From This Moment (5 page)

Placing his hand lightly on her shoulder, he said, “Go home and get some rest. I’ll see you later.”

Ivy stood. Jonathan picked up her wool swing coat from the back of the chair and held it open so that she could slip it on.

Ivy picked up the folder and held it securely to her side.

Jonathan slipped his arms around her shoulders. “You’re not too tired to drive, are you?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine. I really just wanted to rest my eyes a bit. I’m rejuvenated.”

Ivy looked him in the face. “Jonathan, did you see that list?” She shook her head at the long list of things the bride wanted.

“Sure did. The woman wants everything and the kitchen sink in three weeks.”

“Where are we going to find plaid chair covers?” Ivy wondered why the young woman picked something so uncommon and hideous.

“Who does that?” Jonathan shook his head.

They both laughed, and Ivy shook her head as she moved away from the table. “I’ve got to stop by the office before I go home, so I’ll see you later.”

Jonathan sifted through the many take-out menus in his kitchen drawer. He had no idea what Ivy’s favorite foods were, so he settled on ordering from his favorite Chinese restaurant. He gave the girl his selections for pickup, since the place was on his way to Ivy’s house.

Jonathan lived alone in a two-bedroom apartment on the far west side of the city. Unlike the stereotypical messy bachelor, he’d neatly decorated his place with neutral and earth tone colors. He had custom black leather furniture, a home entertainment system complete with surround sound and a big-screen plasma television.

One bedroom served as his home office, but with a daybed, just in case he had an overnight guest.

A masculine king-size bed with black and tan bedding was the focal point in his bedroom.

He’d gone home to take a shower and change out of his business suit into something casual for his evening with Ivy. Just as he was about to step out of his slacks, he heard the buzzing of his cell phone. He glanced over on the night stand where he’d left it and could see the light from the screen. But he ignored it and continued to undress. Taking off his pants and underwear, he dropped them in a cloth bag with other garments to be laundered.

Walking from his bedroom to the adjoining bathroom, he twisted the knob in the shower, testing the warmth of the water before stepping under the powerful spray.

After taking a quick shower, he got out, wrapped a dark blue bath sheet around his waist and went to find something to wear.

Jonathan didn’t deny that he wanted to impress Ivy, give her a glimpse of his personal style. After standing in front of his closet staring for longer than he would have liked, he decided on a pair of black jeans and white button-down shirt, black cardigan and his black cowboy boots.

Because he had dry skin, he grabbed the bottle of moisturizing body lotion and creamed his skin before he got dressed.

Picking up his cell phone, he scrolled through to review his missed calls. To his surprise, the caller hadn’t been Ivy, but his brother.

Marc Damon stood six feet, two inches tall with the same dark chocolate brown coloring as his baby brother. Marc was Jonathan’s partner, and also chef at Magic Moments. He and Jonathan shared a special bond. Their mother Ruth died of cancer, and their father died eight months later. They went to live with their aunt and uncle, but promised that they would always been there for each other. He’d have to call his brother later.

Jonathan checked his profile in the mirror before he grabbed his jacket, wallet and keys and headed for the door.

Jonathan pulled up to Ivy’s condo with mixed emotions. He hoped his coming over wouldn’t make Ivy have a flashback to that dark place that she seemed to have overcome.

Quickly dismissing that theory, he reminded himself that getting to know her was important. What did she do when she wasn’t working? What was her favorite color? What kind of movies did she like? Did she like butter on her toast? He wanted to wine and dine her, but he needed that information first.

In his eyes, tonight he would start a journey of discovery. He hoped in the end they would live happily ever after.

* * *

Ivy was plain worn out from all her responsibilities the last couple of weeks. She had no idea that winning a contest would garner so much attention. She was grateful that business was picking up, but the show hadn’t started yet and her life already showed signs of chaos. Thank God her siblings did their part in their business or she would really be in trouble.

Last night, she laid aside the information on the couples she’d be working with on the show at about two in the morning, when sleep finally claimed her.

For the second night in a row she’d attempted to pull an all-nighter.

Ivy didn’t mind working with Jonathan. In the past, when her back was against the wall with a wedding, he allowed her to pitch her ideas to him; if she missed something he’d usually find it.

After her meeting with Jonathan and Lauren, Ivy had gone back to the office to get an update from her receptionist.

She was relieved when Gwen told her that they had the phone calls under control. She’d followed her suggestion of splitting the calls up based on need. If they had generalized questions, Gwen answered them or transferred the caller to Ivy’s voicemail.

There were six messages on her voicemail and Gwen had schedule three people to come in to meet with Ivy for next week. New clients made her happy, but she didn’t want to sacrifice quantity for quality.

After she got home, she took a leisurely shower and then laid down for a nap. Once she got up, she felt refreshed and ready to work.

She pulled out Lauren’s green folder and started reading from the first page. Ivy wondered if the woman truly expected to have everything she listed be a part of her wedding or if they were just wishes.

Glancing at the list of ideas for the ceremony, dresses, invitations, decorations, reception, favors and cake, Ivy knew it all couldn’t be done in three weeks. Most of it didn’t even go together.

Ivy was certain that she and Jonathan could come up with a cohesive and spectacular alternate plan that would please Lauren just as much.

Ivy slipped on a pair of navy blue slacks and white pullover sweater. She liked walking barefoot in the house, so she didn’t bother to put on any shoes. As she slipped her diamond studs in her ears, she heard the doorbell.

She walked to the door, quickly smoothed out the wrinkles in her pants, and looked through the peep hole to make sure it was Jonathan.

