Be Here Now: A Cedar Creek Novel (42 page)

“Great. It’s great,” I breathed against his finger. Jason removed it and replaced it with his mouth. I sagged into him and groaned. He saw it for the invitation it was and went deep, consuming me. He ended the kiss and rested his forehead against mine, both of us breathing hard.

“I miss you, baby.”

“Then take me upstairs,” I whispered, resulting in a chuckle from Jason.

“House first. I gotta make sure my wife and baby are taken care of. But you’re mine for the rest of the afternoon. No visitors. Just you and me. Naked. Pretend we’re back in Santa Monica.” I liked that. A lot.

“Deal,” I said. Then he kissed the tip of my nose again and we went house hunting.

“I can’t believe it took you almost eight years to bring me here.” We were standing in front of the entrance to Disneyland.

It had turned out that Jason had gotten me pregnant during our wedding night. Two months after the attack and my subsequent hospital stay, my period was still a no-show, so I had taken a test and it had been positive. Jason and I had been over the moon and couldn’t wait to welcome our new baby into the family. We both had been a little worried at first that something might have happened to the baby because of the attack and all the stress it caused me, but my pregnancy had gone smoothly and there hadn’t been any issues whatsoever.

It hadn’t taken us long to find a house we liked, less than twenty-four hours to be exact. We had looked at three different ones that first afternoon and had bought the second one we’d looked at. It was perfect. Funnily enough, it was one of Cal’s builds. We moved in two weeks later and still lived there now during the school year. All our long weekends and holidays were spent in our house in California. Sometimes we brought the family along, sometimes it was just Jason, me, and the kids. And every year on our wedding anniversary, Jason and I came out here alone and spent three days at the hotel we had been to for our honeymoon. He had wanted to take me somewhere exotic, somewhere I had always wanted to go, but going back to what I thought of as our place every year was all I wanted. So he made it happen and never suggested anything different again. At least not for our anniversary.

“Mom, let’s go already!” Our oldest, Samantha, whined at me. She was seven and was bouncing up and down in anticipation, pulling at her daddy’s hand. Jason grinned down at her proudly. On his hip sat Lola, our five-year-old. She was a complete daddy’s girl, they both were, but Lola wouldn’t leave her daddy’s side. She had been like that from the second she was born. Opening her eyes wide only hours later and smiling for her daddy. It had been a sight to see.

“Mommy, am I allowed on the big rides?” Ash was our youngest. He was three years old, and just like Lola was Jason’s, Ash was mine. His full name was Christopher Ash Raymond, but everyone called him Ash, mostly to avoid confusion. I remember the day we had introduced him to our family and friends like it was only yesterday.

“Christopher? You’re naming your son after me?” Chris had tears in his eyes. He was looking down at the bundle in his arms and couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from him. He loved our girls and spent as much time with them as he could. He and his wife Charly were expecting their second. Our kids and Ivey and Cal’s kids were all close in age and were practically growing up together like brothers and sisters.

“Yeah. Didn’t you say I had to come up with something big to make it up to you for not having you at my wedding?” Jason chuckled beside me and Chris’ eyes shot to mine. “I didn’t mean—” me bursting into laughter at the panic in his eyes stopped him and he realized I had been teasing.

I grinned to myself, remembering. Chris and Ash were best buddies, just like Jesse and Chris had been. Ash adored his daddy and was a total momma’s boy but he had a special bond with Chris that nobody could miss.

“No, baby. You have to be taller to be allowed on the big rides. Mommy will take you on the kid rides. Maybe daddy will take us more often now and soon enough you’ll be allowed on the big rides with mommy.”

“Okay,” he complied and snuggled into my side.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Jason muttered under his breath as we walked towards the entrance. I whipped my head around at his words, shooting him a glare. “You agreed that we were done.”

“I agreed to no such thing.” He showed no remorse as he smirked at me.

“You didn’t argue.”

“That doesn’t mean I agreed. I say we try for one more.”

“Pfft. Try. We don’t need to try. As soon as I go off the pill…boom…pregnant. We probably don’t even have to have sex.” I scoffed. Jason burst out laughing, but he knew damn well that I was right. It had been like that with all our kids. Pregnant within the first week. It was ridiculous really.

“Well, baby, enjoy the shit out of this day. There won’t be another visit to Disneyland in the near future.”

“What do you mean? I’m not pregnant.”

“Not yet.” The sure way he said that made me narrow my eyes at him. “What have you done?” I asked.

“Nothing really. Just disposed of your pills this morning.” My eyes went big with shock.

