The doorbell rang once more and Shana laughed. “Finally, the lobsters.”
“An entire feast, actually,” Drake said. “Along with a florist, a photographer, a videographer, a wedding decorator and a guitarist.”
“Hope you remembered the officiant,” Jane said.
“Of course.”
Shock crossed Shana’s face again. “You planned our entire wedding?”
“We even have cake. Compliments of Yvette and Finn.”
“Unbelievable,” she said on an exhilarated breath. “Most men can’t be bothered with any of this.”
“Well,” he said as he pulled her back into his arms. “I’m not like most men, am I?”
“No, you are not.” She beamed up at him. “You are most definitely one of a kind. That’s why I love you so much.”
His grin was a devilish one, he knew. “I thought it was my mammoth—”
“Drake!” Pink tinted her cheeks as she swatted playfully at him.
He laughed, then let go of her. “Upstairs, love. Let your bridesmaids fuss over you. The best man and I have some drinking to do.”
“You realize you’ve completely put me to shame,” Finn lamented as Jane went off to answer the door again and Shana and Yvette headed upstairs with her new dress. “I’ll never be able to top this with Yvette.”
“She wouldn’t want you to plan your wedding,” Drake said. “Something tells me it would need to be social event of the season, and that requires a legion of expensive wedding coordinators pulling rabbits out of their hats to meet ridiculously impossible expectations.”
“I have so much to look forward to,” Finn deadpanned.
Drake raised his glass to his friend. “You’ll jump through every hoop they ask you to so Yvette gets the wedding of her dreams. Trust me on this one.”
“Yeah, that ring you gave Shana is something else. And the dress… That alone probably costs as much as my BMW.”
“Not quite. But even if it had… What could I do but have it designed for her? She’s wanted to wear it since she was fourteen. Of course I had to give it to her.”
“You’re a good man, Drake.”
He even felt like one, with Shana. But there was no denying he was glad to be a vampire so he’d have more than a mortal lifespan to share with her.
“Thank you for coming,” he said to Finn. “I consider you a good friend and it means a lot to me that you’ll stand beside me tonight.”
“I expect you to return the favor.”
“Certainly. If you ever get around to proposing to Yvette.”
Finn sipped his champagne and then said, “Something tells me it’ll be inescapable after this evening.”
“And you’ll be damn glad, won’t you?”
Finn smiled. “To wake up every morning next to that firecracker? You’d better believe it.”
When Yvette and Jane were done with her hair and makeup, Shana stood in front of the full-length mirror in her and Drake’s master suite and willed herself not to gnaw her crimson-colored lips as Jane deftly fastened the buttons that started at her hips and ran up to the middle of her back. The lace dipped a bit lower there than it did in the front, though the rounded tops of her breasts
crested the scalloped edges of the bodice.
“All done,” Jane said, and Shana breathed a sigh of relief. It fit.
“You look sensational,” Yvette said in genuine awe. “That dress was meant for your figure. It’s a perfect fit and so very beautiful.”