6
I smile, hopeful. “Completely.”
He shakes his head. “You’re obviously having some kind of dust-induced delusional episode. Get in the car.” He picks up the last of our bags. “Owen, get in the car, please,” he calls. “Where is he?”
We walk outside to see Owen sliding down a tree trunk at full speed.
Cameron’s eyes widen. “Be careful!” he calls in a fluster.
“Look, Cam.” I grab his hand and lead him back inside. “Just listen to me for five minutes, please. Just five minutes.”
He rolls his eyes.
I point to the back of the barn. “We could put a beautiful bathroom at the back for the guests.” I point to the front. “We could put a carpeted clearing at the front where we could stand and get married. There could be a carpet down the center to create an aisle, or we could get married outside under the big oak tree.” I run to the front of the barn as I try to pitch it to him. “We could rent beautiful seats, candles, lighting, and we could have musicians and fairy lights, too. Maybe circular tables with white chairs? We could employ caterers and hire a cocktail bar to put out on the lawn under the stars.” I look around in excitement. “Lots of fresh flowers.” I bounce up and down on the spot. “It could be so amazing.”
He stares at me blankly.
“And the gardens… we could have a working bee out there with potted plants and a decorated entryway. It would probably cost the same as those swanky places you looked at.” I shrug.
He looks around and exhales heavily. “Our guests won’t want to come all the way out here, Ashley.”
“The ones who matter will, and if they don’t want to come then good riddance to them anyway.”
I take his hand in mine. “Cam, I know you don’t like this farm yet…” My eyes search his. “But you will. I promise, you will. And I want to get married somewhere that’s sentimental to me, to us. Somewhere we’re still going to love in fifty years’ time.”
“Marrying me isn’t a big enough sentiment?”
I smile sadly. “Of course, it is.” I look around and exhale. “You’re right. It’s okay if you don’t want this.” I shrug. “I understand.” I smile and pick up the last of our bags. “It’s got to be a joint decision, Cam. This is your wedding, too, and if you want to then we can just keep looking for a venue.”
I walk out to the car and throw the bags into the trunk, then I strap Owen into his car seat. Cameron stays in the barn and I hold my breath. I know he’s walking around, considering what I said.
Please, please, please.
He walks down the pebble driveway and looks around as I sit in the car, watching him.
“What’s Dad doing?” Owen sighs. “Can we get McDonald’s on the way home? I’m starving. I want nuggets.”
I smile as I watch Cam doing his internal assessment. “Yes, baby. I’m getting a Big Mac,” I reply.
Cameron finally gets into the car and slams the door, and his eyes flick over to me. “You’re a pain in my ass, Tucker.” He sighs.
“That’s not a no.” I smile hopefully.
He starts the car. “It isn’t a yes, either.”
Cameron
I fasten the buttons on the white shirt I’m trying on. It’s Wednesday afternoon and I’m in a menswear boutique looking at suits for the wedding with Joshua and Adrian. This was the only time the three of us could coordinate the same time off work in the next few weeks. Jenna is dropping off Owen soon.
“Well, what was so bad about it?” Adrian asks through the door.
“You should see this farm, Murph. You’ll have a fucking conniption.”
“It can’t be that bad.”
“Yep. This suit is good,” Joshua calls out from his changing room.
“Leave it on. I want to see it,” Murph tells him.
“It’s worse than bad, it’s…” I shake my head as I try to find a word bad enough, but there isn’t one. “It’s bulldozer material.”
“And Ashley seriously wants you to do this up?” Adrian asks, surprised.
“Yes.” I roll my eyes as I pull up the suit pants and zip them up. “Something about us working hard for something and it being a family project or some crap.”
“Gray ties first, please,” Adrian calls.
I shake my head and retrieve the gray tie from the chair. “She thinks it will be good for me and Owen,” I reply.
The both stay silent as they dress.
“She says that just because Owen has a dad with money, she won’t let him become spoiled, and she wants to him appreciate non-materialistic things… or something.” I wrap the tie around my neck, frowning as I look at it. “How does this tie go again?” I ask.
