by Emerson Rose
“Let’s go eat, I’m starving and I’m sick of staring at these four walls,” dad says shoving mom out the door and closing it. I catch a glance of Stella who is sitting cross-legged on the bed with her nose in her phone again.
We stroll down the dirt road toward the diner together. Mom and dad are going on and on about how they always knew that land was theirs. So much so that it starts to piss me off.
It wasn’t theirs, it was Beau’s and he’s giving it to them out of the goodness of his heart. And, I think, because he likes me a little, I hope.
I look back several times to see if Stella comes out of the hotel. She feigned errands as an excuse for skipping breakfast but I have a feeling it’s only one errand, and it’s with her mystery man.
Right before I enter the diner I glance back one more time and see a long black glistening limousine pull up outside our hotel room. Who the hell comes to that rat hole in a limo? Where did a limo even come from in Redwater?
Stella steps out, locks the door behind her. The driver steps out and rounds the car opening the door for my sister like she is royalty. He holds her hand so she doesn’t twist her ankle stepping off the curb in high-heeled strappy sandals and she lowers herself in like she does this every day.
Now my curiosity is switching into overdrive, and all I want to do is bolt back down the road and look into the back seat of that limo and see who her boyfriend is. But, since I can’t do that I do the next best thing and memorize the limo’s license plate.
I head inside and while we wait for the hostess to find us a table I text the plate number to Beau. He was able to give my parents one hundred acres of land and a house on short notice with an excuse that worked for everyone involved so he’s resourceful. I figure he might be able to help with this.
Me – Can you help me with this? XXY-358
He said he was going to be working today so when he shoots me an answer right away I’m surprised.
Beau – Depends. Is this a man’s license plate?
I smile; he’s possessive. I’m new to all of this but that seems like a good sign.
Me – I don’t know, that’s why I need your help.
Beau – I’m not helping you find another man without an explanation.
Me – He’s not for me, I’m already seeing someone. It’s the plate of a limo my sister just got into. I’m curious, and protective, is that a good enough explanation?
Beau – Yes, as long as the guy you’re referring to is me.
Me – I’ve only seen you once, does that count?
Beau – YES.
We are seated in a booth by the window. I slide in alone with my parents across from me.
“What are you smiling about over there young lady?” mom asks.
“Oh, nothing, just a joke on Instagram.”
“Insta-wha?”
“It’s a social media website.” Mom’s not up on social media so mentioning Instagram is as good as speaking a foreign language and she’s lost interest before I’m done explaining.
Me – Okay, it’s you. Do you know how to find out who that license plate belongs to? Oh, btw, I told my sister about us.
Beau – I will by tonight. I thought I was going to be your dirty little secret.
Me – Thank you so much, and you’re dirty but nothing about you is little.
Beau – Damn straight.
Me – That too.
Beau – Cute.
Me – Thanks.
“Okay, put that thing away. I want to celebrate not watch you read jokes,” dad says reaching out to take my phone like I’m twelve. I jerk my hands up and in a flash my phone is tucked safely in my back pocket. The last thing I need right now is to have my dad find out I have something going on with Beau Hill.
And that’s when it hits me. I have something going on with Beau Hill. What the hell am I doing? This will never work.
16
Secrets and more sex.
Beau
Charlotte’s sister has a secret, a big one. It just so happens that I have a friend in law enforcement that was willing to look up a license plate and tell me who it belongs to. I’m glad, because Charlotte asked for a favor and I want her to keep asking me for favors, so I can keep giving them to her. On the other hand this information could ruin the evening I have planned with her if she loves her sister and I suspect that she does.
The limo in question is registered to a service, no big deal. The service is used by hundreds of people, also no big deal. The man who reserves that limo, with that service, twice a month religiously when he visits Redwater Montana is Ashton Emilio Pride, definitely a big deal.
Ashton, or Ash as most know him, is the wealthiest cattle rancher in Northern Montana. He is also surrounded by more controversy and paparazzi than Kim and Kanye West.
To put it mildly, the man is trouble.
I hope Charlotte knows who Ash is, if she doesn’t she’s been living under a rock, which is entirely possible since she has spent the past four years in college actually studying and working, instead of partying and losing her virginity like the other 90% of the student body.
I still find this incredibly difficult to swallow, especially since the day and evening we spent having sex was some of the most intense sex I’ve ever had. Maybe holding out that long makes it better when you finally give it up, I wouldn’t know.
The sex was intense not because it was exerting or exhausting, although it was for her. I could have kept it up for a week, pun intended. It was intense, because for the first time ever, there were feelings intertwined with the sex. Sex was making love with Charlotte even though we have hardly known each other long enough to be in love.
There’s a sort of association to the term making love that separates it from fucking or sex, or if you’re a medical professional or a sex-ed teacher in a high school, the dreaded intercourse.
Love or no love it was different with Charlotte and I want more of that different.
