The Complete Perfect Series

by Lindsey Powell

  I grimace at Jake’s comment.

  I do know, I just haven’t broken the news to him.

  He sees my reaction before I can mask it and he starts to frown.

  “You do know how long you are going for, don’t you?” he asks me, accusingly.

  I remain silent as I know that he is going to hate how long we are going to apart for. “Stacey, how long are you going for?” His voice is quiet, and his eyes are fixed on mine.

  I take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself for the reaction I am going to get from him.

  “Six months,” I whisper as my eyes fixate on some imaginary piece of fluff on my knee.

  “Pardon? I don’t think that I heard you correctly.”

  “Six months,” I say again, only a tiny bit louder than before. I chance a quick look at Jake and the look on his face is one of horror.

  “Six fucking months?” he exclaims. I just nod at him. He stands up and runs his hands through his hair. “Bloody hell, Stace. Six months is half of the fucking year. Why haven’t you told me this before now?”

  “I haven’t long found out myself. I was going to tell you last night, but we had such a lovely meal and I didn’t want to spoil it.” I stand up and walk over to him, placing my hands on his chest. “I know that it’s not ideal, but I have to do this.”

  I start to move my hands up his body and I place them on his broad shoulders. “Besides, there is a thing called a phone, and we can face time, and maybe there will be a break in my schedule allowing me to come back home for a few days. Or you could come and see me whilst I’m over there. It’s not the end of the world, Jake.”

  “Well, it fucking feels like it.” Jake sounds like a stroppy teenager.

  I smile and stand on tip toes to place a kiss at the edge of his mouth.

  “Stop sulking. I have already told Chloe that once I have finished the tour around America, I want a couple of months off. That means you will get me all to yourself. Well, apart from Martin and Lydia of course. They need some Stacey time too.” I can see that Jake is trying to fight the smile that is tugging at his lips.

  “You do realise that they won’t be getting any Stacey time until we have had our second honeymoon, don’t you?” Jake says, and I know that he is coming around to my compromise idea.

  “I’m sure they will be able to live with that.” I link my hands around his neck and pull his face to mine. I stick out my tongue and run it over his bottom lip. “Now, have you quite finished stropping, Mr Waters? Because if you have, then your wife-to-be would very much like to be ravished, right here, right now.” Jake chuckles and it warms my heart.

  “Well, when you put it like that, what kind of a man would I be to deny you such a request?”

  “Exactly. Pants off, Waters.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Stacey

  I stand and stare at all of the beautiful dresses around me.

  The designer wedding gowns are exquisite.

  The shop assistant brings me a glass of champagne and I take it from her, grateful for the silky bubbles that are sliding down my throat. The shop assistant is called Holly, and she must only be about twenty-five. I feel ancient compared to her, even though I am only three years older. She is dressed in a chic pant-suit and her blond hair is pulled back into a neat bun. She seems pleasant and has been very welcoming, but I can’t help but feel out of place.

  I am not used to this lifestyle.

  Even though I have been with Jake for nine months now, we have always just been so comfortable and casual with one another. I have never seen his money as a reason to be with him. I have never been interested in his wealth. But he wants me to have the dress of my dreams, so here I am, in the most expensive wedding dress shop in the whole of London. Lydia is absolutely giddy with excitement. She revels in the glamour and designer names. Each dress in here is one of a kind, so I know that there isn’t a chance in hell that anyone else would ever be seen wearing the same dress as me.

  “Have you had a chance to peruse some of our selection?” Holly asks me, distracting me from my thoughts.

  “Oh my gosh,” I hear Lydia say as she stands with her back to me. “Stace, this dress is perfect for you.” She moves to the side and I get a look at the dress that she is referring to. It is gorgeous. The ivory bodice is covered in lace and is strapless. The dress is floor length, with a very small train on the back.

  “Sorry, Holly,” I say. “You will have to excuse my friend’s excitement.” Lydia has gasped at every dress that she has laid eyes on so far. This is now the sixth dress that is apparently perfect for me.

