Bachelorette for Sale (29 page)

“Everything’s changed. I’ve changed. Hear me out, please?”

Like she had a choice. Admittedly, a part of her wanted to know what would make Jason spill his guts in front of millions.

Jason turned to her, taking her hand in his. “You look beautiful. You take my breath away.”

“Thanks. I’d say the same, except you kind of look like crap, Valentine. When was the last time you slept a solid eight?” She laughed it off so the viewing audience would take it as a joke, but she meant it. She couldn’t help it, because after everything, she still loved him.

“Eight weeks. The last night I held you in my arms. I’ve wanted to tell you every day since then that I’m sorry. I should never have let you walk out my door.”

If only he knew how much she’d wanted to hear those words these past weeks.

She smiled up at him. “You know they have these cool inventions called cell phones. You could have called.” He had her attention now, and for a moment she forgot about the cameras.

He shook his head. “Should have known you wouldn’t make this easy. You don’t call the woman you love to say you’re sorry over a phone, that’s like sending a text or an e-mail. I was a jerk, Cherry, not seeing what I had for fear of what might come.”

She put her fingers across his lips, stopping him from going any further. Screw the show. Jason hated this, the whole idea of strangers sharing their most intimate thoughts with millions. She couldn’t let him make the same mistake she had. “Jase, stop. Everything you say here will be heard by complete strangers, taken out of context and used against you at times. This isn’t the place to air your feelings.”

Gently he moved her hand, but not before kissing her fingertips. “These past weeks I’ve had time to do a lot of soul searching or, as Brody put it, growing up and letting go. I’ve never told you about my ex, Stephanie. We dated from the eighth grade. I thought we’d spend the rest of our lives together. We had a plan. Once the business was solid we’d get married. Then it changed. It was her idea to wait. She said she didn’t want to rush me.”

“Jason, you don’t have to tell me. Your past is the past, it doesn’t matter now.”

“It does because baggage from my relationship with her crept into ours. Four years ago Brody got a call from her for help. I won’t go into the details here, let’s just say she wasn’t the person I thought she was. If you want the true story, instead of the crap reported earlier in the paper, I’ll tell you. But not when the whole world is listening. Bottom line, according to her, she wanted more than I could give on a carpenter’s wage. A story we’ve heard a hundred times before, but it left me scarred and jaded.”

Stunned, Cherry stared at the flickering candles, searching for the right answer. She hadn’t read the tabloids, so she could only imagine what the other woman had done to need Brody’s help, and the fact that Jason wouldn’t rat her out on national TV only made her love him more. Not to mention the one person she knew who was even more anti-media than her was sitting on a reality show spilling his guts for her—pretty impressive.

Grand gestures. What woman doesn’t love them?

Jason continued. “I should have told you. Not sure if it would have done any good, as there were other issues going on at the time. I come from the worst kind of broken home and didn’t believe I could escape the life I was born into. My sister, Jana, called a couple of weeks ago. She’s getting married next week to a guy she’s lived with for the past six years. She helped knock some sense into my head, filled in a few missing pieces for me. Brought back some memories time had erased. I’m not famous. I’m not rich and, baby, trust me, you don’t want to hear me sing. I’m a lowly contractor trying to build his own business.”

“Money can make life easier at times, but it doesn’t bring true happiness.”

He took her hands and held them to his heart. “Give me a second chance?”

Inside her a battle raged, to believe him or not? She’d been down this road before, and each time, she’d been burned. Could she survive a third? She didn’t know, but what she did know was that she had missed this man more than she’d ever imagined it was possible to miss someone. The past few weeks had also taught her she didn’t want a life without him. Before they could move forward, he needed to know what she’d done. No more secrets.

“I’ve made mistakes too, Jason. Mistakes you don’t know about. What happened between me and Ari, it wasn’t all on him. I messed up—”

“Stop. I heard. The greenroom. It doesn’t matter. At least you weren’t afraid to take a chance on being loved.”

“No, I was so afraid of ending up alone, I settled for less than I deserved.”

“Think it’s time we put our fears aside and took a chance. What do you say?”

“Yes.”

