by Stacey Lynn
I gasped as his hand lifted a black box out of his pocket. “What the …?”
Ryker smiled. Finally the grin I was used to seeing on him graced his lips as he exhaled heavily. “Marry me.”
Tears fell from down my cheeks as he let go of my hands long enough to open the box and pull out a diamond. It was massive and sparkly, although it could have been the sun. I didn’t care. It could have been a speck of coal, and I would have had the same reaction.
“Holy shit.”
Ryker laughed as he slid the ring on my finger. “Is that a yes?”
I stared at the ring. I stared at him. My pulse beat in my ears as the quiet clapping of the strangers gathered around us, witnessing our moment, began cheering and celebrating us.
I shook my head, gathered my wits that had been spilled all over the scorching cement, and stared directly at Ryker.
“Yes,” I laughed out the word as I launched myself from the bench—pulling a Brayden and tackle hugging the crap out of him.
“You said yes!” Meg cheered as soon as we arrived back at her house later that night. She began crying while she laughed and congratulated us the second she saw the ring on my finger.
I had been speechless.
Ryker’s crewmate Pete walked around the corner, four champagne glasses in one hand and a bottle in the other.
“Was I that much of a foregone conclusion?” I asked, teasingly glancing at everyone in the room.
Ryker’s hand on my hip tightened and he pulled me into him, pressing his lips against my temple.
“What can I say,” Meg said, clapping her hands and helping unload the glasses from Pete’s hands. “Epic love like yours is simply meant to be.”
Epic love. I smiled at the thought of Ryker and me always being destined for one another.
Before I knew it, we were spending the entire night finishing off two bottles of champagne, the four of us sitting in Meg’s cozy living room long after Brayden went to bed.
It was when Pete excused himself for the restroom at one point that Ryker’s expression grew serious.
A thick tension appeared in the room and his hand squeezed my thigh. He looked at Meg and nodded down the direction of the hall where Pete disappeared.
“He’s not like that and you know it.” Meg scolded him softly but firmly as soon as she recognized his look
“I know he’s a man and you’re beautiful.” Ryker said it with a friendly smile, while his hand tightened on my thigh in reassurance. I wasn’t worried. I had been around Ryker and Meg for days and fully trusted what Ryker told me about their relationship. It was that of family. Sure, I knew they considered the other attractive—how could you not? But there was never an inappropriate glance or jealous tinge in Meg’s eyes when she saw us together.
And I couldn’t have hated her even if there was. Meg was sweet and kind. She was genuine and full of love. She had strength that surpassed anything I felt like lived within me, and I knew she’d been through her own version of hell with losing her husband. Yet it hadn’t hardened her in the least; it simply gave her strength to create the best life possible for Brayden.
Basically, I wanted to be Meg when I grew up.
Meg waved Ryker off, dismissing him and his concern. “It’s fine, Ryker. We don’t even see him much. He calls and checks in when he’s in town and stops by occasionally to take Brayden to the park. I’ve known him my whole life.”
“You’ll let me know if you need help?”
By the way she rolled her eyes every time he did, I knew this weekend wasn’t the only time she’d heard the question. I left them to their brother-sister argument, rested my head against Ryker’s shoulder, and closed my eyes, listening to them bickering like siblings while the thick darkness pulled me under to sleep. I felt safer and more loved in that very moment than I could ever remember feeling before in my entire life.
When Ryker carried me to bed, only waking me to take off my clothes and pull me next to him in the bed we shared in Meg’s guestroom, the glint of the outside light caught my ring.
“It wasn’t a dream,” I whispered, staring at my diamond ring. I rolled and turned to Ryker, propping my chin on his chest while he looked at me with amusement. “This is real.”
I trailed my hand down the short stubble on his cheek and felt the vibrations from his laughter rumble under my chin and my hand.
In one swift move, Ryker had us positioned so he was over me, grinding his hips against mine. “This was my dream,” he said huskily into my ear as he rocked into me, easily filling me with one swift push. “So I made it real. And I’ll spend the rest of our lives making sure your dreams come true.”
I pressed my fingers into the hard flesh in his lower back as he pulled out and then pushed back into me slowly, building my orgasm quickly.
“You already did,” I whispered into his ear.
His rhythm faltered for a brief moment until he kissed me as if he was claiming me. As our bodies rocked together until we climaxed, hiding our groans of ecstatic pleasure, I knew that I’d spend a lifetime making sure Ryker knew how true that was.
I felt like throwing up. Twisting to look at myself in the three-way mirror for maybe the hundredth time in ten minutes, the woman in the white dress smiling at me and staring at my reflection made my stomach-flip and my skin grow tight.
What the hell did I have to be nervous about? It wasn’t my wedding dress that I could see in the mirror’s reflection.
Liv almost doubled over laughing at me… again. Had her wedding dress not been a corseted top essentially keeping her spine straighter than a metal rod, she probably would have.
“I can’t wait to see you this summer at your own wedding,” she said, tears threatening her eyes.
I rolled my eyes at her, trying to shrug it off. “I can’t help it. It’s a wedding and forever and all those people and oh my god I’m completely freaking out over nothing.”