  “No problem.” Holly smiles at me. She must get over-excited people in here all of the time. “Although, I have to agree, that dress would look beautiful on you.” I am not so sure that I could pull off wearing the design, but what the hell, I may as well try it on. “Would you like me to put it in the dressing room for you to try on?”

  “Sure,” I reply.

  “Size ten?” Holly asks me.

  “Yes.” I guess that working in a high-end wedding shop, you become accustomed to guessing the correct size for the brides-to-be.

  “Fabulous.” I guess this means that the dress in question is my size. “Would you like me to bring anymore dresses that may suit your figure.”

  “That would be great,” I say. Holly nods and walks away, leaving Lydia and I alone. Lydia is scouring some more dresses.

  “There are too many to choose from,” Lydia says, more to herself than to me. I stay routed to the spot and try to pinpoint where to start looking. It is a little daunting that this is happening so fast.

  “Stacey,” I hear Lydia say, pulling me from my inner thoughts. I turn to look at her and she has a puzzled look on her face. “What’s wrong, babes?”

  “I just… I don’t feel comfortable here, Lyd. I don’t fit into this world. This is all too fancy for me,” I say with a sigh.

  “Hey, now cut that out,” Lydia says, her tone sharp. “You deserve to have a beautiful wedding dress, Stace. Now, will you please start enjoying yourself, otherwise I may be forced to slap you.”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” I say sarcastically.

  “So you should be. This is something that you have probably been dreaming about since you were a little girl. Not every bride-to-be gets the chance to look at dresses like these. Just enjoy being pampered and go with it.” I understand what Lydia is saying, but it is hard to change my opinion. I have always been a simple person. I would be happy buying a wedding dress from a high-street store seeing as I am only going to wear it once.

  Holly returns and ushers me towards the changing room at the back of the shop, and I see that she has already hung some dresses in there for me.

  “If you need any help at all then just push the button by the mirror,” Holly says pointing to the button.

  “Thank you, Holly.” She smiles and pulls the curtain shut.

  I sigh as I look at myself in the mirror. I look tired. I still haven’t caught up on sleep from Saturday night. I thought that yesterday was going to be a relaxing day, but Jake had other ideas. He had me up at nine in the morning to help him make more decisions for the wedding. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that he has so much interest in our big day, but I always thought that the woman was meant to turn into a bridezilla, not the man.

  I sigh again and put on the first dress. I don’t need any help with this one as the zip does up at the side. This dress is not one that I would have chosen myself, but I don’t want to appear rude by not trying it on. The top half of the dress is just plain white and strapless, but the bottom half could not be more different. The meringue on it is ridiculous. I feel like one of those ladies that people have in their toilets to cover their loo rolls. Just to add to its ridiculousness, it looks like someone has emptied the entire contents of a glitter bottle all over it.

  I pull back the changing room curtain and see that whilst Holly is smiling, Lydia is grimacing.

  “You look wonderful,” Hol
ly says. She must have been trained well as her smile never falters, even though I actually look hideous. I just stare at her with one eyebrow raised.

  “Um, I don’t think that this is the right dress for me,” I say. I don’t ask Lydia her opinion, it’s bloody obvious from her lack of excitement and gritted teeth.

  I pull the curtain back across the changing room and start to take the dress off. Once I am out of the monstrosity, I put the dress back on the hanger and hang it on the other side of the changing room. The next two dresses I try on are not much better than the first.

  As beautiful as they may look on the hanger, they just don’t suit my figure at all. I start to doubt Holly’s ability to help me find the perfect dress.

  With another sigh, I look to the next dress to try on. This one happens to be beautiful, but simple. The top half has long sleeves which are made of lace, leading to a flattering neck line cut which dips slightly to give some cleavage but not too much. The bottom half of the dress is ivory silk which looks exquisite and feels so soft. I admire it on the hanger for a few moments before attempting to put it on.

