Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

Chapter 426 – Under the Moon

Cora

After I dress, I surprise myself by feeling a little shy as I reach for the door to the bathroom to go back to the tiny bedroom where Roger’s waiting or me.

Because, I mean, it’s no secret why we’re here. And Roger’s not stupid – he probably figured out what I was doing when I went into the bathroom with a big white box.

But still – it’s always something, isn’t it? Anticipating what it might be like when the man you love sees you in your wedding dress for the first time. And as I think it, quite suddenly, I can’t wait.

I pull the bathroom door open and step back into the bedroom, my eyes instantly going to Roger, standing by the open doors to the beach, the ocean air lifting his hair lightly in the breeze.

And, as I knew they would be, his eyes are already on me. Because he was waiting. And my face bursts into a grin as his expression goes slack.

I feel it all down the bond, which is open to me right now. His awe, and his pride – his love, his desire, the overwhelming swell of pleasure that comes from seeing how beautiful he thinks I look right now on this night – in this dress

“Cora,” he says, the sound of my name rough as it works its way from his tight throat. But it’s the only word he can manage, lifting a hand to cover his mouth and shaking his head at me, just staring.

I turn a little so that I’m facing him completely, still smiling so hard my face might start aching if I keep this up for much longer.

“So, you like it?” I ask, twisting a little so that he can see more of the dress, see how the beadwork catches the light of the fire and makes the dress look incandescent in the glowing dark of this little bedroom.

for a moment before a little growl rumbles in his chest, his only answer.

as the contrast it presents to the bare skin of my back, my arms. He lowers his face to

what I want I can’t pick – do I want you close, so I can keep my hands on you? Or far away,

and smile up at him, terribly pleased. “I’m glad you like it,” I murmur, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I liked it too.

going to have to

away, my hands defensively clutching the

at me and closing the distance between us again, hungry. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to help it. How did you even get this thing on, anyway? I’m never going to have the patience for

I say, swatting at him. “And you will respect the dress! It is precious to me!

I myself now am on the verge

Roger says, his mouth quirking up as he senses it. “Tell

I say, laughing and looking down, shaking my

says, a warning and a command in his voice. And, while those don’t usually do anything for me I have no real intention of letting Roger be the boss of our lives, like Ella and Sinclair – his gentle fingers under my chin, turning my face up to him,

had a mom with a wedding dress to hand down to me. And if

strangled little groan escapes his throat then – not of frustration, or of annoyance, or anything like that. But simply because he can’t help it, because he, too, is

day, getting married, in a dress like this. And suddenly, as I look up at him, I know that we’re both thinking the same thought: that we have so much life ahead of

of his commitment to me, to us, and to our future. It

begins to move backwards then, slowly guiding me to the bed, but as I realize the direction of his intentions I

he asks,

I had within me until this very moment. And then I look back up into his eyes. “I think we have

confused. “Cora, there’s nothing that says

my head, utterly convinced. “Please – I…I’m sure

bed, yanking the duvet off the top and wrapping it into a ball. Then, he passes it to me. Confused, I take it, but as soon as I do Roger dips down, wrapping one arm around my back and using the other to scoop me up beneath my knees, lifting me

minute of it, and I nod towards the beach, and the sea, and the sky – knowing, for some reason, that we have