The Cupid Contract

Chapter 2

With my vision blurry from tears I took a step back to mutter an apology. As I lifted my chin, I met the gaze of the surface. Standing before me was a man unlike any I had seen. Copper eyes that reminded me of a forest in late autumn, dark hair that was slicked back, trimmed beard, and he even had gauges that matched the tie of the suit he was wearing.

I must've looked like an i***t. Veil clinging to a tear stained face, splotchy makeup underneath it, white wedding dress with too much tuell. Flushed skin from the embarrassment that just kept getting worse.

"Are you alright?" A base voice shook me from my internal criticisms of myself. I shook my head and blinked at him. "Normally I don't see brides running from the gazebo room I hold meetings in, in tears." He added.

"I... I'm sorry... It will be... Will be... Be.... It will be cleaned out... Soon..." I stuttered back, unable to get a hold of myself. He slowly reached out and brushed a new tear off my cheek, from under my veil. "I'm sorry I... Ruined your meeting... Mr...?"

"Seth." He chuckled. "Seth Horner." He smiled.

"Mr. Horner." I muttered.

"Would you like to talk about it?" He asked me, gazing into my eyes through the veil. Such an intense gaze, as if he were studying me.

"There... Isn't much to say... Mr. Horner. My... Hus-... Boyfri-... He left me..." I sobbed out, dropping into his chest. Hr hesitated a second before his arms wrapped around my, cradling my head.

"How stupid of him to leave a beautiful flower like you." He mumbled against my hair.

"I wasn't good enough. He preferred his ex." I whispered into his chest.

"You're plenty good enough." He replied.

"Then you marry me!" I whimpered out. Then gasped. It was genius! He could marry me! Then Steven would see how replaceable he was! "Yes! You marry me!" I pulled away from him, staring into his eyes. Pleading with him.

"I can't do that, Flower. I don't know you."

"My name is Amanda Buckley! My family has a fortune! I could pay you! Please, just marry me. Now." I quickly said as I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him toward the door. After a few seconds he pulled me back.

"Then I'll need you to agree to a few things. Obviously this marriage won't be real because there's no marriage license. But if I'm going to pretend to marry you, then I'll need you to pretend to be my wife. If you can agree to that, I can have a contract written up by tomorrow morning. Deal?"

I blinked a few times, shocked by his arrangement, but vengeance was fueling me so I nodded. He smiled and let me pull him into the room.

"Wait! I have the groom!" I yelled out. Anyone that knew Steven looked up in shock. Luckily for me, that wasn't many. Steven was always a little anti social and never wanted to spend time with a lot of the people that were important to me.

Seth winked at me and went to take his place at the end of the aisle. The officiant was also confused, being someone I'd considered an uncle since childhood he knew this wasn't the man I'd rehearsed vows with only a week ago. Nevertheless he cleared his throat and waited for me to take my place next to Chelsea.

"Who's the hunk?" Chelsea whispered.

"Seth Horner. I ran into him outside the door. He holds meetings in this room. That's... Actually all I know." I whispered back. She let out a low whistle causing Theresa and Brittney to chuckle.

As the ceremony took place I found myself staring harder at Seth. Chelsea was right, he was a hunk. As he spoke I noticed a small glint of light and realized he had a tongue ring. Thoughts of how that would feel against my flesh flooded my mind before Chelsea elbowed me.

"Hm? What?" I stammered and the guests started laughing.

"Your vows, Dear." My cheeks flushed. "Oh. Right." I turned to Seth and he grabbed my hands. My mind went mush. "Um. Standing here before you, I remember the moment we met." Five minutes ago. I thought. "Those eyes almost sucked me in and I couldn't imagine not looking into them today. I look forward to my days as your wife."

"Mr. Um... Mr.?" The officiant asked.

"Horner."

"Ah. Mr. Horner. Your vows, now."

"Amanda. Beautiful Flower. Not long has passed since I met you, but I feel as though we could truly know one another. You brought out a feeling in me I thought was long dead. That feeling was adventure. I'm awaiting the new adventures in our life together." I couldn't believe it, I was actually slightly swooning. He'd even squeezed my hands a few times as he spoke.

"Without further ado, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride." I drew in a breath. I forgot about the kiss and my hands began to tremble.

Seth slowly released my trembling hands and grasped the edge of my veil, flipping it to the back of my head. For the first time, our eyes truly met. Then he leaned down and his lips touched mine; time stopped. The kiss started slow, testing the reaction, then suddenly was a little more hungry.

As he dipped my body downward, his tongue traced my lower lip. Without a thought, I granted entrance and the kiss was deepened. Whoops and hollars echoed the room as my mind spun. I never expected a kiss like this.

Finally he whirled me back to stand and I felt myself sway slightly as I regained my bearings. When I looked up at him he was smirking down at me and winked when he caught me looking. I could feel the heat in my cheeks growing.

"It is much to my joy that I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Horner!" Everyone clapped and Seth took my hand and led me back to the end of the aisle. Rose petals were thrown over us and I spotted Rachel in the crowd taking as many pictures as she could get. Maybe this wasn't such a terrible wedding after all.

Alisha met us at the doors with a confused smile.

"So let's get the happy newly weds over to the butterfly area for some pictures while everyone else gathers in the reception hall." She said as she shoo'd us to the room I wanted my husband and wife pictures in. Rachel popped up behind us and followed.

The room was beautiful. Seth and I were given cups of nectar so the butterflies would flock to, and land on, us. Rachel had us stand back to back with the cups held and snapped a shot as soon as our hands were covered. Then she moved some of the butterflies to my head and took another shot of Seth trailing his fingers through my hair as they crawled along.

My favorite was when she put a butterfly on both our noses and had us make a funny face toward each other. It almost made me feel like this was real. The way he stared at me made me wish it was. Before it was over Seth grabbed me and kissed me again as the butterflies flew away, I could see the flash of Rachel's camera from behind my eyelids.

After we were done we were rushed into the reception hall. I almost felt bad that Mom had ordered some unheard of fancy Italian place to cater, but I really loved cheese ravioli; hoping he did too. We were placed at the head of the table and everyone stood and clapped, only sitting once we did.