by R. E. Butler
“It all started looking up when I met you two,” she said.
“For us as well,” Rafe said.
It was tempting to just tell her sexy mates to take her home so they could tumble in the sheets, but she wanted to move into the new place as soon as possible. She put aside the sexy thoughts and clapped her hands together. “I think I’ll clean the kitchen cabinets.”
“We’ll stop working for dinner,” Rhaider said. “I’ll grab sandwiches from the diner and bring them back here.”
“Sounds perfect. Just make sure we get home in time tonight to make love. I can’t believe I had to spend the whole day away from you both.”
Rafe gave her a sexy grin. “You have the best ideas.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rafe adjusted his bowtie in the mirror in Duke’s apartment in the bar. Rhaider was down in the bar putting the final touches on their surprise for Demi. When his brother had come to him and explained his idea, Rafe had been on board immediately.
Prom.
It was so silly but so sweet. Demi had never been to a prom. The pride school opted for a Valentine’s banquet for the graduating class instead of a prom, so while she’d dressed up for that, she hadn’t had a date, gone dancing, or worn a fancy prom dress. This was a chance for Rafe and Rhaider to give her the prom she never had.
He and his brother had both gone to their senior proms with dates, so they had an idea of what a traditional prom looked like.
His nerves kicked up a little as he glanced at his phone to see the time.
In an hour, Demi would be brought to the bar to meet them by Annie. They’d set it up so that Annie, Ree, Mercy, and Emberly suggested a girls’ night with Demi. Rafe and Rhaider had picked out a dress with the females’ help and gotten bowties and vests that matched. The ruse was going to be that the girls were all going out to a fancy restaurant to kick off their night and Demi had to wear the dress they picked out.
He couldn’t wait to see her face when she walked into the bar.
After taking one last look at himself in the mirror, he took a selfie and sent it to his mom with a message that said he was taking his mate to prom and wished she was there to take pictures of them all.
You look wonderful, honey, she texted back. I wish I was there too. Be sure someone takes plenty of pictures on my behalf.
Will do. Love you.
Love you too.
He put his phone in his pocket and left the bathroom, stopping to pick up the ring box and corsage that he and Rhaider had picked up.
Down in the bar, everything had been transformed. The square tables had been replaced with two, large, round tables covered with white linen, with floral centerpieces. The meal had been catered by an Italian restaurant, and Hemi and Demi’s parents, and Duke’s parents, were acting as the servers for the meal. Rebel was going to be the DJ and Maverick was handling drinks.
A disco ball spun slowly from the ceiling. Colorful lights aimed at it sent swirls of light around the room. A photo area was set up with a curtain backdrop and balloon bouquets to get the feel of a prom photo. One of the pride members had volunteered to take pictures as well as candids during the night.
Rafe found Rhaider adjusting a rose centerpiece and turning on an electric candle. Both their phones buzzed at the same moment. Rafe lifted his phone and looked at the screen. The group text from Ree said they’d be at the bar in ten minutes.
“Got the ring?” Rhaider asked.
“Yep. You?”
“Yes.” Rhaider patted his pocket.
Rafe took the wrist corsage he’d chosen that was made up of tiny red roses with lots of baby’s breath and a silk ribbon. Rhaider had a similar wrist corsage for her, but the roses were white.
They stood near the front door under an archway covered with silk flowers and ribbon. The other males joined them, each holding a corsage for his own mate.
“I didn’t think I’d be nervous,” Rhaider said.
“Me either,” Rafe said.
“Nerves are natural,” Hemi said from behind them. “We all want our mates to be pleased with our efforts. Demi will love everything you did for her today because she’s crazy about you both.”
Rafe grinned and looked over his shoulder. “We’re crazy about her too.”
“Well, awesomeness runs in the family.”
A vehicle could be heard pulling into the parking lot. Rafe signaled to Rebel, who played a romantic ballad at low volume.
The lights went out, and all that illuminated the interior were the candles on the tables and the glow of Rebel’s computer hooked up to the sound system.
Rafe kept his eyes on the door, waiting for Demi. The night was going to be amazing.
* * *
“Why can’t I wear the dress I bought for tonight?” Demi asked, standing in a spare bedroom in Ree and Duke’s home. Ree had invited the girls to all get ready at the alphas’ house for their girls’ night, which was fine with Demi. Everything was mostly packed up in her house and the new place wasn’t quite ready yet for them to move in, so she didn’t have much space to get ready with all the boxes.
“Because,” Ree said, holding up a dress bag, “we’re all wearing fancy dresses.”
Demi eyed Ree’s dress. The deep purple satin dress had pearl details on the bodice and a poufy skirt. She was wearing dyed heels to match the color of the dress and a crystal necklace and earrings.
Ree tilted her head. “You don’t like my dress?”
“It’s very pretty, it’s just not…”
Annie walked into the bedroom wearing a one-shouldered mint green dress that hugged her curves and flowed out to the floor. Her hair was piled up on her head in a complicated mass of swirls with pearl clips.
“Holy cow, you look great,” Demi said.
“I told you we were dressing up,” Annie said. “I helped pick out your dress. You’re going to look amazing.”
“This is a lot of work for a girls’ night out,” Demi said.
“You owe it to yourself to get pampered and have fun,” Annie said. “So put the dress on and finish getting ready. Our car is here.”
“Car?” Demi asked in surprise.
“Yep. Let’s get the lead out lady,” Ree said.
Demi took the dress bag from her and the two left the bedroom. Demi unzipped the bag and gasped at the dress. It was an off-the-shoulder, dark red dress covered in seed pearls with a long skirt that had a high slit up the front.
The dress she’d picked for herself was a black tank dress. Not nearly as fancy as the one Annie had picked for her.
