“And lastly, this is an example of our chocolate covered strawberry tier.” Miss Hansen smiled as her assistants set a medium-sized chocolate fountain in front of us. “The strawberries are cemented around the edges with a clear sugar glue, and your guests will be able to retrieve the chocolate strawberries that are currently floating on the second level.”
“With sticks?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes, Mr. Statham.” She nodded and blushed. “We can even engrave your last name onto the sticks for an extra touch of personality.”
I rolled my eyes as she pulled out a glass box of wooden sticks, as she handed it to him and asked if he liked them enough to give them a try.
“Do you have any questions about anything, Miss Gracen?” She looked at me for the first time all day. “Is there anything else you would like me to show you?”
“No.” I placed my left hand over Jonathan’s, purposely showing off my massive engagement ring. “I think you’ve covered everything. Can my fiancée and I have a few minutes alone please?”
“Of course.” She sneered as she glanced at my ring, and ordered her staff to follow her out of the room.
As soon as they were gone, I picked up my fork and stabbed a strawberry before dipping it into the fountain. Before I could bring it to my lips, Jonathan gently grabbed my hand and pushed the fruit into his mouth.
“It’s very good.” He smiled and prepared one for me to try. “What do you think?”
“It’s okay. It could be better.”
“Are you saying that because she was flirting with me or do you honestly think it could be better?”
“So you did notice how much extra attention she was giving you?”
He smiled.
“It’s not funny, Jonathan.”
“I’m not laughing, Claire.” He mocked me.
“In that case you should’ve said something...”
“Something like what?”
“Nothing.” I rolled my eyes. “I did like her take on white truffles by filling them with buttercream, and I appreciated the caramelized almond dip. That was different.”
“Something like what?” He cupped my face in his hands. “Are you jealous?”
“No...”
He trailed his fingers across my lips. “Are you sure? You have no reason to be...”
“I’m not jealous. I’m just...It would be really nice if we went somewhere and every woman wasn’t gaping at you or flirting with you like I’m not even there—like I’m invisible.”
I remembered our last dinner date at a restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf, how the waitress immediately blushed bright red and giggled—fucking giggled, upon seeing Jonathan.
I was pretty sure that if he hadn’t ordered my food for me, she would’ve never asked me what I wanted, because outside of saying “More water, Miss?” or “May I take your plate?” she directed all of her attention towards him.
“I could say the same for you.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Other men stare at you all the time, especially when you’re wearing a dress.”
“Well, at least I don’t flirt back.” I picked up one of the heart shaped croissants that was on the table and handed it to him. “Men won’t even talk to me when you’re around and you know it... How do you feel about these croissants? Do you like how she made them ‘pieces’ in the upside down chess square cake? Or do you think she could’ve—”
He pressed his lips against mine and pulled me into his lap, making me forget whatever I was about to say.
“First of all,” he said as he let my lips go. “I never flirt back. I simply smile and respond because that’s the nice thing to do. Second of all, the only reason I didn’t look at you during this meeting was because I knew that if I did, I’d be laying you across this table in front of everyone. And third, eight months ago I couldn’t get you to go out in public with me and now you’re showing me affection all the time—which, I fucking love I must say, but I think you are jealous. As a matter of fact, I think you’re the jealous type.”
“What? I am not...”
“You are.” He kissed me again. “But I like it.”
I shook my head, prepared to tell him exactly why I wasn’t the jealous type, but he lifted me out of his lap and set me on the table. Before I could ask what he was doing, he slid the straps of my dress down and unsnapped my bra, letting it fall into my lap.
“Do you want to know how I know you’re the jealous type, Claire?” He smiled and grabbed one of the wooden sticks, placing a strawberry on it and smothering it in chocolate.
“Seeing as though I’m not, it’d be pretty interesting to hear your thoughts...”
“Hmmm.” He moved the strawberry over my breasts, letting the chocolate drip over my nipples. Then he slowly moved it towards my mouth. “Eat it...”
I took a few small bites and swallowed. “I can see how dripping chocolate on me proves that I’m the jealous type.”
“You ran onto that stage last year and kissed me in front of everyone because you were jealous that Stacy was pretending to be my girlfriend, because you didn’t want her anywhere near me.”
“No...I ran up there to prove to you that—” I stopped once he leaned forward and licked one of my nipples.
“I think that deep down that’s the real reason why you ran up there—you didn’t want her to have me.” He slowly took my other nipple into his mouth and ran his fingers through my hair.
“That’s not true...” I murmured.
He looked into my eyes and smiled. Then he dipped one of his fingers in chocolate and pushed it into my mouth.
“I wanted to fuck you right on that stage when you did that...” He waited until I’d sucked his finger clean. “But seeing as though you didn’t do it out of jealousy...”
My breath caught in my throat as he pushed my shoulders down so my back was against the table.
“There are other reasons that clearly prove you’re the jealous type...”
