Cocky: A Reverse Harem Romance

by Ashlee Price

  Penny crawled next to Ted, her head resting on his shoulder as she listened to the pounding of his heart. He grabbed her close, cradling her neck under his arm. Ted finally turned off the toy. “Stay here with us tonight.”

  Jaxon moved on the other side of her, his own head leaning on her stomach, his hot breath brushing across her slick skin.

  “There is nowhere else I would rather be.”

  ~THE END~

  Cowboy Seeks Wife

  Chapter 1

  “So what, you’re telling me you got a mail-order bride?”

  Shane shook his head. Caroline didn’t get it, most people didn’t and that was why he had kept it mostly to himself. He didn’t want to think about the comments that some would give him or the looks. It was unheard of in the online dating age, but he was sick of looking for a couple of dates that would turn into nothing. He wanted marriage and finding someone that was looking for the same, seemed to be the best way to go about it.

  “It’s not like that, not really. I found this site and it is for people that want to get married.”

  “So she is from here?”

  “Not exactly. She’s from Ukraine.”

  “Sounds like someone that needs a green card.”

  And that was what he was worried about hearing. It was the first thing that had popped into his head when he had heard about it driving to town on the radio. There was talk of a man locally getting married and the radio hosts were talking about what it would be like to marry a stranger. They had brought up the point that it used to be the way it was, a lot longer than for-love marriages that were so common nowadays. Shane liked that argument and working 12-14 hours a day at the ranch did not leave much time to date someone enough to take care of his needs, let alone enough to get married.

  “Could be, but I need a wife to help around here. Either way it goes, I get some help and companionship and she gets to live in this country.”

  Caroline bristled at the pragmatism. We had been wired to only think of chemical reactions that made her heart stop. Shane’s heart had never so much as skipped, let alone stopped and as he got older, he started to think that the whole idea was made up by fanciful writers late at night.

  “But what about love?”

  Shane shrugged. “Some people grow to love each other, some don’t. Are you happier because you married for love?”

  Her face got a mix of embarrassed and pissed and she turned away. “That’s a low blow Shane.”

  She had been married four times in her forty one years of life and Shane had never brought up the statistics when she was given him advice before. He just didn’t want to hear it. Caroline was a prime example of what happened when one followed their heart instead of their head. She was pretty, well preserved for her age, but she would fall for someone that was never what she needed. After a few months, or sometimes a couple of years they would leave her for someone else and she would start all over again.

  He pressed his lips together. It had been a low blow. “Sorry Caroline, it’s just you’re the only one I’ve told. I don’t mean to get defensive, but I kind of had to tell you about it.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because she is moving in. We are getting married tomorrow and she’ll be here from then on.”

  He could tell she was shocked. “I thought there was time before you have to get married?”

  “There is, but why wait?”

  She was the one using restraint now. “And Caroline, I was wondering if you could help her out, you know show her the business side of it. She is an accountant in her country, so she will be doing the paperwork side of things from now on. You hate it and it will give you more time with the horses.”

  Caroline liked the idea. Every month she dreaded having to get together the paperwork to send in. The invoices, bills, if she could get out of doing that, her job at Afton Ranch would be perfect. “Okay, sure. It’s good timing cause next week is end of month and the second quarter, so all that will be left is learning annual.”

  She tried to push back the fear that maybe she would be replaced.

  Caroline didn’t even want to think about what she would do if she lost the job.

  Shane relaxed, his face showing the relief of pressure. “Thanks Caroline. I knew I could count on you to handle this, as well as your discretion.”

  “You are going to have to say something sooner or later boss. The boys are going to notice some young Ukraine woman walking around the ranch.”

  “How do you know she is young?”

  “Just a guess.”

  He looked off for a minute. She wasn’t that young, around twenty five or so. Shane actually didn’t have but one picture and it was kind of blurry. When he had finally gotten the nerve to go through with it, he spent as little time as he could finding someone. He read a few and one profile stood out. Her likes were outdoorsy and she was good with paperwork. With love out of the equation, he found it to be perfect.

  “She’s a bit younger, but not by much. I just turned thirty one.”

  “Fine Shane, it’s your life.” Her eyes looked a little sad. Shane knew that there had been a time that she had tried to make him the fifth husband and he had entertained it a little, but they were better as they were, without mucking it up with sex. Whether he could say it out loud or not, she didn’t have statistics behind her.

  “It’s not that bad. I mean, if we can’t make it work we will get divorced. It’s a lot more common now.”

  Caroline sighed. He really wasn’t the man for her. She still wanted the chemical reactions to explode in her brain, she wanted it all, even if for but a brief time before fizzling out.

  “So, enough of that. What’s on the agenda today?”

  “We have to transfer a couple horses upstate and I need to get the vet to come out and take a look at Levi’s foot. She had been favoring that leg for a couple of days now and I am starting to worry about it.”

