Jax stands up and pulls me into his arms. He crashes his lips onto mine and we fall into a deep kiss. The entire place erupts into applause. I open my eyes and look around. They are clapping for us.

Our image is up on the movie sized screen over the stage. Somehow the interview was broadcast for everyone to see. If they haven't already, everyone in America is going to see Jax's proposal - and I'm actually okay with that. The DJ makes an announcement about Jax and I, but I can't hear exactly what he says. Then some feel good pop song blasts through the speakers and the crowds go back to celebrating.

Kelly jumps in next to us and hugs us both at the same time, "I'm so happy for you guys!" she screams.

"Couldn't have pulled it off without you, Kel," Jax says, "thanks."

"You knew?"

"I may have." Kelly winks, "How do you think Jax found the perfect dress and ring?"

"Oh my God! How could you not tell me?"

"She knew better than to tell," Jax says, "I can't believe that guy got the whole thing on camera. That was not part of the plan."

"Kelly may have had a hand in that too," Tim adds.

Kelly waggles her eyebrows. "See, I know when to keep my mouth shut - and when not to." She turns to Tim, "now we can dance - and talk about when my ring is coming."

Tim gives us a look as Kelly drags him toward the dance floor.

Jax and I are left standing alone.

"Jax, this was...This is..." I can't find the words.

"The most amazing day of your life? Me too," he finishes the sentiment me. "How about we dance?"

"You dance?"

"I do tonight."

Jax takes my hand in his and leads me out to the dance floor. I reach up and wrap my arms around his shoulders. The music is beating fast, but we sway to our own beat.

I look up when I hear loud whoops and hollers. Our image is up on the screen again. I stare up at Jax. He shrugs and spins me in an exaggerated dance move for the cameras. I lean my head back. I can't help but laugh. This entire night is like a fairytale.

Because of Jax, ten years ago I swore off finding love in my small town of Mesquite - and certainly not with a jock. Back then, I would have spent a night like this hiding in the shadows. I would have never believed a man like Jax could be everything I ever wanted. Look at us now.

Jax was right, everything does come full circle.

You're still not done yet! Turn the page because I have included a special copy of my bestselling novels, Bad Boy Forever, Shane, and Naughty! I hope you love them as much as I've enjoyed writing them!

Love, Jessica Marx

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Shane

Prologue.

I have so many fond memories of growing up in the Kaminsky house. Certain things I remember from childhood are a blur. The days and years combine together and become a solid stream of events from my past. Then there are the memories that burned their place in my brain and heart. The ones that I remember so clearly that I can still hear the background noise and smell the scents in the air. Most of my childhood was spent just like any other average suburban family living a moderate lifestyle. I had a loving family, good friends, decent grades. For the most part, things were great - until they weren't.

Having a cop for a father was difficult at times. Dan Kaminsky, or 'Big Dan' as the community and local thugs alike called him, was a bit of a challenge. His own conservative, strict Irish upbringing was something he continued in his adult life and tried to instill in his own children.

Thankfully, for us, he met the one woman who could balance him out - my mom, Maureen. She is the peace maker of the family and even to this day, does her best to keep my father grounded and the family unit in tact. She is a master of motherly guilt and worked her way into all of our subconscious thoughts. She is probably responsible for every bad decision I chose not to make Tommy, my big brother, is only 15 months older than me and lovingly referred to as my 'Irish twin'. Between him and my father, I never had any chance of being a 'girl' - not in the traditional way anyway. I almost never wore a dress, I hated anything pink, and spent pretty much my entire prepubescent life in a baseball cap. I loved sports and getting dirty and being one of the boys - or at least trying to. If it wasn't for our younger sister, Abby, my mom would have never been able to buy a frilly dress or a doll. Abby is every bit the girl I never was - and then some.

When we were younger, Tommy loved having me around. I was the little 'brother' he always wanted. We would go out exploring - digging in the dirt and looking for treasure. As we got a little older, we would play baseball, kickball, football, whatever sport we were into at the time.

