All eyes turned on me when I entered the room. Without even second guessing what I should do, I crossed over to Drake and hugged him tight. After only a small hesitation, he hugged me back. “Lana sends her love. She can’t wait to see you and become your wife.”

All the tension seemed to evaporate from his body. For a moment his arms tightened around me. “Thank you,” he whispered.

With a smile, I stepped back and gave his hands one last squeeze before leaving the room. Back in Lana’s room, I went over to her and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Drake sends his love.”

“Is he okay?” Lana asked.

“He’s doing better now,” I promised.

The church was huge but it was nowhere near full. OtherWorld and a few other rockers were in attendance, but that about summed up the guest list. Linc, Cecil, and a girl that was related to one of the members of OtherWorld were the only normal guest in attendance. Lana’s father was sitting in the front row watching with all smiles as Jesse gave Lana away.

The ceremony was beautiful, and I couldn’t keep the tears at bay as I watched Drake struggle through his vows as he openly cried. When the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Drake pulled Lana close and kissed her with such love and tenderness that I was sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the church.

The reception was just as small as the ceremony had been. Of course there were paparazzi trying to get in, but Emmie had hired security to keep everyone out. My boss had asked me to do an article on it, but I had told him point blank that I wouldn’t. Lana and Drake wanted this special day to remain just for them; they didn’t have to share it with the world. And I wasn’t going to disrespect them by writing about it.

“This is nice,” Shane murmured as he pressed his lips to my ear while we danced. “Maybe it will give you a few ideas about your own wedding.”

I stilled in his arms. Shocked to the point of being nearly unable to stand up on my own, I leaned into him for support. “W-what?” I managed in a voice that was more than a little squeaky. Marriage hadn’t been on my mind. We had only known each other a handful of months. But now that he had put that little bug in my mind, I had all kinds of crazy thoughts flashing through my head!

I felt his lips lift into a smile against my forehead. “Just a thought.”

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t help but smile. “I love you, though.”

“I love you more, beautiful.”

Shane

Christmas passed with more spirit this year than there had been the year before. Drake and Lana were off on their honeymoon in the Bahamas instead of rehab this time, so we were all breathing a little easier. We were all smiles as opposed to the tension that everyone had been feeling just twelve months before when Lana had announced that she was moving across the country to start a new life that didn’t involve Drake.

I got to wake up with Harper in my arms, so I had a reason to be happy no matter what day it was. We shared the morning with my family, who were staying in New York until Lucy had to go back to school after the New Year. Then we went back to Harper’s apartment and had dinner with Dallas, Linc, and Cecil.

I liked to think that Cecil and I had become something of friends over the months that I had been with Harper. I knew that Harper thought of him as her only family, so I made sure that we were on good footing. I was sure that the case of fifty year old bourbon I got him for a Christmas present had only cemented our bond. It sure made Harper happy to see her stepdad’s eyes light up when he unwrapped the heavy present. Harper was the most important person in my world, second to no one. My goal was to make sure that she always knew how special she was to me.

So when she had to go to Miami for a three day conference, I wanted to go with her. Of course, she didn’t think that was a good idea. Since the whole Trey incident, I had been a little overprotective when it came to her job. Following her to interviews, making sure that whomever she happened to be meeting knew exactly why I was there, and probably scaring the shit out of a few people along the way.

Harper’s boss loved the fact that I was her boyfriend and had even asked her repeatedly to get me to do an exclusive interview and photo shoot for the magazine. I was all for doing what would give her the push she needed in her career. Harper wouldn’t have it though. She didn’t want to use our relationship to move up the ladder.

I ended up staying home while she went off to Miami for the conference the second week of January. She had argued and argued, but in the end it had been the promise of a full night at one of our favorite rooms at Sensual House when she got back that had made me back off. I knew that she needed to give the conference her full attention, and that if I were to go with her I would just distract her.

Not that it was a bad thing in my book, but to Harper it was a big deal.

The first night without her sucked.

I was sitting in front of the television flipping through channels, feeling both bored and lonely since Drake and Lana would be gone for at least another week. Harper was supposed to call me after the big dinner with her boss and other higher-ups ended, but I still had at least an hour before I would get to talk to her.

Lucy had been texting me off and on all evening. She had been back to school for a few days now, and she loved the creative writing class her teacher had put her in. The kid had a wild imagination that was for sure. Half the things she wrote about I couldn’t determine if it had actually happened or not.

When the doorbell rang I had my mind on half a dozen other things than who could possibly be stopping by unannounced. I was rereading a text from Lucy, laughing to myself as I jumped up off the couch and crossed over to the door. I figured it was Axton, bored now that America’s Rocker was over for the season.

If not Axton, then it was Dallas stopping by to pick up something that Harper had left here that she wanted to borrow. It wouldn’t be the first time Dallas stopped by out of the blue just to pick up a pair of shoes or a shirt. Sometimes Linc was with her, and I always welcomed spending time with my new muscle headed pal. It didn’t bother me that Linc was gay, and now that I knew for sure that he was, I felt a hundred percent better about his friendship with my girl.

The knocking came again before I could reach the door, more insistent this time, and I rolled my eyes. Yup, it had to be Dallas. No one else I knew would be so demanding after only a minute of waiting. I jerked the door open. “Give a man a break, bitch….”