Page 205 of Wait for Him

"Could we have the room?" Rian asks her family as I step into the bride's room.

No one looks like they're planning to bury my body in the graveyard out back, so I have no idea what version of events she's given them. Her mother gives me a look I can't quite read, her sister kisses Rian on the temple, and the rest file out quietly behind them. The door closes, leaving the two of us alone for what may be the first honest conversation we've had since the night she proposed this whole thing.

"I'm sorry, Marcus. I know I said we'd just do the year."

"You don't need to apologize to me, Rian."

I cross the room and squat in front of her, taking both of her hands in mine. She's still wearing the dress. Hair perfect, makeup perfect, not a single visible sign that she just canceled her wedding in front of three hundred people.

"I'm so fucking sorry. I tried. I really did. I thought if I committed to this hard enough, if I stopped leaving myself an escape route and just gave us a real chance, then eventually..."

"You'd love me."

I look down at our hands. "Yeah."

"But you love someone else."

There's no accusation in it anymore. She reaches up and wipes a tear from my cheek that I hadn't even realized was there.

"I understand that now," she says. "And you're perfect on paper, which was the entire reason I picked you in the first place. I really do like you, Marcus. I could've been happy with you. I think part of me decided that should be enough, and then I got greedy."

"You weren't greedy."

"Oh, I absolutely was." Her mouth lifts slightly. "We had a perfectly good business arrangement. I got horny, caught feelings, and violated my own terms. Terrible contract management."

A laugh escapes me before I can stop it.

"There he is," she says softly.

She runs her hands down the lapels of my jacket, smoothing fabric that doesn't need smoothing.

"What happens now?" I ask. "The board, the agreement, all of it. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

"I don't need anything, sweetheart. The board isn't removing me now. We accomplished what we needed to accomplish before we ever made it to this ridiculous cathedral." She glances down at her dress. "I hate how things happened between us, but I knew from the beginning you were never giving me your whole heart. Then somewhere along the way, the insecure little girl in me decided getting you to love me would mean I'd won."

"Rian."

"I know." She gives me a tired smile. "Years of therapy waiting for me there. Very exciting."

I squeeze her hands. "You have no reason to be insecure. You're fucking incredible. And I'm sorry I ever made you feel like you were competing with Rose, because that wasn't fair to either of you."

"No, it wasn't." She pauses, studying me. "But for future reference, when you're trying to convince a woman you're over your ex, maybe don't engrave the ex's name in flower form around her wedding band."

I close my eyes.

"Jesus Christ."

"Yeah." She pats my cheek. "That was a particularly stupid one."

"I genuinely didn't realize."

"That's why I knew I couldn't marry you."

I look at her again.

She shrugs. "If you'd done it intentionally, I could've called you an asshole and married you anyway. The fact that you didn't even know was significantly worse."

Fuck.