“I don’t agree,” he finally said.
When he didn’t elaborate right away, Olivia had felt as if she’d taken the risk for nothing. “Oh.”
Stepping closer to her, Jake stopped right in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You shouldn’t have to live with someone who doesn’t love you, Olivia,” he said softly. “You deserve more than that. Much, much more.”
She thought that she understood what he was saying and nodded sadly. “Ok.” She tried to step away before she started to cry – a habit that was really starting to get on her nerves – but Jake held on. “I probably should have called first before just flying across the country and springing all of this on you. Promise me that you’ll think twice before sending them away, Jake. Promise me. I think you’ll only end up regretting that. Maybe not immediately, but you will.”
“Oh, I know that,” he said and gently squeezed her shoulders. “I’ve learned that letting someone go is not always the right thing to do, and it’s not the answer to everything.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Good. So…um…does that mean that you’re not going to let the adoption people come on Monday?”
Slowly, so very, very slowly, Jake pulled Olivia close until they were toe-to-toe, chest to chest. “There never was an adoption agency, Olivia. I don’t know what Mike told you, but whatever it was, it’s not true. I’m tired and exhausted and overwhelmed and all that, but that goes with the territory, right?” He leaned his forehead against hers and simply breathed in the scent of her.
“I don’t understand. Why…why would Mike lie to me?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but whatever his reasons, it brought you back to me so I don’t care.”
She pulled back and still looked confused. “You…you wanted me to come back?”
“Olivia, sweetheart, I never wanted you to leave.”
That did little to clear up her confusion. “But…but you told me that…”
“I know what I said, and I’m so sorry for the way I behaved. In my head it all made sense, but it was killing me. I didn’t want you to go, Liv. And now that you’re here and you’ve said that you love me, I’m not letting you go. Not now, not ever.”
Olivia tried to process his words, she really did, but her mind was spinning.
Jake knew that there was one last thing that he had to say. “I love you, Olivia. I know I should have told you that day when you asked me, but I really thought that what I was doing was the right thing. I didn’t want to guilt you in to staying or force you to give up your career. But now I know that, I don’t want to live without you. I don’t want a long-distance relationship. I’m going to be selfish again, but I want you here with me. With us. We’re a family.” He cupped her face in his hand. “I love you.”
He closed what little distance there was between them and kissed her – with all of the love that he felt from all of the years of being in love with her.
When he finally lifted his head, he looked into her eyes. “Will you, Liv? Will you stay? Marry me? And make our family complete?”
It was everything that she ever wanted. “Under one condition,” she said and smiled when Jake quirked a brow at her. “I’m going to want to give Ben and Maddie more brothers and sisters. I hope you’re okay with that.”
He laughed and lifted her in his arms and spun her around as he held her tight. “Sweetheart, I am more than up for that task.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
“This seems a little extreme, don’t you think.”
“No.”
“But…how are you supposed to handle it all?”
“It’s what I do.” Jake looked at Olivia and his expression showed that he did not believe her. She rolled her eyes and put her camera down on the table beside her. “What is it exactly that you’re worried about? You’re not the one doing the work, I am.”
“Yeah, but I’m sitting here watching it all and I’m already starting to sweat. I just don’t understand how you’re going to make it work.” Placing her hands on Jake’s shoulders, she maneuvered him until he was standing in front of one of the stools on the set and forced him to sit down.
“I just…”
“Shh,” she said firmly. “No more talking. I have twelve models that I have to get through today, and as we have learned from our own experience, children do not have a lot of patience for standing around and waiting.” Olivia looked over her shoulder and saw that her first model was coming in. “This was all my idea, and I am confident that I can get it done. Our children have trained me well.”
Jake chuckled. Olivia had thousands of pictures of the twins, and now that they were a little bit older, she had gotten into the habit of using props and dressing them up. She claims that they were the inspiration for this project, but he still worried that she was taking on too much. “I just don’t want you to overdo it. We are getting married next week. I wanted you to have this week to relax. I didn’t think you’d take on something quite this…challenging.”
Olivia had come up with the idea after dressing the kids up for Halloween. Taking a cue from her movie studio project, she decided to approach some of the actresses that she had worked with in the past and see if they would consider doing photo shoots with their children who would be dressed as their famous parent from one of their most famous movie roles. It wasn’t until after she had confirmed the first five that the industry caught wind of it and Vanity Fair called and asked if they could feature the spread in their magazine. Olivia was thrilled with the idea, and once word got out that Vanity Fair was on board, she had no problem gathering up the rest of her subjects.
“I don’t want you to worry, Jake,” she said sweetly and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ve got plenty of help here and we are starting on time; and with a little luck and minimal amount of temper tantrums – and not just from the children – we should get all of the shots done today. Why don’t you take the kids and go to the park or the zoo. Make a day of it. And I’ll call you when I’m done.”
He shook his head. “They’re having fun with Annie and the other kids, so until they get restless, if you don’t mind, I’d like to watch you work.” Annie was the nanny that they had hired. Jake had been mildly against it at first, but Olivia helped him to see that having someone come in to help them didn’t mean that they were going to neglect the twins. Annie was there to help them keep things sane when life got a little crazy. Which was an everyday occurrence with Ben and Maddie.
Picking up her camera, Olivia was about to walk away when she remembered something. “My parents flight comes in tomorrow at three. I had planned on leaving the kids with Annie and going and getting them myself, but I was thinking that if you could get off work early, then we could all go together and surprise them at the airport. They are so excited to meet their grandchildren that I think it would be torture to make them wait. What do you think?”
Jake stood and wrapped his arms around her and, unable to help himself, kissed her very thoroughly on the lips.
“Wow,” she sighed when she pulled back. “What was that for?”
“For making Ben and Maddie part of your family and for wanting them to be your own. I love that about you, Liv. Actually,” he said with a sexy grin, “I love everything about you.”
She blushed and leaned in for one more kiss. “Well that’s a really good thing because I love everything about you, too.”
“Olivia?” someone called from across the room.
“I have to go,” she said and sighed. “But let’s get together later when the kids are asleep and talk a little bit more about all the ways that you love me.” She winked and walked away to get started on the shoot.
And all Jake could think of was all the ways he was going to spend the night not only telling her, but showing her.
About Samantha Chase
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 201
1. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina. For more information visit her website at www.chasing-romance.com.
Other Books by Samantha Chase
Jordan’s Return
The Christmas Cottage
Ever After
Catering to the CEO
In the Eye of the Storm
Wait for Me
Trust in Me
Stay With Me
A Touch of Heaven
Mistletoe Between Friends
The Snowflake Inn
The Baby Arrangement
Baby, I’m Yours
Baby, Be Mine (Life, Love And Babies Book 3) Page 15