Once Tommy got a little bit older though, things changed. It was probably around fifth or sixth grade when hanging out with his younger sister became 'uncool'. His friends and their opinions became more important than the almost twin-like bond we had cultivated since I was a toddler.

It was also around that time that he became friends with Shane. Shane didn't treat me any different than the rest of Tommy's friends for the most part, except that when no one else was around, he was almost nice to me. Don't get me wrong - he teased me and flipped my hat off my head on many occasions. He treated me like Tommy did most of the time, but he always looked at me a little differently. It wasn't until I was older that I started to understand why.

Shane spent a lot of time at our house. Basically, he lived with us. He had his own home, but he hated being there. When I was a child, probably about eight or nine years old, I overheard my parents talking one night when I was supposed to be sleeping.

They were saying something about Shane's mother being 'sick'. The way they were talking about it, I didn't really think she's sick, but I didn't fully understand either. I do know that in the end they agreed to let him spend as much time as he wanted with us.

His real home was on the other side of town - the part dad wouldn't let us ride our bikes to. When 'Big Dan' first became a cop he worked over there. I know because he was always telling us stories and warning us about it. Even big, bad Dan Kaminsky looked scared when he talked about the things he saw there. Not that he would tell us any details or anything.

One of the very vivid memories I have is from the eighth grade.I still wasn't into boys at the time, but it always made me smile remembering that day as I got a little older.

No matter how high I turn up the volume on my headphones, I can still hear them. I pull them off my head, throw my books on the bed, and storm down the hall to Tommy's room. I bang on the door.

"Who is it?" Shane asks with a terrible fake accent.

"Open the door."

"What's the magic word?"

Ugh! I want to punch him sometimes. It's like I have two big brothers that love to annoy me - because one just isn't enough.

"I'm trying to do my homework. Can you keep it down in there?" I shout into the door jamb.

"What'd you say? I can't hear you? It's too loud in here."

I hear laughter from inside the room. They sure crack themselves up. I hold up the middle finger on each of my hands and silently tell them how I feel. I march back to my room and plop back onto my bed. I angrily put the headphones over my head, using excessive movements to make a statement. It's silly because I'm alone so I'm really just putting on a show for myself.

I sit with my legs crossed and place my math workbook on my lap. I lean back on my pillow and close my eyes. I hate doing homework - especially math. Now I'm annoyed to boot. Those boys. I'm pretty sure one of their favorite hobbies is driving me crazy.

Shane pulls one of my earphones off, "guess you don't want to come in anymore."

I jump. "What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me!"

Shane sits down next to me on the edge of my bed. My stomach gets that same feeling as when I see Justin Timberlake. I don't know why though. Justin Timberlake is so cute. I day dream about going out with him. Shane is just an idiot that spends way too much time here. I should have closed my door.

I slide my headphones down and hang them over the back of my neck.

"Hello? Can I help you?" I say in my most obnoxious teenage girl voice.

"I don't know, can you?" Shane mocks me.

"I have a lot of work to do. Can you go back to your room? I mean -Tommy's room."

He knows exactly what I mean but he doesn't budge. I wish he would go. It feels like I have a swarm of butterflies swirling in my belly right now.

"I'm glad you don't wear a hat all the time now."

What is he talking about? Why is he blurting random things about my hat? I don't feel like talking about stupid things - not with Shane anyway. Girls notice things like that - not boys.

"Good for you. Can you go now?"

Please. I wish he would just leave. I don't like the way he's looking at me. It's making me feel weird.

"Don't you wanna know why?"

"No. I really don't care. Bye now."

He gets such a kick out of pushing my buttons. I can tell because one side of his mouth curls up into that silly looking half smile. Stop looking at me.

"I like seeing your hair down like this." Shane takes one of my ringlets and twists it between his fingers.

"Ew. Don't touch me, dude."

Why is he touching my hair? Why is he looking at my hair? Why is he even here? A strange sensation creeps through my body. I swat his fingers away to make myself feel 'normal' again. He just laughs at me.

