Crossroads (Chance City Series Book Three)

by Robin Deeter

  “Do you recall what you asked me?”

  Ray’s mind fogged with desire as she pulled the chemise a little higher, revealing more of her creamy thighs. “No. Yes. I asked you how you could do that to me.”

  Carly could clearly see the effect she was having on him and her body reacted. “Well, yes, but you asked me something else.”

  Ray had slept with many women the past couple of months, but none of them had even remotely excited him the way she was doing. He hadn’t even touched her or kissed her, but he was as ready for her as a stud after a mare in heat. “What did I ask you?”

  She smiled calmly even as her pulse raced. “You asked me if I’d ever had angry sex. You told me that it could be very stimulating and then offered to show me, but haven’t thus far. That’s going to change right now, because I am very angry and very aroused, Mr. Stratton.”

  Ray’s hands fisted and his chest rose and fell more rapidly with her declaration. She took off the chemise, the silk gliding over her slim, beautiful figure. His body thrummed with excitement as she took off her brassiere, revealing the most beautiful breasts he’d ever laid eyes on.

  He trembled slightly as he held himself in check while she walked up to him. Those sapphire-blue eyes of hers held the familiar desire for him that he loved seeing. Moving almost close enough for their bodies to touch, she slid her hand down his underwear while holding up folded money.

  “Will two hundred dollars buy me angry sex, Mr. Stratton? I believe that’s the going rate, isn’t it?”

  With a snarl, he snatched the money from her hand and wadded it up. As she took him in hand, he threw it across the room.

  “It’s free of charge for you, Mayor Branson.”

  He fisted a hand in her hair, yanking her head back so he could bring his mouth down on hers in a searing kiss. His other arm hauled her against him, his hand sliding down to cup her backside before giving it a hard slap that made her jerk in surprise.

  When she bit his lip, Ray couldn’t wait another second longer. He should send her away, but he’d dreamt of her too many times, imagined himself still with her to many times to resist her now. He didn’t take time to savor her sweet lips or taste her satiny skin or throw her on the bed. Dropping to his knees, he pulled her down to the large braided rug with him.

  Carly was just as ready as he was, wrapping herself around his glorious body as he took possession of hers. Their journey toward completion was traversed at an almost frantic pace and yet they were helpless to slow down. The rug dug into her back and rear end, but Carly didn’t care. She needed him too desperately to worry about a few brush burns.

  Ray hadn’t even gotten his underwear all the way down, but that didn’t hamper him in the least. Nothing and no one would have kept him from Carly at that moment. He was blind and deaf to all but her. They crashed into ecstasy so intense that it left them shuddering in each other’s arms for long moments before they collapsed together.

  Panting, Ray lifted his head to look into her eyes, but was unwilling to speak. He just wanted to look at her, to drink his fill of the sight of her beautiful face.

  Carly caressed his cheek, loving the rough stubble against her palm. “Mr. Stratton, I believe we had a deal and I always live up to my end of any deal I make. I pride myself on my good business ethics, as you know.”

  Ray frowned and tried to move away, but she locked her legs around him. “We don’t have a deal, Carly, or did you forget?”

  She brushed his bangs back from his forehead. “Well, but sometimes things happen unexpectedly. You honored one of the conditions of our deal, which means that you have to come back home so that I can honor my side of the bargain.”

  His eyebrows drew even harder together. “What do you mean? We didn’t get married. That was the bargain. We’d get married and h …”

  His voice died away to nothing as her meaning sank in.

  “That’s right, Mr. Stratton. You’ve gotten me in the family way, so it’s only right that you come back to Chance City so that I can marry you and we can both honor the rest of our deal,” she said, trailing her fingers over his shoulder.

  Panic, joy, and anger swirled within Ray and he succeeded in getting away from Carly this time. He stood up, thrusting both hands into his hair that needed a haircut, staring down at her in disbelief.

