by Sam Crescent
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m here to talk to William.”
“Mr. Connor only takes appointments.”
“Tell him he needs to see me. It’s about his wife. I’m not going anywhere. He’ll see me.”
She huffed out and picked up the phone. “Mr. Connor, I’m so sorry to bother you. I’ve got a gentleman,” she covered the phone, and asked for his name, “a Mr. Drew Reynolds is here to—” She paused going bright red. “Oh, I see. Yes, sir.” She put the phone down. “He said to go straight through.” She pointed toward the door, and he nodded.
“Thanks.”
Making his way toward the door, he entered the office, saying Connor’s name.
William was behind the desk, and the moment he came in, he hung up the phone, and got to his feet.
“I’ll be damned, Drew Reynolds. I knew you worked at the ranch, but I thought you had forgotten who I was. I’ve been back in town six months, and nothing.” William came around the desk, and held his hand out, shaking it.
Drew noticed there was no wedding ring.
“I’m afraid this wasn’t a social visit.”
“I figured as much,” William said, sighing. “What’s going on?”
“Are you married?” Drew asked, staring at the finger with no ring.
William cursed. “Yeah, as per my father’s will, I had to marry that fucking viper, Francine Luderman. Fucking hate her. If I could change it, I would. My heart belongs to another.” William shuddered. “I heard you were fucking Francine all the way up to the wedding.”
Drew stilled. “Okay, this is not going the way I imagined it would. If a man was touching my woman, he wouldn’t be standing before me right now.”
His old friend sighed. “Look, I married Francine because I had to. This is my fucking company. I earned this. However, in my father’s will, he made sure, the fucking bastard, that I had no option but to marry the woman of his choice. Believe me, I don’t have any love for Francine. I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as her. Marrying her was just business.”
“Well, your ‘just business’ has an issue with the fact that I’ve moved on, and that I’ve found love.”
“Raven Howard?”
“Yeah, you heard?”
“I heard that you’d made a claim. She belongs to you, and no man was to touch. She’s a good woman, a good girl. Kind of reminds me of my own.”
“Huh?” Drew said, confused again.
William pulled out his wallet and opened it up. “Clara, she’s mine. Met her when I was in college. She was a waitress. Fell in love, and we have two kids together.”
“How are you married?”
“My father’s will states I only have to be married to Francine. I have nothing to do with the woman. I don’t touch her, I don’t care about her. She sickens me, Drew. I’m a man, a businessman. Clara is who belongs to me. Now, if you’d been banging my real girl, you’d be dead on the floor.”
“I want you to get Francine and her vipers to stop hurting my woman, William. You know what love is. I can see it in your eyes when you look at that picture. Imagine a woman from your past making her life a living hell.”
“I wouldn’t stand by.”
“I don’t know what you can do—”
William held his hand up. “I may be a businessman, but I’m also her meal ticket as well. The only reason she can hold her head up high is because of me. Don’t worry, I can put Francine in her place. I’ll even make sure her little group knows as well.”
Drew went to speak, but the woman’s voice from the front desk alerted them that Francine was in fact there.
“How would you like to see me strip her down, verbally that is, right here? That way, you’ll know it has been done.”
Drew took a seat as William gave the order to send her in.
Francine stormed into the office and threw down the plastic credit card. “This is used up. I need another.”
“Another?” William asked, taking a seat behind the desk.
“You’re not fucking me, William, the least you can do is pay for stuff I want,” Francine asked.
“Ah, I see, we’ve got a problem. You know Drew, don’t you?” William said, pointing toward him.
Francine paled and looked a little aghast.
“Yes, I’ve heard about him.”
“Don’t try to pretend you weren’t fucking him, dear,” William said. The sarcasm in his endearments was clear to hear. “He doesn’t want your rotten pussy, just like I don’t.”
“How dare—”
“You will leave Raven and him alone. Is that understood?” William asked. His voice was dripping with pure hate.
“Why the hell will I do anything you say?”
There was a pause, a brief silence.
William flicked the credit card on the desk. “Okay, you’re right. You shouldn’t listen to me. That will be all.”
“Credit card,” Francine said. “I need one.”
“Excuse me, but no.”
She laughed. “Stop being an ass.”
“I suggest you get one of your bitch friends to buy dinner, and to take you to that spa that costs me a couple of grand for all of you.”
“No!”
William got to his feet. “Why should you do as I say? Because I’m the one that controls what you buy. You think people will look at you the same when I take away your house? The money you spend, none of it is yours.”
“I’ll tell Daddy.”
“Go ahead. He’s got no control over what I do. Think about it, Francine. Money or no money. I don’t care if I live in a trailer. What will it do for you?”
****
“What did she say?” Raven asked.
“Francine caved. Called him a bully, but he’s told her until he knows for certain she’s going to stop, he’s limiting her account, and that he’d canceled the spa date.”
“I bet that didn’t go down well.” She handed him a drink and took a seat beside him. Neither of them could do anything as today she’d gotten her period, and had told him so. She was in pain with the cramps. He pulled her toward him, and started to rub her stomach.
