Page 161 of Dirty Rock

Tess grinned and leaned in to offer me a kiss on the cheek. “And I couldn’t be happier for you. All three of the Ryans.”

The Ryans.

Before I could protest, she’d turned and walked away, leaving Rhett to look at me with confusion.

“Why have you just paled?” he asked, oblivious.

I cleared my throat and grabbed the lapels of his very expensive jacket. “Must be those damn hormones again.”

“Which ones? Because I adore the crazy horny ones that are showing up each night. Not so keen on the ones that tell me off for leaving my boots behind the sofa.”

“Do not start that argument right now.”

He shrugged, his lips pursing. “I’m just saying. I don’t see the big deal with them being there. Handy for me to slip on when I need to go out for your pre-cut melon slices,” he said sarcastically. “Handy enough for me to slip back off when you let me sit down for more than four minutes at a time.”

“Rhett…”

His grin exploded, and he laughed as he pushed me back against a wall and held me there. “Sorry. It’s just too easy these days.”

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, forever unable to believe he was mine. “Are you ready to go out there and sing the most important song of your life?”

“It’s not the most important song of my life, Jules. That’ll be the first song my baby hears me sing. Or the one I perform when you marry me one day.”

Marry him.

The Ryans.

I wanted all of it.

Everything he had to offer me and more.

“I can’t wait to hear those songs,” I whispered up at him.

He pressed his forehead to mine and sighed. “Neither can I.”

“You need to go,” I warned him. “It’s almost time.”

“Mood killer.” He smirked.

“I’ll give you whatever you need once this is done, and they’re married.”

“Anything?” Rhett’s brow rose like a teenage boy’s, and it made my heart swell.

“An… y… thing,” I whispered.

After a kiss, he took off with a spring in his step, and I made my way to where I needed to be.

It’s hard to describe what it feels like to see two people you love getting married. To see them declaring their lives and love to each other for eternity. Most people assume marriage is just another step in life. The couple say the right things, make their vows lyrical and convincing. They cry on cue, take their first dance arm in arm, and they go about their business to get the job done.

Not Tessa Lisbon and Presley West. They were more than that. This whole wedding meant more.

We were guests wrapped up in a cloud of perfection, wooed by their love, and in awe of their need to claim each other for a lifetime.

But even watching them get married wouldn’t compare to the way I’d feel if Rhett should ever choose to be mine for the rest of forever.

I sat in place on the front row, and I watched my man climb onto a high stool sitting next to the altar that had been made out of tree trunks, wooden beams, and lots and lots of fairy lights. I watched my man in his Tom Ford suit slip in front of the microphone stand with that handsome smile in place. I watched him pick up his guitar and place it over his knee. And when it was time for Tessa to begin walking down the aisle, I watched my handsome entertainer as he began to sing Stone Sour’s acoustic version ofWild Horses.

Uncontrollable emotion overwhelmed me that had nothing, not a damn thing, to do with the hormones.

---