  Caroline nodded. “So who am I going up there with, Sammy?” Her face was hopeful and it made him laugh as he put their coffee cups away.”

  “No. Talk about me liking them young though. Caroline he just turned twenty.”

  She had the good graces to look embarrassed, but her mind went to his hard body when he took his shirt off. There was nothing better in the summer than sitting on the porch and watching the trainers and labor men work. She fanned herself and then giggled back. “Alright be nice. I will see you tomorrow then. Just not Jimmy, that’s all I ask.”

  “Okay deal. Anton?”

  “That’s fine. He will just sleep the whole time anyways.”

  Shane took off out the door and got into his truck. He was going to the airport to pick her up and though he said there were no other thoughts than practicality, he couldn’t help but be a little nervous. One way or another, the woman was going to be in his life for a time and he wanted to make a good impression. Tomorrow, she would be his bride.

  He took time to shave that morning. The beard was a couple of days old and made him look gruff. Or so he had been told on multiple occasions. Shane had been up early that morning and though he had things to do later, like every day, all he could think about was his bride-to-be Dasha.

  Chapter 2

  Dasha looked at her watch again and was starting to get perturbed. She had been waiting for what felt like days, but was only about an hour. The plane was over thirty minutes early and then Shane was about a half an hour late. He better have a good excuse, she thought to herself.

  She didn’t even have a picture of him to know who she was looking for. There had been people standing around when they got off with little white placards with names on them, but none had her name. It was always a risk to do something like this, but she had not expected the man to not show up at all.

  Looking around, she tried to remember what he said. Six foot, dark hair and dark eyes. There wasn’t much else said except that he was some kind of cowboy, so she expected a tall hat and boots. She was not expecting the hand
some man that said her name ever so softly behind her as he tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Dasha?”

  She turned around, not expecting him to look like that. “Yes, you are Shane?”

  He nodded. His heart stopped for a moment. There was no skip, but a full moment where he wondered if it was going to start again.

  When the man didn’t say anything she figured it wasn’t him and she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

  “Oh, you are here to pick me up?”

  Shane finally got it together and grabbed her bag. “No, I’m Shane. Sorry, but your picture did you no justice.”

  “Neither did your description.”

  She waited for him to say more, but he just stared down at her.

  “So should we go?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  He was not expecting to feel that way. She was beautiful and while even her picture was pretty, there was no preparing him for the small, petite woman that stood in front of him. Shane had expected timid, shy maybe, but she did not seem that way at all. Dasha did not seem as affected by him, as he was by her. To think that he had picked her because of her accounting skills was almost laughable to him.

  They walked out to the vehicle and he put her bag in the back of the truck. Opening the door for her, she thanked him and didn’t quite meet his eyes as she got in. Shutting it behind her, he took the long way around the back to give his self a moment to cool down the ardor his body felt. Tomorrow the woman would be his bride and all he could think about was getting his hands on her. He started to wonder how real of a marriage they would actually have.

  Getting in next to her, he asked how her flight was.

  “It was good, but we were early and I’ve been there over an hour.”

  He was not expecting that tone and he kind of chuckled. Timid indeed. “Sorry about that Dasha, I had a sick horse and the vet would only see him early.”

  “I see. And?”

  “And?”

  “How is the horse?”

  “Oh, she needed a leg splint from an old injury that is acting up.”

  “Well that is good, to take care of those kind of things are important.”

  He could tell she was still a little upset, but she seemed to have made her peace with him being late. Looking out the window, she took in the surroundings. A silence fell over them and he wasn’t sure what to say. It was strange to meet someone like that, but he had to press on. There were plans to be made that day for the next.

  “I was thinking we would go get you a dress for tomorrow and let you pick out some flowers. Whatever you want to get, we can get in the city while we are here.”

  “There’s no need. I’ve brought my dress and flowers aren’t necessary. But there is something I would really like to do.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I just want to call home and let them know I got here okay. They will worry until I do. Let them know you are not traffickers or something.”

  The thought sobered him up. With those kinds of dangers, he had to admire her courage to come. He could have made a joke about it, but it didn’t seem the time. He wanted to make her feel safe and if that is what did it, it was easy enough to take care of. Handing her his phone, she dialed a few digits and then waited.

  Speaking in her native language, he liked the sound of it, yet didn’t know what she was saying. He really didn’t care as long as she kept talking. It gave him a moment to observe her when they got to a stop sign. Shane had thought it would be different, that he wouldn’t want to kiss her or that dare he say, love her, but he was already feeling something for the woman. There was something about her and the matter of fact way that she spoke. It was going to be an adventure, he thought to himself.

  Dasha didn’t talk for long before she handed the phone back to him. He set it on the dash and asked her if she was hungry. She said that she really wasn’t, more nervous than anything else. Another silence followed them for the rest of the long trip home. Shane would start to say something and then second guess what he was going to say and then he was left to say nothing at all. He assured himself that it was just the newness of it all and soon enough it would be normal.

