The Rockers' Babies (The Rocker... Series) (9 page)

“If you suspect anything from anyone, I don’t care if it’s the freaking minister, you call me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered without hesitation.

An hour later the guys arrived. Nik found me in the reception room going over last minute details with the photographer, as well as the caterer. Harper was going to take the shots the photographer did and use

them for her magazine as an exclusive on the wedding. Her boss nearly pissed his pants when she promised

him a front cover with her in her wedding dress with Shane holding her and the three other band members

standing behind them.

“You look tired.” Nik wrapped his arms around me, lowering his head for a kiss. “Have you eaten

anything yet?”

“Some fruit salad,” I assured him, holding on tight for a little longer. “So… I found out something.” He

raised a brow and I smiled. “Looks like this baby is going to be a lot like me. The smell of bacon made me

throw up.”

His lips twitched. “So you won’t be wanting bacon ice cream sundaes or bacon smoothies? Or bacon

and peanut butter sandwiches?”

My stomach roiled at just the thought of those things. “Please stop.”

“Sorry, baby girl.” He brushed a tender kiss over my lips then stepped back. “I hate bothering you, but

Shane is about to lose his shit. He’s been a basket case since he got out of bed. You think Drake was bad?

He’s got nothing on Shane now.”

I frowned. “What? What’s wrong? What did you guys do to him last night?”

“Hey.” Nik raised his hands as if to ward me off when I took a step in his direction. “We didn’t do

squat. He was fine when he went to bed last night… Or really this morning. It was nearly three when he

finally went to sleep. Then he woke up this morning and… Just go talk to him, baby. Please?”

Muttering a curse I followed Nik to the opposite side of the building where the guys were all supposed

to get dressed. I walked in to find Drake and Jesse already half dressed in their tuxedos, but Shane was

walking around in basketball shorts and a T-shirt. He was pale as death, his eyes bloodshot, and I was sure he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.

“Talk to me,” I commanded, grabbing his arms and making him stop his frantic pacing. “Are you

having second thoughts?”

“What?” He looked startled by my question. “No! I’m fucking ready to make that woman my wife.”

“Then what’s the matter?” I kept my voice low, calm. “I can’t take care of whatever is wrong if you

don’t tell me, Shane.”

“I did something stupid. I think I messed up big.”

“What?” Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to turn and face him. I swallowed hard,

terrified of the answer to the next question that I had no choice but to ask. “What did you do?”

“I… Oh, fuck!” He pulled away from me and raked his hands through his short dark hair. He paced to

the window then turned back to look at me, his blue-gray eyes looking tormented. “Harper’s mom called

me last night. She said she wanted to make amends, to apologize to Harper for being such a shit mom. Then

she started laying it on thick about how she wanted to see her daughter get married. So I… I emailed her an invitation.”

“Shane!”

“I fell asleep for about two hours and when I woke up I realized how big of a mistake I made. Harper

doesn’t want Monica here.”

“You think?” I couldn’t help it. My voice was rising along with my blood pressure. Damn, now I almost

wished he had cheated. I could fix that a lot faster and more efficiently than
this
. I could have just cut his balls off, presented them to Harper, and been done. “I’ve already got security tight, and they know not to let anyone in without an invitation. But now she has one! I could have kept her out without that, damn it.

Gods, this is such a clusterfuck.”

“Help me fix this, Emmie,” Shane pleaded. “Help me…”

“You don’t know how to make anything easy, do you?” I was nearly screaming at him, but I turned

away before I started throwing shit. “The guests are already arriving. If she’s here it’s going to cause a huge

scene and Harper is going to be even more upset.”

“I know.” His voice broke and he dropped down onto the short sofa against the wall beside him. “I

know.”

“Okay.” Nik stepped forward, his hands going to my shoulders to try and rub away some of my stress. I

shivered at the feel of his hands on me, but it did nothing for the tension in my body. “We can fix this.”

I blew out a frustrated sigh. “Yeah. I can fix this.”

It was my job to fix all of their problems… Fuck, I hated my job sometimes!

