Be Here Now: A Cedar Creek Novel (38 page)

“What is it?” I asked, worried by the sudden change.

He didn’t turn his head when he said, “Do you regret we didn’t wait?” His voice sounded sad and hurt, making my heart drop. I hadn’t considered that my hesitancy to tell my family we had gotten married would hurt him. I realized now that I should have thought about that. I scrambled out of my seat and onto his lap. I cupped his face with my hands so he had no choice but to look at me.

“Don’t you think for one second that I regret getting married to you last night; I don’t. I love you and I love the fact that you are my husband. I wouldn’t change it for the world. That’s not it. And I don’t think any of my family will be mad that we got married. I’m just a little worried that they’ll be disappointed we didn’t share our moment with them. They’re my family and they’ve been there for me whenever I needed them. No questions asked. I’m worried that they think I didn’t want them at my wedding.”

Relief flooded Jason’s eyes at hearing my words and he snaked his arms around my waist, pulling me flush with his body. Our noses were touching when he spoke. “Baby, they know.”

Now it was me who got tense. “They know?”

Jason nodded. “I called your dad as soon as you agreed yesterday and asked him for permission.”

My eyebrows flew up in disbelief. “You asked my dad for permission?”

He nodded again. “I did.”

Wow. I couldn’t believe it. Jason had asked my father for his permission to marry me without him there. I was completely blown away by the thought that the man who never defended his actions to anyone, who didn’t care if people liked him or not or agreed with his actions, who was a man’s man who didn’t appreciate unwanted advice, had put all that aside for me. Because that’s the reason he had done it.

For me.

He knew my family meant a lot to me and he wanted to make sure I had their support in this even if I didn’t know it. I thought I couldn’t have loved him any more than I already did, but as that realization hit me, I fell that much more.

“Thank you,” I breathed against his mouth before I took it in a no-holds-barred kiss. He not only joined me too happily, but took over and turned the kiss into a full on make out session. We were like teenagers, making out hot and heavy in the back seat of the car. But all too soon, Jason broke the kiss and we were both breathing heavily. “Jesus, woman.”

I smiled, knowing that it took everything right now for him not to take me right here. I had snapped his control. I loved that I could do that.

“You’d be advised to wipe that sexy little smile off your face, baby, unless you want to get fucked on the backseat,” he said in that sexy growl of his. My smile grew bigger.

“Fuck, woman,” he groaned and hid his face in my neck where he took a few deep breaths. I giggled happily. “Your family and friends are planning a party for us as we speak. That Macy is not someone I want to mess with, so I had to promise to bring you back as soon as possible. We only have today and tomorrow and then we’re heading back.”

“You talked to Macy?” I asked, surprised. When had he done all this without me knowing? Apart from our separate shopping expeditions we had been together practically every second.

“No. She talked to me. I just listened. That woman is a ball buster.” I giggled again. He wasn’t wrong. Macy was a handful, but she was the most caring and loyal friend one could wish for.

Jason’s face came out of my neck. “I’m not joking. That woman is scary as hell. I feel bad for Larry.”

I started laughing. Larry was only too happy with where he was. He didn’t need Jason’s sympathy. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“I had to make a deal with her to get her off my back and stop her from calling me.”

“What deal?” My body was still shaking with silent laughter.

“Backstage tickets to any of our concerts for life.” My laughter turned from silent to loud out laughing. That sounded like Macy. God, I loved my friend.

“So you gonna answer your phone now and stop worrying?” Jason asked when I calmed down.

“Yeah, I’m gonna answer my phone now.”

“And stop worrying.”

“And stop worrying,” I agreed. “Thank you, honey. I love you.”

“I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.” He gave me a soft and gentle kiss. “Though I’m a little miffed that you didn’t say anything yesterday. I could have eased that worry and guilt.”

“I didn’t even think about it that much yesterday. I wanted to be married to you and was too excited to think about much else.”

