the reason you did it?”

“No,” I say, pulling her in as I brush my lips against hers. “I did it, because I’d been dying to kiss you for-fucking-ever,” I whisper.

She grabs my chin, holding it steady as her gaze meets mine. “Took you long enough,” she says with a smirk.

I grin leaning in so my forehead is resting against hers. “Yeah, well, just so you know, I’m never going to stop kissing you, babe,” I say, my hand slipping under her sweater as my fingers glide over her warm skin. “Or doing other things.”

Lis lets out a playful groan, rolling her eyes as she says, “Oh so that’s why we’re here, is it?”

My grin widens. “Well, I mean, I know we didn’t do it here the first time, but we sure did it plenty of other times. Lotta good memories here, babe.”

“Yeah, back when we were young and reckless,” she says.

Chuckling, I drop a kiss on the end of her nose. “What, like an accidental pregnancy and a shotgun wedding, isn’t being reckless?” I tease. “You and I have always been impulsive, babe. It’s why we’re so good together.”

“Hmmm,” she says, her hand brushing against the stubble on my jaw.

I slip my hand higher, so it’s cupping her boob. Lis gasps and I lean closer and brush my lips against hers. “Come on,” I whisper. “We did it here as boyfriend and girlfriend, now I wanna do it here as husband and wife.”

Lis smiles as she kisses me again, nipping my bottom lip as I pull down the cup of her bra, my fingers teasing her nipple. “I thought you said it was too hard given my SUV was the smallest on the planet,” she whispers, reminding me of the last time we found ourselves in this position.

Chuckling, I smooth my hand down, pausing briefly to rest it on her stomach before my fingers find hers. “Something’s hard, babe, and I’m pretty sure we can make it work,” I say, taking her hand and lowering it to my crotch.

She laughs now, her fingers squeezing my already hard dick. “You, Nicholas O’Connor, are hopeless,” she breathes out.

I curl my hand around the back of her neck. “Well, you’re stuck with me now, Elissa Green.”

“What about Elissa O’Connor?” she whispers, her fingers undoing the button of my jeans, before disappearing into my boxers.

“Fuck, babe,” I say, my eyes closing. “Are you serious, you’re gonna change your name?”

She presses her mouth against mine in a hard kiss as her hand curls around my dick and a low groan rumbles in my chest. “I am,” she murmurs as she slowly starts to stroke me.

“God,” I breathe out, my chest already heaving. “Lis, shit, I need you. Right now.”

She smiles against my mouth. “You sure you want to risk doing this here?” she asks, but I can tell from her tone that she is totally onboard.

Pulling back, I hit her with a cheeky grin, my eyes flicking to the windshield before finding hers again. “Babe, it’s basically dark and it’s snowing. There is no chance of anyone seeing us.” She laughs now, her head falling back and I lean in to suck and kiss her neck. “But,” I add, licking a path up to her ear. “We have gotta move to the backseat, because seriously, this really is the smallest SUV on the planet.”

Lis swats playfully at my chest, smiling at me before pulling her hand from my jeans and climbing into the backseat, crooking her finger at me. “Well, come on then.”

“So how we doing this?” I ask, dropping my arm around Lis’ shoulders as we walk toward The Matterhorn.

She laughs, sliding her arm around my waist, her hand disappearing beneath my sweater to rest against my skin. “I mean we’re over an hour late,” she says, glancing up at me and hitting me with a pointed look.

I grin, opening the door, before dropping a quick kiss on her lips. “We’re late because we’re newlyweds and I needed to spend some quality time with my wife,” I say, knowing Lis and I have barely come up for air after we did indeed have sex in the back of her SUV at the lake yesterday.

And after we got home, we pretty much didn’t leave my bed for the next twenty-four hours either, having a lot more sex, but also talking a lot about our future.

As much as neither of us wants to go through this upcoming separation, we both know it’s the right thing to do, given the circumstances. Just like we both know we can trust the Holdens to help us find a way out of my contract that doesn’t leave me drowning in debt.

So instead of focusing on me leaving, we’d focused only on the positives, like planning the party we were going to have to celebrate our wedding the second I was back, a possible honeymoon afterwards, and even baby names. And even though I fucking hate the idea of leaving Lis again, I know that this time round, nothing is going to come between us. We are making this work.

“Yeah and I’m pretty sure they’re going to notice that as soon as they see the rings,” Lis now says, even though hers is currently hidden beneath my sweater.

