“Just you and me?” I asked hopefully.
“Yup, just you and me. The boys are at Shane’s for the weekend.”
“Can we have Mexican?”
“Whatever you want, baby. I’ll pick you up about noon, and then we can eat and spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want,” he promised.
“You spoil me too much, Daddy.” But I was grinning.
“You’re my only baby girl, Lu. I’ll spoil you all I want,” he said in a gruff voice.
“Love you, Daddy.”
Chapter 1
Lucy
February
The material of the dress I had just stepped into felt scratchy against my skin. It was expensive silk, or so the price tag had proclaimed it when Jenna and Kin helped me pick it out the week before. I knew it wasn’t actually the material of the damn thing that was making me feel like every inch of my body was covered in hives.
It was me.
Breathe.
“You look hot,” my best friend said with a grin as she came into the bedroom after having just finished putting on her makeup in my bathroom. “Harris is going to come in his pants the second he sees you in that.”
I examined myself in the full-length mirror on the back of the closet door. We’d spent the entire afternoon at the spa and then had our hair done afterward. The stylist had straightened my crazy curly hair that now hung to the middle of my back. I’d let Kin do my makeup since she was the queen of that contour bullshit, and I had to admit the smoky eye with just a hint of purple went perfectly with my purple silk dress. The material clung to my body, dipping down just enough to give the tiniest tease of cleavage. It was the ideal mix of sexy and demure to make both Harris and my dad happy.
Which, in the end, was all I really cared about. As long as the two men I loved the most in the world were happy, I was happy too.
It would be over in just a few hours. I wouldn’t have to worry about the flashing lights and possible whispers by the time I returned home later with Harris.
With that thought firmly in mind, I pulled on the killer black boots I had practically drooled over from the moment I set eyes on them and grabbed my clutch. “I’m so ready for this night to be over,” I grumbled as the two of us left my apartment and headed for the elevators.
Our engagement party was tonight. I should have been thankful the moms and Aunt Emmie had given me a little over a month to prepare for the party. Especially since there were going to be nearly two hundred people there. Two hundred of our nearest and dearest, or so the trio had assured me when I’d made the mistake of asking how many people I should expect in attendance.
I wasn’t even sure I knew two hundred people who were near and dear to me, so I figured there would be more people there for Harris than me. With all the new connections he’d made over the last few years since First Bass opened, I had an inkling the night was going to be filled with more strangers than actual people I cared about. Hence the hives.
Kin touched her hand to my arm, giving me a look that told me she understood what I was feeling. “Just breathe, okay? Harris will be beside you the entire time. And you know Jace and I will be right there with you. If it gets to be too much, just give me the code word and I’ll cause a scene, and Jace can sneak you out the back or something.”
Despite my misgivings, a grin teased at my lips. “What’s the code word?”
She touched her index finger to her chin, thinking quickly—and most likely dirtily. But then she surprised me with, “Banana.”
A laugh bubbled out of me, easing a little of the tension in my shoulders. “What? Why would that be the code word?”
She shrugged her slender shoulders. “I figured that was the least likely word that would come out of your mouth all night. This way I’ll know for sure that’s what you mean if you have to use it.”
Still laughing, I shook my head at her and stepped into the now open elevator. Kin hit the button for Jace’s floor, and we were both giggling when the doors opened to find Jace standing right in front of us. I took in his elegant suit, carefully styled hair, and the smirk on his face.
He gave a low wolf whistle that had us both blushing with pleasure, but his blue gaze grazed over me before he ate up the sight of his girlfriend. Her dress wasn’t nearly as demure as my own. The backless baby-blue satin dress was held up by delicate shoestring straps. She was wearing a pair of heels that put her at the perfect eye level with him, but his gaze wasn’t on her face.
“Hey!” she mock-scolded him. “Eyes up here, babe.”
He shot her a crooked grin as he stepped forward to kiss her, giving the lipstick she had on a true test to see if it was actually going to stay in place. I rolled my eyes and stepped back, pushing the button to hold the elevator doors open so it wouldn’t crush Kin, who was still half inside with me.