“It didn’t. She’s not going to cause any more trouble for us. I can guarantee it. Money is all she cares about.”
“Money can do a lot of bad things to people, don’t you think?” she asked. “It makes them … different.”
“Yeah, it does. I’m just glad he took care of it.”
“Did you think he wouldn’t?”
“I don’t know. It was a long shot to be honest.”
“I didn’t know you even knew William.”
“Back in high school. We weren’t close, but we were friends. He went away to college with big dreams, and he came back home. Poor fucker had to actually marry her when he’s got a woman and two kids he loves more. Doesn’t even touch her.”
“That’s just … sad. Don’t you think?” she asked.
“Sad, hell yeah.”
“Spending your life with a woman you can’t stand, while the woman you love has to know that you’re married to someone else. I don’t think I could ever go through something like that.”
“Me neither, baby. I couldn’t stand to be associated with anyone but you.”
She closed her eyes, enjoying the way his fingers caressed over her stomach. “I’m glad you did it.”
“Me, too. I couldn’t stand to have any more shit happen to you because of me.”
Raven didn’t know what to say, so she stayed quiet. “It’s okay.”
“It wasn’t okay. I should have learned to keep it in my pants.”
“I don’t want you to keep it in your pants.” She winked at him. “I like having you use it.”
“Oh, baby, when we can, I’m going to show you how good it can be when you let me play with you.”
She giggled.
“Would you like to go out with me tonight?” he asked.
“To the bar?”
“Yeah
. I want to take you out. I don’t care what people think.”
“I’d like that.”
Raven got to her feet and rushed to get dressed. She settled on a pair of jeans and a figure-hugging shirt. She felt as sexy as she could given the circumstances. Drew was waiting for her by the door, and they left the house, to climb into his truck.
It didn’t take them long to arrive, and considering it was a Monday, it was very busy. Drew climbed out first and moved around the truck to help her out. With the door closed, he pressed her against the metal and claimed her lips.
“Fuck, I love you, Raven Howard.”
“Ditto, Drew Reynolds.” She kissed him back, knowing she wanted to do all kinds of dirty things to him, but having to wait.
“Come on, let’s go inside.”
He took her hand, and they made their way inside Bobby’s bar. Several people turned to look at them, but no one said anything.
Making their way toward the bar, they both ordered a beer.
“You’re not going to cause trouble tonight, are you?” Bobby asked.
“Not at all. I wanted to take my girl dancing.”
There were some slow moves going on, and Raven wanted to be part of it. She’d never danced much growing up. Boyfriends hadn’t really been her thing.
Taking a sip of her beer, she gave a little sigh as Drew wrapped his arm around her waist drawing her up close against him. It was nice to get out of the house, to have a little alone time with each other.
“Is there something you want?” she asked.
“Yeah, I want to dance with you.”
Finishing their beers, he took her onto the dance floor, where there happened to be a slow song playing.
“What’s going on, Drew?” she asked. “Something tells me you’ve got something on your mind.”
“I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Okay. I’m ready.”
One of his hands held hers close to his chest, and the other he rested on the base of her back.
“I was wondering what you had planned for the next fifty years?”
“Not a whole lot. Meet a nice man, settle down, maybe have a couple of kids. What about you? What do you have planned?”
“I want you in my life, Raven, always.”
“That’s already happening.”
“I want six kids,” he said.
She snorted. “Six?”
“Yeah. My folks struggled to have kids, and then late in their age they had me. I knew they loved me, but they just wanted a few more kids.”
“Six kids it is, then. My mom had complications after me, and Dad didn’t want to risk it. He loved her more than an army full of brats. He was happy with me.” She smiled at him. “I’m lovely.”
He chuckled at her teasing.
“You are lovely, and all mine.”
“What else would you like?”
“I’d like a couple of dogs, and cats. I’m not fond of cats, but I’ll have a couple because they help keep the mice away. I love my house, and I wouldn’t want to move.”
“Don’t worry, Drew, I love your house as well. It needs a woman’s touch, of course it does, but I can work with that.”
She liked this.
They were planning their future together, or at least it felt like they were.
“So, six kids, dogs, cats, and the two of us together.”
“How does that sound?” he asked.
“Perfect to me. It sounds absolutely perfect.”
Chapter Ten
All of his carefully ordered plans had been completely messed up. Drew paced up and the long hallway of his house as he waited for the delivery of what he hoped was the damn ring he was going to propose to Raven with. Last week, when the ring was supposed to arrive it was delayed because the jeweler was taken sick. Then he missed the delivery early Monday because he had to finish work, and so he had to lie about taking a delivery for Brice so Raven wouldn’t suspect.
It was now Friday, and he wanted to propose to Raven in an elaborate, really romantic scene at her bakery, but it wasn’t looking like it was going to happen because the damn man who was supposed to be delivering the blasted thing was late. Totally late.
Brice coughed.
“What?”
“I’ve never known you to be this crazy.”
