by Ashlee Price
“Katie, you have a meeting at ten, remember?”
She nodded at her assistant and tried to remember who she was meeting. When she gave her the slightly blank look, she took the cue and gave her the names. It was two men that wanted to buy in with five franchises and I was supposed to be there to push the sale. Five more locations was a lot of fees and royalty money for the company. There was never enough for the business, even when it was so different than what she needed.
Chapter 8
“Katie? Are you okay?”
She nodded to her assistant, but tried to shake the feeling that she had. She wasn’t okay and ever since getting out of the meeting with the two men, she was feeling worse than she had in a long time. They were so pumped to get started, the excitement and purpose were blinding. It was how she had felt when she was around Paul while he was working at the ranch. It was what he liked to do, what he loved to do and it was so clear. Like the two men she had met with earlier, they were as excited to get started.
“Can you find me the number for the Callahan Ranch in Crouse, Texas please?”
“Crouse, Texas? Is that where you were recuperating?”
“Yes.”
“Of course. Do you want me to send them a thank you card or basket?”
Katie shook her head. “I think that the thank you should be a little more personal than that Bea. But thank you for offering. I do want to do something special to thank them. That man saved my life.”
The short brunette walked out to go find her the number, but Katie still wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it. While she wanted to talk to Paul, see if he even missed her, beg him to come back. Any of those things had to be better than how she felt right then, the emptiness she felt without him.
When Bea came back in with the number and left, Katie stared at her for some time. She knew that Paul would be out working till close to night fall, so there was no reason to call him then. She would wait till that evening and hope that she had more courage than she felt right then. Right then, her stomach was knotted and she was afraid to even consider calling him. Her worst fear was that he would have forgotten about her already and moved on. It had only been a little over a week and she felt lost without him, but what if he didn’t feel the same way? Katie would be crushed if he didn’t and she knew by calling him, she was going to be putting herself out there and she wasn’t sure if she should. Or even if she could.
***
“Hi, is Paul there?”
“Katie?”
“Yes Scott. I was hoping to get a hold of your brother.”
“I thought you would have seen him by now.”
“Seen him? What do you mean?”
“He left a couple of days ago to see you and he should have been there by now.”
Katie stopped, not sure if she was hearing what he was saying or what her heart yearned to hear. “He is coming here?”
“Supposed to, though Gemma said that he was having second thoughts. The city was a lot for him to take in.”
She couldn’t even imagine Paul there and her heart leapt in her chest. Where was he? When she asked Scott he didn’t seem to know, but promised to get a hold of the sister and call her back. Those few minutes were the longest in her life, but she waited. When she finally did talk to him, her heart sank back down to the level it had been in the beginning. He had left without seeing her, giving up on her. When she hung up, for a long time she stared at the same painting she had looked at for years.
There was a decision to be made. Should she just let him run away and what they have diminish or could she change it? Her mind made up, she left that evening with a small bag of things she thought she would need and her purse. When she got to the ticket terminal, Katie bought a one way ticket, hoping that she wouldn’t need to get a way home. He was who she wanted and while he couldn’t make it in the city, she knew that she could make it in the country. Anywhere he was going to be.
It didn’t seem right for her to even think of him leaving the ranch. He was happy and she wasn’t. New York had never made her happy, but Paul had and she wanted to feel that way again.
***
Scott had left the door unlocked for her since she was going to be getting into town so late at night. The ride from the airport was almost as long as the wait to hear from Scott about Paul. While she had been saddened that he had left early, the fact that he had come at all spoke volumes to what he really felt about her and she was okay with him backing out. She wasn’t going to. All she saw it as now, was that he loved her and they were going to be together, one way or another.
She got to the ranch and opened the door to the large house that she had so many fond memories of. Her mind went straight up the stairs and then her body followed to Paul’s bedroom door. She pushed it open and found him sleeping. He looked tired from all of his traveling and she was almost tempted to slide into bed with him right then.
Instead she slid off her clothes first, wanting more than anything to feel his hot body against her own skin. Katie felt naughty in that moment, but she needed to see the look in his eyes like the first time he had looked at her. It had been hot and she wanted it again. Pulling the covers back in front of him, Katie laid down quietly next to him.
Paul moved to pull her against him, mumbling her name as his hips pressed against her. Like before, he wasn’t wearing anything in bed. That fact, paired with the fact that he had said her name in a soft growl, was enough to know that she had made the right decision. No matter what the next day would bring.
“Mmm, Katie.”
She rubbed herself against him as he said her name over and over again. He was getting excited, his body readying them both without him even knowing it. When his arm moved to cover her waist and she felt him stiffen up behind her for a moment, Katie knew he was awake.
“Katie?”