Chapter 7

Harper

I thought I was going to be one of those brides who freaked out at the drop of a hat on her wedding

day. Sure, Emmie had been my saving grace, making sure that I only had to say yes or no to this and that.

The hardest thing I had to do was pick out my wedding dress, which had been easy once I had seen
the

dress. Still, I had thought I would have woken up this morning feeling anxious and ready to run for the

border at the drop of a hat.

Instead I was calm, ready to walk down the aisle and change my last name.

Now, as I stood in front of the floor-length mirror in my wedding dress, I couldn’t help smiling. It had

taken a lifetime, but now I could see exactly what Shane saw every day. The beautiful woman staring out of

that mirror was me. My hair was curled to perfection hanging around my shoulders; my makeup minimum

with just a little foundation, some light eye makeup, and clear gloss. The wedding dress was figure hugging, pushing my breasts up while showing off the sexy curve of my hips. On my feet I wore simple ballet

slippers, giving me no extra height, no added sex appeal. But I was definitely sexy.

Behind me my friends were speechless. I shifted my gaze to find Dallas blinking rapidly, trying to keep

from crying. “You are so beautiful, Harp.”

I opened my mouth to thank her, but the door opened and in walked my stepdad along with Linc. Both

men stopped in their tracks when they saw me. “Holy fuck!” Linc exclaimed. “You’re enough to turn a gay

man, Harper.”

I laughed, stepping forward to let him brush a kiss over my cheek. “Thanks.”

When I glanced at Cecil he had tears in his eyes and wasn’t trying to keep them at bay. “There are no

words to describe how beautiful you are, Harper,” he said before pulling me into a warm, loving hug.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Thanks for being here for me, Cecil.”

“There’s no other place I would rather be, sweetheart.”

“Where’s Emmie?” Layla demanded. “She hasn’t gotten dressed yet.”

I hadn’t noticed her!

“I’ll go find her. She’s probably just going over everything again before the ceremony.” Natalie smiled

at me in the mirror before leaving.

“You look so beautiful, Harper,” Jenna, Shane and Drake’s little sister told me from where she and Mia

were sitting on the sofa. “It’s so cool that you’re going to be my sister.”

I crossed to her and pulled her into a one-armed hug, not wanting to mess the teenager’s hair or dress

up. The wedding party wasn’t the largest I had ever seen, but it wasn’t small by a long shot. Jenna and Lucy were my bridesmaids along with Lana, Layla, Emmie, and Natalie. Dallas was my maid-of-honor, but I

would have given the title to Linc just as quickly. Fortunately he was one of Shane’s groomsmen, because

Shane had wanted him up there with us just as much as I did.

“Thanks, Jen. I’m so glad you could be here.”

“Daddy said he wasn’t going to miss Shane’s wedding for the world. Mom didn’t throw as big of a fit as

I thought she would.” Jenna rolled her eyes. Stella wasn’t my favorite person in the world, but she had

calmed down a lot since the nightmare that Jenna had put her through, running away to New York in search

of her brothers. As for Shane’s dad, that was still really strained. Not that I could blame him or Drake.

Their father had basically turned his back on them when they had needed him the most.

“Is my dress pretty, Aunt Harper?”

I turned my gaze to Mia who was sitting beside Jenna. In her little white dress she was not just pretty,

but a beautiful little doll. “It sure is, flower princess. And your hair is so adorable. You were such a good girl sitting still while Aunt Layla curled it for you.”

The door opened so suddenly that it nearly banged against the wall. Emmie looked a little wild, with her

eyes standing out in her pale face. I felt guilty that she had been running around making my wedding day so special while I had just been sitting around having everyone pamper me. “Emmie…”

Her eyes landed on me and I was startled when tears started spilling down her cheeks. “Oh my gods!

You’re breathtaking.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to thank her for making this all so special. I wanted to hug her, and

tell her I was sorry for being such a pain in the ass. My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Seeming to

understand all that I was feeling, Emmie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my waist. “It was

my pleasure, Harper,” she whispered close to my ear. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart.”

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