She laid the dress on the bed and stripped from her dress. She already had on a black strapless bra and matching panties. She put the dress on, which fit perfectly, the slit up the front ending above her knee. Inside the dress bag was a shoe box with dyed heels the same red as the dress, and a velvet pouch containing a set of crystal earrings and matching necklace.
She put on the jewelry and went into the bathroom to change her lip gloss from a pink to a darker color that would more match the dress. Taking a step back, she looked at herself in awe.
She honestly looked like she was going to prom.
She went to take a picture of herself and send it to Rafe and Rhaider but realized she didn’t have her phone.
Leaving the bedroom, she smiled at the waiting females who all clapped and whistled at her. Each one looked like they were ready for prom. It was the coolest, weirdest thing she’d ever seen.
“I need my phone to send a pic to the guys,” Demi said.
“Wait until we get to where we’re going,” Annie said. “We need to get on the way for our reservation.”
Demi frowned, but decided to not fuss. Her friends had picked out a beautiful dress for her. Her guys could wait a little while for a picture.
“Let’s go then,” Demi said. She found her wallet on the counter next to the clutch she’d set out with her wallet. She added her phone and lip gloss to the clutch and left the house with the girls.
<
br /> In the driveway was a limo.
“Oh my gosh,” Demi said. “Is this for us?”
“Of course!” Ree said.
“Only the best for us,” Mercy said.
“This is crazy,” Demi said.
“But it’s so fun,” Emberly said. “I haven’t had a pretty dress like this in years.”
Demi nodded. “Are we still just going to dinner?”
“Yep,” Ree said.
They got into the back of the limo, settling on the bench seats. The driver shut the door and they were on their way, the girls all chatting excitedly about the evening.
A few minutes later, the limo pulled into a parking lot. Demi peered out the tinted window and saw the bar.
“I thought we were going to dinner?” Demi asked.
“Needed to make a quick stop,” Emberly said. “Let’s all get out and stretch our legs. Oh, and we can take a group picture too.”
Demi looked curiously at the females who were all so excited. She was very suspicious but honestly had no idea what was going on.
“All right,” Demi said.
She followed them to the bar, where Annie grabbed the door and held it open. Somehow, Demi was the first one through the door. The lights were off in the bar, but there was…candlelight?
“What the heck?”
* * *
Rhaider grinned in the darkness as the females crowded in behind Demi and shut the front door. The lights came on, and Demi blinked and then gasped.
First, she looked fucking incredible.
And second, she looked so surprised.
Rafe and Rhaider walked to her and held up the corsages.
“Would you do us the honor of being our date to prom?” Rhaider asked.
Her mouth fell open, but she didn’t say anything.
“Sweetheart?” Rafe whispered.
She startled a bit and grinned. “Yes! Oh my gosh. It’s a prom!”
“We did this for you,” Rhaider said. They both slipped pretty corsages on her wrists. “You never got a prom, and we wanted to give you an amazing night.”
She looked at the couples around them, all the females wearing corsages, all the males wearing tuxes.
Her eyes glittered with tears. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“We’d do anything to make you happy, sweetheart,” Rhaider said. “Anything.”
“Thank you both so much, it’s amazing.”
They escorted her to the photo area, where Diesel’s mom took pictures of them, and then they used Rafe’s phone for a few photos and sent them off to their mom.
The night was a blur of a great meal and tons of dancing. Sometimes they danced as a trio, but mostly he and Rafe took turns dancing Demi around the floor. They capped off the night by proposing to her during a slow song. When she said yes and they slipped their rings on the ring fingers of both her hands, everyone in the bar clapped and cheered.
“We’ve got one more surprise,” Rhaider said as they walked out of the bar at eleven p.m., arm-in-arm.
“Another?” she asked.
“Yep. The limo’s going to take us one more place,” Rafe said.
The final surprise was that they were going to spend the night in their new place. He and Rafe had worked hard to get the master bedroom ready. Although all their things weren’t in the new house, they had a new king-sized bed set up, and the fridge was stocked.
“This was the best night ever,” she said as she sat between them on the bench seat.
“It’s not over yet,” Rafe said.
“The best is yet to come,” Rhaider.
And he meant that in every sense of the word. He knew that the next few months would see a lot of changes in their lives. They’d move into their new place, get married, and start a family. Everything about their lives had changed drastically when they’d come to Kedrick to audition to be the Tails house band. He couldn’t believe seeing that online post for auditions had ended with them finding their heart-match and being accepted by the most amazing group of lions.
They were surrounded by new friends who were supportive and kind.
But the best was yet to come.
Lots of love. A family. A future wide open with possibilities.
He couldn’t wait.
Coming Next in the Tails Series
China
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* * *
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Volume Two (Books 3 and 4)
Volume Three (Books 5 and 6)
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* * *
Coming Next in the Tails Series: China (Book Six)
Lioness China Taylor loves to cook, work at Tails, and paint, but not necessarily in that order. What she'd really love is to find her heart-match, the one male on the planet meant for her. If he would freaking show up already. When she overhears that the pride match-maker potentially matched her with an alpha lion from another pride, she's both wary and curious. The male in question has threatened to bring war to her pride if her bestie Demi doesn't mate him. So what on earth does it all mean?
Ozzen "Oz" Krane isn't interested in pride politics or the war that his alpha is planning to start with another pride just because he was spurned by a female. What he's interested in is his fledgling furniture company and late-night binge-watching sessions of his favorite sci-fi tv series. When a beautiful lioness from the Kentucky pride shows up to confront his alpha, he knows she's his heart-match and his whole perspective shifts from caring about no one in particular to being willing to kill to keep her safe.
When his pride is thrown into chaos because of the choices Oz makes, he has to work quick to keep China—and himself—safe. He's never had to fight for his life, or anyone else’s before, but he'll do anything to keep China by his side forever.