Turning her head, she pressed her lips against him, not wanting to hear his voice, but feel him inside of her again. Tilting her ass upwards, she felt his long length slide between her legs. Paul pushed through with his hips, rubbing against her wetness as the shaft passed. He was making himself wet with her need and he groaned as she finally pulled away to reposition her body for him. Katie’s eyes closed as he pulled free and made a second forward thrust, catching the thick head on her opening.
Paul thought he had been dreaming and he still worried that he was, but she was so hot against him that it was hard to care. If he was dreaming, it was real enough to feel and as he pushed inside, his teeth pressed together. She felt as she had before, hot and suffocating, wrapped around him lovingly in such a way. “I can’t believe you are really here.”
He moved slowly, still not fully inside of her. He sat up on one elbow, suckling and biting her creamy throat, making her whimper and squeeze him. Paul had never met such an expressive lover and by being with her just once, he seemed to know all of the buttons that were there to be pressed. His hand moved up to pull and tease at her hard nipple to bring out a melody of moans.
The sounds pulled from her as he finally hit bottom and she whimpered out against him. Each tug of his fingertips and nibble of his teeth made her jerk against him and around the part of him that penetrated her. “Are you here to stay?”
He asked as he pulled out and pushed back in quickly. Katie’s eyes were still closed, but she shook her head that she was. It was hard to think when he was inside of her and the way he took her breath away. “Promise?”
“Yes Paul. I can’t help but love you.”
Paul pushed deeper and her words gave him what he needed to hear. All he had ever wanted was her and now that he had her, he just wanted to hear her scream again. Unlike before though, there was no soft music playing to cover up the sharp intake of breath as he drove back deep inside of her. He liked it better that way, nothing hidden and she seemed more exposed.
His hand moved down to her thigh, hiking it up higher with his forearm while his fingers rubbed on her swollen center. Their lips touched as he move
d faster inside of her, but she finally pulled away as she cried out into the still night. He liked the quiet more, for no other reason than to have missed all of her noises from the sound of the city around them. There at the ranch, he could savor every last bit of them and make her make more as he finds out what it was that drives her so mad.
“Paul, yes, oh!”
Her body tightened up around him until he couldn’t move. He just pressed as deep as he could, while his fingers flew on her quim. Her hand moved to stop him, but he wasn’t going to allow it. She had come to him and now he was going to take all that he wanted. When she started to beg for him to stop, he rolled her over onto her stomach and took her more slowly.
Shortly after, she was begging him for more and he was more than happy to oblige. Her own fingers pressed against her sensitive clit, pushing herself and then him to new levels as her insides milked him dry. He collapsed after several moments beside her and Katie was able to finally catch her breath.
“I really hope I am not dreaming.”
Katie giggled a little and turned to lie on his sweaty chest. “If you are, then I am too.”
His arm came around her tightly and he looked down at the dark green eyes looking back at him. “What are you doing here Katie?”
“I heard you were in the area and didn’t even stop and said hi. So I thought I would come say ‘hi’ to you.” Katie leaned in and kissed his lips slowly. They were just as soft as she remembered, even though hers were reddened from the rough kisses from before. His beard was sharp and scratchy, but she liked the feel of it against her cheeks.
“I’m sorry I didn’t stop, but I knew I couldn’t compete with that.”
“You don’t have to Paul. You have made me happier than any time that I was in New York. I love you and I want to stay here with you, if you will have me.”
“Everything I have is yours Katie. Everything.”
“Good, because I want more of this.”
Her body was not finished with him, sliding over the top of him slowly. Paul’s eyes closed as his hands moved to pull her hips down, taking both their minds off of the next moment. Right then, there was only now and the feelings rendering them both speechless.
THE END
Cowboy’s Marriage
Introduction
Mother Callahan has fallen ill, and it’s up to her eldest son, Marcel, to run the business while she’s recuperating. That means he has to hang up his hat and put on a suit for the first time – he has to take care of the business end of things instead of working the family ranch like he’s used to.
Marcel hates the city, the concrete and noise, but then he finds an island of light in the middle of the darkness. Everything looks better when he meets a young woman with dark hair and blue eyes that he could fall in love with. That he does fall in love with.
Marcel wants to take her home to the ranch and make her his bride. But nothing happens the way it is supposed to. If he can’t get her to fall for him, he won’t be able to convince her to leave her fast-paced life.
If only he can convince Davina, everything will be perfect.
Chapter 1
Marcel waited patiently for the doctors to do what they could for her. His mother was getting older and this was the second bout she had had with her heart. It didn’t look so good this time. There was damage from the previous time and Marcel was sure that something bad was going to happen. It was the feeling deep in his gut that told him that everything was about to change.
The bench was hard underneath him and he checked his phone for the third time. He had sent a message out to all of his siblings, yet no one was answering and Marcel worried that something would happen and no one would be there. They had already lost their father on a private plane crash while he was surveying land to buy. No one had been able to say goodbye then either.
