Page 55

Everyone laughed.

Her knees felt weak. “It’s okay, darlin’.” Wade waved toward the wings. “Let me get you a chair.”

Next thing she knew, there was a chair under her, and someone pushed her to sit. All she really wanted to do was get off the stage. While she was politely smiling, she was thinking of all the ways she’d get back at him for this little stunt. She glanced at her friends on the floor, who stood there with cell phones pointing in her direction.

“Wade,” she said through clenched teeth.

He lifted a hand in the air. “Just a minute. I have something I need to do here . . . boys?”

The sound of the bass and lead guitar hit a pleasant note. At first Trina thought Wade was going to sing to her onstage.

Then he dropped to one knee.

All of the nerves and anxiety about a zillion eyeballs on her disappeared.

Wade pulled out a box from his back pocket.

Trina stopped breathing.

The arena was a mix of silent rustling and muttering between people. But Trina didn’t hear any of it. She only saw Wade and the mist in his eyes.

“Darlin’, I started falling in love with you that first night, when you leaned over and said, Wade Thomas who? I’ve been fallin’ hard ever since. I had no idea what I was missing in my life until you walked in it. You know how much I love you.”

Trina started to cry. I love you, she mouthed.

Wade opened the box. “I would be deeply honored if you would wear my ring and let me call you Mrs. Wade Thomas. Trina, my love. Will you marry me?”

She was nodding before he finished the question. She threw herself into his arms and met his kiss.

Someone cut his mic. “I love you,” he said just for her.

He kissed her again, stood back, and slipped a ring on her finger. It was big, and blingy, and if size was an indicator of love, there was no doubt of Wade’s for her. “I love you,” she said out loud.

Wade lifted her off her feet and spun her around.

The audience went crazy.

His microphone was turned back on as he handed her off to Jeb.

“Now get off my stage, woman. I have to pay for that ring,” he teased.

Again, the crowd laughed.

Trina was surrounded by her friends, and Jeb had acquired two more bulky guards to stand by.

Wade stood there for a second before turning to his band. “Hot damn, I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

And then he sang.

And it was Trina who felt like the luckiest person alive.

She lifted her phone to take a picture of her fiancé and saw a text image.

When she opened it, it was a picture taken only seconds before, from several rows back.

It was from Sasha.

Congratulations.

Instead of turning around to find her, Trina sent her reply. Thank you.

She had more than one guardian angel looking over her shoulder. Two had halos and one wore spandex.