Riled by the Rider

by Ana Lewin

  Her cheeks flushed and he couldn’t stop thinking about how stunning she looked in the sundress that she was wearing, the same one she’d worn to the lake. That was the day when everything changed for him. He’d let her see inside his soul.

  People were turning to look at them, hushed whispers taking the place of chaotic conversations. Everyone in town knew him, knew that he was the biggest playboy around. Almost no one knew Maeve. They were no doubt wondering why he was on his knees proposing to a woman he couldn’t have known long. A couple of tears beaded in the corner of Maeve’s eyes and she pulled her hand back. “Levi, no. That’s not possible.”

  Turning on her heel she started for the door and he was left blinking on the floor. The daze lasted seconds but it still felt almost too long. He was barely able to catch her before she opened the door, standing between her and the exit. “You don’t have to marry me if you don’t want to. I’m begging you to give us a try. I love you more than anything in the world. I’m willing to spend every day for the rest of my life apologizing for how I made you feel. I was wrong and I knew it even before I said it. I’ve been looking at that silly little robot like it’s some kind of religious artifact. It reminds me of how much you don’t care about the money and how wrong I was.”

  “You still have that?” a couple of tears ran down her cheeks.

  There were cell phone cameras pointed in his direction and he had a distinct feeling that if she said no again he would never live it down. He might have to leave town to escape the memory of rejection. Right now, though, he was still trying to hold out hope. As he looked into her eyes, he could tell she was considering it. “Of course I do. Maeve, tell me why it’s not possible and I’ll find a way to fix it. You know I’m not one to grovel but I’ll do anything you want me to do. Anything.”

  When the grin started spreading across her face, the one that got behind her walls, he knew he’d won her over. He also knew it wouldn’t come easy. “Anything, huh?” she asked.

  “Absolutely anything.”

  He had to hope she didn’t have anything too crazy in mind. “Well, for one thing, I want the biggest damn barn wedding this town has ever seen,” there was a smattering of laughs around the diner. “And if you don’t get me a ring at some point, this deal is off.”

  “If I’d known I would be proposing, I would’ve stopped off at the jeweler for some diamonds on the way here,” he grinned his heart jumping with joy in his chest.

  “No, not diamonds,” Maeve looked thoughtful. “Something else. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

  That sounded like a challenge, but it was one that he would be up to. “Did you have any more demands, my queen?”

  “One last request. I’d like you to get down on the floor and kiss the top of my foot.”

  He was on his knees before she even had a chance to register what was happening. When he brought his lips down to the top of her foot, clad in high-heeled sandals as usual, she burst out laughing. “Oh my god, I didn’t think you’d actually do it!”

  “I said I would do anything,” he shrugged, putting her foot back on the ground and grinning at one of the many cameras filming the whole exchange. To his surprise, Hank’s face grinned back at him from behind the cell phone.

  Standing up again he wrapped an arm around Maeve’s waist and pulled her tight up against him, swooping in to steal a kiss. Their lips melted together like it was meant to be. He was sure he would have been happy to stay like that forever if not for the incessant cheering and whooping of the diner patrons. Pulling back, they were both all smiles, worries dissipated into nothing. If anything else did go wrong, they would figure it out.

  “Liv, you’re the maid of honor!” Maeve yelled into the crowd, and seconds later they saw the redhead pop up behind the bar.

  “Obviously,” she was still looking at him skeptically but seemed content with the fact that his speech had swayed Maeve. “I never thought I would be saying that a barn wedding suited you.”

  “I never thought this town would suit me, but here I am. In love with the town and the town playboy.”

  “Does that mean you love me too?” he asked, still holding her as close as was publicly acceptable.

  She blushed as if realizing she hadn’t returned the sentiment. Leaning up, she gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Yeah, I love you. More than anything.”

  Epilogue

  Maeve

  Three months later

  “Just like that,” she was yelling, relishing the fact that no one could hear them. Levi was poised behind her, hips slamming against her ass as he fucked her against the kitchen counter.

  Something creaked and then snapped but Levi didn’t stop and she would have yelled at him if he had. Her climax was building up inside her and it didn’t take more than another few seconds for her to scream out his name. Another snap pierced through the air as her pussy fluttered around his cock. He followed her lead seconds later, groaning and releasing inside of her as a final snap assaulted their ears. Seconds after, a cupboard door fell off of its hinges a few feet down from them, completely rusted off.

  “We should have waited to christen the house until it was safe to walk in,” Levi commented dryly, still breathless as he pulled out of her and hiked up his jeans. “I still can’t believe you talked me into this hellhole of a house.”

  “It has a lot of potential,” she shot back, eying the arched doorways and open layout. It wasn’t much, but it belonged to them. Had belonged to them for about twenty-four hours and they’d already had sex in three of the rooms. Now that was good progress.

  “It’s a death trap,” he pulled her jeans up for her, pressing a kiss on her ass. “We definitely should not be having sex in here.”

  “And is that going to stop us?” she cocked an eyebrow, doing up the pants completely and walking over to the fallen cupboard door. It had dented the countertop, not that it mattered. The whole kitchen was getting replaced.

