Page 42 of Personal Foul (The San Diego Storm #3)
Colin
C arson stretched out with his head in my lap as I ran my fingers through his hair. I reached for his left hand and twisted our fingers together again.
“I can’t stop looking at our rings. I never thought I’d ever find someone who loves me like you do.”
He kissed our hands again, then looked up at me. “I don’t want to wait. Not because of the visa thing, but because I love you.”
“Wait,” I said, “back up a minute. Explain, please.”
He grinned up at me. “If we marry outside of the United States, you can get a spousal visa almost instantly.”
“What about my professional visa with the Storm?”
His hazel eyes glinted with happiness. “You don’t need it.”
“So yer tellin’ me I went down there and talked to Leslie Newcastle about all my shit and I don’t need it now?”
He laughed. “I don’t know who that is, but no, you won’t after you marry me. Unless you’d rather go that way and get bogged down in all that.”
“Shut yer filthy mouth,” I said, covering it with my hand. “I fuckin’ hate the paperwork and the interviews and all of it.”
Carson kissed my palm, then pulled it away. “I guess we’re doing it then.”
I grinned down at him. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me from marrying you.”
I leaned down as he rose to meet my lips. He was going to be my husband.
“When do you want to do this?”
He smiled up at me. “My parents would like to be here. So we need to wait a few days. But sooner rather than later.”
I couldn’t help but wonder about all the legal circumstances coming with Leland. “Would you rather wait until all that mess is settled with… him?”
I didn’t even want to say his name.
Carson sat up. “No. I don’t give a damn about him. This has nothing to do with him. This is you and I starting our life together.”
I took a deep breath, then released it. “Okay. Whatever you want to do is good for me. Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”
Carson crawled into my lap and straddled my hips. His warm skin on mine was all I needed. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
I ran my hands up and down his back as he leaned in to kiss me. When he pulled back, I could see his wheels turning behind his eyes.
“I want you to show me everything about your life here. When you talk about things and tell our kids about Australia one day, I want to know exactly what you’re referring to. I want to see your school, meet your teammates, especially Owen, and experience your life here.”
I traced the outline of his brows with my finger. “I can do that, but a little at a time. You’re gonna need to sleep, love. The time change is gonna take you a few days to get used to. Your days and nights are turned upside down.”
Carson blinked up at me as the exhaustion caught up with him.
“Let’s go to bed, love.”
With a quick check on Bella, who was sleeping on the thick rug, I pushed Carson to his feet and led him toward my bedroom.
“It’s still early. You don’t have to go to bed just because I’m tired.”
I chuckled. “It’s funny you think I’ve been sleeping worth a damn since leaving you.”
We entered my room, now dim in the evening light. Carson went to the left side, and I to the right, just like we’d done at home. Crawling into bed, I sighed when my head hit the pillow. He curled into my side, with his head on my chest.
I took a deep breath as a feeling of inner peace and calm returned. Knowing I was going to spend the rest of my life with him in San Diego settled every loose end I had. And as we shifted and got comfortable, we drifted off to sleep, happy for the future that awaited us.
Over the next several days, Carson acclimated to the time change, and we explored more and more of the city.
We’d just finished dinner at a local restaurant and were strolling along the harbor, hand in hand, enjoying the late summer night. As we walked along the quay, we stopped and marveled at the Sydney Opera House. It was lit up and breathtaking against the nighttime sky.
As we neared the Harbor Bridge, we happened upon a wedding reception in progress. The glass venue was lit up as guests mingled and enjoyed a cocktail. The bride and groom posed for photographs outside under the canopy lights and against the backdrop of the bridge.
Carson draped his arm over my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “I want to marry you tomorrow.”
My eyes widened as I turned to stare at him. “Tomorrow? Why tomorrow?”
He kissed my cheek. “Because I don’t want to waste another day. I want it to be just you and me.”
I didn’t know what to say, except the only thing that made sense. “Yes. Let’s do it. But I don’t think it’s as easy as just showing up to the magistrate.”
We sat down on a bench facing the harbor and began to search out the process. We each googled how to get married, and were met with a host of regulations.
As I read, what I feared was the truth. “We have to wait a month.”
Carson looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. “Yeah, I see that.”
“But we have options. Look here,” I said, showing him my screen. “We can get a service to arrange it all, and even pick a special place to do it.”
We flipped through the extensive list of places until we found the perfect one.
“It reminds me of our first date,” he said, wrapping his arm around me.
I smiled, then looked up. “It’s right here.”
We gazed around at our surroundings, now oddly familiar like New York. “We can have the ceremony right here under the bridge,” he said.
His eyes melted into mine. “And we can invite our friends and family.”
My heart did a little skip. “We’re gonna have a real wedding.”
“We are,” he said. “I was going to be delighted with a quickie wedding, but this one will be even better.”
“Carson St. James, any wedding with you will be perfect. But I don’t want to wait a day longer than we have to. So let’s go plan this thing and get the ball rolling.”