  This dress has no signs of glitter, or big frills. It is floor length and it has no long train hanging from the back of it either. I take the dress off of the hanger and undo the side zip. I slip into the dress and do the zip up before looking in the mirror at my reflection. The feel of the material is wonderful, and I take a tentative look in the mirror and gasp.

  The dress hugs my figure in all of the right places and it accentuates my breasts. It is flattering, and I really hope that Holly and Lydia have the same reaction as me. I pull back the curtain and look up to see that Lydia has her mouth covered whilst Holly is smiling. My eyes stay on Lydia. Holly has smiled at every dress so far, so I should probably disregard her opinion.

  I stand there and hold my breath as I wait for Lydia to speak, and I see tears begin to fill her eyes.

  “Oh, Stace, you look absolutely gorgeous. That is definitely the dress for you,” she says as a dopey smile starts to cross her face.

  “Really?” I ask as I release the breath that I have been holding.

  “Yeah, Jake is going to have a hard time keeping his hands off of you when he sees you wearing it.”

  Thank God for that. That is exactly the reaction that I was looking for.

  “Oh, yes, you really do look lovely,” Holly chips in.

  “Well then, that’s settled. This is the dress that I shall be getting married in.” I beam as Lydia lets out a little squeak and we all continue to admire the dress.

  “Fabulous choice,” Holly says coming over to me and smoothing down the material, even though it doesn’t need to be smoothed down. “I must say that you have chosen your dress quicker than any other bride-to-be that I have had in here.”

  “I guess I’m just lucky that you picked this dress out for me to start with,” I say. I probably wouldn’t have noticed this one, so I can forgive Holly her horrendous choices before I tried this one on.

  “Indeed. Would you like to take a look at our range of shoes to see which ones will complement the dress?”

  “Yes!” Lydia says as she stands up and answers for me. Lydia has a bit of an obsession with shoes, so I know that she has been looking forward to this part. I laugh and nod to Holly who leads us to the left of the store and through a small corridor which then opens out into a much bigger room.

  My jaw drops open as the shoes come into view. There are hundreds of pairs, again each one of them is, like the dresses, one of a kind.

  “I think that I have died and gone to heaven,” Lydia says as she starts to peruse the rows of shoes.

  I am not a massive fan of shoe shopping, so I let Lydia do her thing and she starts to pick out shoes that will match the dress. I sit and try on each pair that she hands me. Choosing the shoes is taking far longer than choosing the dress.

  Holly refills my champagne glass, which I am grateful for. I lose count of how many shoes I try on. My feet are aching slightly, so it is with relief that, after two hours, we find the perfect pair. I opt against wearing a veil, something Holly clearly disagrees with. She tries to persuade me to wear one, but she isn’t successful in her attempt.

  “Now we need to choose your dress, Lyd,” I say to both women. I need to get the attention off of me for a while. Lydia starts to clap her hands and gives a little jump of joy. I smile, and Holly leads us to the bridesmaid section.

  I sit on one of the plush chairs and make myself comfortable. I told Lydia that all she has to abide by is the colour, which is to be a dark purple. Holly starts trying to pick out dresses for Lydia, but Lydia just bats her away.

  I stifle a smile as Holly soon realises that Lydia is going to be worse than any bride-to-be that she has ever had in here.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Stacey

  I arrive back at the house just after six in the evening and I feel exhausted. As I knew it would, Lydia’s dress took ages to choose, but we finally settled on one that is perfect for her. She’s a little self-conscious about her figure since having Amber. She has no reason to be, but seeing as I have never had a baby, I wouldn’t have a clue how it impacts on the mind of what you look like after.

  I exit the limo, say goodbye to Eric, and I make my way to the front door. I don’t have any bags to hide from Jake as Lydia has taken everything to her place.

  As I walk through the front door, I am greeted by the enticing scent of roast beef, and my stomach grumbles in appreciation.

