It had been a month without another nightmare and, even though I could tell the weight hadn’t completely lifted off Mace’s shoulders, we’d been able to move past it and get back to being us.

My group had been a large part of helping me move on from those nightmares, and I was so glad I’d taken the girls’ advice and found a support network of my own.

After months of darkness, I was finally living in the light, and every day was better and brighter than the last. I had a great family, great friends, and an unbelievable man. Life was good, and I couldn’t ask for better.

“Do you, Ian, take Corrine to be your lawful wedded wife…?”

The minister’s voice yanked me back into the present, and I turned my attention back to the altar where Corrine and Ian were currently saying their “I dos”. After months and months of planning, their day was finally here.

Corrine was one of the most beautiful brides I’d ever seen. Her dress was the palest of pinks, and hugged her from bust to hips before exploding in a sea of feathers and fringe. It was something a 20s-era flapper would wear, and it was so totally her.

And Ian… my god. What could I say about Ian? The mountain of a man had only ever had one facial expression and one tone of voice in all the times I’d been around him—bored disinterest. But seeing him right now took my breath away. His eyes radiated love and adoration as he stared at his soon-to-be wife like he was the luckiest man on the planet.

As they repeated their vows to one another, my eyes drifted down the line of groomsmen until they landed on one in particular.

Mace’s gaze locked on mine the instant I looked at him. He gave me a sexy wink that made my belly flutter and my nipples harden. God, he was beautiful. I’d seen him in a suit. I’d seen him in faded jeans and tees. I’d had the luxury of seeing him in absolutely nothing at all. But seeing him in a tux was nothing short of breathtaking. All that naughty, bad boy rocker wrapped up like that was enough to make me shiver.

“I do,” he answered in that deep baritone voice of his, snapping me back to the present.

“And do you, Corrine, take Ian to be—”

“Hell yeah!” she cried in excitement before he had a chance to finish, making everyone laugh.

The minister smiled, and a few seconds later announced that it was time to kiss the bride.

We all shot to our feet, hooting and clapping loudly as Ian bent Corrine over his arm and planted a kiss on her that bordered on indecent.

The music kicked in a moment later, and they made their way back down the aisle as husband and wife, the perfect flapper bride in her feathers and fringe holding on to her mountain of a husband.

Absolutely perfect.

* * *

The party was in full swing. The champagne was flowing freely, the dance floor was packed to the gills, and the air radiated with happiness and celebration. I had to hand it to Corrine, the woman could throw one hell of a party.

“Ugh! Remind me to kill Corrie for putting my fat ass in heels,” Gwen grumbled as she plopped down in one of the seats at the table Tate and I had commandeered.

My head shot in her direction and my eyes narrowed in a severe scowl. “You aren’t fat. You’re pregnant.”

“Whatever.” She grumbled, kicking off her shoes and propping her feet up in an empty chair. Once she was settled comfortably, she put her hands on her protruding belly and began to massage. She still had a couple months, but I wasn’t sure there was much room left for that baby to grow.

“I need this thing out of me yesterday,” she continued to complain. “The other day Garrett thought it would be funny to sneak up from behind and tickle me, and I swear to god, as soon as I started laughing I peed myself a little bit.”

Gina had chosen that moment to wander up, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “That really happens?”

“I have something the size of a bowling ball sitting on my bladder,” Gwen deadpanned. “What the hell do you think?”

“Oh my god,” she whispered in horror. “I’m never having babies.”

Tate let out a snort-laugh and said, “I don’t think that’s something you need to worry about, G. Killian’s a big dude, but Garrett’s a freak of nature. Of course his baby would be abnormally huge.”

She had a point there. Then something hit me and I breathed, “Holy shit.”

“What?” Gina asked as they all looked at me.

“If Gwen’s this miserable, can you imagine the kind of Hell Corrie’s gonna go through?”

We all shot our eyes to the dance floor where Corrine was slow dancing with her new hubby, staring up at him with all the love in the world.

Garrett was huge, but Ian was the size of a freaking grizzly bear.

“Oh damn,” Gwen said softly. “Any baby of Ian’s is gonna split her right in half.”

With that, we all busted out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

I lifted my head to see my guy standing over me. “Nothing you’d understand or appreciate, honey.”

He gave me a quizzical look. “That right?”

“It’s a girl thing.”

“Ah. In that case I’ll let it go.”

“Smart man.”

Pulling his hands out of his pockets, he extended one to me. “Come on, baby. Let’s take a couple spins around the floor.”

I couldn’t think of anything better at that moment than Mace holding me as we danced together, so I grabbed his hand and let him lead me onto the dance floor.

The song ended and the DJ started another, keeping it slow with a soft, romantic ballad by Camden Knight.

Mace and I began to sway as Camden’s voice crooned through the speakers of the reception hall. Lost in the moment, I pressed my cheek against his chest and closed my eyes, letting everyone around fade away until it was only us.

His deep, raspy voice vibrated through his chest as he asked, “You having a good time?”

“The best,” I replied, lifting my head to smile up at him. “I really love you in this tux.” I smoothed my hands down the lapels of his jacket.

A low hum rumbled up his throat. “Not as much as I love you in that fuckin’ dress. And those shoes. Goddamn, baby.”

I was glad to hear that he liked my outfit. I’d picked it out with him solely in mind earlier in the week. The dark fabric held a bit of a sheen, making the color look more of a gunmetal than a simple gray. It was totally strapless and hugged from the bust all the way to the tops of my hips before flaring out a bit in a loose, flowy skirt that hit just below mid-thigh.