Grinning, I give her a wink as I shove my left hand in my pocket to hide my newly acquired wedding band as we make our way inside.

“Well it’s about damn time!” Alex shouts from a spot over near the bar before we can come up with a plan on how we’re breaking our news. “Where the hell have you two been?” He’s grinning as we walk toward our friends, everyone here and waiting for us.

“We’ve been, um…” I pause, moving so I’m standing behind Lis, my right arm wrapped around her shoulders. “What would we call it, babe?” I ask, pressing a kiss to her neck as I now wrap my left arm around her, my left hand resting on my other arm, the wedding band I now wear, impossible to miss.

Lis giggles, her left hand moving to rest on my forearm to display her rings, as she half turns to me and says, “Celebrating?”

There’s a beat of silence from our friends, before Zoey suddenly screams, “Oh my god, you guys got married?!”

Chuckling, I give Lis a quick kiss before we both look back at our friends and she says, “We got married.”

Zoey, Delaney and Harper all let out loud screams as they suddenly rush us both, pulling Lis from my arms as they embrace her in a huge group hug, everyone laughing. When I glance at the guys, Alex is grinning from ear to ear, Max too, while Ethan stands beside them with a knowing smile on his face.

“You sly fucking dog,” Alex says, stepping forward and pulling me into a hug. “You hook back up in secret, then you knock her up and now you get fucking married.”

“Yep,” I laugh, slapping Alex on the back before Max grabs me.

“Congrats, dude, I’m really happy for you, seriously,” he says, pulling me close.

“Thanks, Max,” I say, returning the hug. “And for the record, I get it now, all of it.”

Max laughs, pulling back as he gently slaps a hand on my cheek. “Told you, you would.”

Chuckling, I turn to Ethan, who’s smiling as he offers me his hand, pulling me into a one-armed hug. “Congratulations,” he says, his voice low.

“Thank you,” I reply, pulling back as I reach for Lis again, not wanting to be apart from her for a single second. “And we know this is a shock and we did it all without you guys, but we are planning a party to celebrate,” I say, smiling at our friends. “As soon as I’m back.”

“When’s that gonna be?” Alex asks.

I shoot a quick look at Max who clearly hasn’t said anything about me and my meeting with his family’s lawyer, before turning back to my other friend. “Hopefully soon,” I tell him. “As soon as I get out of my contract.”

“You’re quitting?” Alex asks, clearly surprised. I know he and I haven’t known each other as long and Max and I have, but Alex knows how badly I wanted this dream. Knows how much I sacrificed and how much I gave up trying to reach it.

With a smile, I pull Lis closer, wrapping her in my arms as I drop a kiss on the top of her head. “I am,” I say with a nod. “Because this is exactly where I want to be.”

Alex stares at me for a beat before a huge smile takes over his face. “Well holy fuck, now we really need to celebrate!”

“Alex!” Delaney squeals, smacking his stomach as she hits him with a glare. “I’m pretty sure Nick and Elissa getting married is more than enough reason to celebrate. Not to mention the baby on the way. Two babies, even,” she adds, smiling at Harper. “And of course Ethan and Zoey’s engagement.”

Alex lets out a loud laugh, his head falling back as I give him a grin. “Well, shit, looks like everyone’s getting married and having babies,” I say. “You might wanna think about stepping up, dude,” I add, giving him a wink.

Alex just laughs, wrapping an arm around my neck as he pulls me in for another hug. “You’re a dick, but I still love you,” he says. “Now, is it time to fucking celebrate or what?”

Before anyone can answer him, a server arrives with several bottles of champagne, along with some sparkling water, offering a quick nod in Ethan’s direction, before disappearing. Zoey claps her hands together with a squeal, before she pours everyone a glass of champagne, except for Lis and Harper, who both get water.

“To our best friends!” Zoey shouts, holding up her glass.

“To Nick finally getting his girl back,” Alex adds, a huge grin on his face as he salutes me with his drink.

I flip him off, just as Max adds, “Fuck yes, it’s about time.”

Beside me, Lis laughs, and I drop my mouth to her ear as I whisper, “Never getting rid of me, remember?”

She turns in my arms, a huge smile on her face as she looks up at me. “Good, because I don’t ever want to,” she says, before pressing up on her toes to place a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you.”

I smile against her mouth. “I love you, Lis, so fucking much,” I whisper. “And just so you know, we’re outta here, the second the clock hits midnight,” I add, as Lis’ laugh is muffled by another kiss.