“I organized everything, and now that could all get screwed over. I even have plans for us to go to a rescue center to get a dog and a cat.” Running fingers through his hair, Drew was pissed, more than pissed.
“It will turn up. You’ll laugh about this one day, and say you were stressing about nothing.” Brice waved his hand in the air as if it was nothing. As if the love of his life wasn’t at a bakery in town thinking her life was going to be tied to a man who was so unromantic.
God, this was killing him. “You’re an asshole!”
“That’s all you’ve got to say? I’m the asshole? You’re the one that decided to get the ring down, move your woman in, and tell her you were getting married after sex.”
“How do you know about that?” Drew asked.
“Cathy talks. We talk about you guys. We’re both in agreement, you’re cute as hell. I never thought I’d see the day that Drew Reynolds got snagged by Raven Howard, one of the sweetest girls around.”
Pacing up and down, Drew didn’t have time to argue with Brice. There were times, late at night when Raven was asleep in his arms, that he had to wonder how the hell he got her to be with him.
The doorbell rang, and he charged toward it, desperate to get that ring back in his hands.
“I’ve got a delivery for Drew Reynolds,” the man said.
Signing for it, Drew forgot about all the hateful words he was going to spill out, and simply grabbed the little package. Slamming the door closed, he unwrapped it and checked to make sure everything was perfect. “Thank fuck, it’s good. We’re all good.”
“Are we ready to get this show on the road?”
“Let’s get this show on the road.”
Climbing into Brice’s truck, they headed toward town, and Drew’s heart was racing. He’d never known anything like it in his life. His hands were sweaty, and the fear was so strong, and yet at the same time, it all felt right. When it came to Raven he would run to the ends of the earth to do anything for her. She was his heart, his reason for living, and he loved her more and more every single day.
“Are you sure about this? Her father has a shotgun. You do anything to hurt her, and you’re on your own.”
“I’m not going to hurt her. I love her. This is not something I just decided to do. I want to be with Raven for the rest of my life. The sooner you realize that Cathy is a keeper, the sooner you’ll be happy.”
“She doesn’t want me.”
“You ever thought that the reason she doesn’t want you is because you’ve never showed her that you want more than sex? Give her a chance, and she might surprise you.”
“You’ve got to get one woman to fall in love with you. Stop trying to deal with my love life.”
“What love life? You don’t have one. You fuck, that’s it.”
“Well, I haven’t fucked another woman in over a year, I’ll have you know.”
“Does Cathy know that?” Drew asked.
“No, I didn’t tell her. To be honest, I don’t know how to get her to move from this thing we’re having into something more. It kind of sucks. Most women think us men should take the reins, and do shit like that. Me? I’m always so fucking scared. What if I do something wrong?”
Drew laughed. “You’ve got to learn to speak up for what you want. If Cathy doesn’t want you, then she doesn’t want you, and you can’t do anything about that. What’s wrong with taking that leap of faith though?”
Brice sighed. “I hate you. Why don’t you concentrate on making your own woman, and anyone within hearing distance fall in love with you?”
Seymor was already waiting for them, and so were several of the ranchers.
He couldn�
�t mess this up.
Brice parked up outside, and Drew stepped out, knowing that he wanted this to be something Raven remembered.
Licking his dry lips, he stepped toward the door, and several people inside turned to look at him.
“Cathy, I’d like to see my woman please,” he said. His voice was clear, not giving away to his nerves.
Damn, Raven could turn him down in public, and everyone would be laughing at him.
Think, focus, and don’t panic.
Think, focus, don’t panic.
Don’t panic.
“Raven, someone is here to see you,” Cathy said.
Don’t panic.
“Who would want to … Drew, hey,” Raven said. She gave him that smile, and all of his doubts faded away. “What are you doing here?”
“Raven Howard, for as long as I can remember you have held a special place in my heart. Seven years ago, you saw me in a less than flattering, um, state, and before I got a chance to talk to you, you were gone. For seven years I’ve been going through life without really living. There’s no enjoyment. There was no love. I had sex, but I didn’t have a connection. No one even came close to being the woman that I needed, that I wanted, that I yearned for.”
“Drew?”
“Seeing you standing with Cathy that day, in that instant I felt like I’d been woken up again. That with you gone, I’d only been sleeping, waiting for the day to wake up. Just one look at you, and my world tipped on its axis, spun out of control, and I knew I couldn’t let you go, not now, not ever.” Slowly, he got down on one knee.
Tears were in her eyes, and he hated that he was making her cry. He hated any kind of tears, whether they were happy or sad.
“Drew?”
“I love you. Before you now, I’m half a man, but being with you, I’m a full man. I love you. I love you more than anything in the world. I’m not good with romance, and I’m not good at always saying the right things. I know ranching, I know hard work. I promise you, to always love you, to always take care of you, to be the best lover you’ll ever have, the only lover you’ll ever have. I will provide, be the most caring husband, and the best father to our kids. I’ll also take out the trash and do the dishes.”