  “Absolutely not. Nothing could stop me from having sex with my gorgeous wife in our new house,” he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “But don’t touch too much or you might need a tetanus shot.”

  “I’m not your wife for another eight months, remember?”

  “Don’t remind me. I want to go to the church and say those vows right now.”

  “But alas, you promised me the biggest barn wedding this town has ever seen,” she turned in his arms with a smirk. “And so we wait.”

  “I still can’t believe you actually asked me to kiss your foot.”

  “You’re the one who did it,” she retaliated. “Until that moment I didn’t think you were that serious about the offer to do anything I wanted.”

  The proposal in the diner had been one of the happiest days of her entire life. It hadn’t taken much to tear down her walls again, not when she was still painfully in love with him. She’d already been ready to give it another shot, but that had cemented it for her. If a man would get on his knees to kiss her foot in a room full of people he saw near-daily, he would do anything. And Levi had spent more than his share of time doing anything she wanted in the past three months. Her hurt feelings had evaporated ages ago. “We’ve got to head out if we’re going to make it for my mom’s flight,” Levi pulled back from her, looking like it pained him to do so.

  She could empathize with that. Over the past couple of months, she’d grown more and more attached to him. She had a bad habit of jumping him as soon as she got home from work. Even Grant and Olivia were growing tired of their constant disappearing act. Not that they were much better. Having their own place would be good. If they were able to fix up this shell of a house to be anything remotely close to livable.

  “I’m driving,” she said, grabbing the keys to Levi’s truck off the dirty kitchen island. It was still in one piece and they might be able to salvage it in the renovations.

  “No you’re not,” Levi tried to get the keys back from her but she darted out of his way. She got out the fro
nt door and into the driver’s seat before he could stop her.

  He looked tempted to try manhandling her out of the truck. A glance down at the clock on the dash had her raising her eyebrows, and him sighing. The chill November air followed him into the truck as he got in the passenger side with a half-hearted glare.

  Maeve had taken a liking to driving in the past three months. The road to Knoxville was beautiful and she had to take it a couple of times a week now. It had grown on her. “How’s the engineering course?” Levi asked after a while.

  Grinning, she shrugged. “Only the best course I’ve ever taken in my life.”

  Shortly after completing her move, she’d been able to get a bookkeeping job in town. It paid well. Well enough that she could take a couple of evening courses to get her feet wet with the engineering program at the University of Tennessee. She might not be able to go back to school for it full-time until she had access to her trust fund, but she was willing to wait. Crunching numbers was much more appealing when she was doing it for Hank and the other middle-aged business owners. She didn’t hate her current job as much as she would have if she’d been doing it in New York. Her boss was a hard-ass but she knew what she was doing and Maeve valued that more than her people skills anyways.

  They chatted about her schooling and Levi’s photography on and off until they pulled into the arrivals parking lot at the airport in Knoxville. Levi’s shoulders were tense and she reached out to rub one. He was nervous. She would be too if she was the one seeing her mother for the first time in fifteen years. Sure, they’d Skyped with Elizabeth and chatted with her on the phone more times than she could count. But there was something different about meeting in person. “Are you ready?” she asked, planting a kiss on his cheek.

  Not letting her get away, he caught her lips with his and kissed her deeply, running his hands through her hair. “Loverboy, you’re messing up my hair,” she grumbled. “I don’t want Liz to think I’m some kind of disaster.”

  “You could never look like a disaster. Let’s go, her flight should have landed.”

  The airport was busy, to be expected from a Saturday afternoon. Their hands were clasped together as they wound through the crowds. Maeve noticed the fact that Levi was getting more than his share of hungry looks. If she was being honest with herself, she didn’t mind. She liked being the one on his arm when he was wanted by everyone around them. And of course, he would never go for any of the women who checked him out, so that was a non-issue.

  So wrapped up in watching people watch Levi, she almost didn’t notice the familiar woman strutting away from a car rental booth. “Mom?” she slipped her hand out of Levi’s and started walking in the woman’s direction. He looked at her in confusion but she waved him on, still following the woman who could just as easily be a stranger to her. “Mom?”

  That time the woman turned around to look at her, and her suspicions were confirmed. Carly Marsh was here, in Knoxville. “Maeve? Sweetheart, how did you know I was coming?” her mom was as confused as she was.

  Pulling her mom into a tight hug, she answered. “I didn’t. Levi and I are here to pick up his mom. She flew in from Vancouver. What are you doing here?”

  Her mom gave her a sheepish smile. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but I’ve been hiding some things from you lately.”

  Maeve had been talking to her mom at least once a week since she moved to Pelmsemet, often more. There hadn’t been a single peep from her father. Not from the other side of the line and certainly not from him calling her himself. As much as it hurt her to think about she didn’t think she would ever talk to her father again. Especially not now that she was engaged to a small town riding instructor who was definitely not the kind of husband he’d been suggesting she get. “Hiding things? Big things?” she already had a feeling that whatever her mother was going to tell her was a big deal. “Actually, wait. We can talk about it back at the ranch. I’ve got to find Levi and make sure he found his mom OK. Do you want to come and meet him?”

  “Why else would I be here if not to meet your future husband?” her mother said, following her through the crowd.

