“Fine. Let’s go.”
He looks me up and down. “Ashley will be happy.”
“Why, because I look ridiculous?”
“Because you’re finally wearing something decent.”
Zeus laughs. “I’m going to look out of place without a baby.”
“Hold her, then. Christ. I don’t care.” At that moment, Zeus’s daughter lets out a thin wail. She’s been sleeping in a shaded bassinet near Nicholas, and he looks determined but slightly panicked.
“Come on, Hades. Let’s walk Poseidon down the aisle.”
The three of us go down together, Conor and Buddy following behind. The dogs go to Nicholas in the front row, where Conor can stay close to Hades. Zeus picks up Artemis from her bassinet on the way to Caspian. She settles as soon as she’s in the crook of his arm and passes out again. Leave it to them to make me feel like I need a goddamn baby at my own wedding ceremony.
Music drifts over the guests as soon as we’re up front, and all the anticipation of the last few weeks swells in my chest. One month. One month since I found my mother, and everything is different. And better. Perfect, even.
Persephone comes down the aisle first, her hair in shining curls over her shoulders. She has flowers in her hair, and the entire time she’s walking toward us, she does not take her eyes off Hades. She raises her eyebrows as she reaches the end of the aisle. I catch his shrug out of the corner of my vision. She rolls her eyes, and she’s beaming by the time she takes her place.
Then Brigit, who is sleek and beautiful. I hear Zeus catch his breath as she comes toward us. Those fuckers need to have their own weddings, and soon.
And then the wedding coordinator Brigit insisted on hiring opens the door and Ashley steps out into the sunlight.
“Oh,” says Persephone, even though Persephone has already seen her, and that oh is an echo of what I feel right now, which is—
Expansive. Bigger than the sea. Deeper. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Her dark hair spills over her shoulders, pieces of it artfully swept back. A headpiece shines in her hair, sea-colored jewels set into silver, and her dress—
Her dress floats around her body, skimming her curves in all the right places and dancing with the breeze in others. Brigit was right about the pictures. We’ll need them, because I can’t take my eyes off her face.
Ashley’s glowing. Glowing. Her smile has never been brighter. Her eyes have never been more blue. Cook, looking proudly beside himself in his suit, escorts her down the aisle and puts her hand in mine.
I draw her up toward me, and Caspian clears his throat. “You can’t kiss her yet,” he intones, and then he launches into the ceremony.
The words don’t register. Only the feelings do. The way it feels to watch Ashley promise to be mine. The way it feels to promise her the same thing, and mean it. The sea breeze in my hair. The sight of my mother smiling with tears in her eyes. The softness of Ashley’s hands as I put the ring on her finger. The sound of her laughter when she puts my ring on. It’s joy, all the way down.
Something happens during the vows, as Ashley is making her final promise to me. “—until my days are ended,” she says, and because I’m so close, because I love her, I see the shift in her eyes. One moment they’re the shade of blue I’ve always known, and the next, they’re shot through with other variations. Lighter hues. Darker ones. The breeze off the sea sweeps around both of us like it’s claiming her, too. It presses a kiss to my cheek.
I’m so lost in it that I take her face in my hands and draw her closer to study those colors. Turquoise and navy and the delicate pale blue of the ocean at sunrise. They’re like mine now. We’re a match.
I lean in and kiss her before Caspian can pronounce us husband and wife. He watches in stunned silence, and then everyone is laughing and cheering and he shouts his pronouncement at the same time I take my jacket off.
The sea is insisting.
I kick off my shoes while I’m still kissing Ashley and pull her off to the side. She teases me back with her tongue and steps out of her shoes. “I love you, husband,” she says.
We’re supposed to go back down the aisle but we’re not going to. I know it. So does she. I get my dress shirt off and Ashley shimmies out of her gown to reveal a white bathing suit underneath.
“I love you,” I tell her back. “You’re my home.”
Ashley jumps into my arms, and I meet her in motion. One foot on the bottom rail of the deck, then the top, and then we’re over. She’s laughing as we fall toward home. As we fly. Her body’s pressed to mine, the way it should be. Her arms are tight around my neck. I have her in my arms, and she has me in hers.
She won’t let me go.
Thank you for reading DEVIL MAY CARE! You can get a bonus epilogue featuring Poseidon and his brothers, along with Persephone’s final standoff against her mother, Demeter, right here.
And I’m thrilled to announce my brand new book! NET WORTH is a dangerous, sexy, enemies-to-lovers romance with a billionaire intent on revenge…
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Mason Hill wants one thing: revenge. When Charlotte Van Kempt walks into his office, all innocence and desperation, he knows the perfect way to get it. He makes a dark bargain. She’ll give him her body to save her family. Little does she know he plans to ruin both.
Connect with Amelia
Amelia Wilde is a USA TODAY bestselling author of steamy contemporary romance and loves it a little too much. She lives in Michigan with her husband and daughters. She spends most of her time typing furiously on an iPad and appreciating the natural splendor of her home state from where she likes it best: inside.
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