One Sweet Day (A Happily Ever After Novella) Hope Falls Edition Read online

  After the drinks had been distributed and Justin had left the room, claiming that he would be fine with whatever decisions the girls made and whatever tasks they chose to assign him, Lauren lifted her clipboard and pen and got the meeting officially started.

  “All right, we have a lot of ground to cover and a lot of things that need to be discussed. Let's start with the venue. Does anyone have a line on a place where we could hold the ceremony and reception?”

  “I've been thinking about this,” said Karina, “and if we are going to keep this event in Hope Falls, then really the only places that are big enough to house all of the people we need to are the gym for the reception and the Community Center theater for the ceremony. Neither one of those venues is particularly…um…weddingy? If that's a word?”

  “They're not formal,” Lauren agreed. “They lack elegance.”

  “The other closest option is Tahoe,” Sam interjected.

  “Oh, there's not going to be any place big enough or of a better caliber available in either Tahoe or Reno—or Sacramento, for that matter—on such short notice,” Lauren said with finality.

  “Well, what about having it outside?” Amanda suggested. “Justin and I have always loved the outdoors, and the weather should still be beautiful this weekend. And while there's nowhere here on the Mountain Ridge property that would be quite perfect, I can think of a couple of other places. One in particular, as a matter of fact. Justin and I could check it out this afternoon and report back.”

  “Perfect,” Lauren agreed, “but definitely make sure that you do it today, and let me know right away if it is not going to work out. The venue is probably going to be the largest challenge. If the outdoor space is not going to be sufficient, then I need to know as soon as possible so I can devote the majority of my time to solving that issue. Okay?”

  Amanda nodded determinedly. “Absolutely. You'll be the first to know.”

  Lauren consulted her clipboard again. “Okay. So then that also means that I'm going to put off dealing with the florist until I hear from you. If it's an outdoor venue, there will be very little floral arrangement needed—another reason why you need to let me know right away if the outdoor space is not going to work. But we'll put a pin in that. Next, we need to nail down the photographer. Any ideas?”

  Sam nodded. “Yes! Actually, Luke already talked to a friend of ours. He shoots for Sports Illustrated and he's amazing. He owes us a favor, and he's agreed to fly in and do the job. He takes fantastic, journalistic-style photos. He really captures movement and mood. You'll love the shots, I promise.”

  Amanda beamed at Sam. “I think I might love you more than Justin right now,” she teased.

  Lauren glanced down at her clipboard and made a note. “Excellent. That’s taken care of. Next, the music for the reception.”

  “I'm on it!” Karina piped up. “I have calls out to several of the top DJs in the country. One of them will get back to me. If not, I can certainly scare up a band comprised of musicians that owe me favors. Hell, worse comes to worst, I'll just make a killer mix on my iPod. If there's one thing that my years in pop music has taught me, it's what will get people out on the floor and shaking their asses.”

  Lauren checked off the item on her paper and made another note. “Excellent! Now, about the minister?”

  Amanda looked forlorn. “Lauren, are you sure there's no way you could convince Pastor Harrison to come back early from his missions trip? You are his cousin after all!”

  Lauren smiled. “That doesn't mean he'll do what I tell him. Quite the opposite, in fact. But the point is moot. There are no telephones, cell service—anything—out where he is. I'd have a tough time contacting him with carrier pigeons in his remote location.”

  Amanda nodded, still looking slightly glum.

  “What about Henry?” Karina asked. Henry was the mayor of Hope Falls and Amanda's godfather.

  “He's a lawyer, not a judge,” Amanda explained.

  “I actually think I have an idea. Just give me today to work it out,” Sam said, sounding confident.

  “If you're planning to get ordained online, you can’t. You’re in the wedding Sam,” Lauren said flatly.

  “That's not my plan,” Sam shot back, sass filling her voice and posture. “Although I can see you've given it some thought.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “So what's the plan, Sam?”

