by M. Stratton
Somehow, he managed to be sexy just standing there so casually holding a water bottle. Rolling over onto her side, she rested her head on her hand.
“Oh, Mr. Martinsson, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming back to bed.”
Looking at her over his shoulder, a grin lit up his face. Slowly, he turned and stalked toward her. “Mrs. Martinsson, your every wish is but my command.” He bowed as he approached the bed. Placing one knee on the edge of the bed, he leaned down until his face was right in front of hers. “Tell me, what your wish is?” he whispered.
She smiled. “Don’t you know? I’m out of wishes. I have no more. You’ve made them all come true.”
“Darling, you made them come true. I am simply here to hold them for you and to love you.”
“You do so much more than that, my love. I’m so totally in love with you.”
“And I with you. But now you need to get that lovely arse out of bed. Sadly, it is time for us to leave.”
“Okay, I changed my mind. I do have one more wish.”
“And what is that?”
“We still have a little bit of time left. Maybe you could show me, again, how much you appreciate the fact that we are husband and wife.”
“Now that I can do.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Over and over and over again.”
“Excellent.”
Hannah knew she couldn’t wait any longer. It was time. Not that either Royce or she kept the house messy, but she knew she was stalling as she started going through the house, making sure all the pictures on the walls weren’t crooked.
Lissa and Will had returned late the previous afternoon. She had gone over and heard all about how much fun they had at Hotel Del Coronado. Her friend was so happy; it was nice to see. Not that Lissa had been sad over the years; it was the fact that she was so at peace and so full of love. She was deep down in the gut happy.
But it was finally the day and she couldn’t put it off any longer. Slowly, Hannah walked up the back stairs and jumped when Beau started talking to her.
“Why the long face? You aren’t going to the gallows you know.” He smiled at her.
“I hope not.”
“Come here.” He patted the chair next to him. “Tell Uncle Beau about it.”
She shook her head. “Is Lissa up yet?”
“Yes, she wandered down a little bit ago. Go ahead and get your problems off your chest. You’ll feel better.”
With her hand on the door to open it, she turned and looked at him. “How do you know I have something to get off my chest?”
“Because, you, my love, have been different since you got back from New Orleans.”
“Really? Hmmm . . .”
“After you tell her, come out and tell me. I’ve been dying to grill you but Will wouldn’t let me.”
“I’ll have to thank him.”
“You’re no fun.”
“That’s not a newsflash.” She opened the door and walked in. Lissa was curled up on the couch with her laptop on her lap.
“Hey there, little mama, how’s the baby building business going?” Hannah asked.
Lissa’s smile brightened the room. “Absolutely wonderful.”
“Great. Just great! Are you eating okay? Is there anything I can make you? What about sleeping? Are you getting enough sleep? I should go through your schedule and adjust, especially for October, since. You’re not going to want to be doing any traveling then. Oh, and Will’s schedule, I’ll get that from Beau and see if we can make adjustments there so he’s here with you. And—”
“Stop!” Lissa yelled. “Breathe.”
“What? I’m just excited you’re going to have a baby.”
“Yes, I know that, and I know you.” She patted the couch next to her. “Come here and tell me all about it. What’s up?”
“What the hell . . . ? How come everyone thinks something is up? Geez.” She went over and plopped down next to Lissa.
“Geez, I don’t know, maybe because we know you. Come on, tell me.”
Hannah sighed and looked at the phone which she flipped over and over in her hands. She thought she had the perfect way to tell Lissa all planned out, but now she wasn’t sure.
“Hannah . . .”
She swiped at her phone and opened her picture file, scrolling through until she found the video she was looking for. With a shaking finger, she pressed play, handed the phone to Lissa and closed her eyes tightly, waiting for her friend’s reaction, while remembering every word, every touch and every emotion of the ceremony.
When silence filled the room because the video was over and Lissa didn’t say anything, Hannah squinted her eyes open and looked at her. When she saw the tears flowing down Lissa’s cheeks, her eyes flew open. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just didn’t know how to tell you. Oh, please stop.” She jumped up and grabbed the tissue box, holding it out in front of Lissa’s face. “Here, please stop. Please.”
Lissa shook her head. “I’m . . . I’m . . . just . . . so happy . . . for you . . .” she wailed. “You . . . deserve . . . to be . . . happy!”
Hannah couldn’t help it; she laughed. It was almost the same exact thing she’d told Royce about Lissa and Will. They were quite a pair. “I am happy, but I’d be happier if you’d stop crying.”
“I’m pregnant, dammit! I can’t stop.”
Hannah couldn’t stop the tears from falling from her own eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
They cried harder and wrapped their arms around each other. Beau walked in on them and stopped, shaking his head. “If anyone needs me I’m going to the nearest sporting goods store. I need to be around some testosterone. All these female feelings are getting to be too much.”
Hannah pulled away from Lissa and narrowed her eyes at him. “For that comment, I hope they are having a girl and you’ll have to deal with another female all the time.”
