Stealing the Groom by Sonya Weiss

stop being all work and no play. Even if he fought against it—and she didn’t doubt that he would—he could learn how to be impetuous. How to live in the moment, to enjoy life for once in his adult life. Yes! She could do that for him.
    Pleased that something she’d set in motion might not end up a dismal flop after all, Amelia’s heart lightened.
    They covered the short distance to the wedding chapel with Amelia walking determinedly forward. She was willing to bet Chad would thank her for this one day. He’d realize she’d done it all out of concern.
    Henry was standing at the door waving at them. “Are you two ready?”
    She nodded as Chad said, “As we’ll ever be, I guess.”
    “Well, come on in!”
    They followed him to the front. He took a seat next to her grandfather in the first row, then Chad faced her and took one of her hands in his, grimacing slightly.
    Her smile slipped slightly.
    Five o’clock shadow. Those blue eyes. The way that suit fit. The warmth of his hand. When the hell had he morphed into the poster boy for sexy?
    She wasn’t exactly sure what the reverend said. It all sounded like “blah, blah, blah” to her because she couldn’t stop thinking about Chad.
    Before long, they exchanged rings and then the reverend pronounced them husband and wife.
    Chad leaned forward. Oh. The kiss. Of course. It was expected of them. Not a problem. She could keep in mind that while they were real friends, this wasn’t a real marriage. She didn’t want him that way and he didn’t want her. She leaned forward to meet him. Calm and in control.
    Then his lips moved on hers.
    She kissed him back with an embarrassing amount of enthusiasm.
    When she finally located her self-control, she put it back to work and stepped away, turning to face their grandfathers.
    “The jet is waiting. We’ll head back to Sweet Creek now,” Henry announced with a satisfied grin.
    “One more thing,” the man who ran the ceremony said. “We’ll need your signature.”
    The marriage license. She didn’t know how the grandfathers had managed to pull this off, but she was sure it entailed a lot of zeros on a check.
    In the limousine taking them to the airport, Chad sat right up against her until Amelia shifted. “Don’t you have some room over there?”
    The poster boy for sexiness raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
    “Because you’re almost on top of me.” Her face reddened and thankful he couldn’t read her mind, she said, “Just move, will you?”
    “Wow. Isn’t that a world record for nagging?” He made a show of looking at his watch. “Married less than twenty minutes.”
    She must have grimaced because he asked, “Are you sick?” then reached over and pressed his hand against her forehead.
    She jerked away from his touch.
    “Oh, I get it. This is the precursor for ‘Honey, I have a headache.’” He patted her thigh. “Relax. We’ll set some rules in place and make sure this remains a hands-off relationship.”
    “There’s no need for me to fake a headache. There’s no need for rules because a hands-on relationship never occurred to me.” She poked him in the side.
    She was still trying to figure out how the hell she’d ended up becoming Mrs. Chad Walker.
    …
    Given the way she’d kissed him at the altar, Chad wasn’t so sure he believed her. His pride was tempted to prove her wrong but that would be like poking a mama bear in the butt. He was the one who’d get bitten.
    As the residential part of the town slid into an industrial area and then led toward the airport where his grandfather’s private plane was, Chad tugged at the tie around his neck.
    He was married. To Amelia. He’d have to come up with a list of dos and don’ts so that the both of them would survive the next six months relatively unscathed. Good idea, he congratulated himself. All they had to do was stick to the rules.
    His gaze touched on her lips. He swallowed. Rule number one would be no kissing his wife. When she moved so