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  She’d thrown me a bachelor party? Only she was the stripper, the dancer, and the bride. Hell yeah.

  Now I knew what Jaymeson was talking about.

  Honestly I could have done without strippers, but to have my future wife be the one to taunt and tease me? Words wouldn’t really come, so I did what any red-blooded male would do. I jerked my future wife towards my body and claimed her lips, plunging my tongue into her mouth so I could taste the sweetness that was so uniquely Nat, the woman I loved so damn much.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nat

  In all the time I’d known Alec, I’d never seen his face so flushed. His hands gripped my cheeks as his tongue massaged mine, and then he was reaching behind my bodice, his fingers running over the hooks of my corset. No undressing, the show wasn’t over. He just didn’t know what else we had planned.

  With a laugh, I pulled back and smacked him lightly on the arm.

  His eyes darkened even more as his hooded gaze went from lust to full-on-losing-his-mind.

  “Sorry about hitting you earlier,” I whispered into his ear as my teeth grazed his neck. “It slipped.”

  “Dear God, let it slip again.” His voice was hoarse as he moved his hands over my body.

  “Time’s up!” The lights around us flicked on as the curtain was pulled away. Jaymeson stood there with a knowing grin on his face while Alec cursed a blue streak and looked ready to throw the chair he was sitting in.

  I looked over at Demetri and Alyssa.

  And they said Alec and I were bad?

  Demetri’s tongue was seriously halfway down her throat as she gripped his blond hair and twisted in his lap.

  “Play time’s over.” Jaymeson smacked Demetri in the head.

  Demetri jerked back and glared. I’d never seen him look so angry — like he was going to actually end Jaymeson’s life.

  “Dessert.” Jaymeson winked at both of us and then put on a top hat, using a tall cane to walk away from us. In another life the man would have been a ridiculously good pimp. Seriously.

  I jumped off Alec’s lap, grabbed Alyssa’s hand and walked with her into the kitchen. Priscilla was sitting on one of the stools drinking a bottle of water and wearing a white cocktail dress. Her eyes were glued to the water bottle, as if she was almost afraid to look anywhere except the label she was currently peeling from the plastic. Her lips formed a slight pout, and I groaned. May as well wave a red flag in front of a bull. Jaymeson was staring at her like she was his next three meals, like he couldn’t wait to pull her dress from her body. I almost smacked him, but Alysssa beat me to it. She grabbed him by the ear and pulled his head down as she jerked him out of the kitchen and scowled.

  “She just turned eighteen, you ass.” Alyssa released his ear. “And she’s too good for you so back off.

  “What the hell did I do?” Jaymeson yelled. “I didn’t say anything!”

  “Exactly my point.” Alyssa released his ear. “You and I both know you were undressing her with your eyes. You were about five seconds away from giving her your best accent and panty-dropping smile.”

  Jaymeson opened his mouth but Alyssa interrupted him.

  “—No!” She thrust her finger into his chest. “She’s family, meaning she’s off limits.”

  By now Priscilla had joined us outside the kitchen and was leaning against the door, her face crimson.

  “Off limits?” Jaymeson tilted his head as if confused.

  “Yes, you ass, off limits. As in ’I don’t care if the girl struts around you naked, you will control your urges. You will keep your sexy foreign hands to yourself.’ I don’t care if you have to blindfold yourself and sit on your own hands.”

  “Now you’re talking.” Jaymeson chuckled. “I love a good blindfold and—”

  Alyssa stomped her foot and threw her hands into the air, then looked to Demetri for help.

  He was grinning from ear to ear. “Sweetheart, you’re gonna give yourself a stroke. He won’t touch her, trust me.”

  “Huh?” I asked, “What makes you the expert on whores?”

  Alec gave me a look that said, ’Really? It’s Demetri you’re talking to.’

  “I know all his secrets.” Demetri grinned. “And I know that Jaymeson wouldn’t touch your girl here with a ten-foot pole. No offense, Priscilla.”

  She shrugged and waved him off even though she was still red.

  “He doesn’t do virgins,” Demetri announced proudly.

