Evin's Fight (Southern Charmers Book 3) by Ahren Sanders (inspirational books for women .TXT) 📕

“Dante,” my breath leaves me.

“It’s not happening right now, but we’ll get our chance.”

“Charleston, Vegas, wherever we are, we will get it.”

“I know.” He kisses me on the cheek and guides me back to the bar where Ryanne is deep in conversation with Evin.

“Everything okay with Darby?” I sit on the stool and he crowds in.

“Dev’s teething and having a rough night. She wanted to check-in.” He fills my glass and orders another whiskey.

Ryanne takes a huge slug of her martini. “I’m calling it now. Darby may be your sister and you have some supernatural ESP, but I’m claiming the maid of honor.”

I gasp, horrified and wide-eyed. “Ryanne!”

“Fine with me,” Evin encourages her.

My stomach drops at the same time my heart hammers.

“The sooner it happens, the better. Darby’s had a dream since she knew what weddings were,” he goes on with the conversation like I’m not here.

“How about tonight?” she challenges, and the room spins.

“I’m ready.”

I set my glass back on the bar and swirl to face them all. “Stop the madness!”

“What madness?” Evin leans down, his lips touching mine and his eyes glittering. “You want to wait, I understand. It’s your call.”

“Are you insane?”

“Insane about you? Yes. In love with you? Yes? Want to make this official so we don’t go through however long it takes to be together full-time? Yes. Willing to have my ring on your finger after twelve hours of knowing you? Yes.”

“Evin.”

“You want to wait, we will.”

“You would wait?”

His hands frame my face and he bends so only I can hear him. “I would wait, but I’m not a man who gets your precious and lets you go. All in.” He places my hand on his chest where his heart is beating steadily.

I close my eyes, waiting for my logic to kick in. It’s silent.

“I’m all in, too,” I answer honestly, opening my eyes. “What about your family?”

“Right now, my thoughts are only on you. You want a big wedding, big celebration, big shin-dig, it’s yours.”

I think about next weekend in Kiawah, the weddings I’ve attended over my life, the huge soirees.

None of that is me.

“Ryanne and Dante only?”

“If that’s what you want.”

There’s no hesitation. “I want them.”

“Is that a yes?” he prompts.

“If it isn’t, I say yes!” Ryanne pipes in. “Marriage licenses are issued through midnight.”

She pulls out her phone and angles it at us. “So, Chris Hemsworth, aka, Evin Graham, are you gonna ask her to marry you?”

“No, Ryanne, it’s a given she’s marrying me. I want to know if it’s tonight.”

His mouth closes over mine, and he lifts me until I’m wrapped around him. Our kiss turns crazed and my mind goes hazy.

“Poppy?” he questions lowly against my lips.

“Tonight,” I answer with absolute certainty.

Chapter 15

Evin

I check the address again, looking at the pale pink building Ryanne instructed us to meet. According to her, it is Vegas’s hidden gem of chapels.

“I’m trusting Ryanne on this.”

“She knows her shit,” Dante grumbles, walking in.

Those are the first four words he’s spoken to me since leaving the bar. Once Poppy agreed to marry me, Ryanne kicked into action and planned, declaring we weren’t getting married in a ‘seedy’ chapel with a revolving door. It was a little scary how much the woman knew about planning a Vegas elopement. Everything from how to get married to the perfect location—she rattled it off like a pro.

After we received our wedding license, Ryanne ordered a limo and whisked Poppy back to their house, and confirmed we’d meet here in an hour.

When the women left, Dante’s icy attitude locked into place.

I step inside to see an older woman behind a desk, smiling at me. “Welcome, Evin.”

“Lou Ann?”

She nods. “We’re glad you’re here. Ryanne has everything set up.”

I hand over my credit card and take in the building. It’s a sophisticated and classy chapel, but Ryanne arranged something different for us.

“We have the garden, correct?” I sign the slip.

“You do, and I think you’ll love it. Ryanne does a lot of business with us.”

“She does?”

“We use our garden for much more than weddings. Photoshoots, team meetings, business functions, we do anything. Which thrills me, since that garden is our pride and joy.”

Once again, this is news to me but makes sense why when Ryanne insisted and Poppy agreed without blinking. “Look forward to seeing it.”

“Would you like to wait for your bride to make the final decisions?”

“What decisions?”

“Personal vows or traditional?”

“Traditional.” Simple choice.

“And the flowers?”

“Do we have options?”

She straightens, her face beaming. “Oh yes, I make every arrangement myself, and if you’re not satisfied, I can whip something up in a skinny-minute.”

I grin at her language, figuring she must have spent time in the south at some point. “Poppy’s best friend is somewhere around here. Let me talk to him, and we may pick them out.”

“He went directly to the garden. Head right and then straight back.”

I jerk my chin in appreciation and find the way. The instant it comes into view, my pulse races. The area blows my mind. Calling it a ‘garden’ is an understatement. Lights are strung everywhere, the lawn is manicured to perfection, and flowers and plants border the perimeter in an elegant style. Darby’s wedding pops into my mind, and this place rivals even the most professional and high-end resorts.

Dante is standing in the middle, glancing around. His eyes briefly pass over me and I catch the flash of irritation before he turns his back.

It is more than irritation, it’s disapproval.

Fuck!

I make my way to him and stand close. “You got something on your mind you want to share?”

“Nope.” His tone is curt and short.

“Wanna share why two hours ago we sat at a table with you laughing your ass off and now I get the arctic circle?”

“Two hours ago, the two women in my life were ecstatic. One of them shining so bright she rivaled the sun.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m preparing to give Poppy away.”

“What’s the problem with that?”

“Not my place to say.”

I turn to him. “Man, in a short while, you