I waved my hands in front of my eyes, drying my tears. Liv dabbed underneath her eyes with a folding tissue in order to keep from ruining her make-up.
“If you ruin any of that make-up we just spent hours applying, we will cut you.”
Staring at Cassie while she tried to hold a scolding expression for longer than five seconds only sent Liv and I into louder hysterics. We were wheezing and gasping for breath when Jules and Sophie entered the chapel room in the clubhouse. Sophie’s flower girl dress was as white and flowy as Liv’s. The lacy overlay on both dresses gave them a sophisticated but still casual appearance. Liv had insisted on it. Considering her and Daemon were getting married at the gun range on the Nordic Lords property, casual was required.
Granted, the gun range looked beautiful with the plants and flowers that had been brought in. The white wooden chairs that had been set up with an aisle in the center added a layer of sophistication to the clubhouse grounds that had all the men grumbling. The arched trellis that served as the altar where Liv and Daemon were being married was wrapped in ivy and speckled with bright white orchids. Everything was beautiful.
Cassie, Callie, and Cammie had styled our hair and done our make-up in two hours. Occasionally, Jules and I snuck outside to watch the big bad biker men gently unfolding white wooden chairs while Maria, Switch’s old lady, bossed the men all around, pointing her finger and stomping her foot as she told them where to move the potted flowers.
I was thrilled we had had an easy winter and an early, warm spring. Now, in early June, trees were beginning to bud and the grass was a luscious dark green.
I had thought Liv was crazy for trying an outdoor wedding so early in the year, but she had insisted this club was her family and her home and there was nowhere else she’d rather be married. Daemon had simply shrugged his shoulders and did the typical man whatever-she-wants move.
Luckily, it had all come together nicely.
It still didn’t explain why I was freaking out. Ryker and I weren’t getting married for months yet. I still sometimes had an issue with people staring
at me, my mind still wondering what their inner thoughts of me and my past really were as eyes stayed glued to me, and walking down the aisle, I knew everyone in the club would be watching me first.
I shook the nervous thoughts out of my head as a quick, hard knock rapped on the door to the chapel room Jules and Sophie had just entered.
Opening the door, Jules grinned and turned to me. “Someone’s looking for you.”
My lips stretched so wide I thought my face might split open. When I hit the doorway, I swayed on my feet and reached out to grasp for balance against the doorframe.
“Hi,” I said breathlessly.
I couldn’t help it.
Liv had convinced Daemon and Ryker to wear actual tuxedos for her wedding. I had never seen Ryker in anything other than cargo shorts and denim jeans.
He looked sexy in denim.
Ryker dressed in a black tuxedo, crisp white shirt, and dark maroon vest that matched my own bridesmaid dress? He was completely deadly. I swayed at the sight of him.
A light rumble fell from his chest as my eyes drifted down the length of his body. My eyes darted down the hall that led to his room at the clubhouse. In one swift move, Ryker’s hand snaked to the back of my neck and he pulled me toward him until our chests pressed against each other.
“You want to go to my room?”
I swallowed slowly. Then I nodded. “No.”
Ryker laughed and pressed his lips against my forehead. “You look amazing. I can’t wait until it’s our day.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You still thinking about eloping to Vegas?”
“Yup.”
With his laughter brushing along my cheek and down to my throat, his lips trailed lazily down my skin. My entire body felt on fire. I was certainly incapable of more than one word answers. My grip on the doorframe tightened as I leaned in closer to him.
Ryker’s hands moved to my shoulders and he pressed me back until I was on solid footing. “I wanted to see you for a minute. And to tell you that we’re ready for you guys.”
My eyes were frozen on his chest. He looked absolutely edible in his damn tuxedo. “Okay.”
One finger moved to my chin as he tilted my face to his. “I would kiss the hell out of you right now if it didn’t mean ruining your make-up or your hair.”
“Okay,” I muttered again and leaned in.
Ryker laughed again, an easy smile filling his features as he shook his head. “None of that, now. Get Liv out to the yard. Daemon’s being an impatient fuck today.”
Right. The wedding. In my fantasies of stripping Ryker down to nothing and having him take me on the pool table in the clubhouse, I had forgotten about the wedding.
I nodded and took a step back, listening to the girlish laughter behind me. “We’ll be right there,” I told Ryker. His eyes grazed over my dress down to my toes, and when he looked back at me, his eyes were heated.
Probably much like mine.
Shaking himself out of his lust-filled stare, he spun on his heels. I barked out a laugh as I saw the Nordic Lords MC emblem on the back of his tuxedo coat.
With a look over his shoulder, he tossed me a wink. I stared at his ass until the door to the clubhouse closed behind him.
“You heard the man,” I said to Liv when I had shut the door to the chapel room. “Your man is waiting for you.”
Liv grinned and ran her slightly trembling fingers down the length of her wedding dress. “Best not to keep him waiting, then.”
She took a step toward the door right as my phone began ringing. I ignored it, doing a final check on my hair and make-up as everyone else quickly cleaned up the room and our supplies.
