Bridesmaid Lotto (30 page)

“Eh, it was nothin’,” she said shrugging it off. “What’s a little lost sleep between friends? Besides, Mattie helped a lot.”

“You can always count on Mattie.”

I looked around at the guests. She had thought of everyone. Except I noticed that Dave was missing.

“Jennifer! Why didn’t you bring Dave?”

“I wanted to, but he flew out last night.”

“Oh, that’s where you were,” I said. “I thought I heard you come in awfully late.”

“Well, you two aren’t the only ones who need to get in their cuddle time. We ordered in, if you know what I mean.”

Jake and I smiled.

“And then I drove him to the airport.”

“Aw, and you wasted time planning all this for me?”

“Planning a party is never time wasted,” she said. “Especially if alcohol is involved. Where is that waiter anyway?” she asked, walking away to find a little liquid comfort.

“So, how long do you think we should stick around before I can take you home and ravage you for hours? It’s going to feel like a long time before I see you again.”

“It’s only going to be a month Jake,” I said.

“I know, but now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to let you go,” he said.

“You are the sweetest boyfriend ever,” I said.

“Yes! You finally said it. I was wondering if you were ever going to come around to the idea of me being your boyfriend.”

“It’s just really weird, you know.”

“Why?”

“Well, because you’re famous for one,” I said.

“So? I’m only human.”

“I guess. But it’s hard to switch you over in my head from movie star to boyfriend.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” He pulled me in close.

I liked the way that sounded, that I’d get used to it. I wondered if I ever really would. I couldn’t imagine the paparazzi all of the time. And if I were going to continue dating Jake, I’d have to get used to it.

“I guess I’ll have to,” I said.

Jake laughed. “You don’t sound all that excited about it.”

“Well, would the paparazzi be your favorite thing in the world if you were me right now?”

“I guess you have a point there,” he said. “I have to say, just one more time, that I am really sorry for all this.”

“Jake, it’s not your fault. You have to stop apologizing.”

“I know. But the worst part is that it’s probably not over for you. And that is definitely my fault.”

“I’m a big girl. At least I know what to expect now.”

After the party Jake took me home. We spent the entire night lying in each other’s arms. I was already packed, so I didn’t have that to worry about, but I drifted in and out of sleep anyway. I was completely excited, and I couldn’t stop my mind from moving at warp speed. But I was also worried about what I would encounter in Europe, not to mention wondering if Jake would still feel the same about me after a month apart. Then I was thinking about my mother, wondering if she would ever speak to me again, and I honestly couldn’t figure out if that would be a good thing or a bad thing.

When the alarm went off in the morning, I was still tired and felt like I had grown several new wrinkles overnight with all the worrying and stressing.

“Good morning,” Jake said, rolling over onto his stomach. The blankets slid away from the top half of his body and I spent more time than I should have admiring the way he looked, naked in my bed.

“So, um, don’t you have to like, jet off to Europe or something,” he finally said.

“Yeah, I just wanted to remember you like this.”

“I’ll see you in a month and I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to be seeing me like this again.”

I let out a little sigh and reluctantly dragged my butt out of bed and into the shower.

Jake drove me to the airport with a couple of paparazzi cars tailing behind his sports car.

“This aught to give them something to talk about for a while,” Jake said. “Taking you to the airport after spending the night. Just imagine what scenarios they’re going to come up with.”

I rolled my eyes. “Probably something about me leaving you to go hook up with some European boy toy.”

“Wow, you came up with that one pretty quick,” he said, smiling.

“Well, you know, it’s been on my mind. I’m sure I’m going to find someone much better than one of the top movie stars in the world, you know, because I think I should date at least three famous gazillionaires in my lifetime.”

“Okay, stop it. You’re starting to scare me.”

I laughed.

“Well, you are going to Europe to spend a whole bunch of time with someone famous,” he reminded me.

“It’s probably a woman, or some old man or something. I’m sure it’s going to be horribly boring.”

“I can’t believe they still haven’t told you who it is.”