  “What’s the matter with you?” he yelled. “How could you come in here like that and strip down knowing how damn horny I would get and then dare me to have angry sex with you? How could you let me take you like that, so rough, when you’re pregnant with my baby? Why don’t you ever tell me these kinds things before you let me get so carried away with you?”

  Carly couldn’t move from where she lay on the rug because his reaction made her laugh too hard. She shook from the force of it, tears standing out in her eyes.

  Ray pointed at her. “This is not funny, Carly! Why are you laughing? This is serious business!”

  Carly got herself under control. “It’s funny because I think you just told the entire building that you knocked me up and had rough sex with me.”

  She dissolved into laughter and, as Ray’s shock faded a little, he knew she must be right. The situation was serious, but there was also humor in the fact that he’d just let the whole world in on their private business.

  He snickered and bent down, easily lifting her and taking her over to the bed. He lay her on it and stood back, letting his eyes travel over her. The magic of Carly reached out to him once again and he’d have gladly had his way with her again, but there was a lot to discuss. Not trusting himself to resist making love to her again, he kept his distance from her, sitting on the bottom corner of the bed.

  “Ray, I’m fine. While that was rather fast and furious, it was just what I wanted, and you’ve never hurt me. Besides, I’m not very far along,” she said.

  “So you really are pregnant?” His gaze settled on her still flat stomach.

  “Yes. It must have happened right before you left since there were a few times we forgot protection.”

  Ray shook his head, smiling. “Only with you, Carly. You’re still the only woman who drives me so insane with lust that I can’t remember it sometimes.”

  Pain and sadness entered her eyes, but she refused to give into it. “I’m well aware that you’ve gone back to hustling. It’s the only way you would’ve been able to make the kind of money you’ve been sending to me.”

  “That’s right. I’ll finish paying you back, too,” he said.

  Fury and jealousy made her chest burn. “You will never touch another woman again, Ray. Ever. We are getting married.”

  Ray asked, “Why would you still want to marry me knowing that I’ve been with other women again? I don’t understand.”

  Carly quickly crawled over to him, grabbing his face roughly in her hands. “Don’t you understand, Ray? I love you in spite of that. You shouldn’t have run away from me. You shouldn’t have ended things, but I shouldn’t have given back your ring. Not an hour after you broke things off with me, I knew what a huge mistake we’d both made.

  “I should’ve begged you to stay so that we could work things out, but instead, I let my ego get the best of me. I thought that everything should have been my way instead of being willing to compromise more. I was so wrong.”

  He couldn’t keep his hands off her, resting them on her waist. “Why did you wait so long to find me?”

  “When are you going to truly understand that I know you inside and out now, Ray? You weren’t ready to hear what I had to say,” she said. “Once you walked out of my office and my life, I knew that we’d only end up fighting more if I’d tried to talk to you, and we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.”

  His jaw clenched. “It doesn’t matter, Carly. Nothing has changed. You’re still the mayor and held to such high standards, ones that I can’t and won’t meet.”

  Carly snorted. “You said you wouldn’t abandon your friends, but isn’t that exactly what you did by leaving town?”


  A huge twinge of guilt assailed Ray. He’d thought the same thing about himself. “Yeah, but I just couldn’t stay. I couldn’t stand seeing you every day, but not being with you. Even if I come home with you, we’ll be right back where we started. Besides, there’s no way people are gonna accept us now since I left and broke our engagement.”

  Looping her arms around his neck, she smiled. “There’s where you’re wrong. Only a few people know the truth about what really happened and they’re not telling anyone.” She shivered with renewed desire as his hands glided up her back.

  “What do you mean?” He pressed a hand lightly against her stomach, suddenly fascinated by the knowledge that his child grew inside her, just beneath his palm.

  “As far as anyone knows, our wedding was postponed because you went to Chicago to research baking techniques and to buy the latest bakery equipment.”

  “What about your ring?”

  She leaned her forehead against his as his fingers slid lower. “I sent it out to be fixed. Ray, I can’t think when you do that.”

