Chapter One

Present Day – Anaheim Hills, California

Jenny flipped her hair out of her face and glanced at the man lying in bed next to her.  She’d only been seeing Seth for a few months, but she knew he was different than the others.  She sighed and looked at the clock.  It was only seven o’clock on a Saturday morning.  While she could stay in bed longer, there wasn’t much point since she was awake already.

Rolling to the edge of the bed, she sat up.  Stretching, she stood and walked to the bathroom.  Flipping on the light, she closed the door so she wouldn’t wake up Seth.  Jenny pulled her hair out of her face and quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth.  Brushing out her long blonde hair, she pulled it into a pony tail.

Turning off the light, she walked back into the bedroom.  Seth was still sleeping soundly.  Walking over to the bed, she watched him for a few minutes.  He was tall, well over six feet, with sandy hair, blue eyes, and an athletic build.  She could look at him all day and never grow tired of his seeing his face.

Jenny turned to the dresser and pulled out a pair of yoga pants and an aqua tee shirt.  Grabbing a bra and panties out of another drawer, she quickly dressed and slipped out of the bedroom.  Deciding to let Seth sleep a little longer, she went to the kitchen to figure out something for breakfast.

***

In the other room, Seth slowly woke up.  Reaching out beside him, he searched for Jenny.  Opening his eyes, he saw that the bed was empty.  He grabbed her pillow and buried his face in it, inhaling her sweet scent.  Jenny was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Before he met Jenny, he had just been drifting through life from one day to the next.  Seth’s parents had been independently wealthy.  When they passed away in a boating accident, he had inherited all of their money and the family business.  You would think that he would be happy, but money wasn’t enough.

Stretching, he rolled out of bed.  Quickly pulling on some clothes, we went in search of Jenny.  Seth spotted her the moment he left the bedroom.  Her small living room opened into her even smaller kitchen. Jenny was standing at the stove making breakfast.

Careful not to alert her to his presence, Seth stood quietly – watching her.  Even doing mundane tasks, Jenny had a grace and elegance most women would envy.  Jenny wasn’t tall, but she wasn’t exactly small either.  Standing at five feet five inches, she had long straight blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and a lithe dancer’s form.

Jenny was everything a man could hope to find.  She was bubbly, energetic, and always ready to explore the unknown.  She also had a heart as big as the sea.  Whenever someone was sick, Jenny was the first one to show up with homemade soup and some magazines.

Clearing his throat, Seth decided to make his presence known.  Otherwise, he would stand there all day watching her, wanting her, loving her.  He’d known for a little over a month that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.  Seth just wasn’t sure how Jenny would react if he asked her to marry him.  His wealth had a tendency to unnerve her, which is why he was usually at her place instead of the mansion he owned in Malibu.

Hearing Seth, Jenny turned, smiling as she saw him.  From the first moment she had seen him, he had had the ability to steal her breath away.  He was well-to-do, too good looking for words, and for some inexplicable reason, he wanted to be with her.

“Good morning,” she said.

He smiled. “Morning.  You should have woken me.”

Jenny shook her head.  “I figured you needed your rest.”

She blushed remembering the previous night.  They had gone to a movie and dinner.  When Seth had brought her home, she’d invited him in for a glass of wine.  One thing had led to another and they had spent the entire night making love.

“I was thinking about going to the Santa Monica Pier today.  Would you like to go with me?”

“I’d like that, but I’m supposed to have lunch with a friend today.”

Seth nodded, he was disappointed, but he didn’t want her to break her plans.  He knew that Jenny didn’t have many friends and it wasn’t often that she did anything fun with them.  He wasn’t going to begrudge her having lunch with one of them just so he could spend more time with her.

“Maybe we can go next weekend,” he replied.

Jenny smiled. “That would be great.”

Fixing their plates, Jenny placed them on the small bistro table that dominated her tiny breakfast nook.  Her entire condo was less than a thousand square feet.  Since she was single and didn’t have any pets or kids, she hadn’t seen the need for a lot of space.

They ate their breakfast and discussed their plans for the week.  Seth’s business pretty much ran itself, but he still liked to pop in from time to time.  Jenny worked for a small publishing company designing book covers.  She could probably work from home a few days a week if she really wanted to, but Jenny kind of liked going in to the office.