“Ha,” Adrian cries. “I love that girl, and it’s a cravat. Hang on. I’ll tie it.”
“Yeah, well, if you love it so much then you get married in this bad version of Old McDonald Had a Farm!” I snap. “I get why she likes it, but seriously, this is going too far.”
I hear Joshua chuckle in his changing room. “Blake loves that song,” he snickers.
“Now she wants to get married in the barn...” I continue. “And I know how much she loves it so, obviously, I feel bad if I don’t let her have it there.” I shake my head in disgust. “I’m getting fucked up against the wall here...” I mutter. “Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
“What was the old lady’s name? The one who left her this house?” Joshua asks.
“Gloria,” I answer.
Joshua laughs. “So, effectively, Gloria left you a glory hole and you’re the receiver.”
Adrian chuckles. “Good one.”
“Fuck off,” I snap. “Although it’s completely true.” I pull my jacket on over my shoulders. “Ass-fucked. And there’s another problem...” I add.
“What now?” Adrian asks.
“If we do have the wedding at the farm...where will we have our wedding night?” I shake my head at my predicament. “I want to take her someone nice for our first night together. I’m not spending my wedding night on a damn blow-up airbed in some barn.”
They both laugh at my misfortune.
“Well…” Adrian thinks for a moment. “You could do up the master suite.”
I frown as I process his suggestion.
“Oh my God. Yes. Do it up for her yourself in secret and surprise her with it on the wedding night as a gift.”
I raise my eyebrows at the possibility.
“Huge brownie points. Fucking huge,” Joshua says. “She would go ape if you did that for her.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start, though,” I reply.
“Happy wife, happy life, Cam…” Joshua murmurs.
Hmm. I guess that would be kind of cool to do for her. She would love it.
We all open the changing room doors at the same time and step out into the store to stand in a line in front of the mirror. Adrian smiles broadly, and Joshua slaps me on the back. “This is it, big boy.”
Adrian secures our cravats and we all look at our reflections again. “Vests or no vests?” I ask.
“Vests,” Adrian replies as he fusses with my tie. “But yours will be white,” he adds.
I scrunch up my face. “I’m not a fan of a white vest, I’ll feel like a pigeon. I think black.”
“Black vest, black bowtie,” Adrian replies.
“Okay, so where are the bowties?” I ask.
“Dad!” Owen calls as he runs into the store and jumps into my arms.
“Hey, buddy.” I laugh as I catch him and kiss his perfect little head. “You ready to try on your suit?” I ask as I tickle his ribs.
“Uh-huh.” Owen smiles goofily. He slaps hands with Joshua and Adrian in a greeting.
“Hey, big guy.” Joshua rubs his hair affectionately.
Jenna’s hands go to her mouth in excitement as she sees me. “You look gorgeous, Cam.” She smiles.
“Hi, Jenna.” I smirk as I lift the little black suit hung on a hanger from the back of my changing room door. “We going to try this on, Owen, so we can be ready for our wedding?”
“Yes!” Owen cries out in excitement. “Mom’s going to love us in these.”
Ashley
Cameron sips his scotch, his sexy eyes locked on mine. “Don’t look at me like that, Bloss, unless you’re getting under the table and sucking my cock.”
I raise my eyebrow and smile into my glass. It’s Friday night—date night—and my man is in a very naughty mood.
He has that look in his eye... the one that I love.
We haven’t talked about the wedding all week. I’m trying not to bring it up. I don’t want to push him. Renovating the house is enough for me, and he has every right to have a say in where we have our wedding.
I’m thinking maybe his L.A. house is an option now. I really can’t stand those pretentious wedding venues. I know he went and got his suit this week with the boys, and I miraculously found a dress.
It was the first one I tried on. Adrian lined up an exclusive appointment last night with a designer. Natasha and Jenna came with me. I didn’t buy it because it was the first one... but I’ve been thinking about it all day.
