The Wedding Night (The Billionairess, #3.5)

I. The Groom Prepares

I had never been more terrified in my entire life. I'm a man who has been in many frightening situations. I've been whipped, beaten, dripped with scorching hot candle wax, tied up, covered bruises, scratches, and marks. All of these things I've received from the very woman I am about to promise myself to. And yet, I had never been more nervous to approach my mistress than that night.

"Relax, Thomas," Lance said. He was lounging behind me on the couch in the back room of the church. "It's not like you're doing anything that billions of people haven't been doing for a long time. Sometimes more than once."

"I know you're trying to help, Lance, but I'm not feeling much better."

I had been standing front of the mirror for hours now, adjusting my tie, re-adusting my tie, adjusting my hair, adjusting my everything. I was wearing a tux, one Rose had custom made for my specifc measurements. It cost more money than all the clothes I've ever own combined, but she insisted it was a simple and important purchase.

"I want my groom to be dressed to the nines," she had told me as a designer ran a stirp of measuring tape up my inner thigh.

And the suit did look good. It was made from the best materials,and with my hair slicked back I looked better than I ever had. But I couldn't stop adjusting how I looked, couldn't stop fussing over the most miniscule details that could be wrong.

What Lance said was true. People got married all the time, every day was someone's wedding day. But this wasn't just any wedding. Not just because one of the wealthiest women in the world was getting married, and there were scores of hungry reporters crowding outside the church for just one photo of Rose and the groom on her arm. Or even because I never thought I would be married at all with my lackluster romantic history.

No, it was just different because I was marrying Rose Delacourt. The closet thing this world has to a goddess, and she had chosen me. Me. A shy, soft-spoken boy with a pale slender frame who struggled with eye-contact. She looked at me and said, "You. You are the one I want to spend the rest of my days with." She chose me.

And now it was our wedding day, the first day of our new life together. And I was so scared I was moments away from throwing up.

Lance got up from his place on the couch and clasped me on the shoulder.

"Come on, man," he said. "It's your wedding day, now's not the day to be in a puddle of anxiety. And besides, you're marrying Rose Delcaourt. The most desired bachlorette on the planet. If I were you I'd feel like the king of the world."

"But that's the thing," I said. I kept my eyes on the mirror. My eyes ran up and down my body, looking for error. "She's so...well, everything. Beautiful. Intelligent. Successful. She's a superwoman if there ever was one. I...can't mess up. She doesn't deserve someone who will mess up."

My whole body was shaking, I could feel it in my stomach. Lance gave my shoulder a firm squeeze. His voice suddenly went soft, gentle in a way that was very unlike Lance.

"Listen man, you got this," he said. "I know I've picked on you a lot in the past, but I know you can handle more than you think. Rose loves you. I don't think I've seen two people so totally devoted to each other the way you two are. I've seen plenty of people get married, been to a good number of weddings in my life, and I've never felt more confident in a couple than you and Rose." He smirked. "Well, one of the couples I'm most confident about."

I noticed the ring on Lance's finger gleaming. It was a simple gold band, but I knew the years of slow-burning love that was behind it.

"You and Emily decided on a date yet?" I asked.

"We've brainstormed a couple," he said. He glanced down at the ring with a soft kind of affection. It was so strange it almost made me chuckle. Lance, a guy I'd known for years, who I always knew as a ladies' man who went through girls like condom wrappers. And he found the one girl he wanted to stay with. My, how much had changed.

"Anyway," Lance said. "I feel like a dick talking about my wedding at yours. Today's your day of love, man."

I turned my eyes away from the mirror towards Lance. My best man. My best friend. My annoying, sarcastic, cool-as-hell best friend.

"Thanks, Lance," I said. "For...everything."

Lance chuckled and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, man, you're going to make me cry like a little bitch." He lifted his arms to me and opened my arms. "Come on, bring it in you cheesy bastard."

We embraced each other in a hug. He gave me a hard pat on the shoulders, and I could feel myself tearing up a bit. Lance was a piece of work, but he was best friend, and I knew I wanted him to stick around even after I became a married man.

"Embracing others on your wedding day? Thomas, you whore!"

Lance and I detatched to glance at the door. Emily was standing there with a playful grin on her face. She was wearing her ceremony dress. It was long and gold, with a shiny ribbon wrapped around her waist.

"Can't help it, baby," Lance said. "But you gotta admit, I make a pretty good homewrecker."

Emily chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just messing with you," she said.

She closed the door behind her and walked over by the mirror to join us. She looked great in her dress with her auburn hair piled up on top of her head. The sight was made all the sweeter by the fact that she was allowed to come to wedding at all. After everything that has passed between me and Emily, I'd thought Rose would want to keep her away. But Rose, in her goodness, asked Emily herself to be her maid of honor. It made me even more in awe of the woman who had picked me as her husband.

"You look great, Emily," I told her.

Emily grinned and struck a pose.

"I know right?" she said.

"The ring really completes the outfit."

Emily looked confused for a second, then looked at the engagement ring on her finger, the one matching Lance's. Her smile softened and she blushed.

"Yeah," she said, then threw a sweet look towards Lance. "It does."

The two just kind of looked at it each, grins breaking out across their faces. I normally would feel like a third wheel, especially since it was my wedding day, but I was just so happy for both of them. For all of us. After everything we'd gone through together, after graduation and new jobs and getting engaged and married, our friendship was still going strong. I hoped it would stay that way for a lot while longer.

"I wanted to remind you two that the ceremony is in fifteen minutes," Emily said. "Are you ready?"

"I sure am," Lance said, then snapped his suspenders under his blazer. "I'm going to be the best best man that ever best manned in the history of best mannery."

Emily turned her eyes right towards me and her voice softened.

"Are you ready, Thomas?"

The answer in my gut said no, but the answer in my heart said I've never been more ready in my life.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I'm ready."