Forever You Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One - 1

  Chapter Two - 2

  Chapter Three - 3

  Chapter Four - 4

  Chapter Five - 5

  Chapter Six - 6

  Chapter Seven - 7

  Chapter Eight - 8

  Chapter Nine - 9

  Chapter Ten - 10

  Chapter Eleven - 11

  Chapter Twelve - 12

  Chapter Thirteen - 13

  Chapter Fourteen - 14

  Chapter Fifteen - 15

  Chapter Sixteen - 16

  Chapter Seventeen - 17

  Chapter Eighteen - 18

  Chapter Nineteen - 19

  Chapter Twenty - 20

  Chapter Twenty-One - 21

  Chapter Twenty-Two - 22

  Chapter Twenty-Three - 23

  Chapter Twenty-Four - 24

  Chapter Twenty-Five - 25

  Chapter Twenty-Six - 26

  Chapter Twenty-Seven - 27

  Chapter Twenty-Eight - 28

  Chapter Twenty-Nine - 29

  Chapter Thirty - 30

  Chapter Thirty-One - 31

  Chapter Thirty-Two - 32

  Forever You

  by Allie Everhart

  CHAPTER ONE

  1

  Sometimes I can’t believe this is my life. Garret and I have lived in California for a month now and every morning I wake up to the ocean breeze coming through my window, the sound of the waves hitting the sand, and the feel of Garret next to me.

  That’s the best part. Waking up next to Garret. I swear I love him more each day, which seems crazy, I know, but it’s how I feel.

  “Hey.” Garret sweeps my hair aside and kisses my neck. My back is snuggled against his warm chest and his arm is fastened around my middle. “You up already?”

  “Yeah. We have to meet with that guy this morning.” The guy I’m referring to is the man who’s marrying us. He’s not a minister but he can legally marry people. He’s done a lot of weddings over the years, both big elaborate ones and small casual ones. Garret and I are having the latter—a very small, very casual wedding on the beach.

  “He’ll be here at 10, so we can’t sleep in today.”

  “It’s only 8.” Garret kisses my bare shoulder as he slides his hand under my tank top. “And I wasn’t planning on sleeping.”

  I flip over to face him. He’s shirtless and even though I see him every day, I can’t help but stare at his body. A month of living on the beach has given his skin a deep golden-brown tan. And he’s been surfing and swimming in the ocean which has made his muscles even more defined. He’s so damn hot. And he’s all mine. Again, it’s hard to believe this is my life and not someone else’s.

  “Every morning, Garret?” I ask it like I would somehow turn him down.

  “You like traditions, right?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  He kisses me and his hand moves over my hip, his finger catching on the string of my bikinis, tugging them down.

  “So this is just another tradition.” He leaves kisses along my neck, stopping to whisper by my ear. “Unless you don’t like it.”

  “I like it,” I whisper back. “I just—” I stop as I feel his hand between my legs.

  “Just what?”

  “Nothing,” I say.

  “You bored with me already?” He gives me his insanely sexy smile.

  “No, not at all. It was more about—”

  “I guarantee you’ll never be bored by this. I’ll make sure of it.” He’s still smiling and his touch has my body desperate to be with him. And he knows that, which is why he’ll tease me until I can’t take another second of it and then he’ll bring us together. Today his teasing involves some new moves and I’m wondering where he learned this stuff or if he just came up with it.

  As usual he waits until I’m practically begging him to get on top of me. And when he finally does, I’m reminded why we have this little tradition every morning. It’s the absolute best way to start the day.

  Afterward, he lies on his back, hugging me into his side. “You still want to break this tradition?”

  I stretch a little, my body warm and relaxed. “No. Definitely not. And I’m not bored with you. Or that.” I run my finger along the grooves of his ab muscles. “I just wonder if it’ll change when we get married. People always say it does.”

  “How would it change?”

  “Like we won’t want to do it as much.”

  “I can tell you right now, I’ll want to do it just as much.” He lifts my chin up and kisses me. “Maybe even more when you’re my wife.”

  “Oh, yeah? And why is that?”

  “Because as your husband it’s my job.”

  I rest my chin on his chest. “I don’t think that’s in the wedding vows.”

  “Then we’ll put it in there. I promise to have lots of mind-blowing sex with my wife, making sure I always leave her completely satisfied and wanting more.”

  Just imagining him saying that at the ceremony makes me laugh. “That will NOT be in our wedding vows. I don’t want Frank or Ryan or your dad or anyone else thinking about our sex life.”

  “I’m kidding. But it’s still a promise—just between you and me. I don’t want to be one of those couples who grows apart after they get married.”

  “I don’t think that will happen. I love you way too much.”

  “I love you, too.” Garret glances back at the clock. “So he’s coming at 10?”

  “Yeah, but he’s driving up from LA so he could be late with traffic. But we should still get ready.”

  “Then I’ll hit the shower.” He kisses me quick before getting up. I watch his naked ass walking away and I hop out of bed.

  “I’ll come with you,” I say following him to the bathroom.

  He laughs as he reaches in the walk-in shower and turns the faucet on. “Yeah, I don’t think we need to worry about our sex life slowing down after we’re married.”

