by Emerson Rose
Ash strolls into my office barefoot in my favorite soft jeans holding two cups of coffee. “Oh my savior, thank you.” He hands me the cup of steaming black energy.
“You’re welcome, darlin’, what did our little lady have in her mouth this time?” He looks across the room where Lydia has speed-crawled away from her toys to find her big brother.
“A LEGO. He, or I guess I should say they, are searching for more."
“Find any?”
“Yep, one.”
He rolls his eyes and props his ass on the corner of my desk. The same desk that I can’t look at without thinking of the day he gave it to me two years ago.
“Maybe we should ban tiny toys from the house until she’s oh, I don’t know, thirty?”
“No, that’s not fair to Cannon, we just need to be more diligent and observant. It’s all about the details, you know?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” He sets his coffee down and takes mine from my hands placing it next to his. “Come here,” he says, pulling me from my chair where I’ve been studying for my finals.
“I have a surprise for you.”
Looking at him sideways, I warily take a step away, “Oh no you don’t, the last time you said that you gave me a pregnancy test. I am 100% sure I’m not pregnant. One. Hundred. Percent.”
He smiles and kisses me softly. “I know, this one is a little less life-altering.”
I slide my hands around his neck and curl my fingers in his hair.
“Well, come on then, you better tell me before our daughter finds another potential choking hazard on the floor.
“When you’re done acing all your finals we are taking a vacation to Malibu.”
“What? Really? Can we go to the beach?”
“Even better, we’re staying on the beach.”
I throw my arms around his neck and squeal. When we got married in Hawaii, my morning sickness kicked in full-force two days after the wedding, and we had to cut the honeymoon short. Ash knew how disappointed I was that we never got to go back with everything that’s happened in our lives.
“We’re going on vacation?” Cannon asks lugging his baby sister across the room on his hip. That girl can move fast. I just set her down next to me ten seconds ago.
I look at Ash to make sure it’s a family vacation. I have never left Lydia with someone longer than it takes to run into town and I don’t plan on starting now.
“Yep, two weeks in our new house on Malibu Beach. I bought a vacation home.”
I step back and shove him in the chest, “No way! We have a house on the beach? By the ocean, like it’s ours, and we can go whenever we want?”
He laughs and relieves Cannon of Lydia, lifting her into his arms. She squeals and laughs when she sees her daddy, just as she always has. She is a big time daddy’s girl, and he loves it.
“Yeah, it’s a big place with a private beach. You should tell Charlotte and Beau. They can use it, too.”
I clasp my hands in front of my chest and bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. “Maybe they can come and join us for a few days when we’re there?”
“Sure, call ‘em up and invite them along.”
“I’m gonna teach Lydia how to make a castle in the sand,” Cannon announces.
“That’s awesome, buddy. You’re such a good big brother. She learns so much from you. Don’t let her eat sand, though, okay?”
His smile lights up the room, “I won’t!”
I step back into Ash’s space, he pulls me under his arm, and Cannon wraps his arms around our legs in a big family hug.
“I’m so glad my dad insisted I go to the cattle convention instead of the beach two years ago. My life would be so different now.”
“Our lives would be so different, too. Is that your way of saying you’re happy, darlin’?”
“Yeah, more than happy, so much more.”
The End
Page ahead to begin Bonus Book Three in the Whiskey Hill Ranch Series – The Cowboy’s City Girl
Bonus Book Three
The Cowboy’s City Girl
By
Emerson Rose
COPYRIGHT 2017 PRISM HEART PRESS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
COVER DESIGN © 2017 Louisa Maggio
EDITING: Booktique Editing
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Description
Ridge
After being falsely accused of a serious crime by an egocentric and vain city girl, I swore never to be involved with another one again. The high profile lawsuit of the world’s favorite pop star princess vs. her monstrous body guard ruined me financially and publicly. Nobody wants to hire an accused criminal to be their bodyguard, even if he was found not guilty of all charges.
I have not wavered from that decision for five years while living in Montana working as a personal assistant and head of security for billionaire rancher Ash Pride.
The past few years have been the best of my life. Secluding myself from the public and the media on Ash’s ranch was my saving grace… until a beautiful, sassy photojournalist showed up on Ash’s doorstep.
Allison Green’s curves, her sass, and her smile are making me rethink my “no city girl” rule for the first time in five years.
Can I risk being thrust back into the public eye?
Can I trust someone whose profession once ruined me?
Can this cowboy fall for a city girl?