It’s classically feminine and I know that Cam will love it. Jenna and Natasha are going to be my bridesmaids. Everything is falling into place, with just the damn venue to sort out.
“We should get going,” Cameron whispers as his dark eyes drop to my lips.
I glance at my watch. “It’s early.”
“Yes, but we have to leave early in the morning.”
I frown. “Why? Where are we going tomorrow?”
He smiles sexily. “Pemberley.”
My eyes widen. “Pemberley?”
He smirks and runs his finger back and forth over his sexy big lips as he watches me. I feel his seduction all the way to my sex. “Well, we do have a wedding to prepare for.”
My mouth drops open. “You mean…?”
He smiles. “Yes, I mean.” He picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. “Will you marry me at Pemberley, Ashley Tucker?”
I stare at him through tears and I nod. “Uh-huh.”
“Six weeks,” he says.
I frown. “Six weeks?”
“We get married in six weeks. The invitations have to go out this week.”
“I-I don’t think that’s enough time, Cam,” I stammer. “I won’t be able to get time off work.”
He runs his foot up my shin as his dark eyes hold mine. “I checked your schedule with Jameson and you can get six days off. The Friday before the wedding and then the week after for our honeymoon.”
I watch him, half shocked. “We’re going on a honeymoon?’
He smiles. “Yes, we’re going on a honeymoon. Just because we are getting married in a barn it doesn’t mean we don’t get a week to ourselves.”
I grin.
“And that’s the only week I can do, Bloss. I have no major surgeries and I can reschedule everything else. Six weeks.”
“But...” I frown. “But...” I shake my head. “There’s so much to do. We won’t have time. Pemberley is a disaster.”
“I can handle it. I know you’re snowed under. Adrian and I can handle it.”
I smile softly. “Really?”
“Really.” He thinks about it for a moment and then frowns. “Well, I hope.”
I laugh.
His eyes hold mine and he licks his lips as he picks up my hand and kisses the palm. “And tonight, Miss Tucker, I want the best fucking head job you’ve ever given me.”
I begin to feel my insides tingle as I watch him kiss me.
“What are you going to do with your cock in my mouth?” I whisper.
His eyes flash with arousal. “Blow the house down.”
Three weeks until the wedding
I watch Cameron walk down the paddock with a huge piece of wood over his shoulder and I smile to myself. His little apprentice, Owen, is following him with a small piece of wood over his shoulder, too.
He idolizes his father... and so do I.
Cameron has worked his guts out every weekend to get this property ready for our wedding. His once-perfect hands are now covered in blisters.
Each night we’ve had a fire, roasted marshmallows, and then camped in the barn on our airbeds. I’ve fallen more in love with the place and what it represents by the hour. Although he hasn’t openly admitted it I know Cameron is now attached, too. I overheard him talking about the property with pride in his voice to his doctor friend in the hospital cafeteria last week, telling him about the plans he has for the house. This weekend is the first weekend that we actually have nice bathrooms to use. They’re finally done, and the fittings are all white marble with designer brass fittings. Cam organized the whole thing.
Unfortunately, upstairs has been ruled unsafe by the plumbers, so it’s now a no-go zone and roped off. We’ll tackle that nightmare after the wedding. I hear a truck in the distance. “It’s here, boys,” I call.
Owen and Cameron make their way back from the paddock, and we go out the front to meet the truck. Four hundred plants have arrived, as well as new turf. The man opens the back of the truck and my mouth drops open in shock. “Why…?” My eyes flick to Cameron. “That’s… that’s a ridiculous number of plants,” I stammer.
Cameron frowns. “It does seem a lot, doesn’t it?” His eyes flicker to me and he shrugs. “I don’t know, that’s just what the website said I needed.”
“How many people have you got coming to help us plant these tomorrow?” I laugh.
“Well, Joshua and Natasha and the kids. Murph and Ben. Max, and two guards.” He shrugs. “That’s it.” He frowns. “Who else can I ask?” he murmurs to himself.