  Sam shook her head. “Look, if I can't make it happen today then I will tell you, Lauren, and then we can work on a new plan together first thing tomorrow. But I just don't want to say what the plan is until I know I can make it work. It'll sound too crazy.”

  Lauren scrunched her eyebrows as she looked at Sam. “Sam, I know you think that you're making yourself sound more trustworthy with the words that are coming out of your mouth right now, but I have to tell you, they're actually having the opposite effect.”

  “I trust her,” Amanda said firmly, “and since it's my wedding on the line, I would be the one in the position to be most skeptical. If Sammy says she's got a plan and she thinks she can make it happen, then that's good enough for me.”

  Lauren nodded, and Sam beamed at Amanda's approval.

  “I won't let you down, Mand,” she promised.

  “You never have,” Amanda said affectionately, her arm around Samantha's shoulder.

  Lauren nodded again approvingly. “Excellent! Well, I think that's actually enough for now. We all have our assignments. Let’s touch base tonight at Karina’s ’special dance lesson’ with status updates and to make plans for tomorrow. Now, ladies, I think the best thing would be for us to get out of Amanda's hair so she can do the most important thing on this checklist—get some rest.”

  The girls all nodded and murmured their agreement, everyone hugging each other goodbye and standing to file out. As Lauren snapped the pen back onto her clipboard, she felt a sense of deep satisfaction with the way the meeting had gone and with how her friends were pulling together and enthusiastically accepting their assignments.

  If there was one thing Lauren loved—well, besides Ben, of course—it was when a plan came perfectly together.

  Chapter Five

  The Venue

  Amanda

  Amanda took a deep breath, letting the cool, clean mountain air fill her lungs as she took step after step up the mountain path. She felt happy as she watched Justin walking ahead of her, pausing every so often to reach back and offer her a helping hand to get over a particularly rough patch of path. They had been hiking for most of the morning, since right after the girls left, and they were just about to reach their destination—Hope Falls, the spectacular waterfall for which the town had been named.

  They rounded the last bend and suddenly saw the entire view spread out before them—the brilliant green grass of the sprawling meadow that lay in front of the water and the clear, cold pond extending all the way to the roaring falls themselves on the far side of the crystal clear mountain spring.

  The last time she and Justin had hiked here together, it was to scatter her father's ashes. Still, even though the place had that one melancholy connotation, it also had many other happy ones. It had been a favorite picnicking spot for Amanda and her father throughout Amanda's childhood, which was actually the reason she had chosen this lovely place as the one where Parker would spend his eternity. She couldn't think of a better way to honor him as part of her wedding than to conduct the ceremony at a place that held such emotional significance for them.

  When Justin and Amanda stepped out into the large clearing, they took a moment, letting their breathing slow from the strenuous activity of the hike, taking in the cool, crisp air, and letting the gentle roar of the waterfall rush over them.

  Justin was the first to move. He took a small blanket out of his backpack and spread it over a particularly flat place on the ground, still close enough to the tree line to feel cool and secluded in the shade. He held Amanda's hand to help her to balance as she lowered herself to the blanket and crossed her
legs underneath her and then smoothly sank down himself.

  Amanda felt gratitude rush through her—gratitude that she should be lucky enough to be blessed with this incredible man. Justin was so kindhearted and strong, and he always wanted to protect her. He was always looking out for her. He always had her best interests at heart.

  Yes, Amanda was a very, very lucky girl. And she was levelheaded enough to know it!

  They sat in silence for a few moments, taking in the scenery and holding hands. Amanda didn't know what Justin was thinking about, but she had already moved on from simply enjoying the beauty of the scene for its own sake to trying to picture how the wedding ceremony setup would work in this environment.

  Hey, she was as sentimental as the next girl, but they only had so much time to work with! As Lauren would say, it was time to get down to business!

  Amanda was still lost in thought when she heard Justin's voice saying tenderly, “God, you look so beautiful when you furrow your brow in deep concentration. I can hardly believe that in two days I'm going to be able to call you my wife!”