Prologue
It’s been a year since my boss Ash Pride met and married his beautiful wife, Stella. One year of blissful quiet interrupted by only the occasional outburst from Ash’s wild four-year-old son Cannon. Cannon used to be an uncontrollable force of nature. He had a million nannies, and when each of them quit, because they always did, I was usually next in line to take care of him until another unsuspecting victim was hired. Those were the only times I wondered why I took a job as the personal assistant and head of security for billionaire rancher Ash Pride. But Stella changed all of that, she has a way with Cannon like no one else does, not even his father, and no one could be happier about that than I am.
I am well suited for my job when it doesn’t include babysitting. I’m a 39-year-old man with no family other than my mother, I am a former Marine, and I value my privacy above all things.
I came to work and live here five years ago after being dragged through a miserable high profile lawsuit by the world’s favorite pop princess Livi Fox. I had been her bodyguard for three years when she accused me of sexual assault.
I couldn’t believe it. I saved that woman from herself more times than I could count. With two years left on my contract, she threw me to the wolves for a more lenient bodyguard, one who would let her
self-medicate herself into a stupor every day and sleep with strangers every night. To the world, I was still the big bad wolf, and Livi was the impressionable, innocent pop star that I took advantage of.
1
Ridge
She’s Going To Ruin My Day
My mom always taught me to listen to my gut. Today my gut said don’t open the front door, but I didn’t listen. I wish I had.
When I swing the large wrought iron door open, a beautiful woman stands before me, mocha skin, tailored pink pantsuit, manicured nails, expensive handbag, stilettos, and a broad Crest white smile.
A city girl first thing in the morning, this is guaranteed to be a bad day. And even though she’s beautiful, I still fight the urge to roll my eyes and slam the door in her face when I greet her.
“Can I help you?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Yes, please, good morning, I’m Allison Green, and I’m here to see Mr. Ash Pride. I have a nine o’clock meeting,” she says looking at me with curious eyes. I scan my mental schedule for Ash today. Nope, I don’t know anything about an appointment with Allison Green.
“I’m sorry, I’m Mr. Pride’s assistant, and I don’t have you on the schedule for today.”
Her smile falters and recovers right away when she sees someone walking up behind me. “Stella, it’s so good to see you again. I think I may have gotten the dates mixed up. Weren’t we supposed to do the photo shoot today?” she asks Stella, Ash’s very pregnant wife. She’s hurrying to the door trying to wiggle her foot into her shoe while she waddles. Stella’s been frazzled lately trying to study, getting ready for a new baby, and taking care of her five-year-old stepson, Cannon.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry I’m late,” she says, her nervous eyes flicking back and forth between Ms. Green and me. “I got caught up with Cannon, and well you know, kids!” She throws up her hands and opens her eyes wide to drive home the point. “Come in, come in. Ash is waiting for you downstairs by the pool. Do you remember the way?”
“Yes, of course, no problem. I’ll go on down, but could you send the crew when they arrive? They should only be a few minutes unloading,” she asks eying me again like she’s trying to place me. This is why I don’t like people with the media. They never forget a face.
“Sure, I’ll show them the way.”
I listen to Ms. Green’s heels clicking on the marble floor of the foyer as she walks away. When she’s out of earshot, I look at Stella. “Are you going to explain to me what that’s all about?”
She nervously places her hands on her belly. “Yes, Ridge, I’m so sorry. I was supposed to be waiting for her at nine o’clock so you wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.”
“With any of what?” I ask arching one eyebrow. I don’t like being kept in the dark about things on Ash’s schedule, as I am the one who schedules everything, I thought.
She looks away avoiding direct eye contact, and I know I’m not going to like what I hear. “Allison is from Realm Magazine. It’s a subsidiary of People Magazine. They are doing a follow up on Ash’s Sexiest Man Alive story with a Sexiest Man Alive, One Year Later story. It must be a slow week for them,” she says with a nervous laugh.
Reporters again. Great. Ash was voted Sexiest Man Alive last year, and I hid out for a month upstairs like Quasimoto to keep from being recognized while they were in and out of the house taking pictures and interviewing him.
“That would have been good to know. Any reason I wasn’t warned?”
“Well, uh, yes, that would be my fault, too.” She picks at her fingernails the way she does when she’s in an uncomfortable situation. “I’m sorry, Ridge I’ve had so much on my plate lately, I don’t know why I agreed to handle this for Ash. I don’t think she recognized you, though, do you?”
“She was looking at me pretty hard, but I can’t be sure.”
Stella sighs. “I’ll join them and feel her out to see if she mentions you.”
“I’d appreciate that,” I say closing the door and walking away. I’m going back up to my office to wait until the vultures leave.