"Okay, Beth. I'm out." He playfully pulls the headphones back over my ears.

I know he's trying to irritate me - and it's working - but when he touches my head, it makes me tingle. Gross. I don't want him touching me.

He looks at me in that weird way again before walking out of my room and back down the hall.

I turn the volume up again on my iPod. I try to read my math problem once more, but when I look at my book, I think of Shane's smile. It makes me smile too but I don't know why. I don't even like him. He bugs me.

That was probably - no definitely - the first time I realized that Shane looked at me as something more than his best friend's little sister.

The next couple of years continued on about the same. Shane and Tommy remained inseparable and spent almost every day at our house. There were random times when Shane would catch me alone and flirt with me, the way teenage boys do. He would make fun of me one minute and wink at me the next. I never knew what to expect with him - but soon - I started to like that about him.

I should mention at this point that Shane was gorgeous - as far as high school boys go anyway. He and Tommy could have passed as brothers. They both had dark hair that they kept long on top and short on the sides. They spent many hours in the garage working out in my dad's home gym - and it showed. Over the years they started to look alike except Shane had these electric blue eyes. The contrast of those and his dark hair gave him this exotic look that brought him a lot of attention. Maybe a little more than Tommy.

Tommy didn't care though. He got plenty of girls on his own. Shane had a couple here and there but didn't really show much interest. He probably could have had his choice of girls if he wanted to, but he didn't seem to care. I used to joke with him and try to push his buttons about it, but he just laughed. I was never able to get under his skin the way he got under mine.

Everything started to make sense to me at the end of my junior year in high school. Tommy and Shane were going to their senior prom and somehow my mother convinced me to go with Shane. I'm still not sure if it was because she loved Shane like a son - which she did - or because she'd been dying to see me in a dress since I learned to speak. Either way, good old Maureen worked her magic and without knowing, changed my whole life. That was another day I will never forget anything about.

"A pretty girl, is like a melody," my dad sings as I walk down the stairs.

"Stop, dad! You're so embarrassing!"

For as long as I can remember, my father has sang that any time he sees me get dressed up. I know he thinks I'm pretty - he has to - I'm his daughter. I feel silly enough in this dress without him making everyone look at me. Thank God only my family is here - and of course, Shane.

I can't believe I let my mother talk me into this. At least she promised to let me play hooky on Monday if I did this for 'her'. What can I say? I learned from the best.

"Oh, sweetie, you look beautiful!" Mom gushes at me, clasping her hands to her chest.

"Thanks." I roll my eyes.

As much as I hate all the attention, I have to admit, I look fantastic. I rarely wear anything other than jeans or sweats and tee shirts. Sometimes I even put on some lipstick. Tonight, I have on a full face of make up, albeit light, a shimmery black strapless cocktail dress mom picked out, and black flats. Mom tried to get me in heels but no way I was going to let that happen.

"You look beautiful, Beth," Shane complements me as he kneels in front of me and holds out a corsage for my wrist.

"Oh, stop." He's such a freak.

Why does he even want to take me to this stupid dance? It's his junior prom and I'm a sophomore. I hear the girls in school talk about him. I see them straighten up and stick their chests out when he walks down the halls. He could have asked any of those girls. Now here I am, getting ready to go with him.

Shane gets back up on his feet and takes my wrist. I feel electricity when he touches my arm and I don't like it. He holds my hand while he slides the carnation band up to my wrist, letting it linger. I see him and dad exchange a look and he lets my hand fall.

"Let's go already." Tommy's looking at his watch for the millionth time.

He's been hanging out with this girl, Adrienne, from his grade. She's totally gorgeous, the whole school knows her. I don't know what she's doing with my brother. This is their first real date and he's so nervous. The four of us are going together.

"M'lady," Shane jokes, holding his arm out.

"Shut up."

I giggle at how he's trying to be so formal and proper. That's not Shane - at all.