  At Priscilla’s sharp intake of breath I looked over. She was making her way across the living room. Grabbing her purse, she made it as far as the door before I met her there.

  “I’m so sorry, the guys are—”

  Priscilla shrugged again. What was with that girl and shrugging? I knew she had to care.

  “They’re guys,” she answered boldly. “And it’s fine. I have brothers, you know. Typical male behavior. I’ll, uh, just see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “You’re sure you’re fine?” I touched her arm.

  Priscilla smirked and looked behind me. “I’m sure it’s nothing a few Jamie Jaymeson movies couldn’t fix.”

  “I told you she liked me!” he shouted triumphantly.

  “But—” Priscilla sighed heavily. “They all got lost in the fire.”

  “Fire?” Jaymeson asked.

  “Yeah.” Priscilla winked. “Every full moon I do a bonfire on the beach and put a hex on people who piss me off.”

  Jaymeson’s mouth dropped open.

  “So, sadly…” Priscilla brought her attention back to me. “I won’t have the man or the movie comforting me tonight. What a terrible, terrible, loss,” she said dryly and left the house.

  Once the door slammed Jaymeson announced, “She’s joking, right?”

  “You’ve been crying in your sleep and you have a twitch in your left eye.” Alec shrugged. “So maybe she’s serious.”

  “Holy shit!” Jaymeson ran to the mirror to check his eye. “It’s that noticeable?”

  I smacked Alec in the stomach. They really needed to give Jaymeson a break, but honestly, the guy was disgusting with women. I was just thankful that Priscilla wouldn’t be one to fall.

  “So… about the rest of our bachelor party…” Demetri rubbed his hands together. “More dancing?”

  “Actually…” Alyssa winked in my direction. “We have the stage set for you two.”

  “Us?” the brothers said in unison.

  “Uniforms.” Jaymeson reached behind the couch and handed them each a black bag.

  “You’re shitting me,” Alec said once he pulled the uniform out. “I can’t wear this! Do you want this to be our one and only child?” He pointed at my flat stomach. “How can a man’s—”

  “Parts,” Jaymeson offered.

  “—Fit in this?” Demetri held up the tight leather pants and tried pulling the fabric.

  “I deserve a dance the night before my wedding, don’t you think?” I grabbed the cane and began tapping it lightly in my other hand. Alec looked at the pants and then at the cane and then at the pants again.

  “Aw, hell,” he mumbled, strutting towards the downstairs bathroom, pants in hand.

  “What’ll it be, partner?” Alyssa smirked at Demetri.

  He growled low in his throat.

  “Dance, little monkey, dance!” She laughed.

  “I better be getting laid,” he muttered, stalking off after Alec.

  “If you like it then you better put a ring on it!” She called after him.

  Her answer was a door slamming, followed by a few bloody hells. So clearly they’d been hanging out with Jaymeson too much.

  “Well, ladies.” Jaymeson popped his knuckles. “It seems my work here is done. The champagne’s outside by the hot tub, as per your instructions. Odd numbers aren’t my thing.”

  “Thanks.” I reached out and pulled Jaymeson into a hug. “For helping us and for keeping the secret.”

  “I am good for some things,” he said in that sexy British accent that
brought men and women to their knees.

  “Somewhere deep down inside…” I poked his chest. “…is a really big heart.”

  “True.” He kissed my cheek and whispered, “It’s just buried under all those girls’ skirts.”

  “So close to having a moment, Jay.” I sighed.

  He shrugged and with a wave he was out the door, and Alyssa and I were sitting on the couch digging into the assortments of treats that the caterer had made.

  “Music?” I selected the song I wanted on the iPod and grinned.

  The best part? They thought they were doing a sexy strip tease. Um no, they were doing a dance for us, because after all the hell we’d been through over the last few years, Alyssa and I thought we deserved this. The concert hadn’t been enough.

  “Done.” Alec walked by me so fast I felt cold air hit my face. Holy crap, he was smoking-I want to rip your clothes from your body and cry a bit-hot. He’d been working out more than usual, and it showed. His body was like something a person would see in the ESPN magazine body edition.

