Six months later

My heart was beating frantically against my ribs as I looked over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being followed. I wasn’t supposed to be doing this. The consequences of being caught would be dire, but I just had to. I couldn’t take it any longer. I was dying.

Lifting the heavy material of my skirts so they didn’t drag along the floor, I hurried down the corridors of the old cathedral as quickly and as quietly as I could, rapping my knuckles against the door the instant I reached it.

“Whoa!” Garrett’s eyes bugged out of his head the second he whipped the heavy wooden door open. “You’re not supposed to be here, cutie. Isn’t it bad luck for the groom to see the bride on their weddin’ day?”

Glaring daggers at the blond Viking, I hissed through clenched teeth, “You don’t move outta my way, this wedding’s not gonna happen, ’cause I’ll be carted off by the cops for murdering you.”

Garrett threw his head back in laughter, but I tuned it out when I heard Camden’s voice. “The fuck’s goin’ on? What are you laughin—” His question died the second he stepped in the doorway and caught sight of me standing there, decked out to walk down the aisle to him at any minute. “Holy fuck. Cutie, you’re a goddamn vision.”

Just the sight of him in his tux made me wetter than I’d ever been before. “I need to talk to you,” I insisted, desperation laced through my words as I grabbed his hand and tugged him past Garrett and into the hall with me.

His face pinched into a frown of concern as I dragged him behind me. “Baby, what’s wrong? You’re not gettin’ cold feet, are you? ’Cause I swear to fuck, I’ll handcuff you to me and drag your ass down that aisle.”

While he was ranting, I was twisting the knob of every door we came to. Every damn one of them was locked. “I don’t have cold feet,” I snapped, trying another door. The knob turned and the door opened, and I had to hold back my cry of relief. I gave his hand a hard tug, pulling him into the darkness of the room behind me.

“Then what’s goin’ on, cutie? Why do you look so freaked out?”

“I’m not freaked,” I panted as I tugged at the jacket of his tux and lifted on my toes to find his lips. “I’m desperate. I hate the girls for making you sleep somewhere else last night. I need you so bad, Cam. Please, honey. Fuck me.”

Some people might think getting married so soon was moving too fast, but fast worked for Camden and me. We fell in love fast. He moved in fast. We got engaged fast. It was a theme with us, and it worked beautifully. My life these past six months had been a dream come true. Sure, not every day was perfect, but life isn’t perfect. It knocks you down and sometimes kicks you in the teeth while you’re lying there, but I was learning to deal.

And a large part of that dealing was thanks to Camden setting me up with his friend Lyla. She was a grief and trauma counselor, and I’d started seeing her a while back to finally open up about the rape, and the power it stripped away from me. Lyla was a godsend, and I’d be forever grateful to her for helping me through the most traumatic period of my life.

A feral growl reverberated from his chest, and a moment later his hands were on my ass. I locked my ankles behind his back once he lifted me and pinned my back against the cold stone of the wall.

He feasted on my mouth, speaking between fierce, hungry kisses. “Fuckin’ Christ, baby. I love you so goddamn much.”

I moaned and writhed my hips against the thickness behind his fly. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to use words like that in a church, Cam.”

One of his hands slid around, playing with the damp fabric of my panties between my thighs. “I’ll do a couple Hail Marys and Our Fathers after. Trust me, Father O’Flannery’ll understand.”

I giggled into his mouth, more than ready for him when the door suddenly creaked open. We both froze in place.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.

“Shh,” a feminine voice whispered as two shadowed figures entered the small confines of the room. “This has to be fast, Oliver. The wedding’s starting any minute.

Oh my God. I know that voice. No, no, no, no, no!

From the way Camden’s whole frame locked tight, I knew he recognized it as well.

“Fast isn’t an option with you, sweet Sylvia. I need to savor every moment.”

Argh! God! No! My mother moaned a second later, and I shouted out before something happened that would scar me for years to come.

