His Ring Her Rules

This is how fairy tales would appear if they were authored by lawyers.

Not a chapel. No violins. Just a courthouse with a slight odor of legal fees and stale air conditioning. A bored clerk is in charge. And my fictitious billionaire future husband wearing a three-piece suit that most likely cost more than my tuition for college.

My name-signing pen was chained to the counter.

So, no, it wasn't exactly romantic.

Beside me, Ethan Blackwood resembled a statue fashioned from charm and costly indifference. He didn't look in my direction. didn't grin. When the clerk asked the standard question, "Do you, Ethan Alexander Blackwood, take Grace Carter to be your lawfully wedded wife?" I doubted he even blinked.

With the same eagerness that one might use to confirm a lunch reservation, he replied, "Yes."

I hesitated when it was my turn, just long enough to hear my own heartbeat remind me of the absurd life I had just entered.

"Yes," I replied. Yes. Why not?

The clerk appeared slightly offended, as if I had just disparaged the sacredness of official documents.

"You are now legally married by the power vested in me," she sighed.

No confetti. Not much fanfare. Only the soft gliding of our marriage license across the counter and the scratch of a rubber stamp.

She then turned to face us. Anticipating. "You can give the bride a kiss."

I tensed up. Ethan faced me.

Both of us shook our heads.

I hurriedly said, "There won't be any kissing," grinning my most polished smile. "The flu season is upon us."

The clerk shrugged after blinking. "Come as you are."

Ironically, with the frost sliding off him like we were in a meat freezer with emotions, Ethan offered me his arm in a gentlemanly manner.

I whispered, "You didn't have to look so... appalled," as we left.

His voice was calm, but he didn't look at me. "Grace, it's only a contract. There's no need to make it dramatic."

Correct. An agreement. Not a union.

No kiss. No promises. White paper with black ink only.

As the courthouse doors opened and camera flashes burst into our faces, I maintained a cocky grin.

Fantastic. There was the press. The timing was ideal.

"Smile like we're in love, Blackwood," I whispered through my teeth as I put on a smile and put my hand in the crook of Ethan's elbow.

He clenched his jaw. "You're more adept at acting than I realized."

"And you're colder than I thought you were."

Together, we pretended to people we weren't.

husband and wife.

Married—not out of passion, love, or fate.

However, through damage control.

Additionally, the baby didn't request any of this.