She stifled a laugh and nodded. The clerk knitted his brow up, and began. All the normal, “We are gathered here today…” and “Does anyone here object to this…” Eli shot Dontae a look as his hand went up then.
“Kidding,” Dontae called over with a wink.
Eli focused back on Rose, but the clerk grabbed his attention with a loud cough. “Did you have your own vows?”
Eli nodded, and met Rose’s eyes, smiling down at her. The room seemed to blur around her, only the two of them mattered now. “Rose,” he said with feeling. “I promise not to stand by you forever until we both die, and never to protect you, and definitely I will not be there when you need me. I will not…love you…” he held her eyes. “Or hold you when you have our babies, or be there for you when you cry, I promise when you win cases, I will not give a rat’s ass.”
Rose blushed like he’d just said the most beautiful things she’d ever heard. “Eli, I swear…no, I vow to never remain at your side, never devoted to you. I vow to always fight everything you do.”
“I like it when you do that,” he interrupted.
She paused and glanced to the clerk. “Can I start again?”
The old guy was flabbergasted. “Be my guest.”
Their friends couldn’t help but laugh because the guy’s face was so comical.
Rose cleared her throat and held Eli’s eyes before she took a deep breath. “Eli Jackson, I vow to do everything you say, to remain docile and timid, to always be predictable. I promise with all of my heart to not…love you…and to not have as many babies as you want to fill me with, and I will most assuredly never, ever show you how much you mean to me and how happy I am that you came into my life.”
He kissed her hands and they both looked at the clerk for what was next.
He stared, removing his glasses, his eyes flitting back and forth between them. “Rose Hendricks, do you not take this man to be your loyal husband, to love and to cherish from this day forward until death do you part?”
She nodded. “I most certainly do not.”
He paused and turned to Eli. “And Eli Jackson do you…not…take this woman to be your loyal wife to love and to cherish from this day forward until death do you part?”
“No way. Uh uh.”
He put his glasses back on and sighed. “Um, I do not pronounce you husband and wife. And you may not kiss the bride?”
The room went up in applause and Eli and Rose looked over to find other people had come in, hoping to get married after they didn’t. Their friends were clapping and whooping and hollering. Darik shouted through cupped hands. “Whatever you do, don’t kiss her!”
Eli grabbed Rose and kissed her deeply and with such passion that fresh applause broke out as she went limp in his arms. He picked her up. Glancing back to the man who didn’t perform the ceremony, he asked, “All the paperwork is in tact right? This is really a done deal, right?” The clerk nodded, both he and the female county employee caught up in the excitement of something old as time done in an entirely new way.
“Yes, you’re really married.”
Rose tucked herself up against him as he carried her through the ten or so strangers who’d watched it all. Then he realized what they’d forgotten. “Hang on!” He stopped before their group went out the doors.
“What, Eli?” she asked as he set her down. Michelle walked up to stand by her side as he looked to his ex-roomie and demanded. “Give ‘em over.”
“Oh, shit! Sorry.” Nathaniel searched his pockets and produced two rings.
Eli dropped to his knees and held up a diamond ring with a slender silver band. Rose’s eyes went wide. “You like it?” She nodded happily. “Rose Hendricks, will you go back in time and marry me ten minutes ago?”
“I will.” She looked at him with love and touched his cheek. “Except it’s Rose Jackson.”
“Yeah?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded with a cute smile. “Yeah. I want to take your name. Can I have that ring, please?” He slid it on and laughed. “I meant the other one.”
“Oh, well let me just take the diamond off you then,” he joked, acting like he was trying to remove it.
She hit his shoulder pretty hard and said, “Give me your ring, dummy!”
He handed it over and rose up to tower over her. She slid it on his finger and looked up. “I love you, Eli.”
He picked her up and whispered for just her, “I love you, too, Rose.”
The End.
If you enjoyed Eli and Rose’s romance, please leave a review to help other readers like you, find the book. :)
Turn the page for links to Darik’s and Dontae’s books.
Werewolves of New York
click any of the covers for Amazon - details below
Not your usual paranormal romance - these are superheroes falling in love despite themselves, fighting crime in the city that never sleeps.
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NATHANIEL - Free!
ELI
DARIK
DONTAE
Contemporary Romantic Comedy
Three novels of three very different, very loyal best friends in New York City, finding love the hard way… In Chronological Order:
Give In To It
Hold On To It
Surrender To It
18+ Readers Only
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About the Author
Faleena Hopkins is a big fan of werewolves, vampires, redemption, and drinking a glass of red wine while howling under the moon—any moon, full or not. She lives in Los Angeles where all the crazies live. She’s an actress and director, too. You can some of her credits and photos here on IMDB.
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Werewolves of New York: Eli (Werewolves of... Book 2) Page 14