He scooted off the couch and dropped to one knee. Out of his pocket he pulled a little white box and popped the top. A dazzling blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds winked at her. “Cherry, I’ve seen what life is like without you. That’s not the life for me. I want to wake up every day with you wrapped in my arms and go to bed every night with your cold toes pressed against me. I can’t promise you I won’t be a jerk again—I’m a guy, it’s bound to happen. I can promise I will trust you every day with my heart. I want to drive you batty when you’re seventy and bring home erotic novels to read to you and make love to you every night like your crazy, sex-starved grandparents—”

“You were doing so good up until that moment. Now I need brain bleach.”

“Shh, I’m on a roll here. Where was I? Oh, yeah, sex, every night for the next fifty, sixty, maybe even seventy years. And I promise to fight for you. For us, always. I want to shout it to the world. I love you, Cherry Anne Ryan. I love you so much. I told the producers they could film this and show it to the world, that way there’s no mistake and the world knows you’re taken. Make me the luckiest guy in the world. Be my wife. Spend eternity with me?”

Tears were streaming down Cherry’s cheeks. Her heart beat a rhythm too fast for her lungs to keep up with, and the world around her went a little hazy. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you and drive you crazy every day for the rest of your life, but I’m the lucky one. And we’ll have the best fights. I love you, Jason.”

T
he four weeks since they’d come home from Los Angeles had been excellent, to say the least. They would reopen the rec center, Cherry would close the door on one chapter of her life and move on to another. If she could simply find her darn shoe.

Normally it would be in the closet with all the others, but she’d worn this pair of heels the other night to dinner with Jason and, well, let’s just say they hadn’t quite made it to the closet. And judging by her search, they hadn’t made it to the bedroom either. Crud. She only had twenty minutes to get to the grand opening, and she really wanted those pumps. They were the same ones she’d worn at the gala dinner, and it seemed fitting that she wear them today as they cut the ribbon and opened the center.

Crawling around on all fours, she finally spied the toe sticking out from under the couch. Grabbing it, she slipped her shoes on, straightened out her skirt, pulled to loosen her blouse, and ran out the front door with Tucker in tow.

After pulling into the parking lot, she and Tucker got out and made their way to the front of the building. Already waiting were the rest of the committee, sans Stan, who was currently sitting at home wearing an ankle monitor, awaiting his trial. It seemed upstanding citizen Stan Nowak had been in bed with RI Builders and several other companies, taking kickbacks and bribes to fund his retirement home in the Caribbean.
Well, he wouldn’t be missed today, that’s for sure.

Also in attendance were Valentine Rehab and their crew, Dave, Brody, Tim and Bobby; Mama Katia and George; and Cherry’s grandparents, who looked years younger than their true age and were happier now than Cherry had ever seen them. She knew her grandfather helped out regularly around the house, and in the process had discovered a love of cooking. Gram had even put on a few pounds thanks to the wonderful meals Gramps had been making these days. Gone were the dark circles under Gram’s eyes and, well, if the lady took a nap every now and then, Cherry wasn’t about to ask why.

Cherry passed Tucker’s leash to her gram and took her place next to Tawny and Mr. North.

Tawny leaned over and asked, “What took you so long?”

“I couldn’t find my shoe.”

“Never mind, pretend I didn’t ask. With the stupid matching grins the two of you have been wearing since your return, I can only imagine. Was it on top of the fridge? On the balcony? No, never mind. Don’t want to know. As long as you’re happy.”

“I am, Tawny, I really am with him.”

Mr. North cleared his throat and began the thank-you speeches. Cherry zoned out as he droned on and on, mentioning all of the people involved in making the day happen, remembering not to leave out the people standing in front of him and reminding them all that without their support and coming together in a time of crisis, they never would have met their goal. Cherry had met with North ahead of time and begged him not to bring up the show and her donation from it; she’d rather people let her fade into the background and forget about her. All that mattered were the children.

Speaking of . . . She scanned the crowd, searching for one face in particular, looking for big, dark brown eyes filled with hope. Disappointment filled her heart at not finding Dominick, but then again they had drawn over a hundred residents for the opening.

“Before we cut the ribbon and head indoors, I have one final announcement. Thanks to the hard work of a few of our community members, the center has received permanent, private financial backing. A trust fund has been set up that will allow us to operate without worry for years to come. I’m not at liberty to say who those hardworking people are who found us our benefactors, but they are here with us today. Please join me in giving them a big round of applause to show our gratitude.”

