by Megan McCoy
Silver Creek Ranch Lodge
Eve looked at Bradley over her shoulder as she leaned back against his chest by the fire. She closed the journal and smiled.
“Happy New Year,” he said in a low voice, kissing behind her ear and squeezing her close.
“Is it already midnight?” she asked incredulously, looking down at her watch. She’d been so determined to get through Holly and Pryce’s story, she hadn’t noticed the clock.
He took her chin and pressed his mouth to hers, tracing her lips with his tongue in a way that promised much, much more. Eve grabbed his shirt and flipped around, straddling him in the way she liked to do and kissing him again. She ground her hips into him as he wrapped his arms around her back, both of them only in plaid pajamas, a thin layer between them.
Bradley slid his hand down her back and squeezed her ass, pushing her harder onto the erection he just seemed to constantly have around her. She moaned into his mouth, ready for him to remove their clothing and lay her back on the soft rug in front of the fire.
The doorbell rang, sending a melodious ringing of bells throughout the house.
“The fuck,” Bradley growled, letting his forehead fall against Eve’s shoulder. She smiled and stood up, pushing her pajamas around back to the appropriate places, as he protested. “Hey, don’t answer that. It’s midnight.”
“Must be good then,” she giggled, skirting out of his reach and running off as he stood and tried to follow, adjusting himself along the way.
She checked the window and frowned, throwing open one of the double doors and letting the cool air slowly blow in. She wondered if another relative had died.
“Happy New Year!” Mellie Simson smiled, taking a sparkly noisemaker out of her pocket and blowing it loudly.
Eve pressed her lips together to hide a smile, as Bradley grumbled up behind her.
“You’ll pay for that later, historian. It’s dangerous to open the door to- Ms. Simson?”
“Dr. Friendly!” She grinned, leaning forward and pointing at him. “So glad you’re here. This-sinvolves-syou, too.”
Eve held a finger up to Bradley, so that the obviously drunk attorney could finish whatever she’d driven all the way out there for.
Suddenly, a man dressed in a police costume stomped up the porch, knocking snow off his boots and shaking his head. “Mel, I told you to wait until I could call first, oh hey, guys.”
Bradley reached his hand out and shook the other man’s. “Captain, what, uh, what’s up?”
Mellie was rustling around in a brown accordion folder, so the real police captain filled in. “You tell me. We were at a party getting ready to countdown to the new year when she suddenly grabbed me and said we had to go and see something. What? Who the hell knows? For some reason, I just follow her around.” He grinned indulgently at her, as she looked up at him and gave him an air kiss.
“Oh! Got it,” she said, pulling out a stack of papers and clearing her throat. “This is a clause to the… Jim!”
The captain looked at her, then shrugged his shoulders in apology and pulled out his phone. “Sorry, okay, recording now.”
“Thanks, babe.” She smiled, squinting back at the papers. “This is a clause to the Last Will and Testament of William Childress, on this, blah blah blah, heretofore, yadda yadda, if Ms. Eve Browning Childress resides in the home of the deceased at the hour of the new year,” Mellie paused to check her watch and turned it to the phone Jim was holding, “Please note the time and date. It is 12:15 AM. Okay, if, already read that, yes. All property in the name of William Childress excluding that of which, blah blah, including the acreage, the mine, and the residence and structures, etcetera, is hereby bequeathed to Ms. Eve Browning Childress.”
She paused and hiccupped, smiling at Eve; and then frowning at Jim, and waving her hand. “Turn it off.”
Eve stood frozen in the entryway, and not because of the weather.
But Bradley spoke first. “I’m sorry. What?”
Mellie nodded and adjusted the red sparkling headband with ribbon sprouts that looked like fireworks. “When Mr. Chill…” She hiccupped and shook her head. “When Mister…” She hiccupped again and held her finger up, as Jim covered his eyes and shook his head. She cleared her throat. “When Bill came in a year ago to complete his will, he seemed very certain about how he wanted things handled. Nelson and Boone Childress took the ranches he acquired a couple decades back. But this ranch, his home, he wanted to be fair. So, upon his death, he had his remaining relatives out to claim their little piece here and there. And for some reason, he wanted you out here, and more specifically, he wanted you out here with Bradley Daniels. I remember him laughing and saying that if you two didn’t kill each other, you’d be in love by New Year’s. So, against my advice as his legal counsel, no offense, he had me add in that if you were still here on New Year’s Day, the ranch would be yours to run with Dr. Daniels as your foreman.” She burped and looked up at Jim. “I think I might throw up.”
“Hang in there, Mel,” Jim urged, holding her shoulders as she swayed. He looked at Eve. “Sign the papers. She’ll file them in a couple of days. Court’s closed tomorrow anyway.”
Eve looked at the papers in her hand curiously. Surely, surely Uncle Bill hadn’t had the foresight to know that she and Bradley would form a relationship. Right? She signed where the green arrows indicated, slowly and a little incredulously. This was a dream. It had to be.
“And these,” Mellie hiccupped, handing over a few thin leather-bound albums.
“That sneaky son of a bitch.” Bradley chuckled behind her. He was shaking his head and waving at Mellie and Jim, who was practically carrying her back to the squad car in the gravel circle driveway.
The door shut and Eve turned and looked up at him. The only thing she could think of to say was, “How in the hell am I supposed to take care of this house?”
Bradley laughed and leaned down, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her frown. She opened the oxblood album on top of the stack in her hand and sucked in a breath.
“It’s… me.” She flipped through pasted clippings and old yellow pictures. “He’s kept up with my entire life here.”
“He was proud of you,” Bradley said in a quiet voice, hands on her shoulders. “I heard him say so every now and then.”
Eve breathed in and set the albums down. It was a good feeling, knowing that he’d cared so much about her from a distance.
“How am I supposed to do this?” she quietly asked, holding her hands out to the large foyer.
“Didn’t you hear the drunk attorney?” He picked her up and carried her back towards the living room. “With me, of course.”
Eve tried to hide a smile as she narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t get any ideas about family-starting.”
“Oh, I have big plans involving that,” he laughed softly, laying her on the rug and kissing the nape of her neck. “It’s time for your new year to begin.”
Eve smiled at him in the firelight, the large silver moon in the tall window behind him. Bill Childress may have been the smartest man alive. Yes. New year. New life.
Bradley grinned down at her.
And most importantly, new love.
The End.
Gray Gardner
About Gray:
Married? Yes
Babies? Yes
Cat? Yes
Anyone else? No, we have a full house!
As someone who has been writing since she could wield a crayon, I never in my wildest dreams thought I could be published. Additionally, as a lover of fantasy fiction I never even considered writing cowboy erotica. But, as they say, write what you know. I know sex (I’ve been married 8 years, you have to get creative!) and I know cowboys (I grew up on a ranch.)
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