I moaned as he shifted the bottom of my dress up to my stomach, as he leaned forward and pressed a long, hot kiss between my thighs.
“The real reason why you always go as my date to company functions isn’t because you’re trying to be a good girlfriend...” His voice was low. “It’s because you don’t want another woman to get close to me without knowing I’m taken. And you make sure that they know because you never let my hand go...Am I drawing the wrong conclusions?”
I didn’t say anything. I just bit my lip as he flicked my clit with his tongue in between sentences—rendering me completely helpless.
He sat up and grabbed another strawberry, letting the warm liquid drip onto my stomach. He kept his gaze locked on mine as he smeared it across my navel.
“You make Angela text you anytime I have a one on-one meeting with a female client...” He swirled his tongue around my skin, gently licking everything and holding my thighs still. “And you always call right before those meetings... Or show up to my office as soon as they’re done...” He kissed his way up to my neck. “You think I haven’t noticed?”
“Jonathan...”
He let out a low laugh and blew a kiss against my ear. “You still don’t think you’re the jealous type?”
I was trying not to give in. He was kissing my lips and softly caressing my breasts with his hands.
“Am I going to have to fuck you on this table to make you tell me the truth?”
I shook my head and he slowly pulled my legs apart.
“Then tell me the truth, Claire...Tell me you were jealous when you ran up on that stage...”
“I was a little jealous...”
“A little?” He grinned and trailed his fingers against my lower lips.
I sucked in a breath as he massaged my swollen clit with his thumb, as he used his other hand to grab another chocolate strawberry. “A lot...”
“How loud do you think you would scream if I fucked you right now? Do you think the women on the other side of that door would get the point?”
; I gasped and squeezed my legs around him. “Please...We have...” I didn’t want to cum on the catering table. “We have other...other appointments to go to...”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but he slowly pulled me back up and licked one last drop of chocolate off my breasts. “We’ll finish this tonight.”
Hours later, Greg pulled the town car into a small shopping plaza and slowed as he approached the speed bumps.
“Okay, Claire...” Jonathan let out an exasperated sigh. “This is the last appointment of the day. If you don’t like this place, you’re going to have to pick one of the other eight because I’m not putting up with another day of this shit.”
“Seriously? This is our wedding. Don’t you want it to be perfect?”
“I don’t have to have a wedding and you know that. I just want to marry you—the sooner the better.”
I sighed. Since I’d insisted on having a separate caterer for the main dinner, we’d been testing different sweets caterers all day. While most of them were good, none of them left me that impressed. Either the execution was slightly off, the presentation wasn’t eye-catching enough, or the taste of the food left much to be desired.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll try not to be so critical. The last place wasn’t that bad, it’s just...”
“Just what?”
“There was this place back in Pittsburgh—Stella’s. I used to use them for our company functions and they were phenomenal. It was a tiny business, but the woman who owned it worked magic every single time. She always went out of her way to make sure every fruit and h’ordeuvres display was designed to perfection. Plus, she made the best catered food I’ve ever had in my life. I think I’m just comparing everything to that...”
He reached over and held my hand. “If we have to look another day, that’ll be fine. I want this to be the wedding of your dreams.”
“Does that mean you’ll give me an extra month to plan it?”
“No.” He rolled his eyes. “And the next time you ask me that I’ll make you regret it.” He kissed my cheek as the town car came to a stop. “Don’t even try me, Claire...”
Greg opened the back door and reached for my hand. “Mrs. Stath—Miss Gracen.” He cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Greg.” I stepped out and looked up at the pink and white sign that hung over the small cream colored building. It read “Happily Ever After Catering—From One Happy Heart to Another.” There were pink and mint colored cupcakes sitting in the store’s windows, and when I saw the flawless display of vanilla mousse in frosted champagne glasses, I hoped we’d finally found our caterer.
Jonathan held the door open for me and I walked around the store in utter awe. The walls were painted in stripes of white and silver—stripes that complemented the displays that stood right in front of them.
In front of the white backdrops, brightly colored macaroons and pie pops were standing at attention. In front of the silver ones, baby cheesecakes and tuxedoed strawberries looked as if they had been made minutes ago.
“Come here. Look at this.” I motioned him over to a fountain that spewed white chocolate. “Look at how those cookies are floating. And they’re all in the shape of the letter S. How cute is that? The director actually prepared for our meeting.”
“It’s very creative. I like it.”
I walked over to the “Sugary H’ordeuvres Station” and inspected the cherry cupcake and miniature pie spread.
“I have a really good feeling about this.” I smiled. “The presentation is perfect and she doesn’t even have any fruit examples out here. I bet those are phenomenal.”
The French doors that were to our left suddenly opened and a blonde who looked like she was my daughters’ age came out and cleared her throat.
“Good afternoon, soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Statham.,” she said. “Welcome to Happily Ever After Catering. Our manager is finishing up an emergency call right now, but I would love to walk you through our gallery until she’s able to personally assist you.”