  It wasn’t difficult to find Levi in the arrivals area. His entire body was tense as he spoke to a woman with blonde hair. She would have been gorgeous before the ravages of drug use. Maeve recognized her all too well from their video chats. The two of them were only looking at each other. Coming up beside Levi, she wrapped her arm around him. “Liz, it’s so nice to meet you!” she said, holding out a hand. Levi relaxed in her hold and offered his mom a weak smile. “We have an unexpected second guest. This is my mom, Carly Marsh.”

  The two women couldn’t be more different in appearance and background, but they smiled and shook hands. Her mom held out a hand for Levi next and shook it daintily. She’d never been from a family of huggers, so she wasn’t surprised by the formality. Maeve did take note of the twinkle in her mom’s eye when she looked between her and Levi, though. “It’s amazing to finally meet you in person, Maeve,” Liz smiled, but it was a little wobbly. This reunion was proving to be as emotional as they’d all expected. “It’s obvious that you make Levi really happy.”

  “I better,” she commented. “Otherwise the embarrassment of kissing my foot in public and on camera would have been for nothing.”

  Those videos taken of Levi’s proposal were still floating around town. Levi didn’t know it yet, but Maeve was going to be playing Hank’s version of the video at their wedding. There was nothing he could do to stop it. “The proposal video was beyond romantic,” her mom said. “He obviously panicked when you said no. That was my favorite part.”

  He didn’t even try to deny it. He’d pointed out the same damn thing the first time he’d watched the video. “My favorite part was the begging,” Liz said. “I still don’t know exactly what he did wrong, but he was very sorry.”

  “He’s definitely made it up to me by now,” she smiled, glad that the tension was dissipating. “I bet you two are both starved from all the travel. Grant decided that he was going to make a huge dinner back at the ranch, so we’d better start heading there. Oscar and Grant alone can eat their weight in food and we could be left with nothing.”

  “Liz, would you like to drive with me in the rental? I know you’ve got plenty of catching up to do but I’d love an hour getting to know the mother of my Maeve’s soul mate,” her mom looked like she had something up her sleeve.

  Elizabeth must have seen it too because she took her up on the offer immediately. “I wouldn’t want you to be driving alone.”

  Levi opened his mouth, she assumed to protest, but she elbowed him in the side. Whatever the woman was up to, she was curious. Letting it happen was the only way she was going to find out what it was.

  They discussed directions to the ranch and then they were off, Levi insistent that he drive this time around.

  ***

  She’d wanted to ambush her mom as soon as they all pulled into the little employee parking lot, but she’d been engrossed in conversation with Liz. Whatever they’d been talking about on the car ride from the airport, they were both way too excited about it. Was she going to regret letting that little planning session happen? She hoped not.

  Maeve didn’t get a chance to talk to her mom until they were all sitting around the dining room table. Grant was looking at her mother as if she was about to start yelling. She’d heard second-hand that her father had been exceptionally rude to their dining room table. Grant was fond of the big hunk of wood. Her mother wasn’t the type to point it out even if she did see some scuff marks, though. “So, mom, you’re keeping me waiting here,” she leaned across the table. It was an attempt to keep the conversation as private as possible in case it was something she didn’t want the whole world knowing. “What have you been hiding from me?”

  Her mom smiled wider than she’d ever seen her smile. “I’m getting a goddamn divorce.”

  The first thing she registered was the fact that her mother had kind of s
worn. Not a common occurrence for her. It took another second for her to register what had actually been said. “A divorce?” she tried not to sound shocked, but she was.

  Yeah, they’d discovered that her father was a sexist egomaniac before she’d run straight back to Pelmsemet, but her mother… well, she’d always been a bit of a doormat. A great mother, of course. Kind, loving, caring. But she never stood up for herself or for her. As much as Maeve had hoped her mom would get a divorce, she hadn’t expected it. “I couldn’t stay with him after what he said to you,” she grimaced, shaking her head. “It was the final straw.”

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “That’s the exciting part. I’m going to stay here for a couple of weeks to visit and get to know your Levi but after that, I’m going to Thailand.”

  Everyone at the table had been listening in without saying anything until then. “Why Thailand?” Grant asked.

  “I’ve heard there’s a lot of backpackers there. Lots of people to meet and things to do.”

  “You’re going backpacking in Thailand?” she tried to imagine her mother — pristine and borderline uptight — sitting at a bar drinking cheap beer and surrounded by twenty-somethings.

  “I used to be fun, remember. I can still be fun.”

  “I’m excited for you, Mrs. Marsh,” Olivia said from where she was settled against Grant’s side. “Maybe if my mom went backpacking in Thailand she would chill out.”

  There was that flash of pain that always accompanied the mention of her parents, and her mom noticed. “Olivia, you can call me Carly. We’re not in New York anymore.”

  Her father had always insisted any of her friends call them by their proper titles. Even though Olivia had known them for years she still referred to them as Mr. and Mrs. Marsh. Liv gave her mom a smile and nodded. “Now that we’ve got that big detail out of the way, I’m curious to know what you two were planning on the car ride here,” she sat up straight and looked between the two women.