  She turned to face him, tears shining in her eyes at his spontaneous and loving admission, and Justin brushed her hair back from her forehead as she looked into his deep brown eyes.

  “I'm the luckiest man in the world,” he whispered.

  “And I'm the luckiest girl,” she whispered back, leaning in to give him a kiss.

  He returned her kiss with fervor, and before Amanda knew it, she could feel passion rising up inside of her. God! There was just something about Justin, about his kiss, about his touch—something that drove her wild and transported her every time their lips met. She heard a low moan rumbling from deep inside her throat, and she felt Justin's breath speeding up. She threaded her fingers into his silky, thick hair and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss, losing all consciousness of what their surroundings were or what they were there to do.

  All Amanda knew at that moment was that she wanted Justin. She wanted him bad—and she wanted him now.

  She rose up on her knees and twisted her body so that they were crushed together, holding each other tightly as their tongues explored each other’s mouths. It didn't matter that it was well-explored territory by now. Every single time Amanda touched Justin, it felt like the first time. If anything, her passion was driven to even greater heights with each encounter as they learned more about the subtleties of each other’s bodies, as they perfected the things that made each other scream with delight and abandon, and as they lived their lives together each day, growing more and more in love with each passing moment, their bond strengthening until it was as unbreakable as steel.

  Amanda felt Justin's strong hands encircling her waist, and her head fell back as a groan escaped her. Immediately, she felt his lips beginning to pepper gentle kisses down the exposed flesh of her neck, and her fingers began to tremble, her knees quaking.

  “Oh, Justin…oh, yes,” she breathed. She felt his body respond to the sound of her desperate plea, felt the rushing of his blood, the quickening of his muscles. Oh, God! The whole experience was so intense, so pleasurable, so…she couldn't think. She just knew that she had to move it forward. She needed him. She needed to feel his hands on her skin, his mouth on every part of her. She needed him. Now.

  Amanda's fingers trembled as she pulled Justin's shirt out of his waistband at the same time that his fingers were undoing the buttons. They discarded his work shirt and then she desperately ripped off his t-shirt and tossed it aside. Amanda ran her fingers down the rippling muscles of his chest, feeling herself growing wetter by the moment. When her exploring fingertips reached his waistband again, she trailed them back up his well-muscled arms, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she delighted anew in his sexy body.

  Justin pulled her t-shirt up over her torso, and she eagerly moved her arms to help him. Before it had even completed its trip through the air and come to rest on the edge of the blanket, Justin had expertly unhooked her bra, and it joined the growing pile of discarded clothing.

  As if her nipples had not been hard enough already from desire alone, they hardened even more when she felt the cool end-of-summer, beginning-of-autumn air hit them, becoming tiny pebbles of arousal. Justin dipped his head, covering them each in turn with his warm mouth and teasing them even harder with his hot tongue.

  Amanda, weak with desire, sank backwards without even realizing it and then felt Justin's strong arms tenderly lowering her to the blanket. She heard him gasp, “Amanda, I love you so much!” Then his mouth was on her breasts again, and she was aware of nothing else.

  Finally, the building pressure was too much for her. “I need you, Justin…oh, I need you!” she cried, her fingers fumbling at his fly. She finally managed to undo all of the buttons and slid the denim down over his hips, along with his boxers, in one swift motion. She wrapped her fingers around the rock-hard globes of his ass and pulled him forward, pressing him to her core, which was still covered by her shorts and panties.

  Well, that simply won't do, she thought.

  She let go of Justin's body, although reluctantly, just long enough to unbutton her own shorts. She felt Justin's fingers join her in the quest, and before she knew it, both her shorts and her lacy panties became the last garments to join the (now considerable) pile of clothing at the edge of the blanket.

  “I want you, Justin, inside me…right now!” she panted.

