by Piper Rayne
“Jag.” Her tone suggests I’m not taking it seriously.
“It’s South Korea, we’ll be fine.”
“Promise?” she asks, her voice dropping that octave that tells me she needs reassurance.
“Promise. Now, what do you think about joining the club while we’re at thirty thousand feet?”
A napkin hits me in the forehead. “None of that while we’re here.” Vance shakes his head at me.
Teegan and Leo share a look I’m not exactly liking.
“This is going to be so much fun.” Sophie claps. Who the hell even invited her? “I wonder if I can sneak my way into the village housing. I mean, have you heard how many condoms they go through each Games?”
I glance at Quinn and she hooks her arm through mine, placing her head on my shoulder. She bats those eyelashes at me because she knows the girl grates on my nerves like a cheese shredder. But Quinn has found friendship with these three ladies and since she’s sticking around L.A. for me—no sooner did she move here than her father decided to move with his girlfriend to Florida—I can’t argue. One good thing about her dad—he’s on the other side of the country, but his monthly phone calls still make me nervous that he’ll convince her I’m no good for her.
“I wish you luck.” Vance tips his champagne glass to her.
“I wonder who the best athletes to screw are?” Sophie chews on the inside of her lip and again my eyes fall to Quinn.
“Jagger’s cousin Grady is a snowboarder,” Quinn says, and I give her a ‘shut up’ expression because seriously, I do not want that crazy spreading through my family genes.
“Uh, snowboarder!” Sophie’s eyes light up.
The flight attendant comes up to us, bending down to whisper in my ear.
“The pilot has to re-route us. We’re landing in Honolulu.”
“What?” Teegan screeches. “What’s the matter?”
Leo pulls her closer, and Teegan’s knuckles turn white clutching his shirt. I gather flying isn’t really her thing.
“Don’t you worry,” the friendly flight attendant says and then leans down to me again. “Some bad weather,” she whispers.
I smile and nod. Having done the job I assigned her, she heads back to the prep area.
“Are we going to miss opening ceremonies?” Quinn asks.
“Nah, we just might not be able to stay in Seoul that long.”
“Too bad Payne and Via couldn’t have come,” Leo says, trying to distract Teegan, I think.
“They’re having fun up with Vance’s parents in Oregon.” Layla smiles.
“Yeah, with all the snow up there right now, they’re enjoying everything they can’t do down by us,” Vance adds.
An hour later, we land in Hawaii. We all grab our luggage since the pilot told us we can’t get out until tomorrow at the earliest, and even that isn’t guaranteed. I pretend to call the hotel to get us rooms while the guys keep Quinn talking and away from me.
I hang up, tucking my phone into my jeans and heading toward them with the luggage.
“I got us rooms, but we’re paying big. It was the only place that had room.”
Teegan cringes and glances up to Leo.
“Who’s got Sophie?” Vance asks.
“She can stay with us,” Teegan says and Leo tilts his head at me.
I laugh, almost making him believe I’d do that to him. “No, I’ll cover her. She’s got her own room.”
Sophie picks up her luggage, sashaying away from me. “I like this sugar daddy shit.”
All the girls laugh, and the guys roll their eyes.
Everyone crashed last night, including Quinn and I, but I wake up early for my swim. Quinn arrives right as I’m finishing, wearing her bathrobe, sipping coffee.
“I’m getting used to waking up alone. I don’t like it.” She raises those eyebrows and my gaze moves up from her red, white and blue flag-painted toes to her legs. My memory takes care of all the parts that aren’t visible right now.
“Come here.” I pat the cement where I’m leaning, three-quarters of my body still in the water.
“I’m in my robe and people will start coming down soon.”
I glance around to see the hotel staff preparing the pool area for a busy day. “Come on.” I pat the spot again. “I want a sip of coffee.”
Unable to deny me, she walks over, properly sitting down to ensure she’s not showing off the masterpiece that’s under the robe. Her feet dangle in the water and she tips her mug to my mouth.
I stand up. My arms stretch, my hands firm on her ass.
“You trust me?” I ask.
“In this position? At this moment? No. I don’t trust you.”
I chuckle because truth is, she shouldn’t.
“I want you to go out with the girls today. The pilot left me a message and we’re grounded here for one more day.”
Her lips tip down. “That sucks.”
“Let’s make the most of it. You go with the girls and we’ll get together for dinner. I’ll make reservations for sunset on the beach.”
Her eyes light up. “So, you don’t need a lesson on swooning?”
I slide her along the cement until her ass is perched on the edge.
“Jagger,” she warns, and my head falls in the sliver of an opening at the bottom of the hotel robe. Damn, I can smell her from here and my tongue by instinct licks her leg. Her free hand grabs a chunk of my hair. “Jagger, back away.”
I chuckle into the seam of her legs. Resting my chin on her thighs, I look up at what has become my everything. “I love you.”
Her face softens. “I love you.”
“Is there a hole in your pocket?” I fiddle with the outside of the robe.
She quizzically looks down at it, pushing her hand into the pocket.
“I don’t feel a hole, but there’s something in there.” She blushes pink when she can tell what it is. “Jag,” she sighs with a smile.
