Hollywood Fairytale (Fairlane Series Book 2)

by Harlow Layne

  “I’d marry you tomorrow if I could, but can you plan the wedding of your dreams in such a short amount of time?”

  “It’s not a lot of time, I know, but I don’t want anything too crazy. I just want to marry you with our friends and family there. I can find a planner who can do the rest. I have a few things I’d like, but they’re easy. We can do it right after filming wraps, that way we can go on our honeymoon and not have to wait.”

  Leaning down he kissed the top of my head. “Whatever you want.”

  “What do you want?” I didn’t want this to be all about me.

  “I want to see you walking down the aisle to me, and for you to be my wife. For my family and friends to be there.” He half laughed to himself. “I wanted you to meet them first, but I know they’ll love you and I don’t want to wait.”

  “Well, I’m sure I can meet them at least a couple of days beforehand. Does that count?” I laughed out and squeezed my arm around his middle.

  “Not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it counts.” His voice rumbled through his chest, one of my favorite sounds. “Leo already loves you and has been singing your praises since he went back home. My mom is dying to meet you now.”

  “I’d say for her to come visit when we first get to Hawaii, but it’s a lot to ask of her to come back in a couple of months. If Mason wasn’t in school we could visit them, but we leave the day after he gets out. Maybe we can Skype or something like that. It’s better than nothing.” Letting out a sigh, I apologized. “I’m sorry it’s so difficult to find time to see your family.”

  Holding me closer, Luke nuzzled my hair. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure something out, and we’re going to visit them for Christmas.” He smiled at the thought. “We need to decide a date so that we can make sure that everyone has time to make arrangements. If anyone can’t afford to come let me know and we’ll help them out.”

  “If we wait until after your movie wraps up that puts the wedding at the beginning of August or maybe late July. Do you want our wedding date and subsequent anniversaries so close to your birthday?”

  His chest moved as he shrugged his shoulders. Not an easy task while lying in bed and with me on top of him. “I don’t mind. It could be on my birthday and I’d be happy. That would make the day even better.”

  “Tomorrow let’s look at your shooting schedule and try to find a date that we think will work. Right now, I want to fall asleep in your arms and spend all of tomorrow in bed with you.”

  Angling his head to look down at me, Luke locked eyes with me and I knew instantly I wouldn’t get what I wanted. “Spending the day in bed sounds fantastic, but I have a feeling that you’re not talking about resting. I’m not sure if an all-day sexathon is really what’s best for you right now. You need rest to get better.”

  “I’m already better now that you’re here.” I mumbled into his chest. “Besides it will be a long time before we’ll have another day to stay in bed. I want to cuddle, have as much sex as possible, dance, and eat all day. It sounds like the perfect day with you.”

  “Hey,” he softly spoke as his index finger lifted my chin to meet his gaze. “I’m here now and not leaving once the weekend is over. We’ll have all the days that Mason’s in school until we leave for Hawaii to spend in bed and do all the things that you want to do.”

  Closing my eyes, I took in his words. Slowly I opened them back up to see a sated and serene look on Luke’s face. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

  Luke pulled me up until we were face to face. “I’m really here. No more being apart. I may not go to bed with you every night, and I may not be there when you wake up every morning, but I promise you that every night we will sleep together no matter where we are.”

  I spoke, brushing my lips against his with each word I spoke. “I want you to promise me that if you have to leave me in the morning, no matter how early it is, I want you to wake me up so that I can at least tell you goodbye.” I smiled down at him. “And I want you to wake me up when you get home so that I can say goodnight.”

  An amused smile teased his lips. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking? I know how much you love your sleep. I could have to leave at four in the morning or get home at two or three. You never know, especially on a tight shoot.”

  “I love you more than sleep so yes, I’m sure. Promise me.”

  This time his smile was blindingly happy. “I promise, but if you ever change your mind let me know. Now seriously let’s get some sleep. Goodnight my beautiful girl. I love you.” He pressed a long kiss to my forehead.

