More than a little surprised that Tatiana didn’t seem the least bit wary around her because she was a journalist, Grace told her, “It’s a piece about the heart of a sailor and why people are drawn to getting out on an ocean that can be both beautiful and dangerous. I’ve read a ton about sailing this week, but two hours with Dylan has been more helpful than an entire library of books would have been.”
“It sounds fascinating,” Tatiana said. “I’ve always admired people who are skilled at culling a ton of information into just the parts that matter. What’s your secret?”
“Brilliant questions,” Dylan answered.
“Endless questions, anyway,” Grace said. “If you hadn’t all shown up for dinner, I would probably still be peppering Dylan with them.”
“So you’re not done with him yet?” Mia asked.
Mason shifted in Dylan’s arms so that he was halfway in hers, too, and Grace focused on helping him get more comfortable as she replied, “Not even close. The two of us have still got a lot of ground to cover.”
When she looked up, everyone was grinning like crazy. What had she just said to make all of them look so happy?
Fortunately, that was when the conversation changed to their cousin Ryan’s winning pitch at last night’s baseball game, so Grace finally let herself relax into her seat. As much as she could relax, anyway, with Dylan’s thigh pressed against hers beneath the crowded dining table.
With her son sleeping on both of their laps and his family right there, too, she shouldn’t have had to keep fighting back her desire for him.
But she did.
CHAPTER SIX
“Since everyone is here tonight,” Mia said when everyone had finally eaten their fill, “Ford and I want to talk with you about something we’ve been thinking a lot about.”
“Please tell me it doesn’t have anything to do with weddings,” Adam begged, looking trapped. “I swear that’s all any of you talk about anymore.”
“Actually,” she said with a wide smile, “our wedding is exactly what we want to talk about with all of you.” Ian and Mia shot each other a look that read to Grace like a secret, silent code between brother and sister.
Meanwhile, Adam informed Dylan, “It’s just the two of us left now.” A moment later, however, when his gaze flashed to Grace and Mason, he shook his head, then picked up his beer and took a long pull.
“As most of you know,” Mia continued, “I’ve been planning my wedding since I was a little girl.” When Adam groaned again, his sister socked him in the shoulder. “I always thought the bigger the better, probably at an exotic destination with a week-long party on an island. But now…” Mia paused when Ford threaded his fingers through hers and lifted them to his lips while they shared a look so loving Grace could feel it in the center of her chest.
“Now all we want,” Ford finished for her, his voice just as deep and mesmerizing as it was when he was singing one of his hit songs, “is to have our family with us. We had thought about getting married up at the lake, but we don’t want to take away from Rafe and Brooke’s special day this summer.”
“Of course you should get married at the lake,” Brooke immediately protested, but instead of agreeing with her, Rafe pressed a kiss to his fiancée’s forehead. “Something tells me they’ve already got something else in mind.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Sounds to me like the two of you are ready to say your vows, aren’t you?”
Dylan’s oldest brother looked and sounded truly choked up, not at all as if he were teasing. And when Mia’s eyes also filled as she nodded, Grace barely held in her gasp of surprise.
Oh my God, Mia and Ford weren’t about to get married tonight, were they?
“That’s exactly what we’re ready for,” Mia confirmed. “Ford and I don’t want to wait any longer. And we don’t want to have a big circus of a wedding with helicopters and paparazzi. We’ll have a big party later for everyone to come to, but for tonight, we just want you guys.”
Tears were already streaming down Claudia’s face by the time she made it around the table to throw her arms around her daughter and her soon-to-be son. “I can’t believe you all planned this in secret! A wedding right here in our living room.” Dylan’s mother sounded overwhelmed. And absolutely thrilled.
Grace was so stunned by what was about to happen that it wasn’t until Dylan started to help her out of her seat that she realized she was still sitting at the dining room table gaping over the fact that one of the biggest rock stars in the world was about to have a totally secret wedding in front of her!
But despite how shockingly cool all this was—how amazing did a family have to be to actually do something like this?—the unavoidable truth was that she was intruding on a private family moment.
She turned to Dylan. “Mason and I shouldn’t—”
“Stay.” He reached for her hand, his expression so full of warmth that her heart, already swelling with the heady romance swirling throughout the room, skipped a beat. “Please.”
By the time she finally managed to look away from his mesmerizing eyes, Ian was standing with his back to the big stone fireplace. Mia and Ford were holding hands in front of him, while the rest of the family gathered around them...and Grace knew there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
* * *
Dylan knew none of them would ever forget this wedding. Not only because Mia, Ford, and Ian had sprung it on them all so brilliantly, but because of a baby who suddenly decided he was done napping and wasn’t the least bit happy about how quiet everyone else was being.