“What is it?” I ask, my hands still wrapped around her, wanting to be closer.
She pulls out the ring, the large diamond sparkling in the early morning sun.
“Now?” She sets her coffee down, smoothing out her hair, tucking in the folds of the robe. “I just woke up.”
I take the ring from her grasp, hold her left hand and hover the ring over her finger.
“I told you before that I’m never letting you go again. Quinn, I’ve never loved anyone else and I never will. Make an honest man of me and marry me?”
She nods, tears starting to form, and I slide the ring onto her finger—a perfect fit, thank God.
Both of her hands cradle my face and she bends down, kissing my lips. Kissing her back, I take the opportunity to pull her into the water with me.
“Jagger!” she yells, breaking apart.
“Shh…you’ll wake up the guests.” I grab the tie of her robe and open it a bit, exposing her to only me.
“You do know how to get me to do what you want.” She finally relents and gives in, wrapping her legs around my waist.
“And this time it only took me asking you to marry me.”
She swats at my stomach and my lips descend on hers briefly as I spin us around in the water.
“So, you’ll meet me down at the beach at sunset?” I ask a few minutes later.
“For dinner, yeah, but we just got engaged. I want to spend the day with you,” she whines, gripping me tighter to her body. Damn, her nipples are so hard they could cut me. It feels delicious.
“I’m taking you up to the room right now, but I’m going to ask again, Quinn. Will you meet me on the beach at sunset?” I say it slow and finally realization dawns on her face.
“Now? You want to do it today? I have nothing.”
“That’s why you’re going with the girls. Right now, Vance and Leo are telling them the plan. You’re going dress shopping, and having a spa day. At sunset you’ll walk down a candlelit path to me and become Mrs. Jagger Kale.”
Tears fall from her eyes and her l
ips crash down to mine. Our tongues part and we enjoy gazing at each other for a while longer.
Seven o’clock that night, the sun is almost touching the ocean, or so it seems. Layla, Teegan and Sophie all take their turns walking down the aisle, filing off to the left. Right about now, Quinn’s dad should be approaching her. The music begins, and all our guests stand. My parents, who flew in for the day. My brother, his wife and kids. Marisol, who is now the picture of health with her new kidney, Isa, Quinn’s mom, and her editor. How all these people kept this secret I have no idea. The only people who didn’t know were the girls because they could not be trusted. They would’ve let it slip. Vance opted not to have Payne and Via come because, and I quote, “I need alone time with Layla, like now. Naked in a bed with no one slipping under the covers.”
My bride arrives, standing at the edge of the resort, slipping off her sandals, and her dad holds his hand out as she comes down the last of the stairs and hits the sand. Her dress falls just past her knees, and it’s flowy like her sundresses so the question of whether she’s wearing panties or not floats into my consciousness. Her eyes are on me, her smile wider than I could’ve imagined. Leo clasps me on the shoulder as I gaze at the woman I love more than anything else on this earth.
She stops right before the officiant, her dad kissing her on the cheek. I shake his hand and he nods. It will probably take my entire life to prove to him how much I love her.
She hooks her arm through mine and giggles. Her head falls to my shoulder. Rising to her tiptoes, she cups her mouth and whispers into my ear. “What’s your wager? Panties or not?”
I turn my head to her, claiming her lips, and our guests laugh. She doesn’t fight me, but instead kisses me just as fiercely back. When we part, she runs her thumb over my lips to get the lipstick off.
The excitement inside is palpable that the two of us really are getting our happily ever after. Because I know for certain that it will be a happy ending. No matter what comes our way, we’ll face it—together. And that’s all that really matters in the end.
Can Victoria start over when she runs in
to the BEST MAN from her wedding
at morning drop-off?
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Prequel to the Charity Case Series, CLEAN SLATE!
Chapter 1 - Clean Slate
Bonus Material
The office is quiet today. Then again, it’s Monday morning and most people are either stuck in L.A. traffic, grabbing their lattes or just plain running late. Usually I enjoy the moment of solitude, but today things are different because when my boss, Jagger Kale, arrives this morning, I’m turning in my notice.
I pretend like I’m concentrating on my emails as I scroll through the short list I already answered last night. I jot down a to-do list of things I have to do before moving to Chicago and my gaze veers to the picture of Jade on my desk. The one personal item I brought after I felt secure enough to tell my boss I had a child. I shouldn’t have worried so much. Jagger didn’t care, as long as I did what I was supposed to and didn’t call in sick all the time he was cool.
I smile and greet my co-workers who are staggering in with the Monday morning gloom on their face.
My cell phone dings and as I flip it around I secretly hope it’s not Jagger telling me he’s not coming in today. I’m not trying to be selfish, but I need to get this over with. All weekend, I’ve tried to decipher whether he’ll be mad or happy or indifferent to my departure.
The elevator door dings and I straighten my back, posed like the good employee in waiting. Another throng of co-workers empty out into the office but no Jagger. My eyes flick to the clock. It’s not unheard of him to be an hour late, especially since Quinn reappeared in his life. My shoulders slump and I drink some of the Starbucks coffee I let myself enjoy this morning as a treat for making a big girl decision.
