by Cat Johnson
“Nope. Not a chance. I’d have done it without the ring if I had to.” When it came to Riley, his heart was already lost. No changing that.
“All right. I guess you’re sure then?”
“I’m sure.” He’d never been more sure of anything.
He loved Riley and he’d do anything to be with her. God, he hoped she felt the same.
Chapter Twenty
“Mmm. I thought tonight would never come.” Riley reached for Skeeter, fisted his T-shirt and pulled him closer.
He laughed. “Wow. You’re, uh…enthusiastic tonight.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s because you didn’t come downstairs last night.”
Skeeter raised one brow. “That’s because when I asked you how you felt yesterday you said you were sore.”
“I’m not sore tonight.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Mmm. Let’s go to bed.”
He smiled. “We’ll get to that. I promise. Can we talk first?”
Riley’s pulse picked up, but it was for a different reason than before. If Skeeter wanted to talk rather than get into bed, something was definitely not all right. “Okay. Sure. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Sit?”
Sitting was not good. Sitting was what people asked you to do when they were afraid you’d fall over because they were about to tell you something horrible. Her heart couldn’t take much more right now.
“What is it? Please tell me.” Her voice was no more than a whisper.
“All right. I’ll get right to it.” Skeeter drew in a breath and Riley was sure it shook. Whatever he was going to say, he was nervous about it. The possibilities, all of them bad given her recent run of luck, swam in front of Riley. “I realize we haven’t been a couple for very long, but I’ve known you for a while. I am certain of one thing, and that is that I love you.” He opened his fist and she saw the ring in his palm. “Will you marry me?”
“What?” She was so breathless—on top of being shocked, confused and overwhelmed—the word was barely audible.
“I want us to get married and live here and keep the ranch running. Together, legally before the eyes of the law, and God and your preacher.”
“Skeeter…” She laughed because the whole situation seemed so strange. “I don’t even know your real name.”
He smiled. “Sorry. It’s Steven. My mother still calls me Stevie once in a while. Look, Riley. I know it feels fast, but I’m sure. I love you. That’s not gonna change with time.”
Tears stung at the back of her eyes. “I love you too.”
Skeeter let out a short laugh. “That’s good. When you didn’t say it right away, I started to get a little worried. What about the other part?”
Riley glanced down at the ring again and shook her head. “No. I can’t marry you. Not now. Not like this.”
His mouth opened and then closed. His brows knit in a frown. He drew in a breath, but didn’t speak.
“Skeeter, I do love you.”
He nodded. “Okay. But…”
She covered his hands with hers. “But I’m not going to get married just to make the preacher happy.”
Skeeter lifted one shoulder. “I thought maybe you’d wanna marry me. Want to be with me.”
“I do want you here with me. Every day and every night. I just don’t want to get married right now.”
“So you think you’ll ever want to?” He brought his gaze from where he’d been focused on the carpet back to her eyes.
“Yeah. One day. I think I’ve got a little more growing up to do first. Don’t take this the wrong way, but both of us probably do.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He blew out a breath. “So I pretty much made an ass of myself here, didn’t I?”
“No.” She took a step closer and rested her hand in his. “You made me love you even more than I already did.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She eyed the small circle of gold still held in his hand. “I suppose we could make that a promise ring for now. I’ve heard of people doing that.”
He held up the ring for her to see. “This belonged to my grandmother. She left it to my mother. And when I told my mom about you, about how I felt about you, how I wanted to marry you, she insisted I give it to you.” He slipped it over the fourth finger of her right hand, instead of onto the ring finger on her left hand. “My promise to you is that I’ll always be here for you, for as long as you want me to be.”
“My promise to you is that you have my heart for as long as you want it to be yours.” She wiped her eyes. “Dang it.”
“Sorry. I make you cry again?”
“No, I made myself cry this time.” Riley glanced up at him through the tears. “I love you so much.”
“And I love you. So much. I know it seems crazy. It happened so fast, but it felt—”
“Right?” she suggested.
“Yeah. Exactly.” He let out a sigh. “What are we going to do about the ranch? You need help and there’s no way that pastor is going to be happy with me living here with you.”
“You let me deal with that. I can handle the pastor.”
“Oh, really? How do you plan on doing that?”
“I’m going to tell him my father raised me right, and he has to trust me to make the right decisions now that Daddy’s gone. And that even though you and I will be living under the same roof while we’re not married, we’re in a serious, committed and loving relationship, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Skeeter pursed his lips. “That’s quite a speech. Think it will work?”
“Don’t know, but I’ll give it a try.”
“And if he doesn’t buy it?”
“I’m gonna be twenty soon, Skeeter. I’m an adult. I own a million-dollar livestock operation that I can’t run by myself. You helping me is good for the business. I respect Pastor Porter and I know he means well, but he’s got no say in the matter. It comes down to my decision and I choose you.”
He smiled. “You can be quite the little pit bull when you get riled up.”
She nodded. “I can.”
