“Nothing,” I offered her a brilliant smile. “Can I help you?”
“Ah, is Mackenzie Valentine here?” She flushed in embarrassment as she struggled to restrain the giant beast.
“Sure. Come in,” I stood back a little to let her pass.
“Mac,” I shrieked. “It’s for you!” I waved at the couch before I brushed past her to the front door. “Excuse me, I have to go.”
I jumped in the car, peeling out of the driveway and planting my foot until I arrived at my destination. Parking the car, I didn’t bother with my bag. Instead I grabbed my phone and raced for the entrance, checking the board to make sure I could find where I needed to be. Bingo. Jogging to the right gate number, my gaze searched the crowds until I found who I was looking for.
“Evie,” Casey said in shock when I reached him and Mitch.
Hands on my hips, I sucked in a few breaths until I was able to speak.
“You’re leaving,” I wheezed accusingly as I tried to catch my breath.
“I need to get going.” Mitch gave Casey a nod. “See you in a few.” Mitch gave my shoulder a squeeze. “See you tonight, sweetheart.”
I snagged Mitch’s arm before he moved away. “What’s tonight?”
“Dinner.” At my clueless expression, he continued. “At Mum and Dad’s. Mac didn’t tell you?”
“No, but I left in kind of a hurry this morning. We start shooting our music video today. I’m not sure what time we’ll finish.”
“Just come over whenever.”
I nodded distractedly as a loud voice came over the PA, announcing the boarding for Flight QF107 to Dallas Fort Worth.
“That’s my flight,” Casey said.
Mitch left with a wave, and I folded my arms to help hold back the tears as we turned to face each other. “Are you leaving because of me? Because I swear to God, I’m sick of people leaving me. It hurts.”
He grabbed my arm, steering me out the way of people trying to get through. “How did you even know I was leaving? Did you speak to Jared?”
I nodded in response.
He let go of my arm. “I’m not leaving because of you. I’m leaving for you. You both need each other right now, and this was the best thing I could think of that would help. I’m just trying to be the friend that you need, okay?”
His words only reinforced my belief that the man wasn’t real, and my eyes softened on his face.
“Thanks, Casey. I appreciate you doing this for us...so much.”
“Yeah? Just don’t stuff it up this time.”
“Me?” I let out a squeak. “What about Jared?”
Casey picked up his carry-on bag. “I’ve already warned him.”
The final boarding call came for his flight.
“I have to go.”
I nodded, and unfolding my arms as tears finally made their appearance, I smiled through them. “I’ll miss you, hotdog.”
He brushed a gentle hand down the side of my face. “I’ll miss you too, Kook. Make sure you get Jared to take you out surfing while I’m gone, okay? Don’t want you losing all those mad skills of yours.”
He grinned and I rolled my eyes.
“Only if you promise to surf with me when you come back.”
“Deal. It’s no fun surfing without you anyway.”
He offered a final wave, and I watched him leave until I couldn’t see him anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Half an hour late thanks to traffic, I pulled up outside a house in Bondi, a pretty beachside suburb north of our duplex at Coogee. Rain had begun to sprinkle, turning the surrounding leafy trees a rich, glossy green. I looked towards the house. It was a large, two storey weatherboard building with a timber porch that bordered the front exterior, a pretty railing, and wide steps leading down to a paved, front pathway. It looked in need of a little makeover, well, maybe a major makeover. The painted timber was peeling, the porch seemed to sag in the middle, and the gardens looked sad and brown. In comparison, the neighbouring houses were well-tended and appealing, and I would have wondered if I had the right house had Jared’s Porsche not been parked in the driveway. I parked in the street on the opposite side of the rundown eyesore and turned the car off.
Jared must have been watching for me because he came out to the front porch when I pulled up. Waiting, he stretched his arms to loosely hold the top beam. Biceps rippled and I caught a tantalising glimpse of tanned muscles pulled taut where his shirt rode up. His loose worn jeans rode low on his hips, and his hair, even longer then when I saw him last, hung in his eyes and touched the back of his neck. My thoughts scattered at the sight and in what felt like a dream, I slid the keys from the ignition and climbed out of the car.
He remained unmoving as I began to walk across the road, and his piercing green eyes never left my face. As I got closer, he put his hands in his pockets and slowly made his way down the porch steps.
The light patter of rain dusted my face and flutters caressed my stomach as I watched him watching me. My throat feeling dry, I swallowed before breathing in the clean, sweet scent of rain.
“Baby,” he whispered when I reached his side. His hand came out and rested against the side of my face, his thumb stroking across my cheek, looking at me as though I would disappear at any moment.