I haven’t seen my dad since he stomped off the porch. I stayed with mom all morning and had our accountant Mara come and stay with her this afternoon, so I could get out in the pasture and work.
I needed the release of doing something routine and herding cows from one pasture to another was the cure for my busy mind. When I decided to quit for the day, and I say decided to quit because ranch work is never done, I went to my own house to clean up and get ready for my date with Charlotte. I let her out of my sight this morning with one stipulation, that I would see her again tonight.
This afternoon I had groceries delivered since I haven’t lived here for months and I plan on cooking for Charlotte. I’ve never cooked for a woman before. I’ve never spent more than one night with one either, not even Carmen.
After I shower and marinate steak to grill, I drive to the airstrip to pick her up. We decided this was the best plan since she isn’t familiar with the roads on our ranch yet. There is a direct road from the strip to my house and then onto the main house, so I don’t have to go all the way to the main road to get to either place.
We both pull up at the same time and park right next to each other. I’m out and around my truck to open her door before she cuts the engine.
Chivalry; another first, how many is that so far? Three? Four? I can’t even keep track.
“Hey Princess, you look beautiful.”
“Princess? I have a nick name already?”
“Yeah I guess you do.” Now I can add giving a woman a nickname to my list of firsts.
I take her hand and help her down. She looks innocent in her off the shoulder pale pink dress but her heels say otherwise.
“You look nice too, we match.” She looks down at her short flowing dress and back at my pale pink, almost white, button down oxford. She’s right, weird.
“I knew you’d be in a pink kind of mood.”
“You did, did you? And what’s a pink kind of mood?”
I pull her against me and sift one hand into her hair that is hanging straight as a stick almost to her wai
st tonight and slide the other onto the small of her back. Her arms wrap around my waist.
“Happy,” I say trailing a finger down the side of her face. “Calm.” I focus on her mouth and her lips part. “Relaxed.” I place a soft kiss on her pretty bow shaped mouth and feel a shiver run through her body.
“Cold?”
“No, it’s you,” she whispers and I lift one corner of my mouth in a smirk. I like that she’s honest about her desire, most women aren’t.
“I make you shiver?”
“You do.”
“I’m going to make you do more than that after dinner.”
“Promise?”
This makes me laugh. She’s a little sassy and I love sassy.
“Yes, I promise, and I never break a promise. Come on.” I guide her to my truck and lift her in. “How tall are you?”
“Five foot one and three quarters.”
I chuckle, “That three quarters of an inch must be important to you.”
“Every little bit helps when you’re short.”
“Petite, you’re petite not short. Sticks are short.”
“Okay, petite works for me.”
We chat while we drive and I point out that the road we are on continues to the main house so she will know how to get to the barn when she moves in.
Walking up the path to my house she is quiet. I take her hand and lace my fingers with hers, “You okay?”
She stops and stares at the sprawling ranch house in front of us. “It’s not what I expected.”
Not the reaction I was expecting.
“Not what you expected bad? Or not what you expected good?”
She shakes her head, “Are you kidding? Definitely not what I expected good. Are you sure about this? It’s so big, and beautiful, I can’t believe you’re not living here. When you said you built yourself a house I figured it would be something small and bachelor pad-ish. This looks like a house for a huge family.”
“I’ve been working on it for years, not done yet either. I want to put a pool out back. And the answer to your question is, yes, I’m sure I want you to live here. I have to be close to my mother for a while. Your friend Constance is starting tomorrow but I want to see how mom does with a stranger in the house. You’ll be doing me a favor taking care of the place. Let’s go inside.”
I guide her up the steps but she’s not done talking about the living arrangements. “What if things go great with Constance and you want to move back in?”
“I guess we will have to talk about that when and if it happens.”
“I’m not sure I want to do this. I could stay with my parents, you’re going to want your house back eventually.”
“The house your parents are going to live in is a nice size but you’d have no privacy.”
“Neither does the one bedroom hotel I’m staying in. And I’m a college student, being cramped and not having privacy isn’t a new thing for me.”
“I want you here,” I say with more authority then I had intended, but it works. She turns her eyes to me and whatever she sees causes her to nod and agree.
No more is said about living arrangements for the rest of the evening. I gave her a tour of the house. She complimented my decorating skills and her eyes lit up when she saw the walk in closet in my bedroom and the sinker Jacuzzi in my en suite bathroom.
She sipped on a Mojito stretched out on a chaise lounge while I barbequed two thick steaks. We ate outside under the stars and she gave me her opinion on where she thought the pool should be in the yard.
Later inside on the couch, we are curled up together like people who have been dating for months instead of days, when the subject of her going back to school comes up.
“When are your parents moving out of the hotel?”
“I don’t know how all that works but the sooner the better. I need to be back at school yesterday.”
“There’s nothing they need to do. I left the keys in the mailbox they can let themselves in whenever they want.”
She twists in my arms to see me, “Really? They don’t have to sign any papers or meet with anyone?”
