Chapter 194: Second Vows

"Yes." She replied.

"How are you going to manage it all?" he asked. "The catering, the reception, everything?"

"I have capable hands helping me, and I can keep track of things from my phone."

"You called Tessa for help, didn’t you?"

Naomi smiled. "Yes, I did."

Of course he figured it out. There were very few people Naomi trusted enough to hand over that much responsibility, and Tessa was at the top of the list.

"I love you." He paused, checking whether she understood the seriousness. "You know that, right?"

"Yes."

There had been a time when hearing something like that from him would have sent her into emotional cardiac arrest.

Now it simply warmed her.

Dorian nodded once. "Good. Glad we got that out of the way, because if you are not AIS (ass in seat) fifteen minutes before the service begins, I’m leaving without you."

She slowly removed one hand from the towel and pointed downward. "Do you like your balls?"

Dorian laughed. "Violence on the day of a wedding. Very attractive."

Naomi stepped back into the room and began going through the products laid out across the vanity, checking what she wanted to do before the stylist arrived.

Dorian’s gaze moved over her slowly.

Naomi caught the direction of his thoughts immediately. "No."

The teasing continued until Naomi finally chased him out. When the stylist arrived, he eventually headed downstairs and settled into the living room to wait.

The house felt unusually quiet for a wedding morning, although he knew that would change the moment they reached his parents’ home.

His phone vibrated. Dorian checked the screen and answered. His new personal assistant was calling to confirm the final arrangements for the honeymoon he had arranged for the newlyweds. He hadn’t paid much attention to his new assistant yet.

With his leave of absence, there hadn’t been much reason to. She had handled the calls, filtered what actually required his attention and, so far, seemed competent.

He hadn’t had to breeze into the office once all week.

Of course, he also suspected there would be a mountain of work waiting for him the moment he returned.

He would deal with it when the time came.

Today belonged to Ginny. The stylist came downstairs a short while later, carrying her things.

"She’s finished."

Dorian stood. "Thank you."

After seeing the stylist out, he returned to the living room and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long.

A few minutes later, footsteps sounded from the staircase.

Naomi descended the stairs in a silver sequin gown. The slit revealed just enough leg to make his gaze pause there. Her hair had been styled up, leaving soft strands around her face and exposing the curve of her neck.

Dorian’s eyes smiled before the rest of his face did. His wife was beautiful. He started contemplating if he really needed to be early to the wedding when there was a perfectly good bedroom upstairs.

Naomi lifted her arms slightly. "What do you think?" She asked as she twirled.

Dorian watched the silver fabric move around her. "I love it." His gaze travelled over her once more. "I was going to wait until I managed to steal you away sometime today, didn’t know I would have you by my side but I guess now is good too."

Naomi tilted her head. "What’s that?"

Dorian reached into his pocket. He had rehearsed none of this. "I’d like to make my claim on you. Brand you."

She laughed softly. "You so like being extra."

"I want to tell the whole world you’re mine with just one look at your hand."

The teasing disappeared from her face.

Naomi stared at him before her gaze dropped toward the small case in his hand.

Dorian stopped directly in front of her.

For all the things they had already said to one another, for all the ways their marriage had changed over the past few months, this still felt important.

Maybe because their beginning had been so completely backward.

They hadn’t dated. They hadn’t fallen in love first.

There had been no romantic proposal. Everything meaningful had come afterward.

He opened the case. "We may not have had the traditional wedding ceremony but looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing." He took the engagement ring from the case. "Except that we didn’t do this." He reached for her hand. "I love you like crazy and I want the world to know it too."

His thumb brushed over her fingers. "I want everyone who looks at you to know you’re taken. Completely, permanently, ridiculously taken. I also want everyone to know that I’ll choose you every time."

There was nothing flashy about the way he said it. Just the two of them in their living room, finally doing something they should have done long ago.

Maybe that made it better. Their marriage had never followed the rules anyway.

Dorian lifted her hand.

Then, with his gaze fixed on hers, he slid the rings one after the other onto her finger.

Once done, Dorian handed her his ring.

Naomi took it from him carefully and turned the metal between her fingers, searching for the engraving first before lifting her eyes back to his.

There were so many things she could say, and yet, none of them felt quite enough.

Their marriage had started in the most ridiculous way possible. But he had stopped feeling like a mistake she needed to escape and become the one person she couldn’t imagine walking away from.

"I claimed you as mine from the moment we met, Dorian. You are the sun in my life that I didn’t know I needed, God’s gift to me and me alone. And I’m sorry that it took me so long to recognise exactly who you were meant to be. I love you a million times over, in this life, and I hope you’d want me in the next."

She slid the ring onto his finger.

Their fingers intertwined naturally before he kissed her.

It carried everything neither of them had managed to say during those ridiculous first vows in Vegas.

Not that either of them could remember those. This meant more. Much more. These vows had been made sober.

They had entered this marriage by accident, but they were staying in it very deliberately.

Naomi eventually pulled back, though her lips still brushed his. "We should go," she whispered. "You’re the brother of the bride."