Beau shuddered. “No, thank you. It’s going to be a boy.” He nodded toward Lissa. “Beauregard William Martinsson sounds wonderful to me.”
“Nice try, but no.” Lissa sniffled. “Run along. Go do something manly to make yourself feel better, Hannah and I have some things to talk about, and you don’t want to get too close to us. You know, female emotions and all.”
“I’m going. I’m going. Carry on.” He grabbed the keys off the counter and left.
Lissa turned to Hannah. “Why didn’t you tell me as soon as you got back?”
“It was all so spur of the moment. One minute we were in a jazz club and the next he’s proposing to me. I knew it was the right thing to do. There was no doubt, no fear, and no little voice in the back of my head telling me I was doing something stupid. It was so right.”
“Oh, I understand that completely.” Lissa looked down at her wedding ring, still so new on her finger. “Where’s your ring?”
Hannah fished it out of her pocket and put it on her finger.
“Oh, let me see.” Lissa grabbed her hand and looked at the simple diamond ring, so perfect for Hannah. “Oh, he did good.”
“It all happened so quickly we actually didn’t have any rings to exchange. We went out afterward and picked them out.”
“Wow. We’re both married.” Lissa sighed and leaned back. “Can you believe a year ago where we were? We hadn’t met Will or Royce yet, yet here we are a year later, both married and I’m pregnant.”
“And happy, we’re both ridiculously happy.”
“We are.” Lissa sat up. “Does Will know?”
“No, I made Royce promise he wouldn’t say anything to Will until after I told you. I didn’t want to put him in that position.”
“Whew, he’s not in the doghouse then. Oh, wait, does Royce know you’re telling me today? And just how in the hell did you get him to agree not to say anything?”
Hannah blushed. “You could say we’ve been arguing about it.”
“Seriously?” Lissa slapped her on the shoulder. “I know you have more
brains than that. Wait? Were you being a chickenshit and scared to tell me? You were!”
“No . . . well, maybe a little bit.”
Lissa sighed. “I don’t think I’m that scary.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
“Shut it. Hey, I’m not Christine scary! I just thought of something. You were married when we told Christine about Will and I getting married and having a baby, but you didn’t tell her about you and Royce. Oh, girl, you’re in so much trouble.” Lissa clapped. “I’m so excited it’s not me for once.” She jumped up and picked up her phone on the counter. “Let’s call her right now.”
“You’re too late.”
“What do you mean, I’m too late?”
“I called her before I came over here.”
“Dammit, I missed it.”
“Yep.”
“But Will and Beau don’t know yet, right?”
“Unless Beau overheard you wailing about me being married, he doesn’t know.”
“I did not wail.” Lissa looked at her out of the corner of her eyes, a smirk on her lips. “Fine. But at least let me tell them.”
“Deal.”
“What about the press. When are we going to tell them?”
“When are you going to tell them about you and Will?”
“That hasn’t been exactly determined yet.”
“Well, let’s just sit back and let the guys decide.”
“Perfect. I have one more question,” Lissa said.
“Sure, what?”
“You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“No, why?”
“Well, I was just wondering if I should be getting two of everything since we seem to be synced up on everything else in life.”
“Ha-ha.”
“I thought so.” Lissa patted herself on the back. “I’m pretty funny.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“So, here’s what I think.” Lissa looked around. “When the guys get here, don’t say anything. I want to see who notices that ring on your finger first.”
“See there you go again, making jokes. Men don’t notice things.”
“True, but at some point, someone will notice. They have to.”
“Should we make a bet if they even notice tonight?” When Hannah saw Lissa’s smirk, she added, “And no doing something to make them notice it’s on my finger.”
“Damn . . .”
“I know you too well.”
“Yes, yes you do.”
They sat around the long farm table talking, the doors open to let the breeze in after dinner, so far, no one had noticed Hannah’s ring. Lissa sighed. It really hadn’t been that long. The men had arrived home right as dinner was ready to be put on the table and then they’d been so hungry they communicated in grunts as they ate. As far as they were able to get out of them, it was an active day on set, both of them repeatedly filming stunts.
Lissa sat cuddled up on Will’s lap in one of the large captain chairs at the head of the table. She wanted to say something so badly; she had to keep biting her tongue. Will’s left hand rested on her belly, while she not so absently played with the ring on his finger, spinning it around, trying to come up with a way for him to notice Hannah’s without Hannah knowing what she had done.
Royce got up from the table and opened another bottle of wine. Going around he refilled Will’s, Beau’s and Hannah’s. As she lifted her glass to him, the diamond in her ring reflected the light and Royce gasped.
“You told her?” he asked.
“Yes.” Hannah smiled at him.
“You told her? You really told her?”
“Yes, Mr. Rivers.”
“Finally, Mrs. Rivers.”
Lissa was practically vibrating waiting for it, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Hannah and Royce staring deep into each other’s eyes from across the table.
“Did I hear correctly?” Will whispered in her ear.