Riley didn’t know she had it in her to be this strong, but it seemed she did. Good thing. She had a feeling she was going to need every ounce of her newfound strength to get through the near future.
“Then I’m glad you chose me.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss over her lips.
“You still want to be with me tonight? Even though I said no?”
He let out a snort and took a step closer until they were touching. “What do you think?”
She felt the evidence clearly growing and pressing into her belly. “I think we need to get out of these clothes and into bed.”
“I agree.”
Riley led the way toward the bed. Over her shoulder, she glanced at Skeeter behind her. “I will, you know. Not now, but one day.”
“Will what?” he asked.
“Move this ring from my right hand to my left and marry you.” She stood next to the bed and turned when she realized he’d stopped following her. He looked a little surprised at her statement. “Um, unless your offer is off the table?”
A small smile crooked up one corner of his mouth. “No, the offer is most definitely still on the table.”
“Good.” She kneeled on the mattress, about to crawl to the other side to make room for him. “You know, we might want to get a bigger bed.”
Skeeter laughed. “Already thought of that myself.”
Riley grinned. “See, we’ll make good partners.”
He returned her smile. “Yeah, we will.”
A few hours later Skeeter crept up the stairs to the attic, but by now he knew Aaron would wake up, no matter how quiet he was.
“So? Did you ask?” Aaron’s voice came through the darkness, just as he’d predicted it would.
Skeeter smiled. “Yeah.”
“And? How did it go?”
“She said no.”
Aaron hesitated a beat
. “I’m sorry, Skeets.”
Skeeter laughed. “Don’t be. It was a really incredible no.”
One he wouldn’t be forgetting and hoped to repeat real soon. Making love to Riley now they’d declared how they felt toward each other was even more mind-blowing than it had been before.
“Uh, a’ight. Then I guess I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks, man.” Skeeter had a lot to be happy about himself.
Epilogue
“Happy birthday, Riley.” Garret handed a gift bag overflowing with pink tissue paper to Riley. “This is from the three of us—Silver, me and Aaron.”
Skeeter watched the smile light her face as she took the bag. He thought for the dozenth time that day what a good idea this party was. It was time to celebrate life and all they’d overcome these past few months. He rested a hand to the small of Riley’s back and pressed a kiss to her head.
She smiled up at him before turning back to Garret and Silver. “Thank you, guys. You didn’t have to get me anything. And, Silver, oh my God, I can’t believe you’re showing already.”
Silver ran a hand over her expanding belly. “I know, right? It’s faster than I’d guessed.”
Aaron leaned in. “You are getting pretty huge there, sis. Hope it’s not twins or something.”
Garret paled. “Don’t even say that out loud.”
Chase stepped up with his girlfriend, Leesa, at his side. “Hey, y’all. Sorry we’re late. Riley, you remember Leesa?”
“Of course. We met at a few events. Thanks so much for making the trip.” Riley smiled, the perfect hostess, as usual.
“Don’t be silly.” Leesa drew Riley into a hug. “I wanted to be here, so I planned my trip to visit Chase this month around your party. Happy birthday.”
“That’s sweet. Thank you.” Riley accepted the gift box Leesa handed her after the hug.
“It seems some of the guys weren’t so considerate.” Aaron raised a brow.
“You mean Slade and Mustang?” Skeeter asked. “Aaron, I think we can give them a pass this time.”
Aaron’s brows drew low. “Why? Do you know why they’re not here?”
“I do.” Skeeter’s gaze cut from Riley to the others. “Slade and Jenna eloped to Vegas. Mustang and Sage went with them.”
“To elope too?” Chase’s eyes widened.
“No.” Skeeter shrugged. “I mean, maybe they did. I haven’t gotten a call from them since they got there, but last I heard they were there just as witnesses.” He glanced at Riley. “Sorry, I didn’t get to tell you before. Slade just called a little bit ago.”
“It’s fine. I’m happy for them. It seems we’ve got even more to celebrate today. My birthday. Slade and Jenna’s marriage. Skeeter getting back on the tour.” Riley turned to smile at Skeeter when her gaze moved past him, toward the driveway. “Uh, oh.”
“What’s wrong?” Skeeter turned to follow her stare.
“The preacher’s here,” she answered just as he saw the car roll to a stop.
“Uh, oh, is right.” Aaron’s eyes widened. “He here to catch you two shacking up together?”
“Oh, he knows. He just isn’t happy about it.” Riley turned back to the group. “Excuse me. I’ll go deal with this.”
“No.” Skeeter squeezed her shoulder. “You stay and enjoy your birthday party. I’m gonna go talk to him.”
“You are?” Her brows rose.
“Yeah, it’s about time he and I talked. Man to man.”
“Oh, boy.” Garret let out a snort. “We’ll have a cold one waiting on you for when you get back, Skeets.”
“Yeah, he’s gonna need it.” Chase laughed.
“You don’t have to—” Riley began.