“Am I paying you to sip coffee?” Jagger strides by my desk, inserting the key into his office door.
His hair is damp at the ends, his suit as always wrinkle free. He bears no smile on his handsome face. All signs point to it being a normal morning except for his damp hair which means if I’m lucky, he got lucky this morning.
I stand, grabbing the extra cup of coffee off my desk and take out the plastic stopper before following him into his office.
“I grabbed you one on the way in.”
He stands at the side of the desk, takes out his laptop, his eyes flickering to mine after he’s completed the usual steps to his morning routine.
“Why do I deserve such royal treatment?” He looks at me skeptically.
What’s that saying? You can’t shit a bullshitter?
My hands press on the edge of his mahogany desk. “I get you coffee plenty.”
A deep chuckle comes out of him. “Sure, when you told me about Jade, when you needed that week off to go to Chicago last month and the morning after you called in sick because you had a fever.” He uses air quotes around the word fever to imply that I was lying.
“It was one hundred and four and people always get sick after they’ve been on planes,” I argue.
The first smile I’ve seen this morning tilts his lips up. “Wouldn’t know. I fly private.”
I roll my eyes. Typical Jagger.
“So?” he asks, sitting down in his chair sipping the coffee I got him. He nods to the empty chair across from him. “What is it?”
I sit, my leg shaking, my foot tapping.
“Spit it out, Victoria.” He raises both eyebrows.
He won’t be so cocky once the words leave my mouth.
“I have to turn in my notice.” My voice has never sounded so small and less like me. This job, with Jagger as my boss was on the con list of leaving, as much as I hate to admit it. Jagger isn’t the easiest to work for, but I’ve grown used to our banter and underneath the façade he’s actually a decent guy.
His entire body stills and somehow that’s scarier to me than if he had popped up out of the chair in shock. He sets the coffee down in front of him on the desk, his forearms resting on the edge and his hands clasped together so tightly his knuckles are white. “What?” he says in a quiet voice.
I nod.
“I don’t think I heard correctly,” and coming from his lips it sounds more like a threat than a statement.
So, he’s chosen the asshole approach. I shouldn’t be surprised. His fiancé, Quinn, has made him a little nicer, but that snarky arrogant jerk is still alive and well.
“My mom…remember how I had to go to Chicago?”
He picks up his coffee again. “Yeah, the last time you brought me in coffee. That one was flavored. You should’ve gone the flavored route this time, too, if you were dumping this on my lap.”
“Well—”
“And added a muffin.”
“You don’t eat pastries.” I cross my arms in front of me.
“Right about now I want to sit in front of a plate of donuts.”
I sink back in the chair. “My mom’s sick, Jagger,” I let the words spill out. I didn’t want it to come to this. I wanted to give him the gist of my situation and leave.
“Sick?” He picks up his coffee, stands from his desk and heads to the couches. “Are you going to join me?” he asks.
I quickly stand and head over, sitting on the chair adjacent to him.
“I went to Chicago because they were running some tests. The diagnosis came in. She has MS.”
“MS?” The wrinkles in his forehead tell me he doesn’t understand the abbreviation.
“Multiple Sclerosis.”
He nods in understanding. “I don’t know much about it, but wouldn’t the warm weather of Los Angeles make it better?” One side of his mouth ticks up.
Always the negotiator.
“Not when she has to leave her entire life, all she’s ever known…her friends and family.”
<
br /> “You’re her daughter. You should be the most important thing to her. Not to mention you should trump all others—you have the grandchild.”
I purse my lips. “She won’t leave, and I don’t expect her too. Her entire life is still there.”
“And your life is here.” He crosses his leg, resting it on his ankle. “Surely, your ex has something to say about this.”
I shrug.
“You haven’t told the bastard yet?” He dips his head down to catch my eyes.
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
“You’re quitting your job before you tell your ex, knowing he could fight it and you might never leave L.A?”
“Oh, I’m leaving,” I say with determination.
“Without Jade?” he asks.
My head shoots up and I lock gazes with him. “Never.”
“So, next time you bring me coffee it’ll be because you need help burying the body?” he asks, eyebrow quirked.
Jagger, Jagger, Jagger.
“Pete will understand.” I wave that topic off. “That has nothing to do with this. I’m transferring the credits I have from school and applying to another school there. My mom needs me, and I have to go. It will be good for Jade to be closer to her grandma.”
“I need you.” He leans forward in his seat. “I’ll double your salary.”
I shake my head. “I can’t stay.”
“Hey, you loved Quinn’s place, remember? She’s selling it. I’ll buy it for you and Jade.”
I shake my head again, with a chuckle this time.
“Great neighborhood. I’m sure it probably has good schools, but can you really complain when it’s free?”
“Jagger,” I sigh. “I can’t.”
His shoulders sag and he leans back in his seat. “How long?”
“Two weeks?” I ask more for permission than anything.
“You expect to train your replacement in two weeks? It took me a year to mold you into the fine assistant you are today.” He bites down on his lip to try to hide his smile.
“I’ll make sure the transition will go smoothly.”