Page 75 of Dedicated

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—