Page 192 of The Holiday Clause

“Grey, I can’t?—”

“If you tell me, I’ll make every single one come true.”

“No,” she laughed and tried to walk away again, but he pulled her back. “That’s not how this works.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not.”

But she was wrong. So far, all of her wishes had come true. When she wished for him to come home, he returned. She wished for him to see her, and he saw her even when his eyes were closed and he was a thousand miles away. She wished for him to love her, kiss her, touch her… So far, every wish he knew of had come true.

There was only one more wish he could think of that she might have hoped for, and he never liked doing anything halfway.

He dropped to his knee, and her smile fell. “Grey…” Her eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“Wren Wilde, Iwishfor you to marry me.” He wasn’t sure how this bridge thing worked, but he was pretty sure she had to say yes.

Her gloved fingers covered her mouth, hiding her expression as her eyes flooded with tears.

“Please tell me they’re happy tears.”

Pink stained her cheeks as she pulled her trembling hands away. But she wasn’t smiling. She looked… heartbroken. Then she forced a shaky smile that didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. “Okay, Greyson. I’ll marry you.”

He frowned. “Did I miss something?”

She sniffed. “No. I’m happy. I guess you know all my wishes after all.”

But she didn’t look or sound happy. Did he do it wrong? “I can get you a ring?—”

“We don’t need anything that fancy.”

His frown deepened. “Wren, I’m getting you a fucking ring.”

“Fine. I’ll wear a ring. But it’s not a requirement.”

What the hell was she talking about? “Look, if you don’t want to marry me, you can say no.”

“I do. I want to marry you. It’s just…” He waited, but she only shook her head and forced another smile. “I’m being silly. Ignore me. I’m happy!” she said with artificial cheer. “And hey, if it makes things easier for you, we can go to City Hall on Monday.”

The world tilted and his heart stopped, restarted, then hammered against his ribs, as he suddenly understood why she was reacting this way.

He stood and cursed under his breath, “Mother fucker.”

He wanted to take it all back. Of course she would think this had something to do with his dad. The whole day had been about him and tying up loose ends. He was pissed. Pissed about that stupid clause and pissed that she’d actually think he’d marry her for anything short of love.

Turning to face her again, he meant to say all of that but only barked, “We are not getting married in City Fucking Hall.”

“I’m just saying?—“

“Stop.” She drew back, unused to him snapping at her. But he needed to make a few things perfectly clear. “I have…a lotto say and I need to get it out.”

She blinked up at him with big eyes. “O-okay.”

He pushed down his fury and tried to remember this was Wren. She didn’t put them in this mess. She was only trying to help. “I’m going to marry you, because it’s the one thing I wanted as far back as I can remember. This has nothing to do with my father.”

“Grey, even if it does?—”

“No! There’s nomaybesorwhat ifsabout it, Wren. I love you. I’ve always loved you. How could you even think I had any other motive?”