  “What? I’m just trying to conserve water.”

  “Uh-huh. That’s what you always say.”

  It’s true. I always pretend that I just want to shower with him, but it usually leads to sex.

  He tests the water to see if it’s warm then swats my ass. “You could’ve at least given me a few minutes to reload.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, stepping in the warm water. “We’re just showering.”

  He smiles and gives me an eye roll as he follows me in. I try to control myself and shower as I normally would, but then I reach up and give him a kiss, which leads to another kiss, and then touching. And as usual, we do more than shower.

  We finally get dressed and Garret goes to the kitchen to make breakfast. It’s another tradition. He likes to make a big breakfast every morning; eggs, toast, fruit.

  Since moving here, we’ve kind of gotten into a routine in which Garret and Sean spend the day surfing and Harper and I hang out on the beach. Sean is a chef at a restaurant in town so he works a lot of nights and weekends, which means his days are usually free.

  “Hi, Garret.” I hear Harper in the living room.

  I go downstairs to greet her, still toweling off my wet hair. “Hi, Harper.”

  “Sleeping late again?” she asks, grinning. “I thought you were getting up early today.”

  “Yeah, I thought so, too,” I say, smiling at Garret.

  He doesn’t even notice as he continues making breakfast.

  “So have you decided what type of vows you want?” Harper slumps into the couch. She has on a light pink tank top and white shorts that show off her tan legs. Her blond hair is pulled back in a ponytail. I’ve noticed it keeps getting lighter the more time she spends in the sun.

  “I don’t know yet.
” I toss my towel in the laundry room off the kitchen. “Maybe we’ll just do the traditional thing.” I join Harper on the couch

  “Really? But isn’t that kind of boring? And don’t they make you say you’ll obey your husband?”

  I hear Garret laughing from the kitchen. “Jade doesn’t obey anyone. Half the time she doesn’t even listen to me.”

  “That’s not true,” I insist. “Sometimes I listen to you.”

  He shakes his head as he comes over to us. “You never listen to me.” He drops a kiss on my head and rubs my shoulders as he stands behind the couch. “Harper, I need you to make her get a dress. I don’t want her walking down the aisle in shorts and a t-shirt.”

  “I wasn’t going to wear shorts,” I say. “I have a white skirt.”

  Harper gives me a stern look. “You’re getting a dress, Jade. A real wedding dress. It doesn’t have to be some over-the-top princess dress, like I would wear, but it has to be special. Not just some dress from the mall.”

  “But I don’t need something like that. It’s a beach wedding. It’s not formal.”

  Harper glances up at Garret. “I’ll take her shopping. I’ll make sure she gets something appropriate.”

  “Thank you,” he says, walking back to the kitchen.

  “You two shouldn’t be conspiring against me like this. It’s my wedding. I should be able to wear what I want.”

  “We’ll let you wear flip flops under your dress,” Harper says. “So getting back to your vows, I think you should write your own. That way you can say whatever you want.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work. We’ll just rework the traditional ones.”

  “I’ll write my own,” Garret says.

  “What?” I jump up from the couch and meet him in the kitchen. “You can’t do that. If you do, then I’ll have to write some, and I don’t know how to write vows.”

  He sets a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and sliced strawberries on the kitchen table, then steers me over there to sit down. “You can do it. But you better get started now. You’ve only got a few weeks left.”

  “Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  He shrugs and sits down with his own plate of food. “I just decided it.”

  “And you think you can just come up with something with only a few weeks left?”

  “I could probably get it done today.” He smiles, then takes a bite of his toast.

  Harper gets up from the couch. “I’ll let you guys eat. Jade, call me when you’re done meeting with that guy.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  She leaves and I stare back at Garret. “Were you kidding just now?”

  “Nope.” He gets up and grabs the two glasses of orange juice he left on the counter and brings them back to the table, setting one in front of me. Garret insists I drink orange juice at breakfast now instead of my usual orange soda.

  “You really want us to write our own vows?”

  “Yeah. It’s more personal. I don’t want to just repeat the same old vows that everyone else says.”

  “Nobody will even be listening. They won’t even hear us with the sound of the waves behind us. Let’s just use the traditional vows.”

  “I’ll be listening. I don’t care if anyone else does. This wedding is for you and me. And I want it to be special. Something we’ll always remember. And I’m not going to remember my vows if they’re just the same old generic vows that everyone else says.”

  I sigh. “All right. But I have no idea how to do this. I’ve never been very good at writing.”

  He leans over and kisses me. “Just write from the heart, Jade. Write what you feel. It’ll be easier that way.”

  We finish eating and I take my plate over to the sink. When Garret cooks, I clean up. And when I cook, he cleans up. But I rarely cook so I usually get clean-up duty. “I can’t believe we’ll be married in a month.”

  “Thirty-two days to be exact.”

  “You’re counting the days now?” I ask as I put the orange juice in the fridge.

  “I’ve been counting the days since you said yes to my proposal.”

  I go over and kiss his cheek. “You’re very romantic. You know that?”

  “Not really. I just love you and I want you to be my wife.” He scoots his chair back and sits me on his lap.

