Be Here Now: A Cedar Creek Novel (22 page)

I pouted, not ready to leave the bed and share him with anyone.

He grinned and bit my lip. “I know. I’d love nothing more than to spend all day in bed with you, but it’s your birthday. You’ve got obligations.” He kissed me again then slapped my ass playfully and sat up, pulling me up with him.

“Shower,” he said and put me onto my feet by the bed, then grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him to the bathroom.

By the time we got out of the shower and my hair was dry, I had to hustle if we didn’t want to be late to my dad’s. I threw open the doors to my closet to quickly grab a clean pair of jeans and a shirt only to realize that I hadn’t done the laundry in a while and there
was
no clean pair of jeans. I pawed through the clothes on the floor in the hopes of finding a pair that was at least passably clean but was unsuccessful. I grumbled and swore under my breath, at a loss of what to wear now, as I heard asked from behind me, “What are you doing?”

Jason stood in the door to the bedroom, leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed on his chest. He was smirking as his eyes ran up and down my body. Seeing as my getting-dressed-quickly mission had failed, I was still in only my underwear and bra.

“I’m trying to find clean clothes to wear,” I answered in a duh-tone of voice.

Jason chuckled. “I see you still hate doing laundry.” I could tell that he was inside the room now. I was still bent over, pawing through another pile of clothes on the floor. “Advice, baby. Don’t stick your ass in the air like that if you don’t want me to take you up on that invitation.” His voice was low and filled with heat.

I straightened and threw him a mock-glare over my shoulder. We didn’t have time for another round. We had to go. He was closer than I thought; so close that our bodies almost touched. His hands landed on my hip and his thumbs started stroking me there.

“We don’t have time for another round. We have to go,” I said with a lot less urgency as I had intended.

Jason smiled and lowered his lips to my shoulder, kissing me softly. “It’s not me who’s not dressed yet.” He kissed me one final time before he turned me towards my closet and gave me a little push.

“Get a move on then, love.” I grumbled and stomped to the closet. But inside I sighed. Jason used to call me “love” all the time, and I was happy that I had that back. I had really missed it. Jason chuckled again and watched as I got dressed. I gave up my search for a clean pair of jeans and decided to wear my short jeans skirt and a loose blouse that would go great with my cowboy boots. Then I headed to the bathroom to put on some deodorant and make up. Eyeliner and mascara would be all I’d have time for. It would have to do.

I came back into the bedroom, my hands busy putting an earring in, my mind on the task of finding my favourite bracelet.

“Only you,” I heard Jason say from the door. It didn’t make any sense to me, so I asked, “Only me?”

“Yeah, only you,” he answered, which again didn’t give me anything to go on. I raised my eyes from my jewellery chest to his and saw that he was staring at me, or better, staring at my skirt.

“Only me what?” I asked when he didn’t say anything else.

“Only you could look like the hot and sexy version of the girl next door slash rock star slash country girl with almost zero prep-time. That skirt looks great on you.”

I blushed, pleased that he thought so.

“That what you’re wearing to the bar tonight?”

“Uh…yeah.”

“Fuck,” Jason mumbled under his breath then he looked from my ass to my face. “If that’s the case, then you’re not leaving my side tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “Everyone in town has seen me in this outfit about a million times.”

“That might be, but you weren’t mine when they did, and I gotta make it clear to everyone who will want in your panties when they get a good look at you in that skirt that you’re taken.”

I giggled. “You don’t think the ring on my finger will take care of that?” I watched, fascinated, as Jason’s whole face softened. It was like when Cal looked at Ivey. My heart skipped a beat.

“Yeah, it will.” His voice was just as soft as the expression on his face. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you leave my side.” I rolled my eyes again but smiled. Who was I to complain about that?

I turned back around and found my bracelet, put it on, and walked to Jason. His hands automatically went to my ass and he pulled me against him.

“I’m gonna have to work at some point, so I’ll be behind the bar.”

Jason lifted his eyebrows. “You have to work on your birthday?”

“Well, yeah. It’s my bar. Bosses don’t get time off.” I shrugged.

