Mountain Man's Bride

by Lauren Wood

  Moving to my side, he pulled me back to his hard, sweaty chest and I felt my long hair sticking to his wet skin. The strands were touching every part of him and it was soon too hot and I had to get up.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need some air.”

  I moved towards the balcony and he stopped me. “Put something on first. There is still going to be people out.”

  I grinned at him and giggled. “I didn’t think that you would be too bothered with nakedness, especially after what you let me walk into earlier.”

  “I didn’t know it was you.”

  “You didn’t know who it was.”

  “Well you are mine Sherry and I don’t want you out there naked, unless I can bend you over the railing and have another go at you.”

  Now I was a little nervous because as much as I wanted to fill the gaping hole with his cock’s absence, I didn’t think it was a good idea. My insides were screaming and I knew that the only way I was going to be able to stop it was to give it a little time. I couldn’t take him again, not right now at least.

  I relented and walked around the room instead of going out into the cool night air. Soon I was dry and I was able to finally get dressed and go back into my room.

  It was for the best. I didn’t want to get caught in there anyways. Rex asked me to stay, but I went back into the guest room, my body singing.

  Chapter 17

  Rex

  I woke up the next morning lighter than I had felt in a very long time. It was one of those mornings when I didn’t mind that the birds were chirping so loud and the damn sun was in my eyes. None of that mattered a second after I replayed some of the images from last night in my head and smiled to myself. She was everything that I had wanted and hoped her to be. I think Sherry was the kind of girl that I was looking for. She was a good girl, but she was also so very bad for me.

  It wasn’t until I got downstairs that I remembered it wasn’t all just easy sailing.

  “What the hell are you grinning like that for?”

  I stopped grinning immediately when I heard Charlie’s voice. “You are up early.”

  “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep very well last night. I kept hearing stuff. You didn’t hear anything, did you?”

  I shook my head that I hadn’t and ignored his gaze, going to the coffee pot with my head down.

  “Do you have a hangover? I have a killer one.”

  “I didn’t drink as much as you Charlie.”

  “No, you took off early. Where were you?”

  “Just around. I needed to clear my head.”

  “Did it work?’

  I smiled again before I remembered that I had to temper the look. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  “I need to do that. I don’t know what is wrong with me lately, but I can’t sleep and then I am tired all day.”

  “Sounds like you just need to get laid Charlie. That is your problem. We have a lot of beautiful girls that would have no problem taking care of that for you.”

  “I’m not like you Rex, I have to feel something.’

  “I feel something every time.”

  He shook his head and didn’t have to say anything. I knew that if he knew the truth, he would be furious. It was better for him to think that I was hapless and not capable of defiling his sister like I had.

  “It’s not the same. You can fuck any girl as long as she is hot. I have to have some kind of connection. Working here, I am not going to find that. Ashlea was nice, but when she found out where I worked, I haven’t seen her since. I don’t know what happened, but I am sure it is because of the girls here. I don’t partake, but she wouldn’t believe me.”

  “Then she wasn’t the one for you.”

  “I guess not, but you aren’t the one for any girl either Rex. You are a great friend, but you should probably stick to the strippers. They are more your speed.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried to steer the conversation to something else. Sherry cam e downstairs in her little get-up from the night before and it started him up again on his rant.

  “Like take my sister for instance Rex. You would never go for someone like her because she has a brain.”

  “What is your deal this morning Charlie?”

  He was on something else this morning and I had to wonder if he had heard us and suspected something was going on between us. He was certainly acting strange and I was starting to get a little nervous. I didn’t like the tone of it all.

  “Nothing Rex, you just asked.”

  I didn’t remember asking, but if he was going to drop it, I was going to let him. I didn’t want his sister to hear his opinion of me. It was accurate. Charlie knew me better than anyone else, but it didn’t mean that I was ready for her to hear the truth as well. He was right, she was a good girl and I had defiled the fuck out of her last night. She had begged for more in the end and looking at her now, I could tell that I had her right where I wanted her. She was mine for good now. But it was also true that I was no good for her.

  “When are you going back home Sherry?”

  Charlie’s voice was gruff and I could tell that something was bothering him. I looked over at his sister and his tone threw her off as well. “I was hoping to stay for another night or two if that is okay with you.”

  “Well just stay out from underfoot and I will let you stay another night. But then you need to go back home to mom and dad’s. This place is no place for you Sherry.”

  She agreed, but I could tell that she wanted to say something. Now that she knew, I was sure that it was going to drive us both crazy. Charlie was acting very strange and I didn’t know if I should gauge the situation or just leave it be. Either way Charlie would let it out eventually. He never could keep anything in, so I was just going to have to wait and see what happened. I just hated the waiting part, especially when I had a guilty conscious about what I had done with Sherry. I wanted to do it again and that somehow made it worse in my mind.