“All right, you’re forgiven. Now, climb off me. Your surprise is waiting.” I had forgotten all about the surprise and where we were. Jason opened the door on his side, and I climbed off his lap, meeting a grinning-from-ear-to-ear-and-shaking-his-head-at-us Frank. As soon as Jason got out behind me, he took my hand and led me down the same path I had taken last night. This time when I made it out the other end, there was a folding table set up with papers all over it and a man leaning on his outstretched arm, studying them.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Jason squeezed my hand and gave me a hesitant look. “Can you keep an open mind?” His voice was just as hesitant as his look.

What the hell was going on?

The guy behind the table must have heard our approach. He lifted his eyes and straightened up. “Mr. and Mrs. Sanders! Nice to meet you on this beautiful morning!” My heart gave a little happy jump at hearing someone address me as Mrs. Sanders. Jason gave me a big smirk, apparently sharing my feelings.

The man rounded the table and shook first Jason’s hand then mine and introduced himself as Dan Hopkins. He was a little taller than Jason with wide shoulders, and muscular arms. You could definitely tell that he worked out. His blue eyes were smiling at us and his blond curly hair was blowing in the breeze. He was very good looking, and if he weren’t wearing nice suit pants with a button down short sleeved shirt, I would have pegged him for the typical laid back and happy surfer dude.

“I apologize in advance for not having the drawings anywhere near done. My team and I started on it as soon as we received the signed contract yesterday, but unfortunately, it will take a couple of weeks until we have everything narrowed down enough to start.”

Drawings? Contract? What was this guy talking about?

“No worries, Dan. I knew we wouldn’t have anything solid today. I just wanted to give my wife an idea.”

Dan nodded and gave me a wide smile. “Well, I hope you’ll like what we’ve come up with so far. Take a look.” He waved towards the papers on the table and I looked at them for the first time. It took me a minute to make sense of what I was seeing, but once my brain made sense of it, I gasped.

They were house plans; footprints of a beautiful beach house. It had two stories, both what seemed to look like big and open with huge windows. I could see an enormous living room, an office, and a kitchen on the main floor, and four big bedrooms, a what seemed to be a flex room, and a loft on the second floor. Then there was the basement with a music studio and another office. And last but not least, the plan of the backyard with a swimming pool, a hot tub, and a guesthouse. In the top corner of the plans someone had pinned photographs of different houses, all with a beach house style theme, and in the opposite corner more photographs, this one of the beach we were standing on from all kinds of different positions and angles.

“What do you think?” Jason asked me, his voice soft and apprehensive.

What did I think? I couldn’t think long enough to think anything. All I could do was feel, and what I felt was an overwhelming love for the man standing beside me.

Jason was building us a house here on this beach.

The beach we had said our vows on.

And he wasn’t building just any old house.

No.

He was building the house we had always dreamed about.

My heart overflowed and tears welled up in the eyes I couldn’t tear away from the drawings.

“Baby?” Jason prompted when I didn’t say anything. I sniffled and felt Jason’s hand on my cheek turning my head to face him. “Those better be happy tears.”

“They are,” I whispered through the tears that were now running down my cheeks. Jason used his thumb to brush them away, again and again, until he gave up.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I can’t believe how beautiful you are. You make me so happy.”

Jason’s face softened and he kissed the top of my nose. “When did you do all this?” I asked him.

“Remember we talked about how we might have to look for a long while until we find the exact house we want?” I nodded. It had only been yesterday. “It gave me an idea. Why waste time looking when we can just build exactly what we want? The house we’ve always dreamed about? The only thing we’d need would be a lot to build on. This place is special to me. Not only because it’s where you became my wife, but because this is where I finally admitted to myself that I wanted you back and would do anything in my power to make that happen. It’s the only place where I actually let myself think about you in depth, where I regretted having let you go. And it’s the place where I found you again in my heart and in my soul. So I set Robert and Maggie on it, and they tracked down the owner of the land. I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and signed the papers that same afternoon. It’s ours, and it will have our dream house on it in less than a year’s time.”

He was killing me. His words were so beautiful the tears were coming in full force now, and I was sobbing in his arms. When I was done, Jason kissed my wet cheeks.

“You ready to go over the plans?” I nodded and wiped the rest of the tears away with the back of my hand before we both turned back to Dan and discussed every little detail we could think of.