He got up from the bench and started to pace. Marcel hated hospitals, but it was not the first time and he had learned that moving around seemed to help. It wasn’t helping in that instance, but he did it more out of a need to do something.
“Marcel, I got your message.” He smiled at his sister in law and asked about his brother Chris.
“No he is off shore for the next couple of weeks and he won’t be back until then. I can try to get transport, but I don’t know if they will go for it.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think it will be okay. But if I am wrong, I don’t know. Let’s see what the doctor says first.”
The brunette moved to hug Marcel. He was the oldest and held guilt and the responsibility on his family from a young age. Now to even think of losing his mother, Marcel was doing a very poor job of hiding his emotions, something that he was known for. In that moment he just sighed heavily and for just a few seconds, was able to slump against her and not be so strong.
“It will be okay. Elna is strong and she will get through this. Just calm down. Have you talked to anyone else?”
He shook his head that he hadn’t. Everyone was too busy with their own lives and Scott and Paul didn’t even have cell phones. They were out running the cattle and wouldn’t be back in till nightfall to check their answering machine. “You know Paul and Scott won’t be in till the sun goes down and Henri is off in South America. I don’t know what Gemma is doing.”
Leanna pulled away. “I will call Gemma and see where she is at. Just sit down Marcel. You are making everyone nervous.”
Marcel looked around and then noticed the looks he was getting from the other people in the small waiting room. He took up a lot of space and was quite large, only making the room smaller. Pausing with indecision even though his body wanted to move, he finally sat back down and tried not to twitch. After a few moments he went and talked to the nurse station. She was in surgery and wouldn’t be out for at least an hour.
Instead of staying inside to worry, he went down to the entrance and went for a short walk. Leanna had been on the phone when he had gotten back from talking to the nurse and if anyone could rally the people there, it was her. The space helped clear his mind and he found himself praying, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. It wasn’t like him to be so agitated, but the city always did that to him. It was where the good doctors were, but there was just far too much concrete and not enough green to suit him. What he wouldn’t give to change the morning’s events and be back on the ranch where they were supposed to be.
Marcel had walked about two miles before he turned around and started back. He was feeling better, some of the excess energy gone from troubling him, but he still wanted her to be okay. When he got back in the waiting room and seen his sister, he knew that it was going to be okay. Gemma had a way about her. Just being in her presence was enough to make him feel better about it all. “She is going to be fine bro. Mom will be fine, she always is.”
***
The doctor came out and he had an unreadable face. He should have played poker, Marcel thought to himself. Now he wanted assurances, not that not grim, expressionless face. Standing up, Marcel walked up to him as he waited to hear news on his mom. What he hoped for was to hear it said that she was going to be okay. Marcel had to check the reactions of his sister and sister-in-law, just to make sure that he had heard it correctly.
Sighing, he thanked the man. “She is going to have a rough road ahead of her, but I know Elna and I know that she is going to pull through just fine. She is made from sturdy stock.”
“Can we see her?”
He nodded, “But she is going to be resting for a while. She came out from the operation fine, but Elna is going to be foggy for the rest of the day.”
Marcel was already moving towards the double doors where the man had just come from ICU. He had to see her, make sure she was okay with his own eyes and then he could breathe finally. When Gemma followed him, he took strength from her being there next to him.
When they moved into her room, Marcel stood over her for a moment and was a bit surprised when her eyes opened. “I’m not dead yet.”
Elna smiled and he pushed the brown hair back from her forehead. “I know Marcel. I am feeling my age today.” She looked around and saw Gemma and Leanna, but he knew that she was looking for the rest of her boys. “Where are your brothers?”
“You know Paul and Scott are running cattle, Henri and Chris are out of the area right now.” He was worried that she was confused, but she sighed.
“I know. I have something to say and I wish all of you were here, but I guess you will have to bring them back home when you can. You will give them the message won’t you?”
Her speak was worrying to her son. She sounded like she was giving up or wanting to say good bye. “Don’t talk like that. You are going to be fine.”
“No, not like that, I’ve just been thinking.”
Marcel sat down next to her. “Okay, what were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that I need to pass the company on now. I can’t keep working there, at least not for a time while I am recovering.”
He tried to stop her. It wasn’t the time. She had just gotten out of surgery and the last thing she should be worried about was the business. “I will take care of it, don’t worry.”
“Good, that’s what I had in mind. You are going to have to take over for a while, but my assistant will help you out. She knows what and where and who for everything.”
“Okay mom, really this is something we can talk about later.”
“Yes, there is something else. Gemma, you too.”
She moved closer and like Marcel, didn’t like the finality in how she was talking. Elna was talking like a woman that had things on her mind that she wanted settled. “I have been thinking.”
“Mom, you have only been here for a couple of hours.”