  When he didn't respond, she glanced down and saw that he was hurriedly rolling on a condom. She sighed. That was why she loved him—well, one of the many reasons. She got flustered and her thoughts became scattered when she felt strong emotions, especially lust. Justin, no matter what kind of outside or internal pressure was working on him, always kept a level head.

  A rubber-covered one, in fact, she thought with a grin.

  In the next instant, however, all thoughts were replaced with sheer pleasure as she felt Justin drive into her. She thrust her hips upward to meet him, her wetness enveloping him, loving the feeling of him inside of her, filling her up with his iron-strong manhood.

  He leaned down and covered her body with his as he moved in and out of her. She felt tiny explosions of electrical current as their skin rubbed against each other in a thousand different little locations

  She hooked one leg behind his waist and wrapped her arms around his neck and torso, needing to pull him closer, closer, even as she felt him inside of her, pushing deeper and deeper with each thrust.

  She felt the pressure in her core building, and she knew that she was mere moments away from an earth-shattering orgasm. She felt Justin's muscles tense under her arms and the leg that was around his waist, and she whispered in his ear. “Not yet, baby. Just give me one more minute. I'm so close. I want to come with you.”

  Justin drew back a little, giving her a wicked smile, looking right into her eyes as he said in a seductive, gravely tone, “I think I can help with that. Spread your legs a little more baby…”

  She did as he asked and he lifted his torso away from her belly just enough to work his hand in between them. He began to move his fingers slowly around her pleasure center at the same time he increased the speed at which he pounded into her.

  “Oh, yes!” she cried in ecstasy. “Yes, Justin, that feels so good!”

  At precisely the last instant before the orgasm overtook her, Justin lowered his head to hers and crushed her lips with his, pushing his tongue inside of her mouth, penetrating her as deeply there as he was her core.

  That was it. That was the last little bit of erotic encouragement Amanda needed. She surrendered to the whirlpool of sensations that overtook her and resisted the urge to close her eyes. Rather, she lay back and stared at the perfect blue skies and the treetops, eyes wide open as she came, fixing this moment in her memory forever.

  The last vestiges of the powerful climax were leaving her as Justin collapsed on top of her, panting and spent. She stroked his hair, and they lay together in loving silence until the sweat cooled fr
om their skin and their breathing returned to normal.

  Finally, Justin rose up on one elbow. Amanda gazed at him adoringly.

  He sighed. “Something occurred to me,” he said, sounding a little down.

  “What, baby?” Amanda replied, still hazy and contented, firmly in the grip of afterglow.

  “You're not gonna like it,” he said somewhat grimly.

  Amanda smiled back as she stretched her arms above her head, as lazily happy as a cat lounging in sunlight. “Honestly, Justin, I don't think anything could pierce my good mood right now. What is it? Lay it on me.”

  “As great as this place is in many ways, if it's secluded enough that we felt comfortable doing that here, it’s probably way too secluded to make all of our guests hike out to,” he concluded.

  Amanda thought about that for a moment before sighing. “Yeah, you have a point. The sentimental significance of it blinded me to the obvious, I suppose. And, as it turns out, I was also wrong about nothing being able to affect my good mood.”

  Justin leaned down and kissed her. “Cheer up, buttercup,” he said, stroking her hair. “Didn't you tell me that Lauren said the venue would be the toughest part? We’ve ruled this out so we'll just move on to new ideas now. We will make this happen”

  “That's true,” Amanda agreed. “I just need to have faith, right?”

  “Yes,” Justin agreed solemnly. “That's what I learned from George Michael, and I've never known him to be wrong. That having been said, we should probably 'go-go' before any hiking Girl Scouts get a little bit more of a nature education than they bargained for.”

  Amanda laughed as she pulled on her clothes. “Oh, Justin. Aside from mixing up your George Michael solo and Wham! eras there, I think you are absolutely right.”

  As they gathered up the last of their belongings and headed back down the trail, Amanda smiled to herself. Okay. So maybe this spot wasn't a perfect site to have her wedding ceremony. Didn't mean she wouldn't still have great memories of the place!