I was more than happy when Gage messaged and said he changed his mind about the girls all staying together for two nights, saying he was going to stay with Phoenix until morning. Apparently, her parents showed up less than an hour after they returned from him picking her up from there place. Phoenix wanted him to stay to run interference. She’d had enough.

When I told Mandee, she looked shocked.

“What?” I ask, confused by her reaction.

“She’s letting him help her?” Her beautiful smile lights up. “She’s letting him help her.”

“She is.” I smile, too. I can’t help it. Hers is contagious.

Mandee and I shower, washing, kissing, loving the fuck out of each other.

She looks at me the same damn way I know I look at her—like I’m hers.

And I am.

Mags messages me just before eleven, saying she is now ordained via the world wide web. I congratulate her, and she tells me that I better make sure she is the one marrying me, too.

When I come out of the bathroom, Mandee is in one of my tee-shirts, standing barefoot in front of the stove, her hair still damp and hanging nearly down to her ass.

Bacon. I smell bacon.

She looks over her shoulder as if she knows I’m standing there, watching her, and smiles when she sees me.

“For breakfast?” I ask, feeling a smile creep up.

“Uh-huh.” She smirks then turns back around, giggling.

That girl, Mandee, is the best. Preparing tonight for an early morning bacon treat.

Fuck yes! I throw a victory fist in the air. Fuck. Yes.

Bacon in the morning is always accompanied by a blowjob.

I can’t fall asleep tonight. It has nothing to do with knowing she’s going to suck me like a Hoover while I lay back and eat bacon. It isn’t because of nightmares or fear. It’s because of something she said about her dream wedding, or her new idea of a dream wedding.

I wish I could give her the one thing I cannot—her mother being present on the day she gets married. I wish that I could, but I know I can’t.

The rest of the things she said is true, and I am so happy she is so happy with us.

My phone vibrates, waking me up, and my eyes open slowly. It’s not even light out.

I reach over and see a message from Gage.

Gage: Ready?

Grayson: Now?

Gage: Yep.

I groan inwardly and look down at Mandee, whose head is on my chest, lips slightly parted. I sigh, knowing I am going to slide out of a warm bed and allow the woman I love and adore, who gives the best fucking blowjob I’ve ever had, to sleep while I go help my brother.

I regretfully slide out of bed, and she sighs in her sleep. I am seriously considering making a loud noise or just tapping my cock against her lips, but then I realize I’m not that fucking inconsiderate.

We screw candles into the wagon wheels as Phoenix’s father watches us from an uncomfortably close distance.

Gage watches me, and we exchange glances. He answers a million questions and overuses the power saw and drill since it seems to be the only time Phoenix’s dad stops firing questions.

Within two hours, the sun is rising. Fucking Gage and his early morning ass, I think. But, looking around, the wheels are hung, the benches are placed, the stage is set, the arbor is up, and every place flowers are going to be plopped is in place.

“Looks damn good,” I tell him after I watch him look around.

He looks up and smiles, then nods.

I look up and see an orange extension cord dangling slightly.

“I’ll get a ladder and get that out of—”

“No,” he says. “It stays.”

“Really?” I ask, looking at the damn thing.

“Definitely.” He nods and smiles.

With Mandee, Juliana, Mom, Mags, and Phoenix’s mother, Bopha, all in what Mandee calls “pampering mode,” I’m with my brothers, nephew, and Phoenix’s father, Arun.

Arun doesn’t stop asking questions, ever.

I laugh to myself.

Gage is doing a hell of a lot better than I expected with all the questions being fired at him.

When Arun stands up and announces he has to use the bathroom, I look at Gage.

“Shut up,” he whispers a hiss.

I smirk and look down at the beer in my hand.

“We gonna do s’mores?” Brand asks.

Both Garrett and Gage answer, “Sure.”

Gage nods to Garrett. “Get on it.”

“Yeah, Dad.” Brand chuckles. “Get on it.”

Garrett grabs him up and throws him over his shoulder. “Let’s go find some sticks.”

Brand laughs as they walk away.

Gage looks at me. “Can you sing tomorrow?”

Fuck, talk about last minute. Regardless, I nod. “Sure.”

“At the bar, after. Not here,” he says, leaning back against the picnic table. “ ‘Black.’ Derik’s Bentley.”

I laugh. “Yeah, not really a wedding song, huh?”

He shakes his head as he stands. “Good song, though, huh?”

“Damn good song.” I stand, following him down the dock where we look out over the lake.

He’s quiet. Really quiet.

“You good?” I ask.

He smirks. “Sick of talking.”

Knowing he’s talking about his father-in-law, I laugh. “He’s very chatty.”

Gage nods. “Good man, though. Works hard. Loves his girls.”

“I can tell.” I smile.

“I have an Arun, and you have a William.” He chuckles. “Both a fuck of a lot better than our piece of shit.”

“That’s for sure,” I say, looking out at the water.

I shrug and smile as I spot the raft floating in the distance. “Fuck if I ever admit to saying this, but if he wasn’t such a shitbag, we may not have ever been shipped here to get our shit together. Had that not happened, we’d have never fucking met them.”

The words hurt to say, to admit, but it’s the fucking truth.

We are both silent for a minute.

“Seize the moment,” Gage says on sigh. When he looks at me, I nod, and he nods back.