  Scooting down and off to the side, I placed a kiss over his heart, and nuzzled into his side. “Good night, my handsome fiancé. I love you.”

  I sat out on the patio, enjoying the morning weather, looking out at the pool waiting for Taylor to call me back. I’d left her a message almost an hour ago, and I couldn’t wait to share the news that Luke had asked me to marry him last night.

  My phone rang and instead of it being Taylor to my surprise it was Reeves. It had been a long time since I’d last talked to him. He’d been out of the country filming and with the time difference it was about impossible to talk on the phone. We’d managed to text a little bit here and there, but I’d sorely missed my friend.

  “Hey, stranger!” I answered, a big smile on my face. Luke looked up from the book he was reading with a questioning look on his face. I mouthed Reeves name and he gave me a happy smile before going back to reading.

  “Hey, back! How are you?” He answered back.

  “I’m unbelievably happy. How are you?”

  “Shit, but we’ll get into that later. Is the reason you’re so happy have anything to do with the rumors that Night Shadows isn’t going to be filming until next summer and changing their airing schedule?”

  “That’s part of it, but not the main reason.” I answered vaguely, about to burst with my news.

  “I take it things are still going well with you and Luke. When is he supposed to be back in Fairlane?”

  “He’s already here. He arrived last night.” A big smile spread across my face as I thought back to Luke surprising me last night.

  “Okay?” he drew out the word. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Coughing, I waited until I could speak. “Sorry, I’ve been sick. That’s why Luke came home early, but it’s what he did when he arrived that has me unbelievably happy.”

  “You do sound a little congested. What did he do? Wait,” he shouted. “Do I want to know?” he asked laughing.

  “I wouldn’t tell you that.” I laughed along with him. “But yes, that did happen.” I couldn’t help but crack up at his groan.

  “I don’t want to hear about your sex life. You’re like my sister. It’s just wrong.”

  “Aww, Jenner. That’s so sweet.”

  “Only the truth.”

  Making a happy noise, I smiled over at Luke who was still reading.

  “Okay, shorty. The suspense is killing me. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Looking down at my ring, I wiggled my finger for probably the hundredth time that morning. “I’m engaged.” I may have yelled into the phone with my excitement.

  Luke reached over to pull my left hand to his lips and kissed my finger right above my ring. He smiled, and mouthed ‘I love you,’ and went back to reading.

  “Congratulations! It’s about time.”

  “About time? We haven’t even known each other for a year.”

  “Doesn’t matter. That man has wanted to marry you since you were here right after Christmas. I’m sure it’s been killing him to wait.”

  “You think?” I asked, squeezing Luke’s hand.

  “I don’t think, I know.”

  “You’re done filming, right? I want you to come to the wedding.”

  “I’d be happy to be there. Do you already have a date?”

  “We do. You know how we’re going to Hawaii for two months for Luke to shoot his movie?”

&n
bsp; He laughed which in turned made me smile. “Even over text I could tell how excited you were to go.” Now I was even more excited to go to Hawaii.

  “I really was and still am. Even more so now. So, we’re getting married on August twelfth. That’s two weeks after the movie’s supposed to wrap up so that gives us some extra time in case it goes over.”

  Jenner made a strange noise before he quietly laughed. “You do know that it could go longer than even two weeks, right?”

  “Of course we do, and we’re going to tell our plans to everyone so hopefully everyone will work hard not to create any overages.”

  This time Jenner couldn’t hide his laugh. “Good luck with that. At least Ashlyn’s in jail and it doesn’t look like she’ll be getting out anytime soon. If she was still on the loose, I could assure you she’d fuck it up.”

  “I have no doubt in my mind that she would. I’m not sure if I’d be able to sleep at night knowing she’s on the loose. Anyway, on a lighter note, we’ll also be keeping this quiet. Only friends and family are invited and hopefully they’ll keep their mouths shut about the date.”