I nodded and we followed her into a huge room where mirrors covered the walls and shimmering chandeliers hung low from the ceiling.
“This is where we keep most of our fruit displays. By contract, we’re able to accommodate weddings of up to five hundred people—anything over that requires an additional per person charge and we can only increase up to two thousand due to our permit.”
“This is amazing...” I picked up a small ice sculpture that held dove shaped pineapples and caramel covered cookies. “You know what? I don’t need to see anything else.” I clasped my hands together. “This is it. This is who I want to book with.”
The woman blushed. “Really? I’ll be right back with my manager!”
Jonathan pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “Finally...What else do we need to do?”
“Well, we need to meet with the invitation designer this evening...Then I need to schedule my dress appointment and we need to...” I spotted a chocolate cookie display that spelled “Mrs. Statham” out the corner of my eye. “Give me one second. I have to try one of those...”
I walked over and stuffed one into my mouth—then another and another.
God, I’m in heaven...
As I was eating my fifth one, I heard a raspy voice behind my back.
“Jonathan Statham? As in the Jonathan Statham?” The woman said. “My husband and I are both huge fans of your cell phones! Congratulations on your engagement! It’s an absolute pleasure to show you our gallery today.”
I tried to swallow down one last cookie before I turned back around to greet her.
“It’s a pleasure to do business with you as well.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and spun me around. “This is my fiancée, Claire Gracen. She was just talking about how much she loved—”
“I don’t want anything from here.” I could feel the blood draining from my face.
“What?” He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you just said...”
“Claire?” Amanda’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and Jonathan. “You’re engaged? To him? Well, I...Congratulations...That’s wow... I um...”
She said something, something that sounded like “I hope you won’t let our personal past interfere with doing business with one another,” but all I could do was stand there and stare at her in shock. In disgusted disbelief.
And the more I stared at her, the more I tried my hardest not to lunge at her and give her the beat-down she deserved.
She hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen her. She still had long, flowing auburn hair and soft brown eyes that would make it hard for anyone to believe that she was a home-wrecking bitch.
“I’m only the part time manager,” she whispered. “You don’t have to work directly with me if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t want to work with anyone that even fucking knows you.”
“Claire, you don’t have to be like this. A lot of time has passed and if you would just give me a chance to—”
“You’re not carrying a baby anymore, Amanda.” I snapped. “And since I still owe you an ass-kicking for what you did to me, I suggest that you simply shut the fuck up and let me and my fiancée walk out of that door without you saying another word to either of us.”
Her face turned white and she stepped back, allowing us to walk past her and out of the store.
I was shocked at how well I’d kept it together in front of her, because as soon as I made it outside I lost it.
“Am I in the fucking twilight zone?!” I screamed at Jonathan. “Did that really just happen? She works in San Francisco now? Why the fuck couldn’t she and that bastard live someplace else? And why didn’t Ashley and Caroline tell me that they’d moved here? They could’ve at least warned me—they’re smarter than that...”
“Calm down...” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Neither of them had any idea. There was no way you could’ve known about her being here either. Yo
u’ve always thought she was still—”
“In fucking Pittsburgh! Where she and Ryan belong! What the fuck is this, Jonathan? Both of them? Here? I see them in the same week?”
He looked into my eyes and it looked as if he was about to speak, but he pulled me into his arms and held me close.
“I don’t want to lie to you, but it still makes me sick...” My voice cracked. “I can’t stomach either of them. I just can’t do it...I’m really happy now and I...I don’t want them anywhere around my happiness... I don’t like knowing that they still exist.” I kept shaking my head, but I didn’t allow a single tear to fall. I wouldn’t dare.
I’d let myself come this far and I didn’t want to go back. Ever.
“Can we make the invitation designer meet us later in the week?” I looked up at him. “I just want to be at home with you for the rest of the day.”
“Of course.” He walked me over to the car and helped me inside. Before he joined me, I heard him say something to Greg: “There’s a catering business in Pittsburgh called Stella’s. Find a way to fly the director and her team here this weekend so we can talk to them.”
Chapter 4
Jonathan
I looked over the confirmation files for our honeymoon trip, double checking each flight’s time and each pilot’s flight history. Claire was a lot more comfortable with flying now, but whenever we didn’t use my personal pilot, she insisted on having a copy of the new pilot’s safety record before stepping onboard.
She’d been asking me where we were going after our wedding everyday—even attempting to withhold sex to get it out of me, but I wanted everything to be a surprise. I wanted her to love every single second of our trip.
“Everything looks great.” I nodded at Hayley. “Thank you very much. Make sure Claire gets a copy of these pilot records in the next few weeks.”
“Will do, and you’re welcome.” She took the papers and placed them into her folder. “You know, I honestly never thought that you would get married.”
“Why not?”
“I did come live with you once you started building this company, remember? Before I got smart and went away for college...There were a lot of women in and out of that condo...”
Mid Life Love: At Last Page 7