I put my hand over my mouth and smile as the two men unload our precious plants from the back of the truck. “We’ll get it done.” I smile. The funny thing is, because I’m so adamant that we are doing this ourselves, everyone seems to have caught the renovation bug. Joshua and Natasha came out last weekend, and Natasha helped me clean the barn while Joshua and Cameron mended and painted fences. I know that Adrian came out with Cam during the week for some of the planning, too. I had to laugh. Cam told me that, on the drive home, Adrian was writing to-do lists and got so stressed out with what had to be done that Cam had to pull into a bar and get him half-drunk just to relax him.
Cameron begins to help unpack the truck and I watch him for a moment. He’s in grey designer sweat pants that are now covered in white paint, and a white Ralph Lauren shirt that’s ripped across the shoulder from where he got caught on a nail earlier. His big work boots are scuffed and dirty. Owen is covered in mud and is wearing odd clothes that, only six weeks ago, his father would have died if he saw him in. Cameron’s hair is crazy wild. Curls get the girls...
Oh, they most certainly do.
I take two of the plants and put them into the row with the others. Let’s get this done.
It’s the Wednesday before the wedding and I’m in the corridor of the hospital checking on a patient. I catch sight of my beloved husband-to-be doing his rounds with his group of interns.
My heart somersaults in my chest. He still makes my stomach flutter.
He’s in his navy suit with a crisp white shirt and grey tie, and his hair in styled in that dark, messy look of perfection he rocks so well. His large, muscular body is the want of every nurse in the hospital. Everything about him screams power... and he’s all mine.
They come around the corner and Cam smiles sexily. “Here she is, the lovely Ashley Tucker.”
“Hello, Ashley.” The interns all smile. “Good luck this weekend,” one of them says.
“She doesn’t need luck,” Cameron replies calmly. “She’s marrying me.” He runs his hand down his tie and raises his eyebrow. “No luck required.”
The interns all laugh, and I smirk. “Thank you,” I reply to the intern who wished me well. “Although, I think I’ll take your luck.” I widen my eyes. “I’m going to need it.”
They laugh again.
“I’m just doing my final rounds and then I’m off.” He smiles.
I melt.
Cameron has taken the rest of the week off to go to Pemberley with Joshua and Adrian to prepare for Saturday. Adrian has been there all week in all his wedding-planning glory.
God knows what they have in store for us, but Cameron does seem pretty damn pleased with himself.
I’ve never seen him so excited. There have been secret phone calls to Adrian and Joshua which I’m not allowed to listen in on, plus folders of pictures of things that he keeps in his locked office drawer.
If all those women who knew the former player version of Cameron Stanton could see him now, absolutely thrilled to bits about planning his own wedding, what would they think?
Who knew?
I don’t think he ever imagined being like this. I know I definitely couldn’t have predicted it. Although his control-freak tendencies are being appeased, as he’s getting to choose exactly what he wants.
I don’t care what’s in the barn.
As long as he, Owen, and the minister are there, the rest is just semantics.
He can have whatever the hell he wants.
The Wedding Day
2:00 p.m.
I exhale deeply as I look at my reflection in the mirror. My honey-blonde hair is down and has been curled into soft waves. My dress is off-the-shoulder and made from white lace, with long sleeves and a fitted bodice, plus a wide satin sash and a full organza skirt.
It’s white.
I never thought I would wear white to my wedding, but I’m marrying my first love, so I figure it’s fitting.
This dress is over the top, a fairy tale dress. But you know what? This is my fucking fairy tale and I’m inhaling every second of it.
I’m wearing a veil, and my makeup is gorgeous. She’s one hell of a makeup lady that we hired.
Natasha is beaming when she walks into the room and takes my hand. I turn to my mother, who has tears in her eyes. “Jenna,” she calls out. “She’s ready.”
Jenna walks in and her jaw drops in awe. “Oh, Ash, you look so beautiful,” she whispers.
I tear up and turn back to the mirror to look at my reflection as my hands run down my ribcage.
“You ready to get married, babe?” Natasha whispers.
I smile at my reflection. “You bet I am. Let’s go.”