The moment I felt his touch, the warmth missing from my body flooded through me in a rush, and I knew we would have our middle. Tears filled my eyes and my voice wobbled. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears blurred his vision. He bent his head, almost hesitant, and his lips captured mine softly. I leaned my body into the kiss, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. Not expecting my enthusiasm, he stumbled, falling back on the top step of the porch. Arms attached, I went with him, somehow managing to straddle his lap. For a brief moment, I feared we might fall through the middle of the sagging timber, and he chuckled at the look of surprise on my face. The sound was low and sexy, and as his crinkling eyes smiled up at me, I burst out laughing. To my horror, the laughter turned into great, heaving sobs, and I hid my face in my hands. Jared’s arms came around me, crushing me into his chest as his hands ran soothingly over my back. He crooned soft words interspersed with promises to never leave again as I cried into his neck. Eventually I calmed, and to save face, blamed my outburst on Jude and his ability to put me in touch with my emotional side.
I pulled away and he wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.
“Sorry.”
His hands gripped my hips tightly as his eyes locked on mine. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t forgive myself for what happened to you. I still can’t, but that’s something I have to deal with. I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving you. I thought you’d be better off without me, but you’re in my heart, baby, and I can’t get you out. I don’t want you out. I want you in there, and I promise I’ll never leave you again, no matter what. Just please forgive me and don’t ask me to let you go.” His voice was hoarse but his gentle plea was so very sweet. “I love you, baby.”
The relief in knowing this man was not prepared to let me go again had me smiling wide. I sobered my face, but a faint smile still remained as I spoke. “I forgive you, Jared, and I don’t want you to let me go because I love you too.”
“Evie.” He breathed against my mouth as my lips rose to meet his again. I felt his fingers, feather light as they brushed down my cheeks and my neck. He ran his tongue across my lips, nipping my bottom lip with his teeth, and when I opened my mouth, he swept his tongue inside. I whimpered as his hands moved firmly down my back, grabbing my ass, yanking me hard against him. He slid one hand beneath my shirt, running his hand up the bare skin as he ground his mouth against mine.
Breathless, I pulled away with a grin. “We’re making out on the front porch of someone’s house.”
“We are.” He nodded, the curl of his lips belying the seriousness in his eyes. “And it feels fucking amazing.”
“It does.”
He slowly slid
his hands out from under my shirt and stood, setting me gently on my feet, and taking my hand in his. “Come on.” He tugged me up the stairs of the front porch and inside of the house. “This is what I wanted to show you.”
With eyes wide, my gaze travelled the interior of the huge, empty house, noting the rundown exterior was nothing in comparison to what was on the inside. The windows appeared welded shut under the weight of filth. Psychedelic wallpaper, that I knew would have Tim running for cover, peeled off the walls. The ratty floor fibres, which could be carpet―it was hard to tell under the layers of crust―were so offensive I wouldn’t let Peter put his paws on it, and the kitchen was done in a colour of lime green so bright it could take out an eye.
I blinked. “What a dump!”
“I bought it.”
He laughed at my look of horror. Henry had said Jared was so in love with me he couldn’t think clearly, and I could only conclude he was right.
“You bought this?”
“I’ll show you around. Come on.”
“Just promise me I don’t have to touch anything and I’m all yours.”
He held out a hand. “I promise you don’t have to touch anything. Except me of course,” he added with a wink.
“Well then, what are you waiting for?” I said gamely and slid my hand in his.
He kept up a running commentary of the house and all the renovations he had planned in his head as he led me from room to room. He wanted to open up the downstairs area into a huge dining and living area with bi-folding doors to a back deck. The deck would lead down to a pool and a pool house on the left and still leave enough room to accommodate a game of backyard cricket. He wanted to extend onto the back to add a study and increase the size of the kitchen. Leading me up stairs so rickety I feared falling through, we moved into what would be the master bedroom. Big windows overlooked the backyard where he said he wanted to add a small upstairs deck, then he led me through the all-important four other bedrooms “for the kids.”
“You’re really serious about that.”
“Yep.” A large smile stretched across his face as he nodded.
“Two.”
“Four.”
I changed the subject. “Why don’t you just demolish the house and start again? It’s so much work.”
He led me back down the stairs. “Because this house has character and charm,” he explained. “I want to make it ours babe. I want us to get married in this house and raise a family. It has a great school nearby, and the beach is in walking distance so we can take the kids out, teach them to surf. We can put a pool in, have barbecues…”
I started to tune out in a complete daze because what he was offering was the whole package, and it sounded amazing and I wanted it so, so very much, but…
“… will you?”
“Huh?” I was busy wondering how my career would mesh with this newly discovered dream I decided I needed to have. I tuned into him standing by the back window, his hands in his pockets, his face expectant.
“I’m rushing you, aren’t I?”
“Sorry, will I what?”
“Will you move in with me? You and Peter?” He strode towards me as he spoke and took both my hands in his.
“I… it all sounds amazing, and I want it more than anything, really, I just…”
Trailing off, I let go of his hands and moved towards the same window he’d just stepped away from. My eyes stared out into the yard, envisioning Jared and our kids running around the grass, playing cricket, the bright sound of young giggles cutting through the splash of pool water. I could sit out the back in the warm, orange glow of sunset, and strum my guitar and sip wine as I watched them all play. How could I have that and endure touring, night after night, months away from them all? How could I make it work?
“You just make it work, Evie. It’s that hard and that simple.”