Chills ran down her spine from his voice low and smooth, tickling her neck. She turned her head and looked at him. There were times when it still took her by surprise that he was hers. The man of her dreams, who she hadn’t known existed until she had seen a video online of him at a convention. Then when she had met him, he was even better than she imagined. She was distracted; he was right here. She could feel the heat of his body, smell his scent and get lost in his eyes for an eternity.
“Melissa, darling . . .”
“Yes, William.”
“Did Royce and Hannah get married?”
“They sure did.”
“How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you? Truly?”
“Yes, I am. Look at her. How could I not be?” She rested her head on his shoulder and watched as Royce stalked around the table to Hannah, pulling her roughly into his arms and kissing per passionately. Her heart sighed for her friend. “How could I not be?”
Royce hired a car to take Hannah to the airport to pick up Hope. Lissa wanted to go but there was no way the guys were letting her. First off, none of the media knew she and Will were married yet and they didn’t want to take the chance of the paparazzi crowding her. While they knew of Hannah, they mostly left her alone, especially if Royce wasn’t with her.
Spinning the ring around on her finger, Hannah was surprised at how natural there. Except for when she was young, and would pretend to be married, she never wore a ring on that finger. In fact, she hardly wore any jewelry. As they pulled up, she slid the ring off her finger and put it into her pocket. The last thing she wanted was for Hope to notice and say something where someone might overhear. She shook her head at herself, remembering when she and Lissa were joking about being secret spies, and now most things they did had to be kept secret.
After picking up Hope’s bags and climbing into the waiting car, Hannah filled her in on what was going to be going on for the rest of their stay in Los Angeles, and then what was coming up next. While they’d known Hope for years, Hannah appreciated the fact that as soon as she started talking, Hope pulled out pen and paper and started taking notes. She needed to make sure Lissa would be taken care of, more now than ever, and she didn’t want to waste one minute getting Hope ready.
Hannah knew once Hope found out Lissa was pregnant she’d be taking good care of her, better than Hannah would be able to. Hope was what Hannah referred to as an earth mother. She loved to take care of people. Hope always said there were no strangers, just friends you hadn’t met yet. And once she met you, she’d take care of you. She was constantly cooking or baking, taking the items to neighbors, or anyone who needed it.
“Wow,” Hope whispered. “These houses . . .”
They were traveling through Malibu to the beach houses. “Yeah, it’s crazy, and if you knew who lived in some of these, well, you’re going to be meeting a couple of them.”
Hope turned to her with wide eyes. “I know. I can’t believe it. Will Martinsson and Royce Rivers. Holy heck. I’m sure I’m going to say something stupid and embarrass myself.”
Hannah couldn’t help it; she laughed. When Hope gave her a strange look, she calmed herself down and said, “Don’t mind me. Lissa and I had the same conversation after she got back from lunch with Will, and we knew we’d be going to the movie premiere. You’ll be fine. They’re used to the two of us being dorks all the time.”
“Well, that’s good. I think.”
“Don’t worry. They’re just men.”
“Yeah, really hot, sexy men. Men women have fantasies about.”
“Oh, yeah, and let me tell you, real life is much better.”
“I don’t need to hear this.” Hope put her hands over her ears.
Hannah pulled her hands down. “Seriously, they’re just a couple of guys, and plus there’s Beau. He’s Will’s assistant. He’s really cool and has the same wicked accent. You could totally just sit there and listen to them both take turns reading the phone book. Funny story, I did get Beau to read a couple of names and numbers out of
it the other day.”
“He did?”
“Oh, yeah, Beau is awesome. You’ll like him. Will thinks the moon and stars begin and end with Lissa. It’s really wonderful. They are so happy together. And Royce . . . well . . . Royce is . . .” Hannah smiled. “Royce.”
“Well, that tells me a lot.”
“You’ll get to meet him soon enough. We’re here.” The car pulled into Lissa’s drive and they got out. Hannah pointed to the house next door. “Royce and I are over there. Lissa, Will and Beau are in this one.” She started to walk away but Hope’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“Wait a minute, you and Royce?” Hope frowned at her.
“I told you.”
“Well, yeah, you did, but to see it, here like this, so casually. ‘Royce and I are here in this huge beach house and Will and Lissa are over in that larger beach house.’ It’s all so strange.”
“Well, yeah, I guess when you put it that way,” Hannah said. “Let’s get inside and I’ll bring you up to date on everything, because there’s a lot more news to come.”
“Oh, geez. What have the two of you done?”
“What do you mean? You make it sound like we’re always causing trouble or something.”
Hope only looked at her.
“Fine, yes, we like to joke and have fun, but this has nothing to do with a joke.” Hannah tilted her head to the side. “But I will say it’s been fun.”
“Am I going to be running after the two of you like I’m trying to keep a couple of toddlers out of trouble?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about. Besides, once the movie is over, Royce has three months off, and now, so do I. We’re going away, somewhere with a deserted beach, just the two of us, so you’ll only have to worry about what Lissa is going to do.”
Hope sighed. “That sounds like so much fun. It’s always been a dream of mine to travel.”
“Well, with Will’s schedule, you’ll get your dream. Remember, his next film is over in Europe.”