Eight years ago, I left the Marines to be a bodyguard for the hottest pop singer in the world. I needed a change of pace, but I had no idea the pile of shit I was about to step into.
Being a Marine taught me discipline, organization, and how to shoot a gun, but most of all it taught me about loyalty and morality. Pop princesses don’t know shit about loyalty or morality, or at least Livi Fox didn’t. Three years later, I ended up defending myself in one of the highest profile legal battles of the century with Ms. Fox.
‘Bodyguard Ridge Noble not so Noble’ was the headline splashed all over the gossip rags and newspapers including Realm Magazine when Livi accused me of sexual assault, harassment, and invasion of privacy.
After six months in court, I won the lawsuit, but the damage to my reputation was done. I never once touched that girl inappropriately. In fact, I tried hard not to touch her at all. She was high on drugs and mentally unstable, and she didn’t know what was going on most of the time, all of which was proven during the trial.
However, none of that mattered to the masses. For months, the world sided with their princess, and I was the big, bad bodyguard who abused her and got her hooked on drugs. I lived in the shadow of doubt, and with nothing left after I spent every last dime defending myself, I was forced to go home to Montana. I did the best I could to pick up the pieces of my life, but the media was relentless.
It felt like my life was over, but as it turned out, moving home was the best thing I could have done. Ash and I had been friends for years. We went to high school together, and when we bumped into each other at a sporting goods store, he mentioned he needed a personal assistant who knew a thing or two about security. He wanted someone to live and work at his ranch. It was the perfect job. I could stay in my home state, work for a man instead of an uptight city girl, use the skills I learned in the Marines, and do it all far away from the paparazzi and reporters in New York.
That plan went along smoothly for three years until People Magazine decided my boss was the sexiest man alive. He wasn’t thrilled about the title either, but how do you say no thanks to that?
The interview and photo shoot was a year ago. I stayed out of sight, and it went off without a hitch, until today.
2
Allison
I Don’t Need A Sexy Cowboy Anyway
The day my boss called and told me I had the lead on the Sexiest Man Alive, One Year Later story I almost broke my ankle jumping up and down in my heels. I’ve been working for Realm Magazine since I graduated college five years ago, and this is my first big story. I was an assistant for the photojournalist who had the Sexiest Man Alive story last year, but she got all the credit.
Now here I am standing next to the indoor pool of billionaire rancher, Ash Pride, getting set up to do his photo shoot. But instead of thinking about angles and lighting, my mind is stuck on the massive hunk who opened the door for me.
What is wrong with me? I haven’t been guy crazy since the seventh grade, but this guy, he makes me crazy. I think the neurotransmitters misfired in my brain when he spoke to me. That sexy, low gravely voice, his chiseled bone structure, sandy blond hair, and mysterious gray eyes made me weak in the knees.
I thought that was just an expression since it’s never happened to me—I was so wrong. And on top of all that, he somehow seems familiar. I would never forget a face like that if I had met him before. He’s got to be someone from a movie or a magazine or oh, maybe he’s a musician? I love musicians.
I’ll have to figure it out later, though. Right now I have a job to do, a job that I need to do well so I can get the promotion that’s been a long time coming.
“Good morning, Mr. Pride, it’s so good to see you again,” I say shoving my hand out to shake his. My palms are sweaty, and my nerves are shot, but I’m going to stick to my motto—fake it till you make it.
He stands from the table where he has been drinking coffee and r
eading on his tablet. “Allison, it’s good to see you again, too. How was your flight?”
“Oh my gosh, it was wonderful. Thank you so much for sending your private jet. It wasn’t necessary, but it was much better than flying coach.”
I couldn’t believe it when I got the email saying he was sending a jet. My boss almost didn’t let me take him up on it, but when Ash insisted, she didn’t have a choice.
“It was nothing. Is your crew here yet?”
“They should be here any minute. In the meantime, I thought we could take some candid shots in different areas of the house. Would that be okay?”
“Perfect, do you want to start here?”
“Sure.” I set my things on the table and remove my camera from its bag. “How about over there by the window, we can get a profile shot of you looking out on the grounds.”
“Sounds good.” We move to the window, and after tweaking his clothes a bit, I take some shots.
“Go ahead and look around like you’re interested in the weather or something,” I say. He turns his head to face me unexpectedly, and I get a perfect picture of his contemplative face.
“I am interested in the weather. I’m a rancher. It’s going to snow today, I can feel it.”
I stop taking pictures and move my camera to the side, “Snow? It’s March. It can’t snow.”
“Oh, but that’s where you and the weatherman are wrong. It can, and it will, a lot.”