After nearly a full minute, I cleared my throat loudly, but that didn’t even penetrate their lust-filled brains. Muttering a curse, I grabbed both of them by the arms and guided them back into the elevator before punching the garage floor button. As the elevator descended, it stopped a few floors down. I cringed as the jerk who lived in 12B stepped on beside me and kept his gaze on my two friends who were still going at it hot and heavy.
Shit, I hated that guy.
The first time I’d met him I had been alone in the elevator and he’d had some chick all over him much like Kin was on Jace now. But while the girl had been licking and sucking on his neck, practically dry-humping his leg, he had lifted his head and looked right at me. His brown eyes had been bloodshot, and I could smell the booze on both him and the girl in his arms. Those eyes had practically fucked me as he stood there with that smug-ass grin on his face. When the elevator had stopped, I’d flipped him off as he’d carried his girl out.
The second time, I’d actually gotten a better look at the guy. He had shaggy dark hair with just a few natural, sun-kissed highlights. His nose was on the crooked side, but I didn’t look close enough to see if it was from being broken or just the way it was shaped. His skin was on the darker side of olive, reminding me of Harris. That time, I wasn’t alone in the elevator. Kin and I had finished with classes early and were going to study in my apartment. She had one of her books already open and was skimming through her notes.
I had tried to ignore the guy as he’d stepped into the elevator, crowding us into the back corner even though the three of us were the only ones present. I’d clutched Kin’s elbow, pulling her attention away from her studying to the creep that was standing far too close. As soon as her eyes clashed with the guy’s, she had stiffened.
“Back the fuck up, asshole,” she’d growled at him.
With a chuckle, he had moved to the other side of the elevator, but his eyes hadn’t left us once. We hadn’t been wearing anything revealing, just T-shirts and jeans, but he’d looked at us like we were naked. I hated guys like that. The sexist fuckers who thought they were entitled to anything and everything they saw just because they had a dick.
“Keep your eyes to yourself, dickhead,” I’d tossed at him as I gave him my usual greeting of flipping him off.
“Where’s the fun in that?” he’d said with a leer as the elevator had stopped on his floor.
With a wink, he’d walked away, but that wasn’t the last I had seen of him in the intervening few weeks. Every time I had the misfortune of riding the elevator with him, he was just as creepy, just as sleazy. I could practically read the lewd thoughts in his eyes, and I was tempted time and again to throat-punch the fucker. I was starting to think he was a stalker, one who knew when I was going to be without Marcus or Harris—or fuck, without any other male on the planet—because that seemed to be the only time I ever saw this jerk-off.
Thankfully, the creeper got off on the ground floor, and no one else stepped into the elevator with us. Jace and Kin’s kiss was still going strong when the doors opened once again to find Marcus already sitting behind the wheel of my Range Rover that was idling close by.
r /> “Kin!” I called loudly. “Hello? Could you come up for air? I don’t want to be late.”
With a small whimper, she pushed Jace back, and I saw her lipstick was worth every penny she had thought she was wasting on it. She quickly smoothed out Jace’s shirt and then brushed her fingers over her hair. On visibly shaking legs, she took his hand and followed him out.
Seeing us, Marcus jumped out and opened the door for me. Kin and I climbed into the back while Jace took the front passenger seat. Something I was eternally grateful for because I wasn’t sure I could sit beside them while they devoured each other’s mouths. Especially if Kin was going to make those little noises that were part whimper, part mewling sound. If I’d had to endure that, I would most likely have jumped Harris the second I saw him.
“Sorry,” Kin whispered as Marcus shifted into drive and headed out.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t have even bothered you if I weren’t afraid of showing up late to this thing.”
She grasped my hand and entwined our fingers. “Remember. Banana.”
I fucking loved my best friend. She knew exactly how to make me feel calm and put a grin on my face. Giggling, I nodded to let her know I would remember, and Jace turned to lift a brow at us both.
