Page 96 of Tangled Up In You

“I know. But it will. You and I are only just beginning, darlin’.”

She turned and took his face into her hands, meeting his eyes. “My heart will always be yours,” she said, playing off the vow he had made during their ceremony: “My heart will always search for yours.”

He smiled and started to speak, but she interrupted him.

“Except, that is, if you smear cake all over my face.”

He laughed and then kissed her. “There is nothing so delicious as you are, my sweet girl. No need for frosting on top.” Before she could speak, he continued, “You can trust me, in everything.”

“I know, baby. And I do.”

“Good. So you won’t have any concerns when I get up on that stage in a few minutes and take the mic, right? ’Cause I’m ready to kick this party up a notch.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Go ahead and show my parents what a real rock star looks like.”

“Their first Rogue concert will be at their daughter’s wedding. I like the sound of that!”

The wedding had included allthe traditions Sophie had grown up wanting: a long white dress, walking down the aisle with her father, beautiful flowers, the heartfelt exchange of vows, the formal pronouncement of becoming husband and wife, and the various toasts and dances, along with cake-cutting at the reception.

So, when all of that had been fulfilled, she was happy to leave the customs behind and see the reception turn into a full-fledged concert.

Gavin brought Christian to the stage with him and the boys of Rogue soon displaced the hired band at their instruments. Shay and Martin had discarded their suit coats and ties. Conor still wore his full suit and looked impossibly put together after such a long day. Gavin had never been more handsome to Sophie as he stood at the microphone in his finely tailored navy blue suit, his tie undone and hanging around his neck, his shirt halfway unbuttoned.

“That’s my husband,” Sophie giddily told Felicity as the band started their first song.

“And that’s the song he wrote for you in school. Talk about full circle,” Felicity mused.

Sophie’s eyes widened as she recognized the song he had titled “Exotic Creature.”

“This is the first song I ever wrote for my wife,” Gavin said, and the gathered crowd screamed and applauded. “Conor was right in that toast when he said I was a little slow on the uptake when it came to Sophie. But I think I made up for it with this. Falling for her was the best thing I ever did. I’ll never stop falling. ’Cause as the song goes, I like this dizzy feeling.”

The room shifted their focus from Gavin to Sophie, and she blushed. Not because of the hundred-plus people staring at her, but because of the way Gavin was looking at her. It was love and lust and the certainty that she was his one.

What this man could do to her.

She was ready for the rest of her life to begin.

LATER

58

SOPHIE

“That’s it, push your ass out just a little more. Great. I love it, sweetheart.”

Sophie did as instructed by the photographer, not even phased. After almost six years of modeling, she was beyond taking offense to this kind of crude direction. And she was especially happy to help the photographer embody his vision because this was a shoot for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

She stood in the otherworldly clear waters of the Maldives, wearing white bikini bottoms that matched the pristine sand. She was bent over at the waist, ass pushed out as instructed, and with one hand and forearm barely covering both of her breasts while she reached for her “fallen” bikini top with the other hand. At the same time, her hair was blowing in the wind and a few strands covered one eye. Droplets of water clung to her skin.

This felt like a cover shot.

She’d had covers for all the top tier fashion magazines but never for SI. It was the last piece of the puzzle to her becoming known as a true supermodel and she was surprised by how much she wanted that title.

But then again, she’d been lured into this world years before as a way of carving out an identity of her own and this would confirm that she’d accomplished that.

After the wedding, she’d joined Rogue on tour, deferring her enrollment at Trinity in favor of being with her husband. Rogue became the biggest, hottest band in the world with that second album. The first iteration of the tour wasn’t enough to satisfy the demand of their fans and what had been planned as a yearlong tour soon morphed into eighteen months. Then twenty-two months.

Gavin and the guys ate it up, becoming the kind of performers Sophie always knew they were destined to be. It was an intense time, full of constant travel, media appearances, interviews, parties, and increasingly bigger concerts.

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