More than ‘JUST’ Friends

by Ford, Mia

  I could not. The wedding dress was extremely difficult to get on and take off. Once it was on, it was expected to stay on. That was something the ladies at the bridal store had failed to mention to me. I guess everyone else just forgot about their bladder bursting on their big day. I made a mental note to warn Jodie one day when she got married.

  “You look amazing too, by the way,” Heidi said giving me a quick hug. “We look great, but the bride is way hotter, as it should be. Just wanted to make sure you knew. Oh, and by the way, Jay looks so delicious out there!”

  I laughed as she hugged me tightly. “I can’t wait to see him.”

  “I think this wedding is going to turn out to be the perfect day for you, just as you always wanted it to be.”

  “How do you know how I’ve always wanted it?” I asked.

  “Well, there was a time right before you broke up with what’s his face, when you spoke almost incessantly about it.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “I totally forgot. Thanks for reminding me.”

  “I think it’s about time to start, so we will see you out there?” Heidi said.

  “Yeah.”

  They all hugged me quickly and scurried out of the spare room in the church where I had set up as my own little dressing room. They reminded me of little girls who have a big secret that is actually fairly obvious to everybody. I loved them all dearly.

  I stood there looking at myself for a few minutes in the mirror. I looked amazing, if I did say so myself. My makeup had been done earlier at my favorite spot in the local mall (Davina is phenomenal!) and I had my hair done at my usual hair salon where I requested my favorite stylist.

  And my dress… I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the dress of my dreams. Despite what people might have thought, us veterinarians are not rolling in the dough. On top of that I can be fairly cheap and frugal, but this was my wedding after all, and if I was ever going to splurge to get the dress of my dreams this was the time. Except the dress I wanted was five thousand dollars and the most I had saved to splurge on it was twenty-five hundred dollars.

  My eyes almost fell out of my skull when I came home a few days later from work and went into my bedroom to change into something more comfortable and I spotted that perfect dress lying on the bed. There was no note or anything. After asking all of my friends and family—I grilled them really hard—none of them had a clue.

  That’s when I knew that somehow Jay had bought it for me. He’d made a substantial more off the fight then he needed to pay off his dad’s debts, but I imagined he’d put that away for retirement or a down payment on a new house for us (for the time being we were going to live in Jay’s place which was slightly bigger).

  He really was the best.

  “I bet I know what is going through your mind right now.”

  I recognized the voice whispering in my ear as belonging to my dear mother. I turned around and gave her the biggest hug. My father was right beside her and he did not escape my hug either.

  “You both look awesome,” I said. My parents rarely got dressed up, so to see them both looking so spiffy and wonderful was really touching. It meant a lot to me. And I knew that they were really happy for Jay and I, if albeit they were a bit sad that their daughter was getting married. I was taking bets on which one of them cried first. My money was on dad.

  “You look so beautiful,” my mother said. “That dress…wow… you look exactly like a real angel brought to life. I think you need a pair of wings just to make it as authentic as possible.”

  “I think I’m too wicked for that,” I said. “Thanks, mom. Is Roger and everybody ready? What about Brie? I saw Heidi and the other bridesmaids, but where is my sister? She is Maid of Honor. I thought she’d be here.”

  “She is. She is in place. She was running late. You know your sister,” Mom said. “And of course Roger is out there with Jay. He appreciates being asked to be a groomsman.”

  Jay didn’t actually know very many people in the town yet. He had a few guys from work in mind, but I thought it would be a nice gesture to ask my brother. He had never really been a part of something like that before. His friend Blaine, whom I had just met the day before at rehearsals, was going to be his Best Man.

  “I thought he would,” I said. “I’m glad he supports this. You know how he has always hated any guy I’ve ever dated.”

  “Well, I think he sees in Jay some great qualities like we all do. He is happy to have him join the family,” Dad said. “But it’s time. We need to get in our places.”

  My parents waved goodbye and left the room. I stood up and gave myself one last glance in the mirror. I was ready.

  The wedding was the most amazing day I’d ever dreamt of. It was even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. And we did it all on a limited budget. Jay told me that I could dream to the sky about what kind of wedding I wanted. It was all up to me and he would help any way he could, but it was my day. I reminded him it was our day, but he was happy to let me take the reins and just do what I thought was best.

  I knew that Jay would have found a way to swing it if I’d wanted to have a huge, fancy wedding with all of the bells and whistles and sparing no expense. But I just didn’t care about any of that. I’ve always been a simple woman with simple tastes. We kept it fairly small and just invited our nearest and dearest.

  And I was happy to keep things under a fairly cheap price.

  But the ceremony came together beautifully. As my father walked me down the aisle and every head in the place turned to look at me, I looked straight ahead at my future husband waiting on me to join him in marriage and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Jay looked amazing in his dark tux and his hair slicked back. He was neatly shaved and trimmed (he usually had a little bit of rugged stubble going) and his skin was shiny, smooth which made his chiseled features sparkle.

