They filled out the form, showed their IDs, Noah paid the fee, and then they were climbing into Paul’s cab. The clock on his dashboard read 11:22.
“We’re going to have to hurry.”
Paul looked over his shoulder, sporting a huge grin. “Don’t you worry. I never back down from a challenge. I’ll get you there with plenty of time to spare.”
“It’s okay if we don’t make it,” Libby said, leaning her head on his shoulder. “If we’re off by a few minutes, it’s okay.”
Noah turned to her and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “No, it’s not. We’ll do this. We’ll make it work.”
He kissed her to show her how much he loved her, but then he realized he’d kissed countless other women. It hadn’t meant anything to him other than a prelude to getting laid. Could Libby tell the difference? He could. Just holding her hand gave him more of a thrill than he’d felt with any other woman.
“Noah?” she asked softly, and he realized he was staring at her. “You okay?”
“Never better.”
“Really?” she asked hesitantly. Her eyes were more focused. She was obviously sobering up a bit. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Was she about to change her mind? Had she agreed only because her judgment had been impaired?
“Yes.” He kissed her again, partially in desperation, and partly because he couldn’t believe he could—that she was so willing and accepting.
“We’re here,” Paul said cheerfully.
When Noah looked up, he saw they were parked in front of the Little Heaven Wedding Chapel. He fumbled with the door handle and scrambled out, pulling Libby with him. He dug out his wallet and handed the driver a handful of cash.
“Thanks for the ride. You’ve been a lifesaver.”
Noah started to turn away, but Paul called after him, “Hey! Don’t forget the dress!”
Libby gasped and wrestled the bag through the door. If they had time, he’d love to watch her try to wrangle the dress that was nearly as large as she was, but the clock was ticking, so he took it from her, grinning. “Let me wrestle with it now, you can wrestle with it after you get it on.”
There was a saucy grin on her face as she handed it to him. “Then we can wrestle it together when we get back to the room.”
The thought of taking it off her again was distracting, shuttling blood away from his brain to his other thinking appendage. But he had the rest of his life to think about taking her clothes off—now he needed to make sure they made the midnight deadline.
The rest of his life.
With every other woman, Noah had considered marriage akin to a prison sentence. He hadn’t been able to fathom committing to one woman. Until Libby. He hoped to spend the next fifty or more years with her, and he was certain it wouldn’t be long enough.
But what if he was rushing her? In the cab, she’d asked him if he was sure. He’d never asked that same question of her.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to a halt. “Lib, wait.”
Worry flickered in her eyes.
“You asked me if I was sure, but are you sure?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yes. Very.”
“Then let’s get married.” He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the door.
As soon as they entered the lobby she stopped in her tracks. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “You really did bring me to demonic cherub hell.”
He wasn’t going to argue with her assessment. Cherubs were everywhere. Painted on the walls, the ceilings, the doors, and even the floors. Cherub statues lined the walls and sat on pedestals. A cherub statue cheerfully peed in the pool of the fountain standing in the corner. A counter with a glass display case was on their left.
Noah gawked in horror. “Oh. My. God.”
“I guess we know why it’s called Little Heaven.”
Noah had started to turn around when a woman called out with a thick accent he couldn’t place. “You must be the couple my sweet Ned told me about. Welcome. Welcome. We have everything already prepared. I am Angelica. I hear you’re in a hurry.” She emerged from the dark hallway directly across from them and glanced down at Libby’s impossibly flat stomach. “A little one on the way? You need today’s date to match a due date?”
“What?” Libby gasped.
“No,” Noah said with more force than he’d intended. “We want to be married before Libby’s birthday. Which is tomorrow. But she needs to put on her dress. Is there somewhere she can change?”
Libby glanced around the room, pressing her back to his chest, then looked up at him with a hesitant look in her eyes.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “We don’t have to get married here.”
“We don’t have time to go anywhere else.”
She was right.
He turned her around and put his hands on her shoulders, bending at the knee so he could look her in the eyes. “I know this probably isn’t how you imagined it.” He gave her a sly grin. “But you’re probably the only woman in history to have two themed weddings. Now we’ll have plenty of material for cocktail parties when people ask us about our wedding. No boring stories for us.”
“Oh, Noah.” She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. “How do you always know just what to say to make me feel better?”
He had no idea. It was probably the only thing in his life that had ever come naturally to him. Only further confirmation they were perfect for each other.