  “You won’t have anything to worry about until you’re seen with a rock on your finger. I don’t know how you feel about it, but maybe while you’re in Hawaii don’t wear your ring until after the wedding. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’ll be leaked that you two got married.”

  “Ugh! Why are people so noisy? I don’t want to hide it, but you’re probably right if we don’t want to be hounded until they finally see a wedding band, and then there will be all that hubbub.”

  Jenner cracked up laughing and didn’t stop for a full minute. I had no idea what he was laughing about. “Is that what they’re calling it these days? Hubbub?”

  “Hubbub is the nice way of saying it. I get it I do, but we shouldn’t have to put out a statement every time something happens with us.”

  “I hate to say this,” Jenner stated quietly, causing my stomach to drop. “I know you love Luke, but if you can’t handle this life already then you need to back out now. It’s only going to get worse. Everything will get worse.” The tone in his voice made me pause. I knew that he was talking about Luke and me, but I had a feeling he was talking more about himself and Poppy.

  “I love Luke and I’m not going to let anyone ruin this for us.” I stated vehemently.

  “Okay, I believe you, but I needed to put it out there.”

  “You did and now it’s done.” My tone may have been a little too harsh from the way Luke looked at me with his brows furrowed. I gave him a small smile and decided to get to the bottom of Jenner’s life. “Now that we’re done talking about me, let’s get back to why your life’s shit.”

  Letting out a sigh, he swore underneath his breath. “Do we really have to? Let’s not ruin your wonderful news.”

  “I must insist that you tell me what’s going on. We haven’t talked in forever. Hey! I have an idea, but don’t get too excited because it’s not going to get you out of talking to me now, but we’re going to stay a day or two in LA before we head to Hawaii. Maybe we can get together during that time.”

  “I should be free and if I’m not I’ll make sure I am.” He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke again sounding defeated. “So, I came home a couple of days ago and when I walked into the house pretty much everything was gone.”

  Shooting to my feet, I gasped in shock. “Oh my God! Were you robbed? Wait don’t you have an alarm system?”

  “Yes, I do. Stupidly I told my wife when I’d be arriving home and she cleaned out the house to furnish her new house with her new boyfriend.” Even through the phone I could feel how furious he was.

  “Fuck, Jenner, I’m so sorry. I knew things weren’t good, but that’s…” I didn’t even know how to finish that sentence. It had been some time since Jenner has spoken to me about Poppy. Making my way inside to the kitchen, I got a drink and took a long sip.

  “What it is, is fucked up, and it gets better. After repeatedly trying to call her to no avail, yesterday I got served divorce papers.”

  I wanted to tell him it was for the best, but I knew he didn’t want to hear it, so I kept my comment to myself. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  He laughed bitterly. “Nothing anyone can do. I’ve known it was over for a while, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself or anybody else.”

  “Anyone who knows you knows that this is not your fault. You have nothing to feel ashamed about. I’m not saying you do, but I know that was a big motivating factor in why I waited so long to get divorced. I wish I’d done it sooner, but there’s nothing I can do about it now, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life, so I can’t complain.” I drew in a breath unsure if I should say how I felt. “I believe there’s someone out there for you, you just haven’t met her yet. Process how your feeling and be ready and open when the time comes.”

  “Wow. All that because you have Luke now.” His laugh was still a little bitter, but I knew he didn’t mean it toward me, but his situation.

  “It’s all because I have Luke.” Looking out the window to Luke, I couldn’t help but smile. It sounded gushy and lovey dovey, but I couldn’t help it because it was the truth and it was impossible to hide. I didn’t want to have to hide my feelings for Luke from Jenner or anyone else for that matter, and I shouldn’t have to.

  “I know and I’m happy for you. It may not sound like it, but I really am. No matter all the hard feelings you may still have toward Matt, you’ve got to be thankful for all the people he brought into your life.”

