Bridesmaid Lotto (13 page)

“Where?”

“Maine. I have this cozy little cabin up here. You won’t believe how peaceful it is.”

“You’ve whisked me away to a secluded cabin? Just what do you plan to do with me Jake Hall?”

Oh God. Now I’ve done it. I called him Jake Hall to his face, while flirting no less.

He started to laugh. “Oh you’ll see,” he said playing along.

We went inside the terminal where a man greeted us and handed Jake some keys.

“Here you go, sir.”

“Thanks James. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Aw, a few hours and our date will already be over? Sucky.

“Shall we?” he said and grabbed my hand again.

My stomach fluttered. The nerves about Jake being a movie star were starting to wear off, but nerves over the fact that I was really starting to like him, had only just begun.

Geez Josie, I scolded myself. Get a grip. You’ve been on first dates before.

The keys belonged to some sort of SUV, again, I’m a little automotively challenged, so I don’t know exactly what it was, but I do know that it was big and rugged looking.

“Nice car,” I said, then cringed. It’s not even a car moron. It’s an SUV.

But Jake was being a gentleman and just said, “Thanks.”

“It’s really beautiful here,” I said, as we drove along.

“I was here on location once and completely fell in love with it. I knew that I wanted to make this place my getaway. By the time the movie was done filming, I’d found the perfect place and bought it on the spot. Best thing I ever did.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as the kind of guy that would choose a place like this. I would have thought something more exotic like a private tropical island or something,” I said.

He shook his head. “I like to get away, but I still like having everything I need close by. There’s a great little town nearby where you can pretty much get anything you need.”

“Thank God. I can not be anywhere without amenities. When you first said cabin, I had horrible thoughts of outhouses and no electricity,” I said.

He laughed. “Nope, no outhouses, just your plain old fashioned porcelain toilet, and thanks for bringing up the topic of the bathroom. You sure know how to break the ice.”

My face turned red.

“I meant that as a compliment by the way,” he said, sensing my humiliation. “I like a down to earth girl who can admit she needs a toilet.”

“Oh God, that’s what you’re going to call me to your friends, isn’t it? Girl who needs a toilet.”

He laughed again. “I like it. Has a nice ring to it.”

I buried my hands in my face. “I am such a disaster.”

“No you’re not, you’re perfect. The perfect combination of a lady and a real person. And believe me, sometimes a guy just needs to relax with a real person.”

Wait. Did he just say I was perfect? Oh my God.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

We drove for a few minutes. Jake had the cutest smile on his face the whole time. Actually, I couldn’t stop smiling either. Eventually, he turned off the road onto a small trail. The shadows of the trees engulfed the sunlight, but it streamed back into existence when the forest opened up into a huge clearing with a huge lake, and an even huger cabin.

“You call this a cabin,” I said, getting more excited by the second.

“Sure, what would you call it?”

“A freakin’ mansion.”

He laughed and pulled into the three car garage which also housed several toys, a four wheeler, a dirt bike, a snowmobile, and plenty of sporting gear.

“Come, I want to show you something,” he said getting out of and running around to open the door for me again.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house. I looked around, awestruck by the beauty. But he just kept pulling until we reached a wall of windows, then back outside through a sliding glass door and on to the biggest deck I had ever seen.

“Isn’t it perfect?” he said.

He was right. It was perfect. Out his back door was the most peaceful setting I could have ever imagined. The lake was smooth and there wasn’t a breath of wind. The air was crisp with just a hint of the fall in it.

“This is my spot. I know that as long as I have this one spot, then everything will be okay,” he said.

“It’s fantastic,” I said.

I could see why he loved it so much, and I felt honored that he would bring me here.

Why did he bring me here? I couldn’t help but wonder. It seemed like a spot he might save for a more special occasion. Not that the occasion wasn’t special for me, but I was sure that it was just a silly first date to him. Or was it? If it was, he really was a good actor because no one had ever treated me so well.

Stop worrying about everything, I scolded myself. Relax, have a good time.

“So, I thought we could go for a boat ride, and then maybe do some quad-ing, and I’ve got supper planned for later. What do you think?”

“Sounds like a perfect date,” I said. I remembered to when I was a kid and my father took me out on a boat. I’d had a blast.

“Your bio said you like the outdoors,” he said. “I didn’t even think to double check with you even though I knew your Mom wrote it. Was that completely stupid of me?” he asked with an almost pained expression on his face.

“No, no,” I said. “That much is true, well except for the whole modern plumbing thing. I really do need to get a look at that bio sometime though. God only knows what my mother put in there.”

He chuckled and held his hand out. I took it. It was starting to feel almost… comfortable.

I could get used to this. I wasn’t usually a big hand holder, but it was funny, everything seemed so easy with Jake.

~ 10 ~

The rest of the date was absolutely perfect. Jake took me speeding down the lake in his shiny new ski boat.

“Aren’t there any other cabins on this lake?” I asked.

“Actually no. I own the whole lake. So I guess it’s kind of like being stranded on an island. At least as far as privacy goes.”

Wow, I thought. He owns his own lake. I barely know anyone who owns their own apartment, let alone a second home and a whole lake.

After the boat ride, we went for a long walk around his never ending property. The land was mostly forest, but there was one memorable little clearing where he’d turned to me, not saying anything.

“What?” I asked.

He had the strangest look on his face and reached up to gently pull my head towards him and… kissed me.

