SEBASTIAN
Sebastian checked his watch for the hundredth time.
The city hall ceremony room was empty except for him and Oliver. Two witnesses hired from some temp agency that handled wedding paperwork. A justice of the peace who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else.
This wasn't supposed to feel like anything.
It was supposed to be efficient. A transaction. Two people signing documents that would change his life for exactly one year and then everything would go back to normal.
Except nothing felt normal.
Oliver stood beside him wearing an expensive suit and a knowing smile that made Sebastian want to throw him out.
"You're nervous," Oliver said.
"I'm not nervous."
"Your jaw is clenching so hard I'm worried you're going to crack a tooth. You only do that when you're feeling something you don't want to feel."
"Shut up."
"She's going to walk through that door in about two minutes and you're going to forget that this is supposed to be business." Oliver stepped closer. "I can already see it happening. You've been different all week. Tense. Distracted. Sending her messages about war."
"That was strategic messaging."
"That was you flirting while pretending it was business strategy." Oliver laughed quietly. "This is going to be a disaster. The best kind of disaster, but a disaster nonetheless."
The door opened.
And everything Sebastian had prepared himself for shattered instantly.
Evangeline walked in wearing a cream dress. Simple. Elegant. Not the wedding dress someone wore if they were excited about getting married. Just a dress. A beautiful dress that made her look like someone who'd walked out of a dream he'd been having without knowing it.
Sebastian stopped breathing.
Her emerald eyes found his and held. She looked terrified and brave and absolutely devastating.
She looked like she was about to marry a stranger.
Which was exactly what this was.
Except his chest had other opinions about what this was.
Oliver nudged him and he realized he'd been staring like an idiot.
The justice of the peace began the ceremony without any of the usual warmth or joy. She spoke in a monotone voice about the solemnity of marriage and the legal implications of the contract they were about to sign.
No love. No hope. No belief that this meant anything except what was written on paper.
Evangeline and Sebastian repeated their vows without emotion. They said yes to legal binding. They said yes to one year. They said yes to the complete transaction of their lives.
Then the justice of the peace said the words that made his entire body go rigid.
"You may now kiss the bride."
Sebastian hesitated.
This was the moment. The thing that would make it real in front of witnesses. The thing that would cross a line from business into something that felt like pretending at all.
He looked at Evangeline and saw her chin lift slightly. Like she was bracing herself.
Like she was preparing for a kiss that meant nothing.
But it did mean something.
It meant everything.
He leaned in slowly. Giving her time to pull away. Giving himself time to change his mind.
She didn't pull away.
His lips touched hers and it was like touching fire after three years of ice.
Her lips were soft. Warm. They smelled like jasmine and something that was just hers. Just Evangeline. Just the woman who'd walked into his office and completely destroyed his ability to pretend he didn't feel anything.
Every wall he'd built. Every brick. Every stone. Every layer of ice he'd constructed to keep the world out. It trembled.
He could feel it cracking.
One year of this would destroy him.
One year of living with her. Seeing her. Breathing the same air. One year of separate bedrooms while his entire body screamed at him to knock down that door and pull her into his bed and make this real.
He pulled back quickly.
Too quickly.
Like he was touching something that would burn him if he didn't let go.
Oliver coughed to cover what was definitely a laugh.
"Congratulations," the justice of the peace said with zero enthusiasm. "You're legally married."
Married.
The word felt impossible.
He'd just married a woman he barely knew because she'd walked into his office and proposed a business deal. He'd married her because her desperation reminded him of his own. He'd married her because something in his frozen chest had started to thaw the moment she touched him.
And now he'd kissed her.
And everything had changed.
Evangeline signed the marriage certificate with shaking hands. He signed across from her, his signature sharp and controlled while his insides were anything but controlled.
They walked out of city hall as Mr. and Mrs. Thornfield.
The reporters outside erupted into chaos.
Is it real love? When did you meet? What about your engagement scandal?
Sebastian kept his hand on the small of Evangeline's back. For the cameras. For the narrative. Definitely not because he couldn't stand not touching her.
She fit against his side like she'd always belonged there.
Which was a problem.
Because she didn't belong there.
This was one year. It was a contract. It was business disguised as marriage and he needed to remember that.
Except he'd just kissed her and tasted jasmine and felt every wall he'd built tremor like it was made of nothing.
One year.
He'd thought he could survive one year of this.
He'd thought he could marry her and keep it professional and walk away clean.
He'd been catastrophically wrong.
In the car heading back to the penthouse, Evangeline stared out the window and didn't speak.
Sebastian sat beside her watching her profile and realized the terrible truth.
One year wasn't going to be enough.
He'd already broken the most important rule of his own contract.
He was already falling for her.
And the worst part was he couldn't stop it.
He didn't want to stop it.
The ice king had melted and there was no going back.