Authors: Tracey Rogers
Best Fake Day (21 page)
“I realized marriage wasn’t important the day I thought I’d lost you, Jack. Just like you, I only wanted to belong. I don’t need a wedding. I only need you.”
“Then I’m all yours,” he said after an almost agonizingly long pause. To Izzy’s relief he grinned. “But I’ll be saving this for another day.” He snapped the box shut.
She smiled at his promise. “Then I’ll look forward to it. But I’m in no rush.” She really wasn’t. “After all, we already had the best fake day.”
After Jack had kissed her until she was breathless, she looked into his eyes, reading the promise there. It seemed to her that there would be many more best days to come.
Epilogue
Izzy sighed and gave a huge smile of contentment.
Life was good. Amazingly good.
It was a year to the day since their fake wedding and many perfect days had come along since. Jack had proposed a few times since the first time and each time she’d said no. Each time he accepted her rebuttal with the gleam of challenge in his eyes.
The house,
their
house was complete. It was a home again. Jack had even had an extension added to be used as her photography studio. The only thing remaining of the past was the familiar wooden table. Just as Jack had said it had been built to last and they had proved its sturdiness on more than one occasion she remembered with a smile. Jack didn’t even mind that he was living across the road from the house had grown up in. In fact, it had been his idea to buy the property from her father.
Her father was more than happy with that idea. Also, it was somewhere for him and Joyce to visit as often as they liked.
And Ellie? As soon as she came back to London, Izzy had taken her and their father to the cemetery where they’d all finally talked about her mother’s death. There had been many tears, but for the first time it seemed like they’d all grieved.
Ellie would always have a room to stay, but it was unlikely to be used now that she was so busy with her classical music tour. It seemed the media could be forgiving after all, and they loved her again now. Although her new husband kept her grounded.
Jack hadn’t bought Daleford Hall and had been honest with Frank and Sarah about his resentment toward the family who seemed to have rejected him. They were delighted to have discovered a grandson and were becoming a big part of his life. They’d even decided not to sell now that they knew they actually did have a family to share their home with.
Her growing belly was proof of that she thought as she climbed the ladder to the treehouse. A grinning Jack met her at the top as he helped her the rest of the way.
Izzy paused at the top and grinned as she looked at Jack’s handiwork. Large cushions had been placed on top of a soft blanket. Her gaze darted to the corner, her attention snagged by the bright red fire extinguisher standing ready for action. The whole treehouse was bathed in candlelight.
From behind his back Jack produced a large cake, an exact replica of the one they’d shared in Italy.
Izzy cleared her throat. “It’s beautiful, Jack. But a bit big for the two of us to eat, don’t you think?”
“Who says it’s for eating?” he said, arching his brow suggestively over his piercing eyes.
“And there’s this,” he added, producing a bottle of...fizzy water. Ah yes, the bubbles. Her face heated and she marveled at how he could still make her blush.
“Happy fakeiversary.”
“Happy fakeiversary to you too,” she responded, giving him a grateful kiss that started out as a soft gentle kiss, but as usual, quickly stirred into a frantic need.
Later, as they lay naked on the soft cushions with their limbs entwined as much as was possible, Jack placed his palm on her rounded belly, kissing the swell of her body, stamping his love over every inch of her. Her sensitized pregnant body couldn’t get enough of him.
She
couldn’t get enough of him. He reduced her to a puddle of need as his mouth took each of her breasts, gently and skillfully teasing each nipple.
Izzy moaned and arched up to press against his erection.
He stopped. “Save it for later,” he said with a chuckle. “I have something else in mind for now.”
Whatever it was had better be good.
“Truth or dare,” she said with a soft laugh as he produced the old bottle. “Wasn’t it that game that got us into this situation...” She dropped her gaze to her belly. “In the first place?” She suspected it was. Jack hadn’t used protection since their night at Daleford Hall. But still the night when Jack had declared himself fit after his accident had been a night spent in this treehouse until morning birdsong joined in with their passion-filled sighs and moans.
Reminded of how lucky she was, she dropped her lips to the contours of his chest as he knelt magnificently naked and proud.
“Is this going to be a fast game?” she teased.
“Absolutely. In fact, one spin should do it.”
Izzy took the bottle from his hand, giving a smug smile at the look of longing and forced control etched on his face.
She gave the bottle a spin, her smile changing to a frown at the sound of the bottle. Of course it landed on her! She picked the bottle up and gave it a gentle shake and heard the rattling sound. Peering inside, she gasped. Her mother’s ring was inside. She turned it out onto her palm. She looked up at Jack, and the unrestrained emotion on his face took her breath.
“Bella, will you marry me? Truth or dare.”
“Well now,” she said on a shaky breath. “That’s a difficult decision. Each result seems to work in my benefit. The truth is I love you. And if you dare me to marry you then yes, a million times yes!”
About Tracey Rogers
A devourer of books from an early age, I spent much of my childhood stepping into wardrobes, searching for that magical snowy world where conversing with animals would be expected. When I wasn’t searching for those worlds, I wrote about them instead. My first step into the world of romance was when I stole sneak peeks into my nana’s books. I’m still in that world and refuse to leave.
I live in Staffordshire, UK, with my husband and three wonderful children. An avid reader and writer of romance, I strongly believe that words make the world go around.
Tracey’s Website:
www.traceyrogers.wordpress.com
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