The crowd broke out in cheers and Cherry looked to Tawny, who in turn nodded at Jason with a shrug. Finally, Mr. North finished his speech and introduced Tawny and Cherry, handing them a pair of jumbo scissors. Together they cut the bright red ribbon and the front doors were flung open. The public was invited in for refreshments and to allow parents to check out the facilities while the kids played games.

Stepping to the side, Cherry and Jason let others in, choosing to be the last to enter. Cherry smiled when her grandparents stopped next to them. She’d missed them so much while she was in California and really hadn’t had much of a chance to catch up yet.

Gramps clasped Jason on the shoulder, giving him a little shake. “You kids did good.”

“Thank you, Mr. Ryan,” Jason said.

“My girl tells me she plans to keep you, so maybe you should call me by my first name.”

A quick flash of pain shadowed Jason’s face before he broke out into a smile. “I never knew my grandparents.”

“Well, now you have a new set. I’d be proud for you to call me Gram.” Gram engulfed him in one of her bear hugs.

Jason murmured his thanks before he and Cherry wandered into the center. Everything was going to be fine from now on, more than fine, as Cherry finally had everything she had ever wanted. Still, there was something she needed to know, so she pulled Jason aside. “Do you know something about the trust fund?”

“I know how much this place means to you. So Brody, Dave, and I put our heads together and we contacted some people we know who contacted some people they know, and before you know it we had a group interested. Brody took care of all the paperwork. I don’t know the final dollar amount, but the center is set for a long time . . . like our grandkids can hang out here.”

Cherry hugged Dave, then Brody, who murmured, “you’re welcome,” before she turned to Jason.

“Jase, that’s the sweetest thing you could have ever done for me. Thank you.” She had pulled his head down to show him just how thoughtful she thought his actions were when they were interrupted.

“Jeez, you two. Don’t you ever get sick of each other? Save it for home, there are kids around.” Dave good-naturedly teased them.

“Tawny, I never thanked you for putting me in touch with Steve.”

“No problem. All I expect in return is for your firstborn to be named after me.” Tawny glanced down at Cherry’s stomach with a hopeful look on her face.

“You know, Jason, I’ve been meaning to ask how you managed to get on the show. Guess I was too busy with other things. And Tawny, you’re going to have to wait for that namesake. We decided my degree comes first.” Cherry leaned into Jason with her hand resting over his heart, feeling the steady thud increase in speed.

The five of them walked inside together and stood to the side of the great room. Kids were playing video games, foosball, and board games. One of the volunteers took a group of parents on a tour.

“Looks like our work here is done.” Jason wrapped his arms around Cherry, pulling her close.

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to see today. You sound sad.”

“Dominick’s not here.”

“He might come by later. His grandmother probably had to work.”

“True.” She turned to Dave and Tawny, who were bickering over something. “What’s up with you two? This is a party. No fighting allowed.”

“We’re not fighting, at least I’m not. David thinks we should play air hockey, and I told him those games are for the kids.”

“And I told her she needs to lighten up and have a little fun.”

“This is part of my job. I’m up for a promotion and my boss is here. What will it say to him if I’m playing some game?” Tawny hissed.

“Maybe that you have balance in your life.” Dave stalked off in one direction and Tawny in another.

“Wow. I’ve never seen them go at it like that before. Well, like you said, our work here is done, let’s get out of here.”

“Don’t worry about them, they’ll be okay.”

“I sure hope so.” Cherry turned to leave when she felt a small tug on her skirt. Looking down, she gazed into big brown eyes.

“Ms. Ryan, Mr. Jason, thank you.” Little Dominick’s smile said more than his words could ever convey.

Jason bent down, pulled a wrapped package out of his jacket pocket, and handed it to the boy. “This is for you to play whenever you come to hang out here.”

The little boy ripped the paper off. He looked at the brand-new Mario Bros. game and launched himself into Jason’s arms. Quickly he hugged Cherry’s legs and then ran off, waving the game at his grandmother.

“Now our work is really done.”

“How about I take you out to celebrate with a nice lunch at this great Mexican restaurant I know? After, I can take you back to my place and we can have dessert.”

“How about we have dessert first?”

Jason smiled down at her, sending her heart fluttering. She’d never get tired of seeing his mischievous grin aimed at her. Not now, not tomorrow, not in seventy years.

He pulled her in close, wrapping his arms around her. “Far be it from me to deny a lady’s request.” His mouth closed over hers, giving her a taste of what was to come. A lifetime of love.