“We’ll get on this right away and make the necessary changes. We should have a more final plan by the end of next week. We’ll also apply for all the necessary permits now so we don’t lose time once we’re ready to start building,” Dan informed us when we had finished.

“Thank you, Dan. We appreciate it. If you need anything, you have our numbers.”

“I’ll give you a call if we come across anything we need your input on,” Dan confirmed and we parted.

“All good?” Frank asked when we reached him where he had been standing at the edge of the trees this whole time.

“It’s great!” I squealed, earning a grin from him. “You’ll be happy to hear that you’ll have a nice cozy guest house to live in once the house is done.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said through his grin. Then he looked at Jason. “Santa Monica?” Jason agreed with a chin lift and we both followed Frank up the path back to the car. I assumed we were going to Santa Monica to stop at a restaurant for a bite to eat so I didn’t ask. Not ten minutes later, we stopped in front of what looked like a hotel. It was on the smaller side for L.A. standards, and cute, more like a boutique hotel, but still looked sophisticated and sexy. It was right on the beach, close to the Santa Monica Pier, and had a somewhat Spanish flair to it.

Instead of turning towards the restaurant, Jason walked us to the check-in counter and handed over his credit card after we were welcomed. “Last surprise for this trip, baby. We don’t have time for a honeymoon, but I wanted to give you something to remember. I know you hate my house, so I booked us into the honeymoon suite for two nights until we have to go back to Colorado Thursday morning.”

“We’re staying here?” I looked around, amazed. I had never stayed in a swanky place like this. Tons of comfortable and expensive looking couches and chairs were spread throughout the lobby, creating several separate seating areas. There was one with a wood-burning fireplace surrounded by a mirrored wall and a piano in the corner where a pianist was playing soft background music. The ceilings were high and decorated with mouldings and gold and brown wallpaper and chandeliers that created soft and warm lighting. Believe it or not, there were even a few palm trees in pots. It was swanky, yes, but somehow it also felt very cozy, as if you could cuddle up with a good book and a blanket on one of the couches and enjoy an afternoon of reading. I could only imagine what the guest rooms would look like and got giddy with excitement.

And I was not disappointed.

When we entered the suite, the first thing I saw was the beach through the large circle top windows. There were so many windows that there was no room for artwork and it felt like you were actually
on
the beach. A chair and two big couches with lots of fluffy pillows were placed in front of the wood-burning fireplace that was surrounded by built-in shelves filled with books. The high ceilings and the soft lighting continued from the lobby and made the room feel grand but homey. There was another small sitting area facing the biggest window with the view of the pier. An opening in the wall lead to the bedroom that hosted the biggest four-poster bed I had ever seen. It was made up with a white comforter and white sheets and lots and lots of decorative pillows. A chaise lounge at the end of the bed and another seating area by the window completed the room. It was absolutely magnificent and I was in awe. I didn’t dare look at the bathroom for the risk of being overwhelmed by all this luxury.

I flopped onto the bed backwards and stared at the intricate ceiling.

“You like it?” Jason propped himself on his elbows so he was hovering above me.

“I love it. It’s mind-blowing. But you didn’t have to do this. We could have stayed at your house.” I knew what simple rooms cost in L.A. hotels, and this one was far from simple, so I was aware that it probably cost a fortune. I wasn’t used to spending money like this and was a little uncomfortable with it.

“Get that out of your head right now,” Jason once again proved his ability of reading me only too well. “We could stay here for the rest of our lives and still not have spent all our money.” My eyes grew wide. “Relax, Loreley. I pay a high price by being in the limelight the way I am and even though it guts me, you’re going to have no choice but be in the limelight with me. You haven’t seen yet what having your life lied and written about in the magazines can do, and I’ll do anything I have to do to make up for that part of our lives. I don’t care how much money it costs. I want us to have this before the news of us being married leaks. We deserve it. We haven’t had this and I need it. And I know you need it, too. Just you and I locked in this room for two days, room service and nothing but our naked bodies to explore. No outside distractions. No phones. No TV. Just us.”