“Well, I do have this top secret envelope that I assume has that information, but I’m not allowed to open it until I leave the states.”

His eyes grew wide. “You do? And you haven’t opened it? I would never be able to stop myself from ripping into it.”

“I know. I am so tempted. But then I get worried that I’ll get fired from the job or something,” I said shrugging. “It’ll only be another couple hours and then I’ll know.”

“Oh sure, you’ll know, but I’ll be stuck here waiting and wondering.”

“I’m sure you’ll survive.”

We pulled up to the airport and parked. Jake came in with me.

“You don’t have to wait, you know,” I said.

“Are you kidding? Of course I’m going to wait with you. I want to spend as much time as possible with you before you go.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

As we walked in, hand in hand, the paparazzi cars pulled up and the photographers were fighting to get to us as fast as they could. We continued to walk, pretending not to notice them, although it was a little more difficult once the flashes started.

Finally, Jake smiled and gave the cameras a little wave. I took his cue and smiled along. A few of Jake’s fans came running up, three teenaged girls and one super cute little old lady wanting an autograph for her granddaughter. The three girls even knew who I was and, I’m sure just out of courtesy, they asked for my autograph too.

Several minutes later, I cleared customs and Jake was free to go, since he wasn’t allowed past security. We tried not to, but there was absolutely no privacy, so we gave the press a little something to run in tomorrow’s paper when Jake kissed me goodbye.

“See you in a month,” he said as he walked away, his hand lingering on mine for a few seconds.

I nodded to him. I was surprised that I had to fight back a tear or two.

I continued past security and off to the waiting area.

The waiting proved to be a lot more difficult that I had expected. The corner of the confidential envelope was peeking out, just a little, from my bag. I tried not to think about it. I got up for a coffee. I took a trip to the bathroom. I chatted a little with the lady sitting next to me. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally called my flight number.

I jumped up, first in line, and I headed down the narrow hall to board my plane, the envelope clutched tightly in my hand.

Stay tuned for more of Josie’s adventures in the next installment of the
McMaster the Disaster
series.

Book 2,
Gamble on Engagement
coming August, 2011.

~ ~ ~

More books by Rachel Astor:

~ Contemporary Romance ~

Payback’s a Witch

Nelle Peterson has finally found Mr. Right. He’s handsome, smart, and successful. In fact, she’s amazed he’s still available.
But shortly after her new relationship begins, things start to go wrong. Really wrong. Nelle doesn’t really believe in fate, or fairy tales, or magic, but when her boyfriend lets it slip that his ex used to be really into witchcraft, it all starts to fall into place.
Will Nelle be able to get past her logical ways and protect herself? Can she keep her boyfriend from falling back under the ex’s spell? And now that it's Nelle's turn to learn the ways of witchcraft, what will happen when she tries to conjure up a little revenge of her own?

~ Young Adult Paranormal ~

Haunt
(a
Sisterhood of Murder
novel)

Three strangers end up at the same place at the same time. So what’s the problem? Well, the corpse for one.
Years of unexplained blackouts have made Sophie tough, at least as far as anyone knows. She’s tried to stop her ritual cutting after the blackouts, but with the pain comes too much control and clarity.
Ashlyn’s years of avoiding society have made her timid, afraid to let anyone in. For as long as she can remember, her dreams reenact the lives of each person who comes in physical contact with her. Not the best situation for making friends. Her only release is purging her pain into her artwork.
Libi’s only concern is her social status… until now. She always thought the stories about her old Granny Matilda who claimed to see ghosts were completely insane, or at least Granny must have been. Guess the joke’s on Libi now that she’s turned sixteen.
The trio has little in common, except one thing. Each girl knows what it’s like to live with secrets. Will they be able to get it together and figure out what drew them to the abandoned warehouse, not to mention solve the little problem of the body they’ve found? Or perhaps even more important, will finding each other finally make them feel like they have a place to belong?

Table of Contents

Unnamed

Table of Contents

Unnamed