“Believe me. I want to.” Skeeter was determined to deal with whatever the preacher could dish out. Riley had handled breaking the news to him all those months ago, but now he was the man of the house. This was his to handle now. He turned toward the drive.
“Good luck. I love you.” Riley’s voice followed him.
He glanced over his shoulder, his heart warmed from her words. “Love you too. Be right back.”
Skeeter felt the eyes of his friends on him the entire walk to the driveway. By the time he arrived, the pastor was out of the car and standing next to the vehicle.
“Hello, Pastor. This is a surprise.”
“Skeeter.” The preacher nodded to him. “You still living here?”
“Yes, sir.”
The older man’s eyes moved to the extra trucks parked in the driveway. “Having a party? Or are your bull-riding buddies moving in too?”
“No, just me. But we are having a little celebration. It’s Riley’s twentieth birthday today.”
He nodded, slow and steady. “Twenty. Not even old enough to drink yet.”
“But old enough to own property and even to get married.”
“Then why don’t you? You ever going to make an honest woman of her in the eyes of the Lord?”
“Well, sir, I already asked her to marry me and she said no. But I plan to keep asking and I hope to get a different answer one day. So if you are talking to the Lord, put in a good word for me and ask if he can maybe get her to change her mind sooner rather than later.”
The preacher shook his head. “Son, I really did not want to like you, but it seems I just can’t help myself.”
Skeeter smiled with satisfaction. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
The pastor’s gaze cut past Skeeter toward the house. “Looks like you have guests and a party to get back to. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going.”
“Sure thing. Thanks for stopping by. I’ll tell Riley you said hello.”
“You do that.”
Skeeter waited until the pastor had gotten into his car and had begun backing down the driveway before he let out a breath of relief. He saw Riley watching the man’s departure. The moment the car was clear of the drive, she jogged to him.
“What did he talk to you about?”
“He told me I should marry you.”
Her eyes widened. “Really. And what did you say?”
“I told him I’m trying my best to get you to do just that.”
She smiled. “Keep at it. I like the many inventive ways you come up with to convince me day…and night.”
“So do I.” And Skeeter still had quite a few tricks up his sleeve.
About the Author
As an award-winning author of contemporary erotic romance in genres including military, cowboy, and ménage, Cat Johnson uses her computer so much she wore the letters off the keyboard within a year. She is known for her creative marketing and research practices. Consequently, Cat owns an entire collection of camouflage and western attire for book signings and a fair number of her consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living. In her real life, she’s been a marketing manager, professional harpist, bartender, tour guide, radio show host, Junior League president, sponsor of a bull-riding rodeo cowboy, wife and avid animal lover.
To learn more about Cat, please visit www.catjohnson.net. Send an email to Cat at [email protected], like her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CatJohnsonAuthor or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cat_johnson.
Look for these titles by Cat Johnson
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Bucked
Ride
Hooked
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Red, Hot, & Blue
Trey
Jack
Jimmy
Jared
Cole
Bobby
A Few Good Men
Model Soldier
A Prince Among Men
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His last eight seconds could lead to the longest, most satisfying ride of his life.
Hooked
© 2011 Cat Johnson
Studs in Spurs, Book 4
Annie Gr
ant is at the top of her game as an on-air interviewer for the pro bull-riders tour. In all those years standing within microphone range of thousands of sexy cowboys, she’s never been tempted…until now. Now that respected veteran Luke Carpenter is no longer with his longtime girlfriend, he’s back on the market. And Annie is buying.
Luke knows his days are numbered. Every year the rookies get younger, the bulls get ranker and, like it or not, the time is coming when he’ll be hanging up his spurs. After a sizzling hot night with Annie, he realizes that maybe this old dog can learn some new tricks. But quicker than a bull can spin, things get complicated.
A tragedy forces Luke into a no-win decision: hang onto the tail end of his career, or retire early for his family. Either way, he can live with his choice. Question is, can he live without Annie?
Warning: Contains knock-your-boots-off cowboy lovin, some up close and personal interviews of the oral persuasion, and a happy ending…cowboy style.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Hooked:
Would he leave now? She really didn’t want him to. “Um, I could make us some coffee, or decaf…” She swung her arm in the general direction of the bathroom where the machine was, as unappetizing as that juxtaposition was.
“Sure. That would be great.” Luke let the door swing shut.
Annie took the keycard he had handed her and dropped it onto the dresser along with her bag. The surface was a little messy but at least housekeeping had made the bed—the big king-sized bed. She yanked her gaze away from that and glanced guiltily at him, and noticed Luke was staring in the same direction she had been, at that big inviting mattress.
He turned to her and she could have sworn he blushed. “Annie…” He took one step closer, until he was directly in front of her, and then he stopped.
“Yes?” Oh God. Don’t get too excited.
“I don’t really want any coffee.” His eyes focused on her intently.
What was he trying to say? He wanted to leave? Then why was he so close she could feel the warmth of his breath? “Oh. That’s fine. I know it’s late—”