“Well, boss lady, then you’ll find me sitting at the other side of that bar, glaring at every man who even dares to look at your ass or long-as-shit legs.”

I shook my head at him, grinning. “You do what you gotta do.”

“Oh, I will.” He kissed me quickly but deliciously then pulled me behind him through the house, grabbed my purse from the front table and then we were out the door and heading to his Challenger.

He stopped when he saw another car parked behind his.

“Oh, looks like Chris dropped off my car,” I said at the same time he said, “Why is Chris’ car parked behind mine?”

His eyes got big and round when my words penetrated. “The Shelby is yours?” He asked in surprise that bordered on shock.

“Uh…yeah.”

I watched as he walked over to my girl as if in a trance and then ran his hand admiringly and adoringly along the hood. “She’s a beauty,” I heard him mutter under his breath. I laughed silently and shook my head.

Boys and cars. It never changed.

I got the keys out of my purse and walked to where he was standing, then dangled the keys in front of his face. He snapped out of his car-lust fog and saw the keys, then his eyes snapped to mine and he took them slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his luck. His grin was so wide I thought his face might split.

“You gonna let me drive her?”

I shrugged. “Sure. If it makes you that happy.”

His hand shot out and he grabbed me by the back of my neck, pulling my face to his, then crashed his lips down on mine and took them in a hard kiss.

“You have no idea how sexy that is, my hot as hell fiancée driving one of the hottest cars in the world. I would like nothing more than to bend you over that hood right now and fuck you, but we’re already running late and I don’t think your neighbours would enjoy the show. But don’t mistake me, Loreley, I will take you on that hood eventually.” He gave me another quick and hard kiss before he pulled me to the passenger side door and opened it to guide me in.

Jason liked his dirty talk and I enjoyed it immensely, but what he just said to me must have been the hottest thing anyone has ever said to anyone. I couldn’t get the picture of him fucking me on my baby’s hood out of my mind.

“Buckle up, baby,” Jason said, his voice knowing and amused. I glanced at him as I buckled myself in. He was smug. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smile. He chuckled as he leaned over and kissed me once more, softer this time, lovingly. “I love this. Having you back, being with you, teasing you, making you smile. I’ve missed it. So much.”

“Me, too,” I breathed as I stared into his shining hazel eyes.

He started the car and we were on the road up to Cal’s rental when his phone rang.

“Nathan, we’re just on the way up to the house.” Silence as Jason listened to what Nathan was saying on the other end. Then he stilled and the vibe in the car turned from happy and playful to tense in less than a second.

“What?” He almost shouted. “Shit. How bad is it?” Silence again. “You think we need security?” My eyes snapped to him. Security? “Goddamn it! Those fucking bastards!” We pulled into Cal’s driveway. “Yeah, we’re here now.” He closed the phone and swore under his breath.

“What’s going on?” I asked, worried.

“Let’s talk inside.” He got out and took my hand when I made it to where he was waiting for me at the front of the car. He said nothing, but I could tell that he was extremely unhappy as he led me into the house.

As soon as he saw me, Nathan pulled me into one of his tight hugs. “Hey there, beautiful,” he murmured into my ear. “You look great. Everything good?”

“Yeah, everything’s good.”

“You think you can let go of my fiancée now?” Jason grumbled from beside us.

Nathan pulled back and looked at me in astonishment. “Your fiancêe?” I held up my ring in answer. “I see,” he said through a smirk and looked at Jason. “You don’t let any grass grow, do you?”

“Nope. Made that mistake once. Was not gonna make it again.”

“Smart. A little extreme, but smart.” Nathan was still grinning. Then he sobered and asked, “So, what are we going to do about the newest drama?”

I looked from him to Jason who was already looking at me.

“The media got wind of me being here,” he explained in an annoyed voice.

“What? How?”

“Someone recorded Jason singing to you at the bar and carrying you off last night. They sold the video and it’s all over the internet,” Nathan explained.

“Shit. That’s not good,” I muttered.

“No, it’s not. It means that we can expect the paparazzi to show up in town any minute now.” Jason was working himself up.

“Paparazzi in Cedar Creek?”