  I called Ernest back to be her driver again today and I made sure that he knew where she wasn’t supposed to be. Sherry said she was going to look for places to stay and I had Ernest steer her into some of the good neighborhoods. I also wanted to keep her close as well. I had a good feeling that I was going to find myself over at her place a lot. This was my hope anyways.

  When she left for the day, Charlie and I were still downstairs. “So what is going on dude? You are acting up tight as hell today.”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

  This was the moment that I had waited for and it came sooner than I was ready for apparently. I didn’t want to volunteer anything, but I was going to have to be patient a little longer, no matter how much it killed me.

  “I don’t know, tell me.”

  Chapter 18

  Rex

  “Ernest took my sister to the club yesterday. So she knows.”

  Charlie looked far more upset than I was about the situation. I knew that she knew, but I also knew that Sherry wasn’t going to say anything. She had promised after all and I trusted her word, even if her brother didn’t. I still didn’t get why even at his age he was still far too worried about what his parents thought of him. I didn’t have that problem because I already knew what it was all about. Sherry would keep her promise to me.

  “Oh, yeah I knew about that. I saw her in there and took her home. She promised me that she wouldn’t tell anyone so you are fine. It’s going to be fine Charlie. I know that you are stressed out about them finding out, but I assure you that everything is going to be fine.”

  He didn’t want to hear that everything was going to be okay. It was the one thing when we first started out that he worried about and I know that it was because of how conservative his family was. Charlie was almost as much as they were and I know that it was some inner issues he had about. I didn’t have those issues because I knew that as long as we were good bosses, there was nothing wrong. A woman could do what a woman wanted to. There was always goin
g to be a need for it in every city and I didn’t know what the problem was. We provided a service that was literally the oldest one in time.

  “What did she say? I am sure she had a lot to say about her brother running such a place. She is never going to look at me the same again.”

  “Not much. She was a little surprised I think, but she didn’t really say too much of anything about it. She mainly just wanted confirmation.”

  “I wish she wouldn’t have found out. It is a disaster. Now she is going to think I am a pervert like you.”

  I had to chuckle at his comment. I of course was going to be pulled into this now.

  “You are a pervert Charlie, lest I let you forget it.”

  “I know that, but my sister doesn’t need to know that. It was better when she thought I was the good one, honorable one. She is not going to think that after she finds out what I do, what we do for a living.”

  “Sherry is twenty one Charlie. I am sure she knows the ways of the world by now. She isn’t a kid anymore and you should remember that.”

  I glared at him and told him that he wasn’t helping. “I want her gone and back to Hartford as soon as possible. We are supposed to have that party tomorrow night and I do not want her here for that. You know how those things usually turn out.”

  “Just take her home tomorrow in the morning and I am sure it will be fine. She never has to know what kind of life we live here.”

  “I can’t. I have meetings with those advertisers. I need you to take her home. Do you mind? I just really hate to send her home on a bus. You know how those things are. The people that ride them are not the best splice of humanity.”

  “I think you are too protective of her Charlie. She is almost grown.”

  “If you had a sister that looked like her, you would be too. I see how every guy looks at her. Hell you are my best friend and you know I would kill you and you look at her the same way as everyone else. There is no denying that.”

  I laughed again, a little more strained this time. But I didn’t answer him one way or another. I wasn’t going to deny it because I didn’t want to lie to him, but I didn’t want to encourage that line of thought either.

  “I will take her home tomorrow after I do the deposits then. She will be long gone before we have the party and you can stop freaking out about it. It is all going to be fine Charlie, trust me.”

  “It is going to get wild or anything. I would just feel better if she wasn’t around and no more slip-ups happened. I still can’t believe Ernest brought her to the club.”

  “He was more or less coerced from what I hear. Your sister really does have a mind of her own. There will be no problems Charlie. I will take care of it.” The man needed to get his mind off of everything. “Are you bringing a date?”

  Charlie shook his head that he wasn’t. I could tell that it was most likely the last thing on his mind. “No, I am taking a page out of your book and I am just going to find someone there for the night. I spend too much time worrying about forever that I am wasting the right now.

  “It has its perks.”

  “Yes, as does getting it on with the staff. I see that you and Ruby are getting close. Are you going to invite her to be your date for the party?”

  I gave him a look telling him that I wasn’t. I tried to minimize what went on with me and Ruby, but it was clear now that I had been too open about what I was doing. I shouldn’t have been. She was an employee. It was something that I was going to have to nip in the butt before it became more than that. Things like this had a way or going overboard quickly.