“For the love of god, stop! Mom! Dad! Stop!”

The light suddenly flipped on, and I had to blink against the harshness as my vision adjusted. As soon as it did, I lost my mind.

“Sutton Marie Briar! What do you think you’re doin’?”

“Me?” I screeched as Camden lowered my feet to the ground. “What the hell are you two doing?”

In the past six months, things with both of my parents had smoothed out. It was still a work in progress, but Sabrina and I both agreed that forgiveness was the only way for us to get past all the bad that had happened in our lives and move on to being happy. We’d taken baby steps in repairing our relationships with our mom and dad, but we were slowly getting there, and that was what mattered.

But the last thing I expected was for whatever romance my parents once had to be rekindled.

“I can’t believe you, Sutton. You’re not even married yet! It’s bad luck to see the groom before the wedding. Do you have any respect for tradition?”

I slammed my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at my mother as Camden choked on his laughter behind me. “Oh, you’re one to talk! How long has this been going on, huh? And does Sabrina know? You two have some serious explaining to do.”

My mom and dad dropped their heads in contrition as they mumbled their apologies.

“Cutie, relax,” Camden chuckled, taking me by the elbow and spinning me around. “They’re both consenting adults. What they do is their own business. Just as long as they aren’t tryin’ to do it in the same room we are.”

“Yeah?” I snapped at my soon-to-be husband. “Well I almost just got an eyeful of that business, so excuse me for not being more understanding.”

Leaning down, he pressed a slow, calming kiss against my lips. “But you didn’t get an eyeful, so don’t stress about it. The mood’s been killed, so how about we get outta this closet and go get married, yeah?”

And just like that, my freak-out ended, and I was suddenly giddy with anticipation at the thought of becoming Mrs. Camden Knight.

“Okay,” I whispered against his lips. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

Six months later

“And the award for best album of the year goes to…”

I held my breath as Mace slowly peeled the envelope open, purposefully drawing out the anticipation. When the guys got home, I was going to hunt him down and beat him for making me so damn anxious. It was no surprise that the guys of Civil Corruption were handing out this award, seeing as they’d won it the year before, and the anticipation and hope to hear them call my husband’s name was killing me.

Declan shot a cheeky smile at the camera as he leaned closer to the microphone and said, “Our boy, Camden Knight, for Golden Beautiful!”

I shot up from my place on the couch and screamed my head off. Sabrina and my mother joined in, and the three of us hugged and rocked back and forth while Bryan, Annabeth, and Liam watched us like we’d lost our minds. My father, on the other hand, stared at us with a small grin on his face, as if seeing the three of us embracing like we were was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Then again, he looked at us that way a lot lately.

After our wedding, Dad had packed his things, put his house up for sale, and made the move to Seattle, where he promptly got to work on convincing my mother to marry him.

She’d put him through the ringer—which he inarguably deserved—but eventually said yes. Now his huge ring was on her finger, and she’d moved into the mansion he bought just for her. If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d have two loving parents who were over-the-moon for each other, I’d have laughed in your face.

But there we were.

To their credit, Mom and Dad had bent over backward to prove their love for Sabrina and me, and with each day that passed, they let us know exactly how much they cherished us, and how proud they were. And surprisingly enough, my mother had done a complete one-eighty to the point that Sabrina and I were pretty sure she liked Bryan and Camden more than she did us.

It shocked the hell out of both of us, but once we realized it was the type of good that was going to last, we embraced it, and our family unit grew even bigger and stronger.

And to that end, I convinced Camden to work on the soundtrack for my father’s movie. After all, we were trying to get closer, and what other way to do that than for a father and son-in-law to team up together? I couldn’t wait to see what the two of them came up with.

“You ladies wanna pipe down?” Bryan grumbled. “You’re gonna miss his acceptance speech.”

