“Oh God. Don’t cry again,” he says, looking genuinely panicked.
My lower lip wobbles, and happy tears well in my eyes. “I still can’t believe you did that.”
Fiona and Shane hired a local band to play at their wedding because they wanted their brothers to enjoy the night, not to have to entertain their guests. However, the band was a good sport and let the guys play a few songs while they took a short break.
Ash barely held me together as Dillon told the whole wedding that “Terrify Me” was a song he’d written for me and about me. Thank God, Ash had the foresight to record it on her cell—and I’m sure the official videographer captured it too—because I was in such shock I didn’t fully appreciate the lyrics or the fact it’s a much softer, more romantic sound for Toxic Gods.
“You must know you’re my muse,” he says, breaking me out of my head.
My heart thuds proudly behind my chest. “I am?”
He nods, sweeping his fingers across my cheek. “I’ve been writing nonstop in that journal you made me. You’re the inspiration behind all my lyrics.”
I found a songwriting journal at a local store, and I crafted a Toxic Gods cover, incorporating their logo, out of crushed velvet. The other guys in the band were so envious I ended up making them similar notepads just to shut them up.
“Everything about you inspires me, Viv,” he murmurs, kissing the tip of my nose as we dance to the music. “You have such a good heart. Helping others makes you happy, and that’s how I know you’re inherently good.”
Fiona was delighted with the dresses, and Shane was profuse in his praise during his speech. “Seeing little Chloe looking so angelic in her dress has been one of the highlights of this day,” I say.
He kisses me softly. “There. That’s what I’m talking about.” He looks deep into my eyes with so much emotion I’m choking up. They say weddings make you emotional, and this one most definitely has. I can’t help being affected by the outpouring of love in the room, and I know we’re not the only ones feeling it. “You’rean angel, and I’m so happy to have met you.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, blushing a little.
A new song starts up, one I don’t know. Dillon smiles down at me, emotion practically oozing from his pores, and I’m not sure my heart is going to withstand this day intact.
“Dance with me under the stars?” he asks, and my knees almost go out from under me. I nod as if in a trance, high on so many glittering emotions. As if I could ever turn such a request down.
Lacing his fingers in mine, he leads me out a side door to a small courtyard. Cath and Eugene watch us leave with matching giant smiles, and I get the sense they’re hoping Dillon and I will give them a day like this in the future. Butterflies swoop into my belly, and a fluttering sensation spreads across my chest at the thought.
Dillon sweeps me into his arms in front of the impressive gardens, holding me close, as we move in time to the beat. He purposely left the glass doors open so the music filters outside.
“What song is this?” I ask, listening intently to the beautiful lyrics.
“It’s an older song by a group called Savage Garden. The song is “I Knew I Loved You.” It’s always been a favorite of mine.” He tilts his head back a little so he can look at me. “Especially now,” he adds, in a whisper.
I stare into his gorgeous green eyes as he sings to me, and my heart pounds louder and louder in my chest, swelling with so much emotion it almost feels like I’m drowning. Tears prick my eyes as the words sink deep, their meaning registering on so many levels. Dillon pours everything he’s feeling into his singing, swirling me softly around the courtyard under the backdrop of the twinkling stars, never taking his eyes off me.
Drops of rain fall from the sky without warning, but I barely feel them, hypnotized by this amazing, beautiful, complex man spinning me in his arms. Singing his truths because he can’t form the words behind the sentiments.
The rain comes down heavier, plummeting in thick sheets as we continue dancing, plastering our hair to our faces and our clothes to our bodies like second skins. Another song starts, and Dillon twirls me around faster and faster, and I laugh, tipping my head up to the dark sky, letting the water cleanse me of all my fears and uncertainties.
When he pulls me in close, locking me in his protective arms, his laughter dies along with mine as our gazes connect with an intensity so powerful it seems bigger than both of us. His chest heaves in sync with mine as we stop dancing, staring at one another because there is nothing that can drag either one of us away from the other. I want to stay like this forever. Secure in his gaze. Trapped in his adoration. Surrounded with emotion that threatens to unravel everything I thought I knew about myself.
My heart is open, and I’m shielding nothing. From him. From myself.
I knew this was the risk.
But I barreled headfirst into this relationship anyway, and I’m not sorry I did.
How could I have any regrets when it’s brought us here, to this place, to this realization?
I know neither one of us is going to put words to the emotion.
Yet we both know it exists.
Our truths are traded when we move as one, our lips meeting as if for the first time, and I know, for the rest of my life, I will nevereverforget this moment.
The moment I realize I am utterly and unequivocally in love with Dillon O’Donoghue.