  I heard cursing, and then Demetri was making his way toward the stage, hopping as he adjusted himself in the tight leather pants.

  Although Demetri was like a brother to me, it would be a sin to say he wasn’t amazing eye candy too. His entire body was bronzed like Alec’s, though he had a bit of a smaller frame. Since he never worked out, it was weird that he was still so ridiculously fit. He just claimed it was genetics, which proved to be true when we asked Jaymeson how hard it was to keep his nice body. Jay claimed he worked out twice a week. Ridiculous.

  “Where’s the music?” Demetri asked, his blond hair falling over his crystal-blue eyes as he jumped in place like he was getting ready to play the game of his life.

  Alec stretched, and I was given a wicked view of the V that dipped low into his pants. Holy crap, turn on the air conditioner. He was mine, all mine, and I’d decided then and there that I was going to lick that split where his hip met his lower abs.

  “Here you go,” Alyssa called and pressed play.

  The looks on the guys’ faces were priceless.

  A few months ago we’d found a YouTube video of AD2 when they were just starting out. We finally figured out why they didn’t like boy bands.

  They had toured with one.

  And not just anyone.

  No. It was one of the Backstreet Boys reunion tours.

  “Everybody!” Alyssa sang. “Rock your body, yeah!”

  “I want to die.” Demetri shook his head and then whispered something to Alec. They both chuckled and Alec started the count down.

  In perfect sync, they did the entire routine from the music video. And it was smoking, life-altering hot. As in, the video of them dancing would go viral within minutes.

  Which was probably why Alyssa had her iPhone out.

  The song ended and the boys did back flips off the stage.

  “And uploaded,” Alyssa whispered. “That’ll get people excited for the tour next month. The things we do for them…” She sighed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alec

  The things we do for the women we love. That’s why YouTube sucked. Seriously, you couldn’t do anything without someone filming you. Case in point, last year I’d taken a bet that I could drink a whole gallon of milk faster than Jaymeson, and it made CNN. I don’t know how the hell that became headline news, but there it was.

  The song ended, thank God, and we made our way over to the girls. I decided that three minutes of hell was worth it if I got a lifetime of heaven, and that’s what Nat was. She was my heaven.

  “Bravo.” Nat clapped, her cute little eyebrows arching as my hands moved to the button on my pants. “What are you doing?”

  “Stripping.” I shrugged.

  “Uh—” Her eyes darted to where Alyssa was sitting, but she was gone. Demetri was dragging that girl by the elbow down to the first available bedroom, not to have his way with her, to his everlasting regret, but to make out.

  I wasn’t sure if this was the right environment for him to ask her to marry him, and hell, I was still confused if that’s what he wanted. Was it sex or her? Commitment or just the next step in life?

  “Drop ‘em.” Nat caned my hand. “Now.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The pants fell to the ground, she stood and circled around me, the cane touching my shoulder, my back, and lower. I shivered in response. Did she seriously want me to die before I said my vows? Because we were getting really close to a funeral rather than a wedding.

  “Hot tub?” she asked in a breathless voice.

  “Damn, I thought you were going to say bedroom,” I said deflated.

  “Tomorrow night.” Nat rose to her full height, which in heels barely reached my chin, and pulled my head down for a kiss. “You get me tomorrow night, maybe if you’re good I’ll bring the cane.”

  “So if I’m good, I get caned.” I grinned. “I’m dying to know what I get for being bad…”

  “Oh the things these walls have heard,” Demetri announced coming back into the room.

  “That was quick.” I snorted.

  “Right, said no girl EVER after spending a night with me.”

  “That was fast!” Alyssa announced waltzing into the room.

  Demetri’s eyes narrowed. “You heard our conversation.”

  “Gotta take the ego down a notch.”

  “No.” Demetri crossed his arms. “What I got, or need, is to lock the love of my life in the bedroom until she’s so dehydrated she begs for—”

  A confused expression washed across his face.