“Nope. They might have to do a little cleaning, it’s been empty for a while but everything else has been taken care of.”
“You’re amazing you know that?”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
“I mean it, Beau. What you’ve done is life altering for us and I can never repay you.”
“It was my pleasure and you are repaying me remember? Living here, being our vet, that was the deal.”
“It’s a one sided deal but I’m in no position to turn you down.”
“That’s right.” I cup her face and she leans into my hand closing her eyes. When she does little things like this I get hard. Her sweet tenderness is a huge turn on for me. Maybe that’s why I’ve never fallen for anyone before? I’ve always chosen women with black moods and casual cool mannerisms. Charlotte is all pink and warm and sweet wrapped up and tied with a sexy sequined bow.
“I’m going to miss you pretty lady.”
She smiles without opening her eyes. “I’m going to miss you too, a lot.”
“Do you have a flight booked yet?”
She opens her eyes, “Yes, tomorrow afternoon at three.”
This surprises me, I knew she was going back soon but tomorrow?
“That’s soon.”
“I have to get caught up, every day I’m gone makes it harder.”
“When’s graduation?”
“May fifteenth.”
It’s March twenty second. She will be gone almost two full months.
“Am I invited to your graduation?”
She raises her eyebrows, “Do you want to be?”
“I do.”
“Then you are officially invited.”
“How will your family feel about that?”
“I don’t know and I don’t think I care.”
“I don’t want to stir up trouble or make you uncomfortable.”
“If we are going to keep seeing each other they’re going to know. They might as well get used to it.”
“If?”
“Well, I didn’t want to make any assumptions. I’m new to all this but I get the feeling this isn’t your thing.”
“What isn’t my thing?”
“Dating, relationships, spending time with a woman.”
“You would be right.”
“So, I’m your virgin guinea pig?”
This cracks me up, especially because it’s kind of true. I tip my head back and laugh at this gorgeous woman in my arms.
“You’re not a virgin anymore remember?”
“Oh, I remember. I’ll never forget that.”
“I’m going to make sure of that.”
“How so?”
“I plan on having a very similar night tonight minus the deflowering.”
“And then what?”
“And then I’ll come to see you every weekend that I can over the next two months and remind you again. And when you come home I’ll be right down the road out there whenever you’re up for another reminder, which I hope will be often.”
“So we’re doing this?”
“If this is me and you as often as possible, yes, we are.”
“Good.”
“Great.”
“Now what would you like to do?”
“I’d like you to tell me if you found out who that license plate belonged to that I asked you about today.”
“Oh yes, that. Now what I was hoping you’d say but I do have something for you.”
“I’m still interested in a repeat of last night but I’m dying to know who my sister is seeing. She refuses to tell me and she pretty much challenged me to figure it out so…”
“I’m not sure how happy you’re going to be about it.”
Her eyebrows draw together tight and she frowns. “What do you mean? Is he a criminal? Is he married? Because she told me he wasn’t married and I can’t stand the thought of my siste
r being a home wrecker.”
“No, he’s not married or a criminal but he’s bad news. Your sister is dating Ashton Pride, he’s a billionaire…”
“Cattle rancher in Texas, yeah I know who he is, everybody in the free world knows that guy. Are you sure? He seems like such a jerk, whenever the paparazzi photograph him he looks so angry and drama follows him around like a lost puppy.”
“So you’re not a total hermit at school, I’m glad, I was worried.”
“You’d have to be living under a rock not to know who Ash Pride is.”
Funny, that’s exactly where I envisioned her living at ISU with her animal anatomy books all around her while she dissected a cat.
“How would your sister get involved with someone like him?”
“I don’t know, she’s always been interested in the business end of ranching, maybe they met that way.”
“Doubt it, guys like Ash have people to do that stuff for them.”
“Well, I guess that’s why she didn’t want me to know. She said she couldn’t tell me though, something about it being complicated.”
“Well a grouch ass billionaire with the paparazzi on his ass all the time might be complicated.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t figure you would but she’s a big girl, I’m sure she can take care of herself.”
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her so distracted. She’s got her nose buried in her phone all the time and she’s smoking like she’s got anxiety.”
“I’d talk to her about it. Don’t tell her I helped you figure it out though, I don’t need anybody else pissed off at me.”
“Who else is mad at you? Oh… I bet your dad wasn’t happy when you told him about the land was he?”
“That’s an understatement. He refused to believe me at first, even told me not to tell your parents.”
“Are you ever going to tell me how you got him to agree with all of this? Should I wear a bullet proof vest when I’m working here?”
“You don’t want to know how I did it and absolutely not, no one is going to give you a hard time, I’ll make sure of it. We’re done talking about your sister and my dad and Ash Pride.”
“Then who…”
‘No talking.” I lean to the side pulling her down on top of me on the couch in a surprise attack and quiet her with a kiss. I slide my hands down her back and under her ass to adjust her where I want her pulling her knees up so she’s straddling me in her pretty pink dress.