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Twenty minutes later I stood outside waiting for the cue to walk down the aisle. My heart was racing, my hands getting sweaty. Dallas stood in front of me, waiting for the others to walk down the aisle so that she could take her turn. I took a moment to take her in. Her hair was pulled into a side knot, showing off the tattoo I had only seen pictures of until recently. The silk dress that all my bridesmaids were wearing was a soft lavender. It wasn’t tight, but it seemed to hug every curve that my friend had. Even with both of us wearing ballet slippers, she still stood several inches taller than me.
Finally Dallas stepped forward, moving out of sight as she started down the aisle. I sucked in a deep breath, ready to take the first step to becoming Shane’s wife. Cecil stood beside me, looking pale and teary-eyed. Even if I had invited my father to my wedding, it still would have been this man who walked me down the aisle. Cecil was the man that had raised me, the first man to love me unconditionally.
Suddenly the music changed, turning into “Wedding March,” and Cecil turned to me with a wobbly smile. “Ready?”
“Ready.” It came out a whisper, because I was suddenly having trouble speaking through the emotion clogging my throat.
Cecil offered me his arm and I wrapped my hand around it as we stepped around the little wall that was hiding me from everyone. My eyes went immediately to the front of the aisle. I didn’t see any of the thirty or so guests that we had invited. No one standing by the arbor registered in my brain but the man that owned me completely.
Shane’s short hair was a little messy, but I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or not. His blue-gray eyes were glassy and bloodshot. The tux he was wearing fit him perfectly, the lavender-dyed boutonniere bringing a smile to my lips. He had been the one to pick our colors, wanting everything to match my eyes.
As Cecil and I grew closer, I watched Shane swallow hard, his throat working with emotion. I blinked back tears, so happy that my heart felt like it was going to explode. It felt like I was walking too slow, that I was never going to make it to his side. Cecil had to grasp my hand and hold on to keep me from walking away without him. Biting my lip I tried to stay patient, but it was hard to do so when all I wanted was to be in Shane’s arms.
Finally—finally—I was only a few feet away. Shane stepped forward, taking my hand from Cecil and pulling me against him. “I love you,” he breathed as his lips captured mine.
My mind went completely blank while my body seemed to go up in flames of white hot desire. My bouquet of white and lavender roses fell from my hand as I wrapped myself around Shane, trying to press as close as humanly possible.
I heard a deep voice behind me and I turned my head to see Cecil grinning through his tears. “I’d like to keep some things out of my imagination where you two are concerned, sweetheart.” He winked, and Shane chuckled when I felt my face fill with heat. Cecil stepped forward, pulling me out of Shane’s hold so he could kiss my cheek before handing me over to my groom. “Take care of her, boy.”
“I will, sir,” Shane told him in a rougher than usual voice. “I swear I will.”
The minister cleared his throat and Shane turned us both to face the man, his arm still tight around my waist. The little man with the salt-and-pepper hair gave us both a kind smile before starting the ceremony. I tried not to cry, but when Shane repeated his vows, I was a lost cause.
“…I will love and cherish you for all the days of my life…” I heard the words, but couldn’t see him through my tears. His voice cracked and I knew that he was having just as hard a time as I was fighting the tears. When he placed the ring that matched my engagement ring on my finger, my fingers were shaking so badly he had to hold my hand a little tighter so he could slip it on. A small sob escaped me as he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my finger that now held our pledge of love.
I repeated the same vows—promising to be his friend, lover, and soul mate for eternity. Dallas handed me the ring and I dabbed at my tears so I could see what I was doing before taking it and placing it on his finger.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. Shane, you may kiss your bride.” The minister hadn’t even finished speaking before Shane pulled me tenderly against him. He lifted me a few inches off the ground as his head lowered. When our lips met, for the first time as husband and wife, the magic—the chemistry that had always been so strong between us—sparked higher. I clung to him, kissing him deeper, forgetting about the group of friends and family watching us as he devoured my mouth in a kiss that sealed our pledge deeper than any ring ever could.
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“Ladies and gentlemen. I give you Mr. and Mrs. Shane Stevenson!”
It sounded like the reception hall was full of hundreds of people instead of less than fifty as Shane and I walked into the room hand in hand. Our friends, family, a few of my co-workers, and some of the road crew that had been with Demon’s Wings for years were in attendance. It was small, intimate, and absolutely perfect in my eyes.
“To kick off the festivities the bride and groom will have their first dance.” The wedding planner had a sultry, very sexy voice—something I hadn’t noticed until just now. But that thought completely evaporated from my brain as Shane pulled me into his arms and the lights were dimmed.
I had no clue what music was going to play. Shane and I didn’t really have a specific song and I had asked him to deal with it all. I knew that he had been working with Nik on a playlist and I was excited to hear what they had come up with. My man wasn’t a music snob. I knew there was going to be a variety of genres on his playlist. Thank all of Emmie’s freaking gods, because as much as I loved rock-n-roll I didn’t want to spend our entire wedding reception with my hands in the air.
The piano startled me, and then I was melting against my husband as John Legend’s “All of Me” filled the room. A spotlight was put on us as Shane danced me around the small section of the reception room used for a dance floor. His lips pressed against my ear and I shivered as he sang to me. “Because all of me, loves all of you… You’re my End and my Beginning…”
Tears were flooding down my cheeks and I buried my face in his chest, clutching at him as he serenaded me in front of all the people we loved. As the song slowly came to an end I was nearly sobbing, literally so happy that I had to cry or implode. Shane kissed my tears away, whispering how much he loved me in my ear over and over again until at last the music ended and I was a weak mess using him to hold me up.