Twenty minutes later, Marcus pulled up in front of Cliff’s Edge, and my heart melted as soon as I saw the man standing there waiting for us. Dressed in a suit that nearly matched Jace’s, Harris looked delicious, and I wanted to jump his bones the second he stepped forward and opened my door. As soon as I touched my fingers to his, I felt him jerk in reaction, and I didn’t even hesitate to clutch his tie and pull his head down for a hungry kiss.
I felt the ravenous growl vibrate his chest and smiled against his lips before he lifted his head. “You’re gonna make me go in there with a hard-on, sweetness. You want your dad to kill me in front of our friends and family?”
I scrunched my nose up at him teasingly. “We’re engaged, babe. I’m fairly sure they all know we see each other naked on a daily basis.”
“And I’m pretty sure your dad doesn’t care to see the evidence of how I respond to just the thought of you naked, Lu.” With a wink, he grasped my hips and lifted me from the seat. Seconds later I was on my feet, and his aquamarine eyes were eating up every inch of me. “Fucking hell. We’re leaving early from this damn thing.”
Pleasure filled me, and I could tell when he saw how much his comment pleased me. He bent and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Ready?”
I wasn’t, but it was now or never. I nodded because I couldn’t voice the lie aloud, and he took my hand as we entered the restaurant together.
As soon as we stepped inside, all eyes turned to look at us, and I tightened my fingers around his.
Breathe.
Shit, that was a lot of people. Two hundred people, in theory, was a lot, sure. But I had been to events with my family plenty of times where the numbers had been in the tens of thousands. This should have been simple, something I could breeze through easily and unaffected. Instead, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack and had to force myself to put up the walls that had fallen the second Harris had first seen my physical scars.
Feeling my tension, Harris lifted our joined hands and kissed the backs of my fingers. “We got this,” he promised me.
I melted against him, letting go of some of the tension that was trying to destroy all the progress I had made over the last year. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Lucy.”
“There’s my baby.” A deep voice that filled my heart with nearly as much love as Harris’s did sounded from right behind me.
I turned and hugged my dad, taking a moment to bury my face in his strong, wide chest before the rest of our engagement party guests swooped down on us. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see the people there; it just got a little overwhelming to see them all at the same time. Once upon a time, I had loved having get-togethers like this with all the people I loved. But that was before those closest to me found out about my coping mechanism. I knew no one who did know about my cutting would ever tell another soul, and only a handful of people in the room right then were aware of what I struggled with every single day. But now that my secret was out, I always felt like the entire world knew and was judging me.
Dad lowered his head, and he touched his lips to my temple. “I’m right here, baby. Not gonna let anyone hurt you. You know that, right?”
I lifted my head and gave him a beaming smile. It was the same smile I had always hidden behind, the one that masked everything I was really feeling and let me pretend that everything was perfect. That I was perfect. What a fucking lie. “Yeah, Daddy. I know.”
He tucked me close then draped his arm casually around Harris’s shoulders. Turning, Jesse Thornton spoke to the entire room. “Everyone, this party is to celebrate my baby girl marrying this…boy.”
I heard a snort and caught Devlin Cutter’s eyes. He winked at me as he tucked his daughter between him and her mother. Smiling back at him, I elbowed Dad in the stomach. I knew he loved Harris, but he was always grumbling and growling and calling him “boy.”
“Ouch, Lu. Okay, okay,” he said with a deep chuckle, then cleared his throat after swallowing hard. I knew this was difficult for my dad, but he was taking it in stride for me, and it made me love the man who had raised me from the time I was six years old even more. “Seriously, though. We all knew this day was coming. From the time they were kids, we all figured these two would break my heart and spend the rest of their lives together. But today, my heart isn’t broken. It’s fuller than ever. I’m not losing a daughter. I’ve only gained another son.”
