Page 7 of The Growly Outcast’s Promise

“All the more reason to take it off. You got something else you can put on?” I ask.

“I do,” she says, but she still looks uncertain.

“Darlin’, do you know what being my wife means?”

“What?”

“It means you no longer have to bend to your grandmother’s rules. You can do whatever the fuck you want to do. Yeah?”

She pulls me into a hug. “You are truly my favorite human in the whole world.”

I wrap my arms around her, wishing she wasn’t wearing the enormous wedding gown so I could have her body closer to mine. I kiss the top of her head.

“Let’s get you out of all of this,” I say.

“I should probably get Lizzie in here to help. It took her forever to button me into this dress.”

I turn her in my arms so her back is facing me. There are, in fact, seven thousand tiny buttons. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration.

I blow out a breath.

“I told you. Let me text Lizzie.”

“Wife, stand still and let me take off your wedding gown. That’s a husband’s privilege.”

I swear I hear her suck in a breath.

My hands might be shaking, but I ignore that nonsense. Have I imagined undressing Bella a million times before? Of course. It was my number one jerk-off fantasy when I was a teen. But we’re not kids anymore.

Bella is very much a woman and now very much my wife. And I very much want to put my mouth and hands all over her gorgeous body.

I start at the top of the buttons and they’re so tiny and delicate, they make my fingers feel big and clumsy. I manage to fall into a rhythm though. Slowly, one-by-one, unbuttoning her dress.

“I take it this entire ordeal was planned by your grandmother?” I ask.

“Of course. My ideas were too crass and simplistic.”

“Still as much of a bitch as she always was then?”

“Leopards can’t change their spots,” she says.

I’ve got the dress unbuttoned to her mid back, but I still haven’t found any bare skin. Instead, she’s encased in some more white fabric.

“Tell me about Landry’s girl,” she says. “I still can’t believe he met someone.”

“That boy is whipped. Head over ass for Brook.”

“So she’s good for him? You like her?”

“Yeah, she’s great. She’s actually Natalie’s sister,” I explain.

“Natalie, as in Linc’s wife?”

“Yeah. They fit in pretty good up on our mountain. You’ll like them.”

“I can’t wait to meet them someday.”

I finish the long column of buttons and the dress gapes open. I slide it down her shoulders and off her torso. The full skirt can practically stand on its own, so I get down low to squish it out of her way.