  “I’m kind of worried about that. I don’t know how to be a wife.”

  “I don’t know how to be a husband, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “Yeah, but at least you grew up around married people. You saw how it worked.”

  “Trust me. Watching my dad and Katherine together only taught me what not to do in a marriage. It definitely didn’t teach me anything about being a good husband.”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  “My dad didn’t teach me how to be a father, either, but I’m sure I could figure it out.”

  Garret and I haven’t talked about the kid thing since he mentioned it when we were in the woods back in Connecticut. He asked me if I was afraid to have kids because I thought I might treat them the way my mom treated me. I realized then that he was right. I always told myself I’d never have kids because I didn’t like them, but the truth is that I’m scared to death I’ll be a bad mom. The type of mom I had.

  I’m quiet and Garret notices. “I’m not saying we’ll have kids, Jade. I was just saying that if we did, I could learn to be a father and I’d do a much better job than my dad did with me.”

  “I know you would.” I smile at my soon-to-be-husband and his words have me imagining him as a dad. I know he’d make a great dad. And I know he wants that someday and part of me wants that, too, but I’m still afraid. “You know, I haven’t ruled it out.”

  “Ruled what out?”

  “Kids. I mean, I’m open to the idea of it. I just need to work through some stuff first.”

  He lightly rubs my hand. “I know. And I’ll never pressure you. If we don’t have them, that’s okay. I’m sure Lilly will have kids someday, so at least I’ll be an uncle.” He gives me a quick kiss. “Go dry your hair. That guy will be here any minute. I’ll clean up breakfast.”

  I notice that it’s now 9:55, so I hurry back upstairs to our room to finish getting ready to meet with the guy who’s marrying Garret and me. When I think about that it seems crazy. Me? Getting married? If you told me that a year ago, I would’ve laughed so hard my stomach would hurt. And then I would’ve said that marriage is stupid and something I would never even consider. But now here I am, getting married in a few weeks. It just goes to show what love can do to a person.

  CHAPTER TWO

  2

  Right at 10 I hear Garret talking to someone downstairs. I go down and see him sitting across from a nice-looking man, probably in his mid-fifties, with gray hair wearing light-colored pants and a black button-up shirt. He’s friends with Harper’s dad which is why we decided to hire him. Harper said the guy did some acting when he was younger and that’s when he met her dad. Years ago, the guy got ordained so he could do the ceremony for a friend’s wedding and then other people started asking him to officiate their weddings and he’s been doing it ever since.

  “Is this your bride?” the man asks as I walk down the stairs.

  “That’s her,” Garret says, smiling.

  “Nice to meet you.” The man stands up and extends his hand. “Andrew Wield.”

  “Hi, I’m Jade.” I shake his hand. “Thanks for making the drive up here.”

  “It’s no problem. I was coming this way anyway. I’m doing a wedding in Santa Barbara the week before yours.” He sits down again and Garret and I sit across from him on the couch. “So Garret tells me you’ll be writing your own vows.”

  “Um, yeah, I guess we will,” I say, looking at Garret.

  “You aren’t sure yet?” Andrew asks, eyeing us both.

  “We’re sure,” Garret says, smiling at me. “So tell us how the ceremony will go.”

  “That’s up to you. I like to get input from t
he bride and groom and go from there. It’s your day. I’m just there to make it official. How do you picture your wedding, Jade?”

  “I’m not really sure. I’ve never been to a wedding.”

  “A wedding can be anything you want. Harper told me you wanted a short ceremony. If you need ideas, I can tell you about some of the weddings I’ve done in the past.”

  “That would be helpful.”

  Talking with him, I realize how clueless I am about weddings. Growing up, I wasn’t someone who dreamed about her wedding day, probably because I never thought I’d get married. Even now, I don’t really care about the flowers or the decorations or any of that stuff. In fact, Harper volunteered to do all of that for me and I can’t thank her enough. She’s been working really hard the past few weeks getting plans made. It’s a very small wedding but there’s still a lot to do and she insists on doing all of it. She checks in with me to make sure I like what she’s planning and I always offer to help, but she won’t let me. She loves planning parties and I think she secretly wants me to just let her do her thing and I’m more than happy to do so. I totally trust her judgment on stuff like this, way more than I trust myself.

  Andrew describes several options for the ceremony and after a half hour, Garret and I decide what we want, which is basically just Andrew saying a few words about love and marriage followed by the vows and the ring exchange. Harper is my maid of honor and Sean is best man. Frank is walking me down the aisle and Lilly is going to be our flower girl.

  “Well, that was easy,” Andrew says when we’re done. “Usually the bride has so many requests that it takes much longer than this. But Jade, I have to say I’ve never met a bride as easygoing as you. Usually brides are completely stressed, worrying about the ceremony, the flowers, the cake—trying to make sure everything’s perfect.”

  “It’s just a wedding. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Besides, it’s the marriage part that’s important, not the wedding, right?”

  Andrew stares at me, not answering. I turn to Garret, who’s also staring at me, but with a huge grin on his face. He kisses my cheek and looks over at Andrew. “You see why I love her?”