Entwined With You

even if I was still partially convinced that it was a decision we were making too soon. “I do have one revision.”
    “Name it.”
    “You just did. The name issue.”
    “Nonnegotiable,” he said flatly, with an empathic swipe of his hand for good measure.
    I arched a brow. “Don’t be a fucking Neanderthal. I want to take my dad’s name, too. He’s wanted that and it’s bothered him my whole life. This is my chance to fix it.”
    “So, Eva Lauren Reyes Cross?”
    “Eva Lauren Tramell Reyes Cross.”
    “That’s a mouthful, angel,” he drawled, “but do what makes you happy. That’s all I want.”
    “All I want is you,” I told him, leaning forward to offer him my mouth for a kiss.
    His lips touched mine. “Let’s make it official.”
    I married Gideon Geoffrey Cross barefoot on a Caribbean beach with the hotel manager and Angus McLeod as witnesses. I hadn’t realized Angus was there, but I was pleased that he was.
    It was a quick, beautifully simple ceremony. I could tell from the beaming smiles of the reverend and Claude that they were honored to officiate over Gideon’s nuptials.
    I wore the prettiest dress I’d found in the closet. Strapless and ruched from breasts to hips, with petals of organza floating down to my feet, it was a sweet yet sexy romantic gown. My hair was up in an elegantly messy knot with a red rose tucked into it. The hotel provided a bouquet of white-ribboned jasmine.
    Gideon wore graphite gray slacks and an untucked white dress shirt. He went barefoot, too. I cried when he repeated his vows, his voice strong and sure, even while his eyes betrayed a heated yearning.
    He loved me so much.
    The entire ceremony was intimate and deeply personal. Perfect.
    I missed my mom and dad and Cary. I missed Ireland and Stanton and Clancy. But when Gideon bent to seal our marriage with a kiss, he whispered, “We’ll do this again. As many times as you want.”
    I loved him so much.
    Angus stepped up to kiss me on both cheeks. “It does me good to see you both so happy.”
    “Thank you, Angus. You’ve taken good care of him for a long time.”
    He smiled, his eyes glistening as he turned to Gideon. He saidsomething so heavily accented by his Scottish heritage, I couldn’t be sure it was any form of English at all. Whatever it was, it made Gideon’s eyes shine, too. How much of a surrogate father had Angus been to Gideon over the years? I would always be grateful to him for giving Gideon support and affection when he desperately needed it.
    We cut a small cake and toasted with champagne on the terrace of our suite. We signed the register the reverend offered and were given our certificate of marriage to sign as well. Gideon’s fingers brushed over it reverently.
    “Is this what you needed?” I teased him. “This piece of paper?”
    “I need you, Mrs. Cross.” He pulled me close. “I wanted this.”
    Angus took both the certificate and prenup with him when he made himself scarce. Both had been duly notarized by the hotel manager and would end up wherever Gideon kept such things.
    As for Gideon and me, we ended up in the cabana, tangled naked with each other. We sipped chilled champagne, touched each other playfully and greedily, and kissed lazily as the day crawled by.
    That was perfect, too.
    “So, how are we handling this when we get back?” I asked him, as we ate a candlelit dinner in the dining room of our suite. “The whole we-ran-off-and-got-hitched explanation.”
    Gideon shrugged and licked melted butter off his thumb. “However you want.”
    I pulled the meat out of a crab leg and considered the options. “I want to tell Cary for sure. And I think my dad will be okay with it. I kind of talked around it when I called him earlier and he told me you’d asked him, so he’s prepared. I don’t think Stanton will care much either way, no offense.”
    “None taken.”
    “I’m worried about my mom, though. Things are already roughbetween us. She’ll be totally stoked that we’re married”—I paused a minute, absorbing that for the millionth time—“but I don’t want her to think that I left her out because I’m mad at her.”
    “Let’s just tell her and everyone else we’re engaged.”
    I dunked the crabmeat into drawn butter, thinking I wanted to get
very
used to seeing Gideon shirtless and sated and relaxed. “She’ll have a conniption if we live together before the wedding.”
    “Well, then she’ll have to plan fast,” he said dryly. “You’re