She snort-laughs as her eyes go wide. “Are you kidding me? We are not throwing this beautiful, perfect ring anywhere. I’m putting it on, and we’re going to get married, and it’s going to be the best.” She slides out of her chair and into my lap, hugging me tight as I wrap grateful arms around her. “I’m so happy!”
“You promise?” I ask, brushing her hair from her face, needing to see her eyes so I know she’s being straight with me. “Because I’m serious. We don’t have to take that step if you’re not ready. I know it’s fast.”
“It is fast,” she says, still sniffling as she smiles. “But it’s also perfect. I knew the first time we were together that I never wanted to be with anyone else. I was just playing it cool because I thought you still hated marriage.” She gives one more sniff and frowns. “Are you sure you don’t hate marriage? You’re not just doing what you think I want, are you? Because I only want to do this if you really want to be married.”
“I really do want to be married,” I assure her. Then, more hesitant, I confess, “But I’m with you on two weddings sounding pretty awful. One is bad enough. I’m more into being married to you than the whole getting married part. Is that okay?”
“So much more than okay,” she says with a relieved sigh. “That way, we can blame it on you.”
“Of course we can,” I agree, before asking, “What are we blaming on me again?”
“The fact that we eloped, of course.”
I grin. “Oh hell, yes. I totally want to elope.”
“Me, too,” she says, giggling.
I laugh with her as I slap the side of her sweet ass. “That’s my girl. Let’s do it. I’ll get our flights changed, and we’ll go straight to Vegas tonight. You can take three more days off work, right?”
“Not usually,” she says, “but for this, yes. We can’t go home, or Bridget will talk me into letting her plan a wedding, and then my mom will get her hooks in me, and we’ll be done for. The only way to manage it is to sneak under the radar before they suspect what we’re up to.”
“You’re brilliant, and I love the hell out of you.” I mean it with everything in me. “I can’t wait to make you my missus.”
“Me, either,” she says, kissing my forehead before pressing the ring into my hand. “Now, say romantic shit and put it on my finger.”
With a huff of laughter that’s quickly swept away by nerves, I take the ring and meet her pretty eyes. “Dear Theo, goddess of my soul, mistress of my loins, healer of my heart, will you marry me? I promise to do everything in my power to make you smile, and when you’re too sad to smile, I’ll hold you when you need to cry. Because happy or sad, you’re always my favorite way to spend a day.”
Fresh tears filling her eyes, she whispers, “Same, my love. Same, same.”
And then I slide the ring on her finger, and she kisses me, and we may or may not have been photographed by the paparazzi with Theo’s newly beringed hand sliding down the front of my pajama pants.
But I’m not going to confirm or deny that shit. I don’t pander to paparazzi.
But when the gossip sites get wind of the wedding and report that “Lips on Fire’s Bad Boy Finds True Love with New Wife!” well, that’s completely true.
Theo and I are married in a chapel decorated in leopard print that makes us laugh like idiots through the entire ceremony. And then we go out to a romantic dinner and say all the cheesy shit we were too distracted to work into the actual vows, and then I take my wife back to our suite where I show her how much I love her.
It’s very ordinary, I guess.
But also extraordinary. And unforgettable. And unregrettable. And it will be, for as long as we both shall live.
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Keep reading for a sneak peek of
ROYAL PACKAGE
a sexy new standalone coming this spring!
Sneak Peek
The Royal Package is a legend in its own time, a pleasure-giving national treasure I’m far too generous to keep to myself.
But I have one rule: No good girls.
And they don’t get much nicer than sugar-and-spice Princess Emily.
You’d think a woman who designs lingerie would be sexy and fun.
You would be wrong. My fiancée is a meek-and-dreary little mouse, and I have no doubt we’ll make each other miserable if we go through with our arranged marriage.
But I can’t dishonor my grandfather’s dying wish to go through with the betrothal.
Which leaves me one choice—make my sweet fiancé so miserable during our engagement festivities that she calls it quits herself.
Operation Prince Charmless will get her out of my hair. And then I'm back to Sexy Single Prince business as usual.
But it turns out my fiancée is feistier than I remembered. Sexier, too. And she loves spur-of-the-moment adventure as much as I do. But did I mention that she hates my guts?
Looks like the Royal Package and I are in for more than we bargained for…
Available April 2020!
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About the Author
Author of over forty novels, USA Today Bestseller Lili Valente writes everything from steamy suspense to laugh-out-loud romantic comedies. A die-hard romantic and optimist at heart, she can’t resist a story where love wins big. Because love should always win.
When she’s not writing, Lili enjoys adventuring with her two sons, climbing on rocks, swimming too far from shore, and asking “why” an incorrigible number of times per day. A former yoga teacher, actor, and dancer, she is also very bendy and good at pretending innocence when caught investigating off-limits places.
You can currently find Lili in the mid-South, valiantly trying to resist the lure of all the places left to explore.
Find Lili at www.lilivalente.com
Also by Lili Valente
Red HOT Laugh-out-Loud Rom Coms
The Bangover
Bang Theory
Bang on Loosely
Bang-a-thon
Learn more here
The Hunter Brothers
The Baby Maker
The Troublemaker
The Heartbreaker
The Panty Melter
Click here to learn more
The Bad Motherpuckers Series (Standalones)
Hot as Puck
Sexy Motherpucker
Puck-Aholic
Puck me Baby
Pucked Up Love
Puck Buddies
Click here to learn more
Sexy Flirty Dirty Romantic Comedies (Standalones)
Magnificent Bastard
Spectacular Rascal
Meant for You
Click here to learn more
The Master Me Series
(Red HOT erotic Standalone novellas)
Snowbound with the Billionaire
Snowed in with the Boss
Masquerade with the Master
Click here to learn more
Bought by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Dark Domination
Deep Domination
Desperate Domination
Divine Domination
Click here to learn more
Kidnapped by the Billionaire Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Filthy Wicked Love
Crazy Beautiful Love
One More Shameless Night
Click here to learn more
Under His Command Series
(HOT novellas, must be read in order)
Controlling her Pleasure
Commanding her Trust
Claiming her Heart
Click here to learn more
To the Bone Series
(Sexy Romantic Suspense, must be read in order)
A Love so Dangerous
A Love so Deadly
A Love so Deep
Click here to learn more
Fight for You Series
(Emotional New Adult Romantic Suspense.
Must be read in order.)
Run with Me
Fight for You
Click here to learn more
Lover’s Leap Series
A Naughty Little Christmas
The Bad Boy’s Temptation
Click here to learn more
The Lonesome Point Series
(Sexy Cowboys written with Jessie Evans)
Leather and Lace
Saddles and Sin
Diamonds and Dust
12 Dates of Christmas
Glitter and Grit
Sunny with a Chance of True Love
Chaps and Chance
Ropes and Revenge
8 Second Angel
Click here to learn more
Co-written Standalones
The V Card (co-written with Lauren Blakely)
Falling for the Boss (co-written with Sylvia Pierce)
Click here to learn more
The Happy Cat Series
(co-written with Pippa Grant)
Hosed
Hammered
Hitched
Humbugged
Click here to learn more