Just the way you like him…
“What are you doing?” Percy exclaimed from inside the bride’s room. There was a huff and heavy footfalls as he charged toward the window.
“You can’t see the bride before the wedding!”
Syon grinned, unrepentant, as Ramsey came into sight. The rocker was wearing more clothing than Kate had ever seen him in.
And he made it look good.
But he was still rebelling, his dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest.
“Looking fine, Kate!”
“Don’t make me come through this window,” Percy threatened in a tone that was way too playful. “I take my matron-of-honor duties seriously.”
“Stop screeching like a scalded cat,” Steve said from across the room.
Percy turned to look at his husband. “Does that mean I make good on my threats?”
“No.” Steve picked up Kate’s veil. “He’s about to become a married man. So hands off.”
“The other one isn’t.” Percy purred as he took a look at Ramsey.
“But you are,” Steve said. “Now get over here and finish dressing the bride. That’s your job.”
Percy smiled at her. “Oh, sweetie…you look divine, if I do say so myself.”
Percy started to fuss, making sure the dress he’d made for her was perfect. His deep teal suit matched Steve’s perfectly. She was wearing antique lace that suited the church. A small demi-train, and a skirt that was just loose enough to flow when she walked. The silk Percy had chosen was a perfect complement to her red hair.
“Well, if you have to get married to a man, at least you have a matron of honor I approve of.”
Her mother was decked out in a gypsy-style skirt and tunic top. She’d kicked off her shoes by the door and was walking around barefoot, sporting a new pedicure for the occasion.
“She’s not marrying a man; she is marrying the man,” Percy exclaimed. Steve reached over and slapped him on the shoulder.
“Well, the man of those who aren’t taken,” Percy said warmly.
Steve beamed at his husband.
The church bells began to toll. Steve fluttered over to set her veil on her head as Kate sat down on a stool. Every butterfly in Great Britain was clearly in her belly. Her fingers began to tremble, and she was pretty sure she could feel the color draining from her face. There was a round of chuckles around her.
“She’s ready,” Steve announced.
Percy leaned over and giggled at the look on her face. “Oh yes, she’s ready.”
Actually, she was.
Kate stood up, feeling her insides clench with anticipation. Yup, that was exactly the way Syon had always affected her. Excitement was running through her like a live current, warming her from head to toe. She felt like she was making that climb to the crest of a roller coaster, the first drop just coming into view as she was led into the foyer where two altar boys waited to open the massive doors leading to the sanctuary. High above her head, the bells rang. The pipe organ was playing, and the hinges groaned as the doors were pulled open to let her see her groom waiting for her at the end of the aisle.
Her mother had found her shoes and hat. She offered Kate her arm. “Ready?”
“I sure am.”
Her belly clenched as she took the plunge.
Epic.
Just epic.
Read on for a sneak peek at book two in Dawn Ryder’s sizzling new Rock Band series
Rock Steady
The fog had come in to settle over the city of San Francisco. The locals put on their coats and stayed on the streets, casting off the chains of the workweek with excess. The local bars and clubs were in full swing even two full hours after midnight.
“Where in the hell did you go?” Kate Braden propped her hands on to her hips and sent Ramsey a seething glare. “We’ve been shaking the trees for you.”
Ramsey offered her a smile that was a shot of pure sin. He curled a hand around Kate’s hip and pulled her against his hard body while taking a moment to enjoy the display her corset top pushed her breasts into. “Would have surfaced sooner if I’d known you wanted me.”
He purred out the word “wanted.”
Ramsey looped an arm around her shoulders. A faint scent of scotch surrounded him, but it was a fine grade and only added to his dark-as-sin persona. He was wearing leather pants and a vest, as usual, but he fit with the crowd on the sidewalks of San Francisco. At least the crowd that was out at three thirty in the morning.
He started to nuzzle her neck.
“Hands off my wife there, Rams.”
Syon Braden appeared, neatly lifting Ramsey’s hand off her hip. Syon slid in and took possession of her as Ramsey grinned.
“What happened to Tia?” Syon asked his bandmate.
Ramsey frowned. For a moment, his rocker image cracked, showing the very sharp mind of the man who lurked inside the Toxsin band member. It was only a momentary glimpse before Ramsey shrugged and offered them a bored expression, retreating into his bad-boy persona.
“Guess she’s gone.” He kept his tone nonchalant. If Kate didn’t know him, she never would have guessed he cared at all about the girl in question. He shrugged again, his leather vest opening to display a peek at his six-pack abs.
But it also showed her a flash of something else.
Kate reached forward for the waistband of the leather pants he wore.
“She might be your wife, but she can’t keep her hands off me…” Ramsey taunted Syon.
Kate’s husband shifted, trying to decide what she was doing. She moved the leather down just an inch and gasped.
Syon cussed.
The other two members of Toxsin found them and joined Syon.
Kate moved the waistband a little more to get a better look at the new tattoo on Ramsey’s lower abdomen. “They’re…cherry blossoms…” Her voice was a horrified whisper.
Ramsey frowned and looked down. He was sobering up quick, his expression turning deadly. “That bitch.”
“Damn it, Ramsey…” Syon snapped. “You can’t slip the leash like that.” He peered at the delicate, blush-pink blossoms.
“I wasn’t drunk when I went off with Tia,” Ramsey said.
“Damned straight you weren’t,” Taz said. “I would have stayed on your butt if you were.”
Ramsey was struggling to remember how he’d ended up with a tattoo. “I didn’t have that much.” His forehead was furrowed as he tried to concentrate. He popped open the button on his waistband and looked down.
“Oh shit…” Drake said, his British accent emerging.
“That’s bad,” Taz agreed.
“We’ve got to do something,” Syon confirmed.
Clearly tattooed on the singer’s body were two sprigs of pink cherry blossoms. They conflicted so badly with Ramsey’s dark, bad-boy persona, his bandmates stared at him for long moments as shock held them silent. It was a serious crash-and-burn moment.
Kate pulled him closer to a street lamp, hoping the light might show it to be a temporary tattoo.
No such luck.
“You’re screwed.” Kate detected the faint red marks from the needle. There was a faint gloss from Vaseline, too.
“We’re screwed,” Syon added. “We’ve got a show in forty-eight hours.”
The members of Toxsin stuck together. Ramsey and Syon were tighter than most married couples. Kate had learned that firsthand when she’d met Syon and spent a season on tour with the band as their costumer.
“It’s Toxsin!” someone yelled from across the street. There was a blare of a horn as the fangirls stepped right into traffic in their quest to connect with their music idols.
Kate reached out and refashioned Ramsey’s pants to hide the tattoo.
“I dreamed about this differently,” Ramsey drawled. “You took my pants off in my dreams. I remember that detail perfectly.”
“Right now, they need to stay on.” She fastened up his vest while she was at it, but the garment wasn’t going to hide the top half of the second blossom.