  When I joined him at the front of the church, for perhaps the first time in my life I felt totally free. I was no longer nervous; now I was just overjoyed.

  The pastor began his sermon and as I tried to follow along my head kept getting lost in the opulence of the moment. We were surrounded by so many wonderful people that we cared about and they were gathered there to celebrate our joyous union.

  I couldn’t have asked for more. I had everything I’d ever wanted; the ideal career, the perfect husband, and the most amazing daughter who was more beautiful and precious every single day.

  I felt truly blessed. And I surely was.

  * * *

  “Wow, just look at that sunset,” Jay said. He was leaning back in a beach chair soaking up the last bit of rays where he’d been for the past two hours.

  “Yes, it is,” I replied. “How many times have you reapplied the sunblock?” I asked curiously.

  “Um… once…” Jay replied sheepishly.

  I gave him a stern look. “You know you might get skin cancer.” I teased.

  “Nah, it would be too afraid of me,” Jay said with a grin.

  I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help it if I worried about my husband and wanted him to take great care of himself. We were relaxing on the beach enjoying our honeymoon (which had actually become more of a family vacation) in the Bahamas. I’d always wanted to go there. It was one of those fantasy island types of places where people always pictured going in their dreams. For as long as I could remember I’d dreamt about flying there. But it never seemed a reality until now. When we were talking about places to spend our honeymoon, it was my number on choice. Jay was fine with it, which surprised me since he once told me how much he hated the beach.

  Jay poured two glasses of champagne and handed one to me.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Thank you,” he replied. “So, is this place everything you ever dreamt of?”

  “Oh, it’s more. I always dreamt of coming here, but I didn’t know I would be coming here with you on our honeymoon.”

  “I think Jodie seconds that opinion,” Jay said. Jodie was sitting
in the shade playing with a little sand bucket on her blanket. I couldn’t believe she was sitting up and had even started crawling around a bit. She was getting so big, so fast. One day she would be asking to borrow the car keys to go out with her friends. It would all be over with the blink of an eye and Jay and I would be there with just the two of us once again.

  Unless we had another little one to hold on to.

  “So, have you given it any more thought?” I asked.

  “Hmmm?” Jay asked. “What’s that?”

  “About having another baby,” I said.

  Jay laughed. “Yeah, I told you there is nothing to think about. I’d be happy to have a thousand kids.”

  “Well, I think we might start with two, maybe three.”

  “You aren’t going to read some weird books and tell me we have to space the kids out at a certain age apart or else it will be damaging to their self-identity, right?”

  “Right,” I said. “You know I don’t believe in such nonsense. Odds are our kids will be messed up just because we are both so crazy.”

  “OK, then I can live with that.”

  He leaned over and kissed me gently.

  “So, are you ready to head back to the hotel? I think I’ve had enough sun,” Jay said.

  “It is killing you to relax isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Yes, it is. I miss my troops. I miss yelling and screaming at people. I miss doing things. You know relaxation really makes me nervous.”

  “What about when you are in the back working on those wood projects of yours,” I asked. “Doesn’t that drive you nuts?”

  “No. That’s work. It’s relaxing work, but it’s still work. I sell that stuff and it relaxes me. Besides you love the stuff I make.”

  “It’s true,” I said I do. “Sure, we can go back, but you are going to give me a back rub when we do. I think Jodie is sleepy any way.”

  “Oh, really? What is it with you? There are always strings attached to everything with you. That’s got to be some sort of a deep seated psychological problem.”

  “You don’t complain in the bedroom…”I teased.

  “Are you offering me something then? Whatever it is, I totally accept,” Jay laughed.

  We made it back to our room and I put Jodie down in the crib we had for her. I was fairly sure she couldn’t quite crawl out of there yet, but it wouldn’t hold her for too much longer.

  Jay decided to take a quick shower before we decided to wind down for the evening.

  “I’ll order some room service,” I said.

  “Sounds great,” He called back from the bathroom.

  I could hear the shower starting up in there. After I placed the order for room service, which would be up in about twenty minutes, I began to get some naughty ideas. Jay was in the shower, nude, soaped up, hot and ready for some action if I so desired.

  Jodie was already fast asleep. Could we make it happen before the food arrived? Probably…

  I giggled as the idea began to percolate in my mind. But along with that idea was the fact that I was there in the most beautiful place on earth with my two favorite people, the people I loved more than myself by about tenfold.

  And I as I sat there I began to think about the entire year that had passed since I’d first met Jay and all of the craziness that had followed. I thought about when I broke up with him, when I found out I was pregnant, when I finally realized I loved him, when I broke it off with Tucker (he acted like a total jerk and told me that I was no better than Darlene), and finally when he asked me to marry him.

  It was just so funny how life turned out. One minute you are living your life and suddenly a small thing happens that turns everything upside down.

  I learned that sometimes you just have to move out of the way and let life happen.

  I hope you enjoyed your time with Naomi and Jay! If you loved this one, you would not want to miss my Amazon TOP 30 book, ROCK MY WORLD. I have included an excerpt from the same in the following pages. So, keep reading!