  “In my head—” He licked his lips. “The rest of that was a lot more romantic. And now I kind of feel like—”

  “Ted Bundy.” Nat coughed.

  I laughed. “Demetri lures them in with his smile, dehydrates them and—”

  “Makes wild passionate love to his prisoner.” Alyssa wrapped her arms around Demetri’s waist. “Sounds about right.”

  “Damn straight,” Demetri muttered.

  “But—” Alyssa released him and started walking to the back door. “I wouldn’t know. It’s been a while and, oh look—” She held up her left hand. “Naked.”

  “I wish I was naked,” Demetri said longingly. And then as if finally noticing my pants were off, began stripping. “No way in hell am I wearing these a second longer.”

  “I think they’re sexy.” Alyssa grinned.

  “No.” Demetri pointed and then hopped on one foot as he tried to peel them off. “You just want to torture me.”

  “Watermelon!” Alyssa shouted.

  “Damn it!” Demetri crashed into the couch, the pants dangling from his feet as his Armani briefs flashed every last one of us. “You know the rules, Lyss!”

  “Of fruit?” Nat asked, her face appearing as confused as I felt.

  “Let it go, Lyss!” Demetri was still fighting a losing battle with the pants while Alyssa danced around the living room in triumph. “I hate my life.”

  “Did you guys go into the bedroom to get high or something? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Two days ago—” Demetri finally stood. “We were playing the alphabet game, moved on to guessing fruit, I couldn’t spell watermelon.”

  “Dude.” I sighed. “It’s water and melon… did you even get a diploma?”

  “Not the point,” Demetri argued. “The point is, I was upset over the whole ordeal and told Alyssa she wasn’t allowed to talk about it for at least forty-eight hours, so clearly she’s pulling out everything in her arsenal to either drive me crazy or get me to do one thing—”

  “Take a spelling workshop?” Nat offered.

  “No.” Demetri grinned. “But here’s the thing about girls. It’s always important to be one step ahead of them, so Lyss…” He stalked toward her. “You’ll get your question, and I’ll get my answer… and it’s going to be soon, but you don’t get to know when. You don’t get to make that plan. Just know, you and I are a packag
e deal… and when I pop that question — and you know I will — I want tears. The really happy ones that girls get when they don’t know what else to do. I also want a scorching kiss, and for the love of God, I want to elope.”

  “Are you asking me now?” Alyssa asked in a small voice.

  “Nope.” Demetri kissed her cheek. “It’s better that you know it’s coming, because the anticipation will damn near kill you — hell, I can’t think of a better lesson after making me dance to Backstreet Boys and then telling everyone I’m spelling-challenged.”

  “He’s good at math!” Nat said from beside me. Dear sweet Nat, always looking at the positive. I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her close. The very fact that she was carrying our child was still so surreal. I hoped to God our baby would have Nat’s optimism, her encouragement, just everything.

  “Hot tub?” Demetri asked.

  “Sure.” I gave Nat one more squeeze then kissed her hand.

  “What was that for?”

  I shrugged. “Just because.”

  “Because I can spell watermelon and other really big words?”

  “Hate you guys,” Demetri called from ahead of us.

  “Yeah, big words like, gun, cat, dog—”

  “Ass. A-s-s,” Demetri sang and then popped the champagne waiting for us at the hot tub. Alyssa and I clinked glasses while Nat and Demetri tapped water bottles.

  All in all it was the perfect ending to the perfect bachelor party. But, to be honest, I just wanted to go to bed… because the sooner I closed my eyes, the sooner I could open them, and the sooner I’d be looking at my wife.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nat

  I tossed and turned all night. The minute my alarm went off at six a.m., I was ready to go crazy. I jolted out of bed and hit the alarm on my phone, then stared up at the ceiling. In less than twelve hours I was going to be married.

  Why the heck was I freaking out? I was already pregnant. Maybe it was just because it was a lot of pressure. I mean, who could actually say they were marrying a freaking rock star? Alec and Demetri were still mega famous — and I was just… plain old me. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it, even though Alec said they weren’t any different from anyone else.