The Beach Wedding (Married in Malibu Book 1) Read Free Page B

heard Amber say, “I just don’t want to lose Robert,” he had vowed to do anything he needed to in order to help his niece with her wedding.
    Absolutely anything.
    “Don’t get married by Elvis,” Jason had said. “I’m going to work out something far better for you and Robert that will take all the stress off your shoulders.”
    “But you’ve got your writing. Your next novel—”
    “Is not nearly as important as seeing you happy.”
    As soon as he’d signed off, Jason had put the draft of his current thriller aside to find a wedding venue that would be able to accommodate them as soon as Amber finished filming in the next few weeks―and that could also put on the wedding in total secrecy from the press.
    The catch was that despite those constraints, Jason still wanted Amber to have the perfect wedding. She’d chosen the château because she wanted a magical day for her and Robert. The problem was that it had ceased to be about the two of them declaring their love for each other and had become a big media circus instead.
    As Jason had made discreet―and anonymous―inquiries into boutique wedding venues with great reputations, the Rose Chalet in San Francisco had come up again and again. Unfortunately, the Northern California venue was too far away from Los Angeles for it to truly feel like home for Amber, and the logistics of setting everything up an eight-hour drive away would surely give the game away to the media. So when he’d heard that the Rose Chalet’s owners were opening another wedding venue in Malibu, it had seemed almost too good to be true.
    Especially when he found out that Liz Wilkinson was running it.
    Ten years ago, Jason and Liz had been heading toward marriage and a life together. Until she’d broken up with him from out of the blue...then disappeared from his life entirely. For days, weeks, months afterward, he’d hoped that she’d change her mind and come back to him—or that she’d at least tell him why. But she didn’t change her mind. And she didn’t come back.
    Jason had taken his heartbreak and channeled it into his writing. The heroes in his books all had strong undercurrents of darkness that never seemed to leave them even after they had conquered the worst the world had to offer. Critics and readers alike couldn’t get enough of his dark protagonists, yet none of them had a clue where that bitterness had come from.
    Losing Liz. That’s where.
    Now, standing face to face for the first time in ten years with the woman he’d once loved, it took absolutely every single ounce of self-control not to stare. His heart clenched at how incredibly beautiful she was. Even more beautiful than she’d been ten years ago.
    But it was even harder to believe that she was in the business of making couples’ dreams come true when she had shattered his so abruptly. She hadn’t answered any of his phone calls all those years ago, and later, when he’d found some early notoriety with his books, she hadn’t reached out to him then, either. If it weren’t for his niece, he would never have put himself in the position of needing to ask for Liz’s help. But he would do absolutely anything to make his niece happy.
    Even face down his old demons...and pretend to make nice with his ex.
    Before Liz could slam the door in his face, he stepped into her office at the exact moment she said, “What are you doing here?”
    He’d figured seeing Liz again would bring up anger. Pain, too. But he hadn’t been prepared for the powerful urge to drag her into his arms and hold her. He slid his hands into his pockets to make sure he didn’t accidentally do just that as he said, in as easy a voice as he could muster, “I’m here to book a wedding.”
    The Married in Malibu buildings clearly weren’t yet open for business, but that fit with the information he’d already gathered. The moment he’d arrived, his gut told him that the beachfront location with its sheltered sandy cove, the lush gardens,