“You did not!”

“I did, too.”

“You…you…I don’t even know what to call you!” Damn it! If I didn’t get replacement pills today I ran the risk of being pregnant already. I was in the middle of my cycle, which meant missing a pill was so not a good idea. That rat bastard!

“Baby.” Jason’s voice was mollifying. “I love you and I love the family we’ve made. How can you be mad that I want more of what makes us both so happy?”

“I’m not mad about that. I’m mad about how you went about it. Tricking me into getting pregnant. That’s so low.”

“You wouldn’t yield so I took the matter in my own hands.” Yield? I thought my head was about to explode! He on the other hand grinned at me almost nonchalantly about being such an ass.

“Well, if you had given me the courtesy of discussing it like adults instead of demanding that I go off the pill and pout like a little boy when I didn’t
yield
, I might have agreed. Now I’m afraid I won’t be able to accommodate certain needs you might have later today. Or the rest of the month.”

“That’s not gonna happen, baby, and we both know it.”

“Then you’ll have to use—”

“That’s also not gonna happen. I want nothing between you and me and neither do you.”

“Arrgh.” I stopped myself from stomping my foot and embarrassing myself by looking like a teenager throwing a fit. Then I took a deep breath and since I knew this would be the only way to resolve this, I decided to compromise and threw him a bone. “Two months. Give me two months. I want to enjoy this summer without being sick all the time.”

“Two months?” He asked. “You promise?” I nodded. “You gotta say the words, baby.”

I gave in. “I promise.”

“Good. You’ve got a deal. We’re trying as soon as the summer is over.” He kissed me. “Oh, and by the way, you’ll find your pills exactly where you left them last night.”

“You…you…” I stuttered. “You tricked me? You didn’t throw them out?” He shook his head, grinning at me. “Nope.”

“I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Baby, you’re gorgeous always, but you’re over the top soul wrenchingly gorgeous when you’re pregnant. I’m not ready to be done with that. I’m not ready to let go. And we make the most beautiful babies in the world. Don’t be mad.”

As always, the way he had with words melted my heart. I knew they weren’t just words. He meant every single one of them and proved that he did every single minute of every single day. Our need for each other hadn’t diminished over the years. It was the opposite. We did everything together, went everywhere together, and took our kids whenever possible. They even came on tour with the band, at least before Samantha had started school two years ago. Now we had to work a little harder on the schedule to make things work smoothly, but it was worth it. Whenever there was an event I couldn’t attend and he had to go alone, we were both miserable and couldn’t wait to be back in each other’s arms.

“You’re gonna run out of spots to tattoo our kids’ names,” I grumbled against his lips, but he knew that I had given in. Just like he had with Jesse’s name, he had all our kids’ names tattooed on his body: the girls’ on his chest above his heart, the boys’ on his forearms.

Jason chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll find room. I love you, Loreley.”

“I love you, too.”

“Now let’s go have some fun.”

“Yay!!!” All our kids screamed at the same time. They had been waiting patiently for their parents to finish bickering. They were used to it. I giggled against Jason’s mouth and whispered, “Yay!”

Exactly one year later, we welcomed Carter Dylan Sanders into our family.

The End.

Life has taught Ivey Jones early on that with trust come pain and betrayal. Out of survival she has created walls around her to keep anyone from getting too close. Though she lives in her dream house in the Rocky Mountains and loves being the owner of the town's quirky little bookstore Serendipity, her life is narrow and governed by strict rules that she never deviates from…until Cal Bennett enters her life.

For the past nine years Calvin “Cal” Bennett has stayed away from Ivey, thinking she deserved better than to be saddled with a single dad who has never been good at relationships. Until a few chance encounters show him what he’s been missing and he can’t stay away any longer.

Little does he know he’s got a fight on his hands that he might not be equipped to win. Shadows from Ivey's past lurk in the dark, ready to strike and bring her low once and for all. But Cal swears he will do whatever it takes to break through that wall of steel to win Ivey’s heart and keep her safe.

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Julia Goda has been writing stories in her head since she can remember. Much to her teachers’ dismay, given the task of writing a short essay she would always come back with way too long and detailed stories. Many discussions (she has always been somewhat of a smart-aleck) and bad grades were the result, so that for most of her life she thought she couldn’t write worth a damn and pursued other careers. But the dream of being an author wouldn’t be ignored and kept lingering. With a little help from her fantastic husband, who gave her the necessary kick in the behind, she was finally brave enough to start writing her first novel. Since then she has enjoyed giving herself over to her stories and making them come to live.