by Neve Wilder
“I’ve got this,” I said into the mic, and started playing, afraid I was going to lose my nerve. Fortunately, Les jumped in a second later, adding in percussion by slapping the pick guard of his guitar as he played. We alternated verses back and forth, then the audience joined in and it ended up going over much better than I expected. I was still panicking inside, but when Les turned his back to me and sidled toward the end of the stage during the bridge, I hopped from my stool, loosened the strap of my guitar and let it hang at my side, then got down on one knee. I dug the ring box out of my back pocket, drenching it with my sweaty palms as I opened it, exposing the simple titanium band.
When I set it on top of my thigh, the roar of the audience climbed to fever pitch. Les waved a hand encouragingly and glanced back at me over his shoulder, like he wanted to check and make sure I was hearing what was happening.
Then he froze, amusement melting from his expression as he abruptly stopped playing.
The din from the audience died down, and everything went quiet. I swear I felt every single eyeball in the auditorium glued to me, but none so penetrating as the mind-blown stare Les fixed on me. I’d never felt so vulnerable in my life.
He took a single step in my direction before stopping short. “What are you doing right now, Porter?” he whispered.
“Hoping like hell you’ll say yes?” It came out as a question. Fucking nerves.
“Holy shit, are you sure?” He ducked his head under the strap of his guitar and carried it at his side as he came slowly toward me, his features twisted with disbelief.
I nodded. “Sure enough to risk looking like a colossal idiot in front of a standing-room-only crowd, yeah.”
Les set his guitar absently on his stool and reached down, picking up the box and taking my hand to pull me upright. Anticipation knotted every muscle in my body, and I was sure he could feel it as he laid his hands on my shoulders, his gaze fastening to mine. “Yes. Fuck yes. A hundred million times over and then some.”
His mouth crushed mine, and I didn’t care about the audience exploding in crashing applause and whoops, or the stage lights beating down on us, or the sweat running down my temples. I sank against him, kissing him back, dizzy with relief and joy.
When we finally detached, the roar of the audience hurtled toward the stage and lit me up from within. I took the box from Les and slid the ring on his finger, brushing my thumb over his knuckles when they trembled slightly.
I had no idea what we could possibly encore with that would top what had just happened, but I also had an idea it didn’t matter much.
I was right. When we finished the show and two additional encores and finally escaped backstage with the audience still in frenzied applause, we were swarmed by back claps and congratulations. Byron pushed through the well-wishers and grinned, slinging his arms around us both. Mars rushed up, letting us know there was a group of reporters waiting for interviews. Les grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the green room. “Tell them they can all wait. I need, like, twenty minutes.”
“Make it forty-five,” I corrected, then slammed the door behind us.
Les pushed me into it, giving me another slow kiss that scorched me top to toe and had me hard in an instant. “I really underestimated you, Porter.”
“Yeah? How’s that?” I reached for his left hand, bringing it up to my lips, then kissing the tip of his ring finger before sucking on it and making him groan.
“You can still surprise the hell out of me.”
“Just wait until we get home.” Byron had helped me make sure the studio we were renovating was completed during the final leg of our tour, and I knew Les was going to be bowled over by the transformation I’d been secretly working on for weeks. I grinned and attacked his throat in nipping kisses, gratified when he went stock-still, then melted against the heat of my mouth, whispering, “I can’t wait to marry you.”
I felt exactly the same.
—The End—
~Read on for story notes from Neve~
Thank You
There’s a whole wide world of books out there. Thank you so much for choosing this one!
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Story Notes From Neve
Welcome to the place where I reveal the quirky mental landscape from which my books emerge.
This story owes its beginnings to the TV show Shadowhunters. More precisely, to Matthew Daddario and Dominic Sherwood who portray Alec Lightwood and Jace Herondale respectively.
Confession time: I didn’t make it past the first season, and I haven’t read the books either, but I hung around in the beginning long enough to become intrigued by their relationship and how the actors portrayed it onscreen, especially the rampant undercurrent of tension between them in the first several episodes. Yes, I know, I know, Malec forever. But as I watched, my mind started going, “But what if… ?”
And that’s how these things happen, my friends.
I mentally rearranged some things, stripped the paranormal element, and pondered: how could I explore this kind of dynamic in a contemporary setting? Voilà: struggling bandmates. Because that’s exactly the same thing as parabatai, right? ;)
Anyhow, as with Center of Gravity, I began with two chapters to get a sense of Evan’s and Les’s voices, then set it aside for a while to let them stretch their legs in my mind while the plot marinated.
During that time, I finished writing Center of Gravity and, needing to visit another headspace, I picked up Les and Evan again. By then, they were strutting around and raring to go.
So we went.
It was a fun path to travel: a little ridiculous in places, humorous in some, angsty in others (which seems to be a thing with me), and with one moment I internally debated for days. But you know what? That’s what came out as I wrote, and in the end I decided it was perfect for them. Can you guess which moment it was? If you guessed the onstage proposal, ding ding ding!
I suspected Dedicated would be the beginning of a series, but I wasn’t sure where I’d be going next until close to the end, when a couple of side characters started pinging in my mind and letting me know there was more to their story. So stay tuned!
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Center of Gravity was my debut novel, and it’s free to read in Kindle Unlimited.
"Once in a while, a book comes along and knocks you for six; this is one of those books. It was a joy to read and it had so much depth, that it reached another level for me." —OMGReads
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Extracurricular Activities is my super steamy newsletter-only series that follows college students Nate and Eric. Nate has been happily subsisting on the typical frat boy diet of booze and sorority girls until the night his enigmatic housemate, Eric, shows him what he’s been missing out on.
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About Neve Wilder
Neve Wilder lives in the dirty South, where the summers are hot and the winters are...sometimes cold.
She reads promiscuously, across multiple genres, but her favorite stories always contain an element of romance. Incidentally, this is also what she likes to write. Slow-burners with delicious tension? Yes. Whiplash-ind
ucing page-turners, also yes. Down and dirty scorchers? Yes. And every flavor in between.
She believes David Bowie was the sexiest musician to ever live, and she's always game to nerd out on anything from music to writing.
And finally, she believes that love conquers all. Except the heat index in July. Nothing can conquer that bastard.
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