  “You’re very quiet Shane. Do you not have any questions for me, because I have questions for you.”

  Shane was almost surprised to hear her voice after such silence.

  “Sure, ask whatever you want.”

  “What does a cowboy do?”

  “Ah, well I run a horse training ranch. We train horses for racing or for personal use for customers. Have you ever been on a horse before?”

  She shook her head that she hadn’t and asked him if he would take her for a ride one day. Shane promised he would and she seemed to like that answer. He liked the idea of holding her tight against him as they rode.

  “So tomorrow we get married?”

  “As long as you still want to.” He looked over, hoping that was still the case. He had already warmed up to the idea and it sounded like a good one. He really wanted to marry her, have her for his own. She was beautiful.

  “I do. Do you like me for a wife?”

  He nodded his head a bit too quickly, but she didn’t laugh at him about it. Shane couldn’t think of anything else that he wanted more than to be her husband. “Yes, I think you are perfect.”

  Chapter 3

  The rest of the day was spent showing her where everything at the ranch was and then leaving her to unpack and settle in while he took care of some duties that still had to be done. He had several employees that worked there as well, though there was still more work than men and he picked up the slack where it was needed. Caroline still wasn’t back from upstate, so Dasha was left to her own devices in the house.

  He told her before he left that they would grab something in town when he was done brushing down a couple of the horses and after he checked on the one that had the hurt leg. Shane thought of the new woman in his life and wondered how he could be so lucky. He was waiting for her to lose it or for something to come out. She was just too perfect, too beautiful. There had to be something that made her choose to move all the way across the world instead of having her pick of men in her own country.

  Shane almost didn’t care though, she was stunning. Dasha’s dark hair was long and she had it braided to the side when he picked her up. She must have been barely over five and a half feet tall, coming to just his chest and she had soft features, refined in a way that was not normal in his part of the country. It was her voice though and her blue eyes that drew him in. Her tone was sure and her eyes evaluating. If Shane didn’t know any better, he would have thought he had met his match.

  Walking back in the house, he was not expecting the smells of dinner. He was going to take her out, but as he got closer to the kitchen, it was clear that she had made something. The smells were as foreign as her accent, but it smelled good whatever it was.

  “It smells good in here.”

  She waved him away. “I thought you might be hungry. The pampushki will be ready in a minute and then we can eat. Why don’t you go wash up before dinner?”

  It was stronger than a suggestion and for some reason, he didn’t want to disappoint her and went upstairs to their bedroom. He had tried to give her the option of where she wanted her things and she had opted for the guest bedroom until they were married tomorrow. All that Shane could think of was what would happen when they did share a bed together .Was all of his talk of needing a wife going to get him one or would she be resistant? He had not planned to feel the way he did and certainly hadn’t figured he would be so attracted to her.

  He went upstairs and peeked in the guest bedroom. He didn’t see her bag anywhere and he finally went into his own room where her bag was on the floor next to the dresser. Shane didn’t know why it was in there, but when he opened the drawers, he saw some of her things put up. His fingers were drawn to a bit of red silk and he picked it up before he heard her voice behind him.

  “I hope
you don’t mind that I put them in there. It didn’t seem to make sense when I will only be in the other room a night, to unload it in there.”

  Shane was red when he turned around, stuffing the panties back in the drawer. He tried not to look guilty but it was clear he had been caught. She had a slight grin on her face and mischief in her eyes. Her look was unfathomable and he looked away, not able to hold her gaze.

  “I was just going to let you know that the borshch is ready.”

  He nodded like he knew what the hell it was and followed her back down the stairs. Shane realized he hadn’t even washed his hands or changed his shirt. A look from her made him notice it and he went back upstairs to do as she asked. Well she didn’t even have to verbally ask, her eyes had told him what she wanted and he had been unable to refuse her.

  The table was set and she had invited in the workers, as well as Caroline. There was a big pot of some kind of red soup in the middle of the table and though everyone wondered what was in it, no one said a word. The men were busy checking out Dasha and Caroline checking out her boss’ reaction. She had just came in and just met her. She had to say that Dasha was not at all what she had expected. Dasha was forceful and obviously capable.

  All through dinner, the other staff asked her all kinds of questions and she answered them as clearly as she could. When she mentioned that her and Shane were getting married in the morning, everyone except Caroline was looking at her with shock. There were more questions of how they met and Shane started to get nervous of what Dasha would say.

  “We met online.”

  “Like on a dating site?”

  “Yeah which site?”

  She looked at the two young men and shook her head. “Just a site.”

  Shane relaxed a little since she wasn’t going to spill the beans of where they met. He noticed Sammy paying extra attention to her and it made him a little nervous. Dasha was beautiful and he could see why they wanted her as well. He wanted her the moment he saw her and now she was his and he didn’t want to share her with anyone.