When the phone rang for the third time in row, Jules turned to me with one eyebrow raised. “Are you going to get that?”
Liv faced me, looking equally concerned. “Who would be calling you today?”
I shrugged and reached for my phone, my nerves instantly prickling. I hadn’t thought about it, but everyone I knew was sitting outside waiting for us.
My heartbeat calmed slightly when I saw Meg’s name flashing on the phone.
“It’s Meg,” I explained as I answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey Faith,” she said. Through the speaker I heard the rumbling of the road and knew she was calling from her phone. “I need a favor.”
It was then I noticed that her voice was shaking and fearful as it came through the line. My hands clenched the phone tighter. In the last nine months, Meg and I had become close. She would often call just to talk, and even though I’d only seen her and Brayden at Christmas time when we visited New Orleans again, I knew she didn’t sound like her normal, happy self.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Looking around the room, I noticed everyone had paused and was staring at me.
“I need to get away from here.”
Which didn’t sound good. At all. Yet I had no idea what the problem was. “Is it Brayden? I can have Ryker call him back in a few hours, but we’re getting ready for the wedding right now.”
“Oh shit, that’s right. I’m so sorry… I can call you back, but I was just calling to see if we could come stay with you guys for a while.”
Stay with us? My legs shook on my heels. Except I wasn’t wearing heels. I frowned into the phone. “Meg, do I need to get Ryker?”
“No,” she snapped, and then I heard her exhale loudly. “I just… we need a visit. I’ll explain it when I’m there, but can you please not tell Ryker I’m coming?”
“Meg…”
“Please, Faith,” she pleaded. I couldn’t have told her no after hearing that. “I’ll explain it when we get there… probably tomorrow or the next day.”
I nodded and shrugged at the women in the room. “Okay, yeah, Meg. Definitely.”
“Thank you,” she sighed into the phone, and then I heard the distinct click of her disconnecting. Damn it.
“What was that about?” Liv asked, concerned etched between her eyes.
I glanced at my phone. “I have no idea.” But I did know that whatever was making Meg rush halfway across the country on absolutely no notice with a fearful sound in her voice couldn’t be good at all. Ryker was going to flip his shit.
Sophie was absolutely darling as she slowly made her way down the short wedding aisle. Classic wedding music played through speakers Liv had brought in, insisting she didn’t need live music for the wedding. But she wanted the old-school wedding march entrance song.
Smiling along with everyone else, I watched Sophie carefully take a rose petal out of her wicker basket with every small step she took. She gently set it onto the grass and clumsily stepped around each petal so as not to crush a single one.
By the time she reached the makeshift altar, every man and woman in the club family were biting back their laughter.
She reached the end of the aisle and smiled at her mom next to me, who was trying to wave her forward to join us up front. But Sophie, who I had learned over the last few months had a mind of her own, shook her head, dropped her basket, and then launched herself at Jaden, who was standing next to Ryker on the other side of the arched trellis.
As if he was expecting it, Jaden bent low and wrapped his arms around Sophie all while pressing his lips to her cheek with a soft smile. She wrapped her legs around his waist at the same time Jules reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing tight.
Jaden had finally admitted Sophie was related to him, but it didn’t mean his relationship, or non-relationship, with Jules had improved over the winter.
Determined to only think happy thought for the day, I flashed a wink to Jules and blew Ryker a quick kiss.
Then everyone in the audience and at the altar turned to watch Liv walk down the aisle, finally getting her happily ever after.
This part of a book is almost becoming as difficult to write as the story itself. My list of people who help and encourage me seems to grow with each book and series, so if I forget anyone, please know it’s not intentional! I am than
kful for everyone who plays a part in getting my books into the hands of readers.
First, as always, thank you to my family. Thank you for your support and your encouragement, your understanding during all-day writing marathons to meet deadlines, and to being okay with cold dinners.
Special thanks to John Cook for all the photos and conversations you shared with me about what life is truly like on an oil rig. I know Ryker’s story has changed a bit since we first spoke, but you were still a great help to me.
To my BadAss CP’s—you ladies, as always, rock. I’m so thankful for all of you and absolutely adore the friendships we’ve made and the support system you all provide.
To RS Grey, Heather Carver, Samien Newcomb, Kristy Louise, and Natalie Gerber. Thank you for being such amazing beta readers. Your input and support has made Ryker’s story stronger and I’m so thankful for all of you.
Thank you to my editor, Taylor K, and proofreader, Mary. Your polish and eyes on this story from beginning to end has made it the best it can possibly be. Thank you from the bottom of my grateful heart.
To my God and Savior, Jesus Christ. All Glory and Honor is Yours.
Stacey Lynn currently lives in Minnesota with her husband and four children. When she’s not conquering mountains of laundry and fighting a war against dust bunnies and cracker crumbs, you can find her playing with her children, curled up on the couch with a good book, or on the boat with her family enjoying Minnesota’s beautiful, yet too short, summer.
She lives off her daily pot of coffee, can only write with a bowlful of Skittles nearby, and has been in love with romance novels since before she could drive herself to the library.