We all looked at each other as we processed what he’d said, a hundred emotions flickering across our faces. Finally, I laughed. “Well, I vote yes.”

“The lady has spoken,” Jared said. “I vote yes, too.”

“Yes!” Kyle said. “Hell yes!”

Hector slapped Dan on the back. “C’mon, was there any doubt we’d say yes?”

We went out and celebrated, just the four of us. After the live show, we’d gone out with Dan and his husband, plus our families and friends, but tonight’s dinner was only for the band. We laughed about everything we’d been through, we ate off each other’s plates, and the guys teased me and Jared about our relationship. Jared held my hand the entire time, not caring who saw us together, like he was afraid I might run away if he let go. But he was done pretending, and I was done running.

I don’t know how we made it back to my hotel room without burning the entire building down. We were kissing and pulling at each other’s clothes as soon as we got off the elevator, stumbling to my door and fumbling for the key to open it.

When the door shut, I tugged off his shirt and slid my hands along his chest, down his arms, kissing the VILLAIN tattoo and the dark and light triangles on his forearms. One day I’d ask him what all of his other tattoos meant, but later. We had time.

He let me explore him, like he sensed I needed to touch every inch of his body and mark him as my own. I removed his pants to worship his calves, his thighs, his hips, teasing my tongue along the dark hair trailing down his stomach, lower and lower. I tasted his entire body, kissing and licking and learning what drove him crazy, branding him with my mouth.

When he couldn’t take it anymore, he spun me around and unzipped my dress, removing the last of my clothes. He trailed kisses across my shoulders and down my back, all the way to the curve of my butt and then up again. He wrapped his arms around me from behind so we stood naked together, skin to skin, him hard and ready against me. In the mirror, I watched as his mouth caressed my neck and his hands cupped my breasts, and for the first time, I agreed with the fans: Jared and I were perfect for each other.

He pulled me onto the bed and kissed me until I was begging him for more. We broke apart for him to put on a condom, and then he was on top of me again, between my legs. He held my face and stared into my eyes.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” I gasped and clung to him as he stretched me, filled me, completed me.