She opened the door and stepped aside so that he could enter. He was carrying several large brown paper bags. She removed one of them from him arms to relieve him.

“Something smells good in here,” she said, sniffing the bag as she walked through the great room to the large eat-in kitchen.

“I had no clue the kind of take-out you like, so I hope you eat Chinese.” He placed the bag on the granite countertop.

“Sure, I like Chinese food.” Ivy reached inside the cabinet to retrieve a couple of plates. She sat them next to the food.

“I thought we’d work in the kitchen since it’s the biggest table I have. We can work better if we can spread things out.”

“Aren’t you hungry?” Jonathan asked, removing the cartons of crab rangoons, shrimp egg foo young, shrimp fried rice, beef and broccoli and shrimp with garlic sauce from the paper bag.

“I’m starving. It’s been so busy today, I don’t think I even ate lunch.” Ivy retrieved two large table spoons from the drawer and handed one to him.

Jonathan spooned a generous amount of shrimp fried rice onto his plate. “I was over at Marc and Rose’s last night and she told me business has been hectic with all the phone calls and clients coming in for appointments.”

“When I entered that contest, I did so because I wanted the world to see how good I was at wedding planning,” she said as she opened the lid on the carton of beef and broccoli. Licking the brown gravy from her finger, she continued. “I never thought people would be contacting us so quickly. We haven’t even taped the first episode and the phones are going crazy. I just want to make sure we keep things in perspective and don’t move too fast. Trying to accommodate everyone and losing the quality of work we’ve been known for isn’t an option for me. That’s our staying power.” She put a little of everything on her plate and went to the table with it.

Jonathan followed her. “I totally agree. People can tear you down faster than they can praise you.”

Ivy had disassembled Lauren’s portfolio and had placed the information in two sections. One was for the ceremony and the other was for the reception. In all there were twenty-three pages.

She picked up a page and glanced at the food choices she requested for her reception. “I think you should take a look,” she suggested to Jonathan, handing him the white sheet of paper.

Jonathan studied the lengthy list. “I see she wants appletinis as her signature drink.” He continued to scan the list. “This is a lot of food. She has three peppercorn strip loin, braised smoked beef brisket, smoked salmon, grilled salmon, the list goes on and on.”

“We should suggest doing food stations instead of a sit-down dinner. The guests can choose from all these different entrees.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

He handed it back to Ivy. “Can you make a copy of it so that I can go over it with Marc? He can better determine what foods and side dishes compliment each other.”

“Sure, I can make a copy on my three-in-one printer before you leave.”

Ivy pushed her plate aside and reached for another stack of paper.

Jonathan moved his dish in front of him.

“No, you go ahead and finish your meal. I don’t want to get too full because if I do then I’ll be lazy and not want to work. My bed will be calling my name.”

“Understood, but you did enjoy it?”

“Sure, I love crab rangoons and shrimp egg foo young. I just can’t eat a lot of it.”

Ivy flipped through the papers and scanned the words. “Jonathan?”

He looked up at her. “Yes, Ivy.”

“Let me read the list for the ceremony. First of all I think we’re going to have to be careful with those lime green and peach colors. We want to create a romantic atmosphere, and if the colors clash it can be a disaster.”

A string quartet, DJ, live singers for the ceremony under the gazebo covered with hundreds of hydrangea, calla lilies, and roses. Hand tied bouquets for the attendant’s Biedermeier bouquet with apricot calla lilies, jade roses and cymbidium orchids for her bouquet.”

“It’s too cold to have the ceremony in the garden outside,” Jonathan said.

“Let me talk to Rosie about creating something with that same effect. I’m going to go over this with my sisters in the morning. I wanted us to come up with two different wedding day scenarios she could choose from.”

“Ah, aren’t I special,” Jonathan said, placing his hand against his chest. “See, I told you we worked well together.”

Try as she might, Ivy couldn’t hold in her laughter watching him be silly.

The sparkly and expressive look in her eyes when she worked got him all excited right along with her. He moved his chair closer to hers. “I’m listening.”

Suddenly aware of his nearness, Ivy scooted her chair over a few inches, lowering her head groaning in frustration. It didn’t work, for her body betrayed her. She could still feel the heat that radiated from him. That heat caused her to want to move closer to it. Working with him on many other occasions had never made her feel the way she felt at that moment.

Maybe because she’d always thrown herself into her work, she never paid attention to how physically close their bodies were in the past. Tonight was different.

She slowly lifted her head only to meet the twinkle in his rich brown eyes. As if her eyes had a mind of their own, they wandered to his luscious mouth. She couldn’t deny the fact that she was drawn to him. But what would she do about it?

There was a long moment of silence before Jonathan said, “Go ahead, I’m listening to you.”

Mesmerized by the husky sound of his smooth, baritone voice, Ivy hadn’t realized that he’d pulled her chair back to him. Uneasiness crept in, and Ivy was alarmed at how prickly she was beginning to feel and how angry her body made her for wanting to be close to him.

She’d better get back to work and get him out of her condo as fast as she could.

* * *

It was close to midnight when Jonathan left Ivy’s place. He enjoyed watching her face light up as they finally came up with solid ideas for the impromptu wedding.

Pleased and relieved that she was comfortable being so close to him made him want to be around her even more. He wanted to ask her to give him a chance, but he’d have to settle for their date Friday.

By the time he left, they had two partial proposals; one with a sit-down dinner and the other with buffet stations. He needed Marc to make a recommendation for the food and get a quote for the charger plates, linens, chair covers and special glassware, while Ivy discussed the flowers, cake and dresses with her sisters. It looked like they would meet their deadline.

Jonathan wondered if Ivy realized that they had been married for a month now.