  “I am. He brought me you, Anna, and most importantly Luke, and for that I’ll forever be grateful. Although it was Colton that brought Matt here so maybe I should be more thankful for him.”

  “Maybe,” he laughed. “Shit someone’s at my door so I should let you go. Who knows who it is. Hopefully I’m not getting served papers again.”

  “I doubt it. I’ll talk to you soon, and I’ll text you what day we’ll be there. I really hope we get to see you.”

  “Me too. Talk later.”

  Sitting down in the lounger beside Luke, I picked up my book and went back to reading. I was hooked into the world of the Luxen that Jennifer L. Armentrout had created and was on my fourth book in the series. I was already dreading the end and anticipating a book hangover.

  “How’s Jenner?” Luke asked after I got settled down in my seat.

  Frowning, I turned on my side to him. “Not good. He got home a couple of days ago and Poppy cleaned him out and yesterday he was served with divorce papers.”

  “It’s not a surprise, but that sucks for him. He really did try everything he could to keep them together. She checked out long ago.”

  “I know, but I still feel sorry for him. I told him we’d try to go see him on our way to Hawaii since we’ll be in LA.”

  “We can do that. How are you feeling?”

  “Rested.” I answered blandly.

  Throwing his head back, he laughed full out in a deep rumble. “Any day this week we can have a full on sexathon if you want, but first I want you better.”

  Sticking my lower lip out, I pouted half-jokingly. “I understand, but I missed you and like snuggling with you in bed, amongst other things.”

  “I would happily stay snuggled up in bed with you, but we both know it wouldn’t stay that way. What time will Mason be home tonight?”

  My half pout turned into a full-on frown. “Eight o’clock was the deal I made with Decker.”

  Luke’s lips followed the same path mine had. “I wish I would have been here when you talked to him.”

  “I don’t know if that would have helped. He may have requested that I pay him child support instead of demanding that he no longer pay his. In some ways I understand why he doesn’t want to see me with you. I wouldn’t want to see him with a woman that was better than me in any way.”

  Scooting his lounger closer to mine, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “First of all, we b
oth know that he’s never going to find anyone anywhere near as good as you. He might be able to hide who he is for a short while, but I doubt he’d be able to hide his ways for long even if he did find someone.”

  “And second?” I asked, curious.

  “Him not paying child support will work in our favor. You asked for permission from him to take Mason out of the state for two months, but it’s the state that decides if and how much he should pay for child support. Before we leave I want to talk to my attorney about filing a request for full custody in August, after our wedding and honeymoon.”

  “Where are we going on our honeymoon?”

  He smiled slyly at me and bopped me on the nose with the tip of his finger. “It’s a surprise.”

  Resting my cheek on his shoulder, I looked up at him. “I’m not a big fan of surprises. How will I know what to pack?”

  His sly smile grew wicked. “The least amount of clothing possible. A dress, a few bikinis, and maybe a coverup.” He screwed his face up for a moment. “That should cover it. I don’t plan for either one of us to be clothed for much of the time, but I might take you out to dinner, hence the dress.”

  “I like the way you think. I trust you to pick someplace that we’ll both like. Have you been there before?”

  Hand running up my arm, he answered. “It will be new to us both.”

  “Nice, I doubt that’ll happen very often.”

  “There are plenty of places I haven’t been, but for work I normally end up in the same places.”

  “I do approve of the location for Riptide.” Pulling me closer, he smiled down at me. He knew I loved the location. “I do feel bad though, for changing your shooting schedule on Night Shadows. If you want to do any movies…”

  “Don’t feel bad. You never know the circumstances or timing, and if we get full custody of Mason life will be a lot easier. Don’t worry about it now. We’ll take each offer as they come and look at it then.”

  “Smart.” I wanted to say more, but his mouth was on mine in the next instant. The moment he turned into me our loungers split and he fell to the floor in a hard drop. Peering over the edge of my chair, I tried my hardest not to laugh. “Shit. Are you okay?”