The shimmery silver sandals I found complemented the dress perfectly. They were made for impact, not comfort, with a whole mess of complicated straps and a zipper at the back, but I’d take the pain of the sky-high heel any day of the week if it meant I got that dark, needy look from Mace. And sure enough, when I’d come sauntering out of our bedroom hours ago, he hit me with that very look.

“I’m glad you approve,” I murmured, lowering my lids to half-mast.

“Oh, I more than approve. When we get home, I’m stripping you naked and fuckin’ you in nothing but those heels.”

A tremble worked its way to my core, and my panties nearly went up in flames. “I can get on board with that.”

We’d lapsed back into silence as the song continued to play, and I thought we’d spend the rest of the dance just like that until he spoke again, asking a question I hadn’t been expecting.

“What would you want your wedding to be like? Big and elaborate, or small and intimate?”

My chin jerked back in surprise. “I….”

“Not a hard question, baby,” he chuckled when I remained speechless. “Would you want to do it up big like this, or have just friends and family?”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and bit down uncomfortably. “I, well… I’ve already done the whole big wedding thing.”

Mace’s body suddenly stopped swaying to the music. “Shit,” he hissed. “I’m sorry, Lyla. I wasn’t thinking. I just forgot for a second—”

“It’s okay,” I said, cutting him off before he could beat himself up too badly. “I forget too.”

His head jerked back in surprise. “You do?”

“Yeah. Now that I’m with you and I’m so happy, the fact that I was ever married before slips my mind sometimes. And it’s been happening a lot more often lately.”

He lowered his forehead and rested it against mine, closing his eyes tightly as he whispered, “Christ, baby. I love hearing that.”

“And to answer your question, small and intimate. Definitely.”

“You sure?” he questioned, skepticism heavy in the furrows of his brow.

“Absolutely,” I declared. “I wanted my wedding to be small and private, but Daniel and his folks just had to show off to their friends, so it blew up into something I never wanted. I hated every minute of it.”

He remained quiet for several seconds as he studied my expression. “You know I’ll give you anything you want, right?” My heart lodged itself in my throat as he continued, “One day really goddamn soon, I’ll give you a diamond to wear on your finger. Then shortly after that, I’ll give you my name. You want to do it up like this,” he said, tipping his chin up to indicate the elegantly decorated room that held Corrine and Ian’s two hundred wedding guests, “it’s yours. Just say the word.”

My eyes started to water, and my nose burned as I struggled to keep from bursting into tears at the beauty of everything he’d just said. “Small,” I managed to croak out. “Just our closest friends and family. On a beach somewhere. I want to wear a flowy gown that blows in the breeze coming off the ocean. I want to wear my hair loose, with big, messy curls and feel the sand between my bare toes.”

Mace’s face stretched into the most brilliant, blinding smile. My belly swooped and flipped as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.”

“That’s what I want,” I whispered emotionally.

“Then I guess I need to get on finding that ring, huh?”

Oh crap. I was going to cry. “Yeah.” I sniffled through a grin. “I guess you do.”

His arm around my waist tightened as the last notes of the song faded in the air. “Love you, Goldie.”

“Love you too, honey.”

* * *

Mace

It was well past midnight by the time I pulled my car into the driveway. We’d only made it halfway home before Lyla had succumbed to the good food, expensive champagne, and hours upon hours on the dance floor, and fell asleep with her head resting against the passenger window. I was thinking of the most creative way I could go about waking her up so she’d be willing to suck me off once we got inside when my headlights hit the side of her car and all the blood drained from my face.

“What the fuck?”

At my growl, Lyla shot awake and sat up. “What’s the matter?”

“Goddamn it,” I raged as I killed the engine. By the time I was out and rounding the hood, Lyla had pushed her door open and climbed out.

“Oh my god,” she gasped when she finally got a good look at her car. The front and back tires of the driver side were completely flat, and not just from running over a nail or something. No, those fuckers were slashed, an inch-long gash in the sidewall of each of them. “Who would do something like this?” she asked, turning wide eyes to me.

“My guess, fuckin’ neighborhood kids. You’d be surprised how many spoiled, privileged motherfuckers live in this development.”

“But why?”

“Who knows why punk-ass kids do what they do. But when I find ’em, you can bet your ass they’ll never fuck with anything that belongs to me again, and that includes my woman and all her shit.”

Her head jerked around to me, and she did the last thing I would have thought possible after finding her car had been vandalized in the middle of the goddamn night. She burst into a fit of laughter.

I glared at her while she slowly worked to get control of herself. “Not sure what you’re findin’ funny in this situation, baby.”

“Then you aren’t standing where I am, ’cause if you were, you’d be laughing your ass off too.”

My glared deepened into a severe scowl. “This isn’t funny, Goldie.”

“Oh, come on, honey.” She closed the passenger door and came toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “First of all, you’re not gonna find whoever did this. It’s impossible. Secondly, if, and that’s a big ‘if,’ you find the kids who did this, you aren’t going to do anything to them and you know it, because, I’ll repeat, they’re kids.”

I wanted to argue but I couldn’t, because beating the shit out of a bunch of teenagers would probably cause some serious legal issues that would make Tate’s head explode.

Before I had a chance to let my anger build into something bigger, she took my hand and began pulling me toward the house. “Come on, Mace. If you come inside and promise not to beat up any of the neighborhood children, I’ll make it worth your while.”

The slashed tires were all but forgotten. “Oh yeah? What exactly do you have in mind?”

“Well….” She bit the corner of her bottom lip and gave me a seductive look. “It involves me wearing nothing but these shoes while on my knees.”

That was all it took. Bending at the waist, I threw her over my shoulder and lumbered toward the house as she laughed hysterically.

Then she got down to making it worth my while.