“Oh yeah, they’ll be here. And those vultures don’t consider anything too private to use to their advantage.” His eyes on me were serious and wary. And concerned. Realization hit me and my heart started beating rapidly.

“Jesse,” I whispered, “They’re going to find out about Jesse. What are we going to do?” I asked, slightly panicked.

Jason closed in on me and pulled me against him. “I won’t let that happen, baby. They’re not dragging him into this.”

“And how are you gonna stop it?” Nathan asked. “You know how relentless they are, Jace. They’ll dig up any dirt that’s not buried deep.” Then a thought seemed to hit Jason and he stilled in my arms. I looked up at him and his face was ashen.

“What is it?”

He looked down at me. “Jesse’s birth certificate. Am I on it?”

I nodded. “Of course you are.” He gave me a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes and kissed my forehead. “Thank you for that.”

“Shit,” Nathan swore.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“They’re gonna find it and if I’m named as Jesse’s father, they’re gonna use it.”

“But why would they even look for it? Nobody other than my family and Chris know that you’re Jesse’s father. Oh, and Rick.”

“But what they
do
know is that I lost you six years ago and came here to claim you back. I said as much last night and it’s on that video. People in town might not know that Jesse was mine but they do know that you gave birth to a son six years ago. It’s not hard to connect the dots.”

That was true. Shit.

“Maybe you should release a statement, set things straight and put them out there before they can twist them into lies and drag Lore and Jesse through the dirt,” Nathan suggested.

“Maybe,” Jason replied.

“You think they would do that? Drag Jesse and me through the dirt I mean?”

“The way I see it, this can go two ways: they either make this out to be a fairy tale of long lost lovers reunited or they make you look like a bitch who kept Jason’s son from him and disappeared. Though happy stories don’t sell as good as nasty ones, so I’d go with possibility number two,” Nathan said.

“Fuck!” Jason swore this time. I didn’t know what to say. The prospect of Jesse and me being mentioned in the gossip magazines at all was not a happy one, let alone being called a cold-hearted bitch. I didn’t know if I should be angry or sad that people were capable of using other’s misfortune to make money and sell stories that were based on lies.

“Loreley,” Jason called my name when I was silent for a while. “Remember what we said last night.” I just looked at him, not sure what exactly he meant since we had said a lot of things. “You promised not to run when things got tough. I wish we had more time before the drama started, but this is a part of my life. You promised to stick with me.”

I saw the fear in his eyes clearly; the fear of losing me again. I was still standing loosely in his arms. I gave him a squeeze. “I’m not running, Jason.”

He leaned his forehead to mine in relief. “You went quiet there for a second, I thought you were going to bolt.”

“That’s not why I went quiet. I just…I don’t know how to feel about this. I don’t know what to do. It makes me sad that people would take advantage of a story and twist it to make a few bucks, and it makes me unbelievably mad that there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do to prevent it.”

“So you didn’t think it would be too much to handle? You didn’t think about running?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Thank God,” Jason breathed as he kissed my forehead. Then he turned to Nathan and asked, “You talk to Dana yet?”

“Yeah. She likes the idea of you giving a statement but she also knows that you most likely won’t do it. She’s pissed by the way. Apparently, she couldn’t get a hold of you all morning.”

Jason sighed. He had turned his cell phone off to be able to enjoy the morning with Loreley. He should probably give Dana a call before she totally lost it. “I don’t know, man. I have never given the media anything, never confirmed or denied any rumours about me. It always seemed like the easiest way to take the wind out of their sails. But this is different.” He sighed again. “What do you think?” He asked me.

“I don’t know enough about the business or the media to answer that, Jason.”

“Maybe not, but this is about you as much as it is about Jesse and me. I want to know what you think.”

I thought about it for a few moments.

“I think I agree with you. I don’t think we should say anything. Let them write what they want to write. They will anyways. And maybe if we don’t feed into it, they’ll move on sooner and leave us alone.”

Jason smiled a proud smile at me. He gave me a quick peck then said, “Okay, then that’s what we’ll do. As long as we’re on the same page. I can’t lose you over this. Over anything.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Jason. I promise.” I reassured him.