  “And I can’t stop myself,” he said. “So only a few people know the real story?”

  “Yes, and they’re not going to tell.” She grabbed his wrist, stilling his movements. “Ray, look at me.”

  He met her gaze, adoring the flush of desire in her cheeks. “What?”

  “Please come back home and marry me, not because I’m pregnant or because of some deal, but because you still love me and want to be with me and raise our baby and be happy together. You have no idea how much I love you and how much I need you.”

  Any resistance he’d been going to put up crumbled in the face of her honest plea. Her love for him shone in her eyes and he didn’t stand a chance against it. “Yes, I do. No other woman I know would take a man back after he’d gone back to hustling and sleeping with other women. You’re still the bravest, most giving, strongest woman I’ve ever met, Carly. And the most beautiful, exciting, desirable one, too.

  “Since I started hustling again, every time I touched another woman who wasn’t you, I died a little inside. I was dead inside without you anyway, but that only made it worse. I need you as much as you need me and I love you so much that sometimes I think I’ll die from it.

  “So, yeah, I’ll come back home. I’ll marry you just because I love you and want to be with you and raise our baby together. Just because you’re the woman who’s captured my heart and soul. I swear that I’ll never touch another woman again.”

  Carly embraced him, tears trickling from her eyes as joy made her heart swell. “I have so much to tell you, but for right now, please make love to me again. I’ve missed you so much and I want to be as close to you as possible. Please, Ray.”

  Ray groaned, “Like I could resist that. You know that it’s so much more than sex with you, don’t you? I hope you do.”

  Pulling back, she met his eyes. “I know and that’s why I’m willing to overlook what you’ve been doing since you left home. Those women might have had your body for a little while, but your heart has been mine almost from the beginning and mine was yours, too. Our love for each other is the most important thing to me.”

  “To me, too,” he said. “Yes, I’ll make love to you, but I want to take my time. I’ve missed you so much and I want to make it last.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Then you and I are in agreement, Mr. Stratton. Come make love with me.”

  “There’s something I have to do first. Hold that thought.”

  He went over to a beat-up bureau and took something from a drawer. She gasped when he held up her engagement ring.

  “I thought you were going to sell it.”

  Ray’s eyes burned with sudden tears. “There was no way in hell I could ever sell this, Carly. It belongs on your finger and any money I’d have gotten for it would’ve been tainted.” He knelt in front of her. “So Miss Caroline Rose Branson, will you take pity on this poor lowly hustler and take me back and marry me?”

  “Ex-hustler again.”

  He nodded. “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, Ray, I’ll marry you.”

  As he slid the ring home, all of the emptiness in his heart was chased away by a love so powerful that it cleansed his soul, restoring it to brightness, shining with happiness. Then he kissed her with a fierce tenderness and proceeded to make slow love to his fiancée. There was no need to rush and they took their time, reconnecting emotionally as well as physically, creating a new, lasting bond that nothing would ever break again.

  Epilogue

  The wedding of Mr. Raymond Michael Stratton and Mayor Caroline Rose Branson, which was held on the first Saturday of August, was a huge affair. The number of guests completely filled the church sanctuary. It was a rare wedding for many reasons. The first was that Carly had asked Hector to escort her down the aisle, which had infuriated her father so much that he refused to attend the ceremony.

  The bride did not wear white, instead opting for a gorgeous golden creation that made her appear to shine like an angel, especially to her groom. In Ray’s eyes, she was his angel of mercy who’d twice rescued him from a life filled with endless, meaningless liaisons with women he didn’t care about and who could never touch his heart.

  As Carly walked down the aisle beside Hector, she wondered how she’d lived without Ray for so long. He didn’t care about her money or having status, simply loving her for the woman she was inside, not the persona she showed the public most of the time. In a strange way, he was her knight in shining armor, giving her unending support and yet not afraid to fight with her. Two people on complete opposite sides of the social spectrum had come to be each other’s world, giving and receiving love, and they viewed it as nothing short of a miracle.

