Chapter 3

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

Those words echo in my ears, and my mind goes into shock before the priest asks us to kiss. I'm frozen in place, and my knees are turning into rubber. The spotlight is on us, and I can't see past the first two rows of the audience. Even so, I could feel their eyes boring holes into my charade.

Were we fooling anyone? Can't my friends and family see that I'm standing in front of a complete stranger?

What the heck am I doing?

Why can't I tell them the truth?

No! Anything but the truth. Not when a lie is so much easier.

Nick smiles at me like he's not at all bothered that he has to kiss me in front of all my relatives. The impish glimmer in his eyes tells me that he's accustomed to kissing girls in all types of situations. This is just a walk in the park for dear, rakish Nick Madigan. I didn't need to know a thing about him to see from his body language that he has experience in kissing and forgetting.

But it means something different to me, doesn't it? This is my wedding day.

All my relatives are here. That includes my dear old adventurous nana, who had flown here from Australia. She's sitting in the first row, in the seat of honor, right beside the aisle. She thinks I'm hesitating out of shyness or jitters. She winks at me and mouths, "he's a keeper." Maybe she thinks I'm scared because I've never been kissed before. Heck no, I haven't dated around much. Still, even I had known all manners of kisses — sweet pecks on the cheek from friends, slurpy ones from my high school boyfriend, the haphazard ones from Kevin before he went off to play his games, and the drunken ones from strangers on NYE from boys (and girls) that I never see again.

This kiss is different. This kiss means something. It means I'm a liar.

My eyes drift over the crowd. My mother and stepfather are looking at Nick and double-checking their phones. Oh no! I think she is pulling up the picture of Kevin from that one time we went out to brunch together. I should be insulted that they didn't know right away that the groom had been swapped. It's okay, mom. I know Kevin is forgettable. But still, what a way to convey to me that I am no longer the most important child. My mom never liked Kevin, but she liked that Kevin was heir to his dad's pizzeria chain.

When my father died three years ago, he left us with a small payout from his life insurance. That wasn't all he left us with. It turns out he had been in debt for quite a few years. My mom told me it was medical debt; from that time, he hurt his back. Eventually, the bank took our house, our cars, and just about anything they could get their hands on. They even took the earrings my dear old nana gave me for getting a bioscience degree, just like my dad. I'm lucky that my mom hid some of that life insurance payout. She was always the clever one. She immediately remarried and to Jim McCoy no less. He was some dude she knew from high school who is now an owner of a shipping company.

Around that time, I dropped out of medical school to work in a chemistry lab. I was where I always felt most at home. My dad used to run that lab, but Dr. Natasha Line, took it over about five years ago when he had to cut down on his work hours because of his back injury. I've been there for three years now. Natasha was kind enough to take me in after my dad died. She even gave me a generous stipend for washing out all the equipment after hours.

People thought I was foolish to give up a medical career to wash test tubes, but it seemed right at the time. I suppose I did it because mixing chemicals was easier than talking to patients during my depression following my father's death. Chemicals are more straightforward. They behave mathematically according to the exchange of bonds and energy. People are messy, people keep secrets, and then they leave you with the bang of a pistol.

I met Kevin not long after my dad died. Not all lawyers are evil, Kevin said to me after we matched on OkCupid. Just like how not all those in medicine do it to help people.

"You may kiss the bride," the priest repeats impatiently.

Those words bring me back to the present.

Nick leans toward me. There is a cacophony of the cheers demanding that the priest's words be sealed with a romantic gesture. Nick hesitates at the last second like he's not sure if this is what I — the grieving jilted bride — would want. Then he shrugs his broad shoulders and goes in for the kill.

It isn't like any kiss I've had before. His lips meet mine softly at first. As confident as Nick Madigan appears on the outside, maybe deep inside, he secretly wondered if I would slap him and run away. I don't run.

No.

Quite the opposite.

I lean into it.

Nick wraps his arms around my waist and draws my entire body up into it. He kisses me in a way that makes me feel like a dirty Disney Princess. The moment is perfect, but I want so much more. My breasts are pressed against the flat surface of his chest. His suit is cool against my bare skin, but I could feel the solid warmth radiating underneath. Then, I forget about that as his mouth envelops mine completely. His chin has just the right amount of roughness to it, and I breathe the smell the crisp scent of his aftershave deep into my lungs.

It goes on a bit too long for a polite kiss in front of friends and family, but I don't care. It turns into a hungry, feverish kiss between lovers who haven't had the chance to grow tired of each other.

I don't push him away even though I know this isn't proper. Nick is enjoying this. That bastard. It's like he's used to taking what he wants regardless of what everyone else thinks. A first kiss is already awkward at the end of a first date. But, to have a first kiss, standing in front of one's friends and family, it's weird as hell.

Even so, the room seems to disappear in that kiss. For a second, there is just Nick and me. I have never been kissed like this before.

When we finally part, I'm surprisingly disappointed. I want to stand on the tiptoe of my already high heels and kiss the bastard again. For a brief moment, during that kiss, it felt as though this was what the universe was giving me to make up for Kevin, that shitasticular failure of a would-be husband.

I want to not care about how Nick felt, whether he is here to be polite or out of pity. I want to forget all that and kiss him with the passion of a woman living out her perfect wedding day.

But I don't. I smile at Nick Madigan and pat the back of his hand. He's smirking at me like he knows exactly what I'm thinking behind my blushing cheeks. I hold back. It takes every ounce of self-control I have not to throw myself in Nick Madigan's arms.

The truth is, this was more than a bad first date where we barely know anything about each other. No, at least on a first date, you know the basics about each other. Like whether the man in question chews with his mouth open, smacks his lips on the soup, or can't stop raving about how much he hates his ex-girlfriends. No, even on a first date, you know something about each other before that goodnight kiss.

Today, even though we had just said our vows to love each other for the rest of our lives, I know absolutely nothing about Nick Madigan.

Nothing at all. Except that he is the most dashingly handsome man I had ever met, and when we step out of this ceremony room, he will walk to the nearest exit and disappear forever.