Free Devoted to the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 3) by Adele Huxley

down to it, all I want is to be your wife. Is that so bad?” I batted my eyes at him, milking the moment.
    His expression softened, hazel eyes sparkling as he studied my face. “Well, we’re committed now, kitten. You asked for a big wedding and that’s what we’re getting. I’m trying to help with all this, but you should have some input. It’s your wedding, too. Plus, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
    “That’s it!” I gasped. “You can take care of all of it. It’ll be like a surprise wedding!”
    Bryan’s eyebrow shot up. “A surprise wedding,” he replied dubiously. “Oh yeah, that’s not gonna blow up in my face or anything. You get pissed off when I buy generic cereal and the wrong kind of toilet paper, but you’re happy to let me design our wedding? That’s a mine field I’m not going anywhere near.”
    I glanced at the binder again and almost visibly cringed. Even from across the bed, I could feel the weight of it bearing down on my shoulders. The stress of the wedding was the last thing I needed on top of everything else. I sat up, a wicked smile curling my lips. “Then, why don’t we elope? We can stop by Vegas on the way home, get hitched, and send photos to everyone on the guest list.”
    “Uh huh, right,” he said, pretending to consider the suggestion. “Great idea except we’ve already put money down on the venue, reserved the caterer, and photographers… not to mention telling our families.”
    “Why not hire a wedding planner? Isn’t that exactly what they’re meant for?” I countered with a glimmer of hope.
    “Liz, not to be harsh, but we barely have enough money for all the stuff I just listed. We definitely don’t have the funds to pay a professional to sort it all out for us.”
    I pulled my knees up to my chest and sighed. “Plus, if we do it that way, we won’t get any presents.”
    Bryan gave me a playful slap on the thigh. “Real nice. You’re such a romantic.” His hand rested on my leg, rubbing the thin material of my pajama bottoms idly. After a moment’s thought, he paused. “Do you really want me to take care of everything?”
    “Would you hate me if I said yes?” I batted my eyelashes at him. We both knew I was working him, and we both knew I’d be successful.
    “I won’t hate you,” he said, leaning down to kiss my neck. “But you have to promise not to hate me if you end up walking down the aisle in a poofy teal wedding dress. I can see you holding this whole thing over my head for the rest of our lives.”
    “I swear it,” I declared, flashing my best Girl Scout salute. Inside, I did experience a little wave of anxiety at the idea of letting him take over. Just because I didn’t want to plan didn’t mean I wanted the whole thing to be hideous, and Bryan did have a weird affinity for wood paneling. “You know…” I said slowly as the idea formed in my head. “There is one thing we haven’t considered.”
    “What’s that?” he asked, bracing himself for my next crazy suggestion.
    “Selling out. Like, completely. I’m sure some magazine out there would kill to buy the exclusive rights to our wedding. We could use the money to pay for someone to make it perfect, right? And probably get a honeymoon out of the deal!”
    Bryan’s mouth fell open. “You want to sell the most important day of our lives as a couple to the highest bidder?”
    “When you put it that way… Ugh, fine. It was just an idea,” I said with a dramatic roll of the eyes. “I give you my blessing to take care of the whole thing. Just tell me when and where.” I turned back to the work that was waiting for me and groaned. “I have another twenty, thirty questions to answer still, and I can’t face it right now. I think I’m gonna go for a run on the treadmill downstairs. It doesn’t look like I’m gonna be able to get to the mountain today after all.”
    Bryan frowned at all the papers scattered around the bed. “Do you want me to do the questions?”
    I