Page 69 of Bullied Pretend Mate

“Okay, sorry,” he laughs, and we fall to the side, letting Phina and Xeran take the dance floor before us. People fill in around the square, smiling as the music starts up and the two of them dance together.

“What if we eloped?” Felix asks, his voice low.

I grab his arm, holding him close as he sways behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” I admit. “Especially since I know we’re not going to get this type of turnout.”

I don’t talk to my family, and I never will. Felix’s family is extended, and though I’ve gotten to know his parents better, there’s something appealing about the idea of our wedding being just me and him.

“And then after the wedding, we’ll award ourselves the dream honeymoon,” Felix says, “since we’ll have won the show—”

“With an elopement?” I cut in, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, don’t interrupt me,” he chides.

I laugh, shaking my head, my hair rubbing against his chest.

“And after the honeymoon, we come back here, and you take over the world. Promotions, success. Kids and family vacations.”

I go still in his arms, then twist around to face him. Other people are already taking to the dance floor, including Val andLach, Kalen with one of the flower girls, laughing as she giggles, and Soren, his arm around a random woman.

“What?” Felix asks, his brow wrinkling, eyes skipping over my expression. “Is everything okay?”

“You want to have kids?” I whisper.

Maybe right here and now isn’t the best place for this conversation, but I need to know now that he’s said it. I haven’t given it a lot of thought, but now that I am, I like it.

“I want whatever you want,” he says, then, after a moment. “But, yeah. I’m hoping you want kids.”

“Not right this minute,” I admit, staring up into his eyes. “But when things die down a little, yeah. I do. Maybe just one or two. But no more than that. And I don’t want them growing up the way I did. We would love them and honor them, no matter what their bodies looked like.”

“Of course,” Felix whispers, lowering his lips to mine, his green eyes wide as he stares down at me, the twinkling lights above his head making the moment more beautiful. “You’re going to make an amazing mother, Maeve.”

Even though this isn’t our wedding, I can’t stop myself from rising up on my tiptoes and kissing him, opening my mouth to him, letting the thing go a little farther than it probably should.

When we pull back, we’re both breathless and dark-eyed, staring at one another with a wanting that hasn’t abated, even after months of being with each other nonstop.

“You know what I’m thinking?” Felix asks, his voice low.

“What?”

“I’m thinking that even if we don’t want kids now,” he says, snaking his hand around me and tugging me in close, “that doesn’t mean we can’t go practice.”

“We’re at awedding, Felix.”

“We can sneak away,” he murmurs, eyes darting down the street. “Trust me, we’ll be back in time for cake.”

Once upon a time, fifteen years ago, I might have talked him out of a reckless, chaotic scheme like this. I might have talked about every single thing that could go wrong, and went to find an adult when they eventually did.

But being with Felix Rana has done something I never thought was possible—it’s made me more adventurous, braver in the face of making every day something new, something exciting.

So I just turn away from him, grinning as I walk backward in the direction of our apartment.

“Fine,” I say as he hurries after me. “But if we miss cake, you owe me.”

“We won’t miss cake,” he says, already breathless at the knowledge of what we’re going to do. “And I already owe you, Villareal. Forever.”

“Yeah,” I laugh, breaking into a run, my laugh only growing louder when I realize he’s chasing after me. “I know.”

*****

THE END