It’s stunning and perfectly suited to my taste. But why is this man walking around with an engagement ring in his pocket? Could it even be possible that he had this planned all along? And what would I have done if Trent and I hadn’t just broken up and he’d come in here and proposed?

I have so many questions and no time to get them answered, because there’s a church filled with people who are waiting on me.

“I’ve got this,” my maid of honor offers when I stand there blankly staring into space. “Trent decided he no longer wanted to marry your sister, and Lyle stepped in.” Darci flashes my brother her pearly whites. “Just a little change in groom, that’s all.”

“That’s all, huh?” He steps into the room, letting the door shut behind him.

“Well…” My best friend sucks air through her teeth. “That and the fact that she’s pregnant and doesn’t know if it’s Trent’s.”

“Jesus Christ, Darci,” I hiss. Couldn’t she have left that part out?

Dane’s nostrils flare as he advances on Lyle, gripping him by the lapels of his gray suit jacket. “You fucked my sister?”

“Well,” he scoffs, every bit the cocky rockstar. “Not yet.”

My brother looks as if he’s seconds away from losing his shit as he eases his grip and refocuses his attention on me. “Who’s the father?”

“I don—” I start, my cheeks warm with humiliation.

“Me,” my soon to be husband interrupts without hesitation. “Look, all you need to know is that in just a few minutes, your dad is gonna walk his daughter down the aisle, the way he’s always dreamed. I’m going to marry your sister,” he says while peeling Dane’s fingers back one by one. “And we’ll raise this baby together.” He smooths the wrinkles out of his jacket then looks my brother dead in the eye. “You’re welcome.”

“You’re doing this for Dad.” Dane’s features soften toward his friend, the weight of our father’s illness cloaking him in an all-too-familiar cloud of defeat.

“I’m doing this,” Lyle answers, lacing his fingers with mine, “because I’m in love with your little sister. Make no mistake about that.”

His declaration has me fighting the urge to purr. I’ll never tire of hearing those words. Lyle Livingston loves me.

Swap the white knight for a rock star. And the dragon with my own poor decisions. I’m living some version of the world’s most fucked-up fairytale.

Lyle is still everything I always knew him to be… gallant, and selfless, and noble to a fault.