Flopping back down on the couch, I rested my hands of my very pregnant belly—the reason I wasn’t allowed to attend the award ceremony—and watched as my husband climbed the steps to accept an award that he’d more than earned. Turned out another thing we did fast was getting pregnant. Neither of us had known it at the time, but I was already pregnant with our little bundle when we tied the knot.

I found out three days later and informed him as we lazed in the bed of our beachfront villa on Laucala Island where we’d been spending our weeklong honeymoon. Camden had been over the moon, and apparently that news was enough to inspire his musical genius—he started writing songs that very night. He claimed to have written Golden Beautiful as a tribute to me, saying he titled the album after my eyes. And each and every song was a personal love story he wrote directly to me. It was his best album yet, and each song made me fall even more in love with him.

Dressed in his standard T-shirt and jeans, he smiled into the camera and started thanking everyone who contributed to the creation of Golden Beautiful.

He stopped, pulled in a deep breath, and his face went warm and tender as he said, “And, saving the best for last, I want to thank my wife, Sutton. Every mornin’ I wake up with you in my arms, I know that day is gonna be even more beautiful than the last. You’re my everything, cutie. My inspiration, my muse, my breath. You’re the very reason I have for living. Missin’ you like crazy, baby. And I promise I’ll be home real soon, so keep the bed warm for me.”

I immediately burst into loud, blubbering sobs—something I’d been doing a whole hell of a lot since getting pregnant.

“Ah, shit. Here we go again,” Bryan grunted at the ceiling.

Never one to miss the opportunity to curse, my nephew popped to his feet and started jumping up and down, yelling, “Shit! Shit! Shit!” at the top of his lungs.

And as crazy as it sounded, it was the perfect ending to a perfect night in a whole string of perfects since Camden Knight came into my life.

* * *

Seven months later

Standing in the doorway of my daughter’s nursery, I watched in awe, unbeknownst to Camden, as he rocked our little girl in his arms and sang her to sleep with that soft, unbelievably beautiful voice of his. It was something he’d done every night since we brought her home from the hospital, and I hoped she never reached an age where she didn’t want her daddy to sing her to sleep.

It was the most wonderful thing I’d ever witnessed, and for as long as he did it, I’d stand in the doorway, silently watching the two people I loved most in the world share their special moments.

He reached the end of the song, leaned in, and pressed a kiss to her smooth, downy head before laying her in the crib. Then he turned and caught me staring, and a content grin spread across his face.

Crossing the room, he wrapped his arms around my waist and placed a kiss on my lips. “Hey, cutie.”

“Hey, honey. She asleep?”

“Out like a light. Took the whole bottle, so I don’t think she’ll be wakin’ up any time soon.”

Standing on my tiptoes, I looped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer so I could whisper in his ear. “Good, ’cause I have plans for you tonight.”

He pulled back, his dark, denim-colored eyes glinting with hunger. “Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”

Taking his hand, I started leading him down the hall and into our bedroom. “Well, it’s more like a celebration, really.”

We reached the bedroom, and he quietly shut the door before spinning me around and yanking me against his hard, strong body. “And what is it we’re celebrating?”

“Remember how you said you wanted a big family?”

Hopefulness flashed across his face as he muttered, “Yeah?”

“Well, looks like you’re getting your wish. I’m pregnant again.”

Scooping me into his arms, he spun me around in a circle as he whooped out his excitement. My feet hit the ground after he finished spinning me, and a moment later his mouth devoured mine in a perfectly brutal kiss that was all Camden.

“Christ, cutie,” he grunted once we broke apart. “Do you have any idea how fuckin’ much I love you?”

“I know exactly how much you love me,” I whispered, sinking into his embrace. “You show me every single day.” And he did, with actions and words. “And I love you just as much.”

Every single day, I thanked my lucky stars for agreeing to be Camden Knight’s fake girlfriend, because it led to this.

“Good,” he growled against my lips. “Now get on the bed, arms above your head. And do. Not. Move.”

A shiver worked its way through my body as I quickly complied, eager for what was to come.

Because it was always amazing.

Just like him.