  Author’s Note

  Thank you to all my readers, especially those who are reading my work for the first time. I know there are so many books to choose from these days, and I am glad and thankful that you all chose to spend a day or two reading mine.

  If you have a minute—or even, say, like 30-40 seconds—please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon for MORE THAN ‘JUST’ FRIENDS. Reviews help indie authors so much!

  XO, Mia

  Excerpt

  Addison’s the one who got away.

  Scared off by my rockstar life… and her friend’s lies.

  Now it’s time to make her my world.

  You can split my life in two.

  Before:

  College days and Addison in my arms.

  Baby blue eyes, sweet tempting lips.

  Knowing we’ll be together no matter what.

  And after:

  Sell-out gigs with screaming fans.

  Women throwing themselves at me at the stage door.

  I pose for the selfies and sign the merch, but that’s all they get.

  There’s only one woman on my mind – and she’s not my biggest fan!

  Six years is a long time to be single.

  And six years of touring gets old.

  Time to find Addison, even if I don’t play by the rules.

  Tell her the truth – music is my past.

  Her love, our family, is my future.

  Chapter 1

  Addison

  Jace Fairs.

  I smile to myself with my arms wrapping me and I bask in the warm glow that is my boyfriend and the love of my life. The dark-haired, dark-eyed rock god who I get to call my own. I must be the luckiest woman alive.

  “Right, I’m off to play a gig,” he says in his chocolaty smooth voice while placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. “I hope you’re the one screaming the loudest for me because I’ll be looking for you.”

  “Oh, I will be.” I shudder with excitement in his arms. “Don’t you worry about that.”

  God, it feels so exciting. So, thrilling to be dating him. Okay, so this might be more of a college gig than a sell-out stadium, but the sensation is exactly the same. He will be up there playing and loads of girls will be screaming his name. Me the most, and the loudest because he is mine and it’ll always stay that way.

  I barely want to let him go but I don’t have any choice. He’ll come back to me soon enough anyway, I will have him back in my arms and where I need him to be. I just have to wait, to be patient, that’s all.

  “I love you,” I murmur as I watch him leave, my heart fluttering with excitement. “I love you so much.”

  I just know that not only does he love me too, but that our love will last forever. I didn’t come to college planning to meet the man that I would marry, but when you know, you know it well, and I definitely know. I just have to look at him to know that I will walk down the aisle towards him, that we’ll have a family, a happy ever after…

  The next moment, the gig is over. It happens in the blink of an eye. That probably should be weird, but it isn’t. Mostly because his arms are around me and he’s kissing me like there’s no tomorrow, pushing me back onto the bed as he does. He’s sweaty, his clothes from the gig are sticking to his body, he smells so manly. Every fiber within me is on fire, I’m tingling, there’s a pulsing between my thighs that needs sating. I need him so badly that I might actually die. It’s as if we have been separated forever and I’ve finally managed to grab him once more. I need every inch of him, I want him deep inside me, pressed up against me, everywhere.

  “Oh, fuck, Addie, you feel so good,” he growls while yanking my dress off. “You’re so hot.”

  A moan flies passed my lips as he meets my throat, sucking and licking me all over. I feel passion bruised and twinkly everywhere, I cling to him like he’s the only thing connecting me to the planet.

  “Fuck, Addie.” His mouth moves down. He’s moving quickly, kissing me desperately. “I ne
ed to taste you.”

  His mouth is on my panties, I squeal and squirm as he teases me by brushing his mouth over where I need him the most. I grab his head and try to push him but he won’t be guided, he won’t be controlled, and that’s just the way I like him. He has all the power over me and it’s fucking incredible.

  “I need you,” I whimper like a pussy cat. “Please, Jace, I need you so bad.”

  “Ooh, you’re bad,” he murmurs, his words vibrating against my core. “And that’s why I like you.”

  The next moment, my panties have melted away and his tongue is buried deep into me. The scream that bursts out of my chest this time is so loud it shakes me from something. My consciousness becomes something different, I’m not quite sure what yet. My body doesn’t feel quite so satisfied as it once did…

  “What the…?” I mutter, my throat gravelly and painful. “Where am I?”

  I grip onto my forehead, trying to block out the violent bright white light that infects my vision. How am I in so much pain all of a sudden when a moment ago, I was in Heaven, with Jace…

  Jace. Jace Fairs.

  I fall backwards with a thump. Everything sinking like crazy. Of course, I’m not with bloody Jace Fairs, I haven’t been with him for six long years. I’m not in college either, I haven’t been for ages. That was just a dream. Or a dream combined with a very unhelpful memory, something that I don’t need right now.

  “For fuck sake.”

  I turn over in my bed and face my very familiar white bedroom wall, not the awful cream color from college. My life is completely different now. It’s better, in a lot of ways, so I don’t know why I’m dreaming about the past. I’m better off without Jace. He wasn’t the amazing guy I thought he was. He was a cheating bastard and that’s why he isn’t in my life anymore. The dream of a future together became nothing because of him.