Somehow the voice in my head shut off and I was able to lose myself in the moment.

When he let go, he smiled at me, and we just kept walking, hand in hand, in silence.

When we returned to the house, a chef had arrived and was preparing a meal that smelled better than anything I’d ever remembered smelling in my life.

“Dinner should be ready shortly, sir,” the chef said.

“Thanks John,” Jake said with a smile. He opened the bottle of wine that was set out on the counter.

“I hope you like red,” he said, handing me a glass.

“Absolutely,” I said and took a sip.

He walked me to the living room with his hand on the small of my back, like someone would on a soap opera. But it didn’t feel weird at all.

If it hadn’t been for the massive house, the private lake, and well, the personal chef, I’d have almost forgotten that I was out on a date with a movie star.

The meal was unbelievably fantastic, it really was better than anything we could have eaten at a restaurant, plus having an ultra private meal with Jake was icing on the cake. I would have been happy eating at a crowded restaurant, of course, but this was so much better.

On the flight home I began to get sleepy. The combination of the fresh air and the wine was starting to get to me. By the time we arrived back to my house in his sports car I was asleep on his shoulder.

Blinding strobe like lights woke me up as Jake was pulled up to my building.

“Well, I guess the paparazzi found out about our date,” he said, obviously not too shaken up over the whole thing.

“Oh shit,” I said.

I wondered if the other Bridesmaids knew that my prize had been a date with Jake. If not, they’d be pretty pissed off tomorrow. Especially Rebecca.

Jake was the perfect gentleman and walked me to my door. Thank goodness no one else was allowed into the building, even though the paparazzi, being the paparazzi, certainly tried to push in when we entered.

At my door, which thankfully was three floors up, Jake must have decided we were safe.

“I had a great time today,” he said.

“Me too,” I said and smiled.

He leaned in and kissed me again. I inhaled deeply, wanting to remember this moment, the way Jake felt, the way he smelled.

“I’ll call you,” he said and turned to walk back down the stairs, his arm lingering for a moment as he let go of my hand.

“K.”

I opened the door.

Mattie and Calla practically knocked me over.

“How was it?” Calla asked.

“What did you guys do?” Mattie said at the same time.

“Guys, guys. Can I get my coat off and sit down for a second?”

They backed off a bit but followed on my heels as I fell onto the couch.

“It. Was. Awesome!” I said, nearly squealing.

“I knew it!” Calla said. “You’re so going to marry him.”

I rolled my eyes.

“What did you do already?” Mattie said anxiously.

“Well,” I started. “He has his own lake. Which we flew to.”

Calla and Mattie’s eyes got wider.

“And literally he flew. He piloted the plane.”

“Really?” Calla said. “I didn’t know he could do that.” She had the strangest look on her face, like she was really worried that there might be something she didn’t know about Jake.

“Yeah, me neither,” I said. “But he was awesome. He made me feel totally safe.”

“Wow. Then what?” Mattie asked.

“We went out on his boat and circled around the lake, which is how I found out that he owns the whole lake. And then we went for a romantic walk where he kissed me in this little clearing.”

“Whoa, back up girl,” Calla said. “What do you mean he kissed you?”

“What, you don’t know what a kiss is anymore?” I asked.

“No. I remember. It’s just that, oh my God, Jake Hall kissed you?” she yelled.

“Say it a little louder,” I said. “I don’t think the people on the top floor heard you.”

Mattie was staring at me in silence. His mouth was hanging open and he looked like he might be in shock. He finally noticed that I was staring at him. “You are the luckiest girl in the world,” he said. “Can you even imagine how many girls would kill to be in your position?”

“Well, that’s a lovely thought Mattie,” I said. “Make me paranoid that the whole city is going to be after me. Besides, it’s just one date.”

“One date! One date?” Calla said. “You spent most of the day with Jake Hall! The paparazzi have been outside for hours you know. This is huge. Huge!”

“But I don’t want it to be huge. I just want to go out on a simple date with a guy I really like.”

“You really like him?” Calla said, smiling.

I smiled back, almost giddy. “And not because he’s Jake Hall, this big movie star. Because he’s Jake Hall, sweet, caring, down to earth guy.”

“And totally hot,” Mattie added.

“Yeah, and totally hot,” I agreed.

“What else did you guys do?” Mattie asked.

“After our walk,” I said.

“And the kiss,” Calla interrupted.

I smiled. “We went back into his house and this chef guy was there. He made the most fabulous meal and we talked about practically everything, did you know his mother is almost as annoying as mine?”

“It’s fate,” Calla said, hanging on my every word.

“And then we flew home.”

“Did he walk you up? I didn’t hear anything,” Calla said.

“Yeah. And he kissed me again at the door. He’s such a gentleman.”

“I told you we should have been taking turns looking out the peephole,” Mattie said giving Calla a glare.

“Yeah, that’s what I need,” I said, “more people ogling at me all day.”

“Are you going to go out again?” Calla asked.

I shrugged. “I hope so. He said he’d call me.”

“So the outfit was a hit then?” Mattie said.

“Yes Mattie, the outfit was perfect.”

“And the hair,” he reminded me.

“Yes, and the hair.”

“Excellent,” he said, obviously quite proud of himself.

“Thanks again Mattie, I don’t know what I would have done without you through all this.”

And I really didn’t. My confidence level would have been at about zero if I hadn’t had the clothes to help me along.