  “Hey, babe,” Jake says, startling me, seeing as I was taking off my shoes and didn’t notice him enter the hallway.

  “Hey.”

  “How was your shopping trip?” he asks as he comes over and envelopes me in his arms. I wrap my arms around his waist and enjoy the feel of his embrace. I still can’t quite believe that this man is going to be my husband in a just a few short days.

  “It was good. We got everything, so that’s another thing to cross off of the list.”

  “Do I get a sneaky preview?” Jake asks.

  I pull back from him slightly to look at him. “No way, Waters.”

  “Why not? You’ve seen my suit.”

  “And that’s my prerogative. You on the other hand don’t get such privileges, so you will just have to wait and see.” He does a playful pout at me, making me laugh. I gently push him away and place my handbag on the stairs. “Anyway, I’m absolutely starving, and the smell of roast beef is making my mouth water.”

  “Well, far be it for me to keep you from the roast beef. Come on,” Jake says taking my hand in his and leading me to the kitchen. I see that the table has been set for the two of us, complete with a couple of candles. I take a seat and lick my lips at all of the food laid out in front of me. Beef wellington and a variety of roasted vegetables. I wait for Jake to sit down before I delve into the food. He sits opposite me and raises his beer bottle.

  “Not long to go now until you are officially my wife. Here’s to us,” he says. I pick up my wine glass which he has already filled, and I clink it against his beer bottle before taking a sip. Jake places his bottle down and gestures for me to help myself to the food. I happily tuck in. My eyes close at the gorgeous taste of the beef wellington. It literally melts on my tongue.

  “Oh my God, Jake. This is delicious. You actually cooked this?” I ask him, amazed that he is keeping this kind of cookery skill from me.

  “Not exactly.”

  “Huh?” I mumble through another mouthful of food, giving him a puzzled look.

  “This food was cooked by the caterers for our wedding. I booked them this morning. I know that I should have waited for you to decide, but there is only four days left and they need the menu plan tomorrow.”

  Thank God Jake is on the ball with this planning as I hadn’t even thought of the food arrangements. Hardly surprising seeing as I have had so many other decisions to make so far.

  “Well, this food is fantastic. If this is what the food will taste like on our wedding day, then
you made a good choice.”

  “Thank Christ for that,” Jake says, looking relieved. He takes a mouthful of his food and groans. “They are the best caterers for miles.”

  “It certainly tastes like it.” I appreciate the food and we eat in silence for the next few moments.

  I am half way through my meal when I decide that now is the time to broach the subject of the hen and stag nights.

  “So, what are you doing for your stag do?” I ask him.

  “I’m not having one,” Jake answers.

  Huh? Why the hell wouldn’t he want a stag do?

  “Why not?”

  “I just don’t feel the need to have one.”

  “But it’s tradition.” I cannot believe that he doesn’t want to celebrate his send off into married life.

  “Stuff tradition.” Jake puts his knife and fork down and looks at me intently. “Stacey, the only celebration that I am interested in is the one where we are wed, and of course the night of our wedding.” His lips curve into a wicked smile. I feel myself blush and butterflies start going crazy in my stomach.

  “Already made plans for that, have we?” I ask him a little breathlessly.

  “Hell yeah. You have no idea.” Just his mere words have me wet for him already.

  “Um…” I struggle to form words and Jake chuckles.

  “Let’s just say that it’s going to be a long, and very pleasurable night,” Jake says slowly, giving me a wink.

  “Oh yeah? Want to give me a few clues?”

  “Nope.”

  “Spoil sport,” I say as I stick my tongue out at him.

  “I could give you a clue, but then that would mean that you would have to give me a sneak preview of your dress.”

  Oh, touché, Mr Waters.

  “You sneaky sod. I am not showing you a thing. I would have a hard job anyway, seeing as the dress is in hiding somewhere else.” I waggle my eyebrows at him, making him laugh. “Anyway, back to the stag and hen night conversation. You do know that Lydia is taking me out tomorrow night, don’t you?”