  Ray took his eyes off of Carly for a few moments to look over at his cousin, Izzy, whom Carly had asked to be a bridesmaid. His joy that she’d been able to attend the wedding was great. He winked over at her and she winked back. Ray smiled and returned his attention to the woman he loved more than life itself. Hector handed her over to Ray with a proud bearing, giving them a small smile before he joined his siblings in a pew.

  Ray had thought that he’d be a nervous wreck the day of their wedding, but he wasn’t. After living without Carly for so long, he was more than ready to become her husband. The large number of guests and all of the pomp and circumstance didn’t faze him in the least.

  All through the ceremony, Ray was torn between looking into Carly’s eyes and down at her stomach. Her pregnancy wasn’t apparent to anyone except him yet, but it wouldn’t be too long until it was. Neither of them cared that soon the whole town would know that they’d been intimate before they’d been married. They’d face down whatever negativity came their way as a united front.

  Carly saw his glances and they shared a smile over their little secret. Ray had always been protective of her, but was even more so now. He also made sure that she didn’t overwork herself and that she ate well. If he doted on her that much, she could only imagine how wonderful he’d be as a father.

  When given permission by Pastor Clem, Ray kissed Carly tenderly while many a jealous woman looked on. The man who’d known so many women in the carnal sense would never again touch another woman except his new wife. My wife and my baby. That thought intensified his happiness and he didn’t want to let Carly go as he kissed her sweet lips. However, Johnny tapped on his shoulder, so he reluctantly released his bride.

  Carly smiled up at him, happy tears shimmering in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that he was now hers and hers alone. No longer did a lonely future stretch out before her, filled only with work. Ray had brought fun, laughter, and passion to her life, creating a fullness she hadn’t expected from him. Like many people, she’d misjudged him. She’d discovered that there was so much more underneath his handsome exterior and couldn’t wait to see other people discover the same thing.

  They walked from the church amid applause and cheers, but hardly looked at anyone except each other. Another
unusual aspect of the wedding was the fact that for the first time in Chance City history, a monkey was photographed with a newly wedded mayor.

  Ray had asked Wheels to be one of his groomsmen and had requested for Ollie to be ring bearer, while his little five-year-old cousin, Olivia, had served as flower girl. She’d been a little leery of Ollie at first, but he’d quickly won her over. She’d played with the monkey as they made their way to the altar, much to the guests’ delight.

  Carly had defied tradition by renting the Chowhound for the reception and inviting Sandy’s girls to attend. They all understood that there would be no private entertaining that day, and they were actually looking forward to a day off to just have some fun and celebrate their friend Ray’s nuptials.

  Although she’d known that there would be much gossip about the reception venue, Carly had wanted to make it clear that she was aware of the fact that her husband was friends with the proprietor and that she trusted Ray to be faithful to her. She knew that publicly accepting Sandy and her little family would eliminate a lot of speculation as to Ray’s fidelity.

  The reception was rowdy yet controlled and everyone had a wonderful time. Wheels rolled over to the table where Ray was sitting. Carly had left him to go powder her nose and he was enjoying just watching the revelers.

  Ray smiled at him. “Having a good time?”

  “Always,” Wheels responded. He gave Ray a knowing look. “I knew you’d be back.”

  Ray chuckled. “Are you clairvoyant?”

  “No. I just know how powerful the kind of love is that both you and I found with our ladies. You can’t run or hide from it. It’s not the kind of thing that lets you go without a fight.”

  Ray sighed. “I regret leaving so much, Wheels, but I think you’re right. I know that technically Carly and I were broken up, but I’ll never get past knowing that I was cheating on her. My heart still belonged to her and—”

  Wheels interrupted him. “Don’t go down that path, Ray. Not today. Let the past be the past. All of it. You can’t change it. Take it from me, you have to move forward and live each day to the fullest. Don’t get bogged down with regret. We just have to learn from our mistakes and do better. So just do better.”