His hand tightened on Harris’s shoulder, and I watched as the two men who were my entire world locked gazes. I witnessed the mutual love and respect they had for each other shining back. Tears stung my eyes, and I turned so I was hugging them both as a chorus of “Here, here” and collective feminine “Aww” sounded behind me.
After only a few short seconds, Dad stepped back and shook Harris’s hand. “I could only ever have let her go to you, boy.”
Harris swallowed hard. “I know, sir. Thank you, sir. I promise you, I won’t let you—or Lucy—down.”
As soon as the two men were apart, the others took that as their cue to start coming over to congratulate us. Everyone who had been at my birthday party and witnessed Harris proposing to me was front and center, and I was hugged tightly by all the badass rockers who looked scary and mean to the outside world but melted at my feet if I were to bat my lashes and ask them for the moon.
The Demons all converged on me, while the OtherWorld members flanked Harris and congratulated us. These men, they had all practically raised the two of us, and we thought of them as uncles. After a few minutes, they seemed to switch positions, and while I was being hugged by Wroth Niall, Shane and Nik were muttering something to Harris that I couldn’t hear.
I turned to face them both as soon as the big rocker had me on my feet again, and I put my hands on my hips. “What are you two doing?”
Nik gave me a sheepish look, but Shane only shrugged as he dropped a heavy hand on Harris’s shoulder and squeezed, hard. “Just telling your fiancé here what will happen if he ever breaks your heart.”
I pushed between him and Harris, dislodging his hand from my fiancé’s shoulder. Harris’s hand touched my waist, but I didn’t melt into him yet. “You don’t ever have to worry about that, mister. Now stop trying to intimidate people and go find your wife before I tell her you’re being an ass.”
He pouted his bottom lip out at me. “Now that’s just mean, Lulu.”
My heart softened at the affectionate old nickname he’d called me when I was a little girl, but I still punched his arm. “Play nice, Shane Stevenson.”
With a wink, he dropped a kiss on the top of my head and turned away. “Remember what we said, kid.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Harris called after him. “If I we
re you, I’d worry about the two little monsters over there sitting so close to your daughter.”
As expected, that had Shane’s gaze zooming around the room until he found Violet. She was sitting at a table with both of my brothers. As I watched, Luca entwined his fingers with hers and set their joined hands on top of the table. Violet barely seemed to notice as she kept talking to Lyric, but I saw the happy smile teasing at her lips.
I hid my grin as the Demon switched directions and headed toward his daughter. As soon as Luca noticed Shane heading for them, he stiffened and sat up a little straighter, but he didn’t release his hold on his best friend’s hand.
“Shit,” Axton Cage muttered with a chuckle. “Boy’s got some balls. Never seen a daddy so protective of his little girl. Fuck, I’m not even that bad when it comes to Shaw.”
Nik snorted. “Dude, you practically foam at the mouth when any boy so much as smiles at your daughter. Jags said something to her this morning, and your wife made you leave the room before you could start bashing him.”
Axton shrugged. “Your boy is too much like you, man. Don’t want him getting any ideas.”
“He’s a kid, not a hormone-wrecked teenager,” Nik defended. “You gotta chill out.”
“I think you should all relax a little,” I told them, my gaze skimming over all the men before me with daughters, but I paused on Wroth. He had one of the youngest daughters in the group, and so far, he had been pretty calm when it came to his little Dorie. That was bound to change as she got older. The beautiful little girl looked too much like her mother for him to be calm when it came to boys. “Your daughters are all beautiful, intelligent girls. They’ll be able to handle themselves when it comes to picking the right guys for them.”
Devlin slung his arm over his son’s shoulder, and I sucked in a shallow breath at the sight of them so close together. The drummer’s hair fell over his shoulder with only a couple of streaks of gray through the dark locks. That, along with a few lines around his eyes and mouth, was the only thing that really told a person who didn’t know that Devlin was the older of the two. They looked more like brothers than father and son, and if you saw them at a distance, you would easily confuse them for twins, they looked so much alike. Down to those damn dimples that were popping in both their handsome faces as they joked with the other men.