AVERY (The Corbin Brothers Book 2) by Lexie Ray Page A

said.”
    “Come on,” Paisley sighed. “Let’s sign the contracts and get on with it.”
    “Get on with it? Now who’s the one minimizing the wedding?”
    “Oh, stop it.”
    The lawyers we’d hired — well, Chance had to hire a lawyer; Sam was wealthy enough to keep one on retainer, apparently — met us at the DJ booth inside a tent set up for the reception. There it was, all spelled out for us, the marriage license and the contract for the ranch merger. I was literally signing my life away, and I was stubbornly thankful for the whiskey as I scratched my signature into the paper with the pen the lawyer supplied me with. Chance and Sam joined us immediately to also sign the ranch merger agreement.
    “I feel like we should kiss again,” Paisley said, breathless with laughter. “That was the real marriage.”
    I kissed her to oblige her, though it was chaste for Chance and Sam’s sakes.
    Paisley held my face to hers for a moment afterward, and I stared deep into those hazel eyes.
    “Do you remember what I told you?” she asked.
    “You’ve told me lots of things.”
    “About doing something for you. Repaying you.”
    “Yes.” This was about the bully all those years ago. “I remember.”
    “Your family’s ranch is saved,” she said. “The bank isn’t going to take it. The land our family owns and works has now doubled in size.”
    “Yes, that’s right.” What in the world was she getting at?
    “We are good for each other, Avery Corbin,” she said. “My debt to you is repaid, your ranch’s debt to the bank is repaid, and now we can go forward and make a good life together.”
    “Okay,” I said uncertainly.
    Chance and Sam had drifted away to find their seats for dinner, and Paisley let go of my face.
    “It doesn’t have to be bad,” she said faintly.
    “What?”
    “Our marriage. It doesn’t have to be bad.”
    “I … don’t want it to be bad.”
    “I understand if you don’t love me right now,” she said. “I understand that this whole thing was rushed. But I hope you’ll maybe grow to love me.”
    “Paisley …”
    But she walked away, laughing and waving as guests started to filter into the tent, radiant in that confounding green dress. It was a good thing. I hadn’t been sure what I was supposed to say to that. The truth was out, at least — she knew I hadn’t married her out of love. But that truth didn’t make this marriage any easier.
    I grabbed a drink at the bar because I didn’t know what else I should be doing and went to try and find out where I was supposed to be sitting. I hadn’t had the stomach to eat anything today, and all of the whiskey I’d already had was starting to wear on me. Dinner sounded both good and not so good, my stomach doing a poor job of telling me what it wanted. I didn’t even know what I wanted.
    “You’re supposed to be greeting guests with your wife right about now,” Emmett said, swooping by me at the bar. “Not a good time to grab a drink, Avery.”
    “Shit,” I muttered, throwing it back and down my throat and wiping my mouth on the sleeve of my suit jacket. I’d forgotten that detail, one of what felt like thousands tossed at me during hurried rehearsals. Paisley was at the entrance to the tent already, beaming and accepting congratulations for marrying some idiot who couldn’t even remember what he was supposed to be responsible for at his own wedding.
    “About time,” she said to me quietly through a tight smile.
    “Sorry,” I muttered back, and started receiving handshakes and hugs and well wishes for something I didn’t feel good about at all. My smile felt sickly on my own face, so I stopped trying to match the wattage one Paisley’s face and simply nodded and thanked folks for turning out for the end of my life as I knew it.
    “Don’t look so horrified,” Paisley said as we were finally able to sit at our own table. “I told you things didn’t have to be bad.”
“I’m not trying to look horrified,” I