  When not long after Charlie and I got to the club, Ruby was upstairs trying to entice me. I hadn’t even been there ten minutes. I told her that I wasn’t going to be seeing her anymore and that what fun we had was over. Ruby’s face screwed up and she had a pissed off look on her face that bothered me. She looked like a woman that was scorned. I didn’t see it that way, but it was clear she did.

  After she stormed out, I saw her talking to Charlie and he looked up at me like I had done something wrong. What was that woman telling him? There was no telling, but I was afraid it was going to be about the name I called her from time to time lately. I had used her to make myself feel like I was with Sherry, but now I could see that it was going to bite me in the ass if I let it. Though now I didn’t know how to stop what was happening. How did I stop the train that was already in motion? I stayed there for a moment before going down the stairs, catching a bit of what was said and not liking to hear it at all. She was going to make trouble for me if I didn’t figure something out quickly.

  “Are you okay Ruby?”

  “Yeah, no, I just don’t understand guys sometimes.”

  “There is nothing to understand. We are usually idiots.”

  “Yes you are Charlie. Cold one minute and scorching hot the next. The sad thing is that women will do what you ask, even if it is something crazy like calling us another name. We do it to keep you interested and then you give us the cold shoulder the next day. I get sick of trying to figure out what in the world I am supposed to do.”

  I knew that they were talking about me, well Ruby was anyways, but I didn’t know if Charlie knew that or not. I was around the corner now and I wanted to see what else she said to him. I needed to know if she was going to let my secrets go or not.

  “For starters, don’t let him call you another name Ruby. You are too pretty for that. You don’t deserve to be called by another woman’s name.”

  “My name is not actually Ruby, you know that right?”

  “No I didn’t know it. It fits so I guess I figured that it was your real name. Some girls have some very strange names and I can tell, but Ruby was always one I thought was legit. What is your real name?”

  “Danessa.”

  “Then why does everyone call you Ruby?”

  I saw the woman gestured to her hair in front of Charlie. “The hair and it was shorter name for the posters and helped the size of the letters to stand out more. I get recognized all of the time and they always call me Ruby. Maybe Rex was right about that part of it. If they knew my real name, I think it would be even more awkward.”

  “Would you like me to call you by your real name Danessa?”

  She looked down and smiled. “Yes, I would. It helps me to remember that I am not really Ruby, this plaything that works here.”

  He told her that he wouldn’t call her anything else. It was about that time that she was being called to the stage and the conversation was over. She hadn’t spilled the beans, but she was thinking about it by the way she was speaking. “I guess it is my turn. I will see you later Charlie.”

  I watched her go and stayed a few minutes longer before I went back upstairs to get some work done. My mistake to be with Ruby was going to be a problem, especially if my partner was going to take all of this time and energy to try and see what it was she was bothered by. I don’t know why I was so worried about everything, but I was. I felt like I was at a precipice and I wasn’t going to like what I found at the end of it.

  Chapter 19

  Sherry

  I didn’t find the apartment that I was looking for, but I did find something that would do for a little while until I could spend more time and find something better. It was a bit too much and it still wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods, but it got my brother’s approval which I guess I still needed. It wasn’t like I was going to really be that upset if I lost it, considering what he was doing, but it made it easier when I had to tell mom and dad that I was going to be moving into the city as well. It wasn’t going to go down well and I really needed Charlie there to help smooth it over.

  When I woke up and they told me that I was going to have to ride in with Rex, I was filled with mixed emotions. While it was good that I was going to spend some time with Rex alone, hopefully a repeat of the other night, I wasn’t going to have anyone on my side when it came to telling my parents.

  With no choice but to tell Charlie goodbye, I got in t
he car with Rex and tried not to look as dejected as I felt. It was going to be one of those times that I wished I was anywhere else.

  We weren’t riding long before Rex told me why Charlie was acting so differently.

  “So your brother knows that you know. Someone told him that you were at the club the other day.”

  “Well at least I know why he has been acting so weird now. He has been really uptight. I should have said something, but I didn’t want him to worry even more.”

  “I don’t think you can stop that from happening. Your brother is always a little high strung when it comes to the family. He will get over it. I am sure, but for now if you could not rub it in his face, that would be good.”

  “Do you really think I am that kind of girl?”

  “Maybe. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  I smiled at Rex and shrugged. “Siblings are like that. I have to torture him sometimes and the fact that my brother is like some kind of pimp is definitely going to come out eventually.”

  “Is that what you think of me? That I am some kind of pimp?”

  “No, but I did take a peek in your rom. You have some serious issues going on there Rex.”

  He laughed which was a bit of a surprise and he shook his head with mirth. “So I am going to be the one getting the ribbing since you can’t say anything to Charlie about it?”

  “Yep. How did you guys decide to become pimps? I mean did it just come to you one day or what?”