Travis’ words came back to haunt me and hope fluttered in my chest. Maybe I really could have it all, it might not be easy, but I was forever hearing that nothing worth having ever was.
“I know you’re going to be busy with Jamieson taking off like it is, but I want you with me. When you come home from tours, from your travelling, I want to be the one who picks you up and brings you home, to our home, so you can tell me all about what you did and where you went. Sometimes, I could even juggle my workload and come with you. I want us to spend our days off together at the beach or here working on the house, building it into something we can both share together. Fill it up with kids. I know that babies might still be a while off, but we can make it work. I can take on a safer role at the office. I can be the one who looks after them, or you can if that’s what you want. We can make this work, Evie. Say yes.”
He took in a deep breath, his eyes watching me with uncertainty.
Fuck it. I wanted this.
I grinned. “Yes.”
“Yes you’ll move in?”
“Yes!” I shouted.
He whooped and grabbed me, picking me up and spinning me around. “I love you so much, baby.” He laughed, unable to contain the joy that was bubbling over.
Tears started leaking out. “Oh God again? Jude has so much to answer for.”
“I agree. If you’re like this now, imagine what you’d be like pregnant?”
He winked at me and I slapped his arm as he set me back on my feet.
“Hey, wait. What about your share in the loft with Travis?”
“I sold it to Casey while I was still overseas.”
“Oh. Well that worked out well, but uh, where are you going to stay with the renovations going on, at the duplex?”
He looked confused. “Well no, here, in our house, with you.”
He thought I was going to live here? Now? I looked around, and the hideous, filthy interior only confirmed my suspicions that Jared had completely lost his mind.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Oh I get it.”
“Get what?”
“You’re being a princess.”
I gasped in horror. “I am totally not. This house is not fit for our dog, let alone us. There’s probably a family of rats living in the kitchen, coming out every night to cook on their little rat camp stove and scatter a few rat poos about the floor before going to sleep in their little rat beds.” I shuddered at the image.
“Evie,” he said in his “I’m talking to a five year old” voice. “The point is that we live in it and do it up at the same time. I want to do most of the work myself so it makes sense.”
“Okay. Well how about you move in, and when you’re finished all the work, then Peter and I will join you.”
He folded his arms. “God, you are so stubborn. Okay. How about we both stay at the duplex over the next two weeks, and I’ll get the main bedroom and the kitchen done, and then we’ll move in together.”
I nodded. “That could work.” I held up a finger. “On one condition though.”
“What?”
“My bed goes in the main bedroom.”
“Baby, I have missed that bed almost as much as you. Your bed not coming with you is a deal breaker.”
I laughed, putting my hands on his hips to yank him close. He bent his head and kissed me, and I slid my hands around him with a moan, slipping them inside the back of his jeans. It was like igniting a fire, and soon his lips were trailing hungrily down my neck, the hard length of him grinding against me as his own hands slipped under my shirt, tracing the warm the skin to my breasts.
“Jared,” I panted.
“Mmmm?”
My eyes scanned the whole area of the house but nowhere seemed to fit the bill of what I needed.
His lips moved back up my neck. “I want you so goddamn much.”
“Where?” I questioned. “The front porch is cleaner than in here. We can give the new neighbours a show.”
His chuckle vibrated against my neck where his head was buried.
“Don’t laugh. I’m serious. Wait. The car. Mine. It’s bigger.”
r /> Suddenly serious, he picked me up. “Let’s go.”
Plastered all over his front, legs wrapped around his hips, I giggled as he carried me out the front door.
My phone buzzed.
Shit.
“Don’t answer it,” Jared said, somehow managing to talk, walk, and suck on my neck all at the same time. Who said men couldn’t multi-task when it mattered?
“It’ll be Mac with a message.”
He set me down with a sigh, and I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Yep, Mac.”
M: Get your hands out of Jared’s pants and return home pronto. Music video ring any bells?
As soon as I read it, another buzzed through from Henry this time.
H: Chook, Mac’s about to blow. Get home ASAP. PS You owe me.
This time I let out a loud sigh. “I have to go. We have a music video to shoot today, and Mac is currently biting the heads of chickens and bathing Henry in their blood.”
He laughed. “God, I missed you so much. Okay. Let’s pick up where we left off tonight.”
I nodded. “Bring your things to the duplex some time today, and I’ll message you when I know when we’ll be done.”
“Okay.”
My face fell and he raised his eyebrows.
“What?”
“Mitch said it was dinner at your parents place tonight.”
Hands on his hips, he tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling of the porch for a moment as though praying for patience. “Okay, then.” His gaze returned to me. “We’ll eat and run.”
“I can deal with that.”
Jingling my keys, I smacked his lips in a loud kiss, turned around, and started down the pathway.
“Baby?” he called out.
I turned around and stared walking backwards as I watched him.
“Yeah?”
“I…never mind.”
I stopped. “What?”
“I just wanted to say that I can’t remember ever being this happy.”
I grinned. “Me either.”
When I returned to the duplex, Mac and Henry were in the kitchen chatting to the new assistant Quinn. I was introduced and we talked briefly while I poured a cold drink.