The meal was delicious, paella and papas, dried figs, cheeses and a tray of fresh fruit, and toasted the newly engaged. They all out outside at several rustic picnic tables. A playpen area had been set up close to the table where Julio and Lissa sat, and the boys were in heaven, exploring their new digs.
The covered back porch overlooked acres of grapes, acres which all belonged to the Julio Torres and his new family.
“Is there a vineyard somewhere on this property?” Lissa asked.
“Only if you want there to be one,” he replied.
By the time everyone left and the children were safely on their way for a night back at Mamacita’s house, the workers were all long gone, having each been given a bonus payment for agreeing to take the next two days off. Lissa and Julio were finally alone.
They held hands and kissed as the sun set.
Are you up for our pre-wedding honeymoon, Mrs. Soon-to-Be Lissa Edwards Torres?”
“You know I am,” Lissa said as she gazed up into his loving, deep brown eyes.
“Then follow me, my love,” he said.
She took his hand and without another word, he guided her to their new bedroom.
***
THE END
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Love, Mia
About the Author
Mia Caldwell has been fantasizing about stories of "Happily-Ever-After" since she was a little girl, and now that she's all grown up her "Happily-Ever-After" stories have taken a steamier turn! After graduating from college Mia still wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Bored with her day job as an Administrative Assistant for a non-profit, she started writing stories on the side and sharing them with her friends. They gave her the push she needed to share them with you!
She lives in New York with two rascally cats named Link and Zelda, eats too much chocolate and Chinese take-out, and goes on way too many blind dates. She's still waiting for Mr. Right, but in the meantime she'll keep dreaming up the perfect man!
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Also by Mia Caldwell
Looking for other books by Mia Caldwell?
You can find Mia Caldwell’s books on Amazon.com
Hollywood Happily Ever After
The Billionaire’s Snow Date
Billionaire’s Baby Surprise
Billionaire’s Baby Deception
Kidnapping the Billionaire’s Baby
Up in Flames
And more…
Excerpt from Hollywood Happily Ever After
Chapter One
It was an oppressively sunny Southern California day as Olive Hunter made her way from her apartment in Topanga Canyon to her office in Santa Monica. All of her coworkers told her she was insane for picking a place in Topanga, but while they fought their way in through the traffic on the 10, Olive got to take in the sights of the SoCal beaches as she made her way up the Pacific Coast Highway. Sure, her roommates sucked and she mostly ate food she could buy on her gas card, but the view more than made it worth it.
Olive had moved to Los Angeles from New Jersey five years before, the first in her distinctly East Coast family to make the journey to the dreaded West Coast. In Jersey, her middle-class African American family fit right in, as she had grown up in one of the state’s many culturally diverse neighborhoods in Newark. But it had been a hell of a culture shock when she got to California, and discovered diversity in Hollywood wasn’t an actual thing. But Olive had grown up desperate to be a filmmaker, and the best schools to learn to do that were in LA. So the minute she turned eighteen, she was on a plane and bound for UCLA to study directing and screenwriting. And for the most part, she had loved her time there.
But getting out of school into the real world of filmmaking had delivered yet another harsh blow of reality. Despite the connections she had made in school, and the many friendships she had developed, the idea that she was just going to jump out of school and start making movies had been a bit naïve. Olive had no money, and she had been so busy learning how to be a director and a writer, that she hadn’t actually managed to build a name for herself. So she had been forced to beg, borrow, and steal her way into an internship with Stardust Filmworks, an independent-film production company in Santa Monica that was known for finding unrecognized talent and developing it.
In the span of a year, Olive had made her way from marketing intern, to secretarial assistant in the reception center, to actual receptionist. It was only when she shared an elevator with Agatha Bellemare, the newly elected head of the studio, that she finally managed to beg her way out of the reception pool. After telling Agatha about this fabulous young-adult series she was reading that had huge thematic potential, Agatha brought her on as her assistant, and the rest, as they say, was history.
Today, as she panic-parked outside Starbucks to pick up Agatha’s skinny soy vanilla latte, she was hoping that she might actually get the chance to sit in on a production meeting as the studio prepped for shooting on The Euphoria of Underground Caverns, the YA novel that she’d introduced to Stardust in the first place. At ten a.m., Agatha was meeting with Sebastian Jones, who would be directing the film, to discuss potential casting of the lead roles. And since Olive had been obsessed with the book since she read it, she had some ideas she wanted to share.
Olive also knew that Agatha wasn’t remotely prepared for the meeting with Sebastian. Most of Olive’s job was keeping Agatha organized, reminding her when she had meetings, and stopping her from double-booking when she forgot about meetings she was already late for. Agatha was great at her job, but she was a scatterbrain, and without Olive by her side, she wouldn’t be able to find her way home every night.
So Olive was more than shocked when she ran into Agatha’s office and found her boss already there. She was talking a mile a minute on the phone and was practically buried under a stack of papers that Olive had never seen before. When Olive rushed over to give Agatha her coffee, Agatha handed her an envelope and waved her to the corner of the room. Olive opened her mouth to protest, but a furrow of her employer’s manicured brow made it clear her best option was to do as she was told.
Once settled in an armchair out of Agatha’s line of sight, Olive opened the delicate gold envelope and marveled at the custom art deco Atelier Isabey invitation inside. She ran her fingers over the script, and was so lost in the beauty of the design she barely even noticed what the invitation was for. When she did, she almost threw up all over it.
We Request the Pleasure of Your Company
At the Marriage of
Kallie Wayy-Singer
and
Ash Grace
At The Wonderland Private Villas & Resort
Pecatu, Bali
From April 5th to April 8th
Accommodations will be arranged by the bride & groom
All additional materials will arrive separately by messenger
In lieu of gifts, please make a donation to a charity of your choice
Regrets Only
Olive’s mouth dropped open and she looked up at Agatha, who was still babbling like a maniac on the phone. Today was April 2nd, which meant that Agatha’s plane must be leaving soon.
Didn’t it take days just to get there? Olive’s mind raced as she tried to anticipate all the things she’d need to start doing to ensure Agatha was packed and at the airport in time. Agatha would need a dress from one of her designers, something that no one had been seen in before, plus all kinds of fancy resort wear. Olive would need to cancel all her appointments. She’d need to find a way to get Agatha booked for last minute spa appointments to get her hair done, body waxed, and nails done? Shit. There wasn’t going to be enough time.
And what about that meeting with the producers tomorrow? Olive knew that some were scheduled to come in later that night. The one’s coming in from the East Coast might already be travelling. She’d never be able to cancel.
What was she supposed to say to them when she got them on the phone? “I’m sorry, the head of the studio decided to blow you off in favor of a going to Bali for a wedding? Damn it.
Olive stared at her boss and shook her head with disbelief, feeling lightheaded as she tried to steel herself for the day to come. She knew the next twenty-four hours would be the most challenging of her career thus far, and she hadn’t even had her own damn coffee yet.
Finally, Agatha hung up the phone and waved Olive back over.
“Olive, my love, did you read the invitation? Can you be ready to go by tomorrow morning?”