The Bad Boy's Bride

Slowly, I release my hand from her neck, dragging my hand down her chest intentionally. She makes a sound that makes me freeze when I untangle from her. It’s one of pain. A sound that she meant to hide but couldn’t.

“Shit,” I say again. “I shouldn’t have done that. Not after the ride.”

She smirks, even though I can see the pain in her eyes. “Just a different kind of ride.”

“I should have known better,” I laugh softly.

“I dared you,” she says. I raise an eyebrow, and she doesn’t look away. “I don’t regret it.”

Gently, I slip away from her. “Don’t move.” Knowing what I do of the woman in my bed, I don’t actually expect her to listen, but I’m not sure that she’s even able to stand at this rate.

In my bathroom, I throw the used condom into the trash and splash some cold water on my face. I fill the tub with hot water and dissolve a few cups of Epsom salt. Ranch life is hard, and soreness is a part of it, but she doesn’t know that, and I made it worse because I couldn’t control myself.

“You fall in?” she calls to me.

“You wish,” I tell her as I walk back out. I’m still naked, and so is she. I pause when I exit the bathroom, giving her the total view, and I drink her in, too.

She’s perfect. Pale and curvy and utterly sexy. Her hair is wild, spread across my pillows. I know that when I go to sleep tonight that I’m going to smell her, and my mouth waters at the thought. I wonder if she tastes as good as she smells?

I reach out a hand to her and say, “Get up.”

“Ready for round two?” she says, smirking.

I smirk back. “Always. But you’re not. Now come on now, just listen to me. Out of bed.”

Rachel frowns, crosses her arms over her chest, and makes a little hmph sound in her throat. I resist the urge to pin her down and fuck her all over again.

Instead, I lift her off the bed, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of her skin on mine. “Where are we going?”

“You need heat,” I say. “And some Epsom salt.”

The surprise when I lower her into the bath is genuine. “You drew me a bath?”

“Is it that hard to believe?”

She blushes. “I guess not.”

“Take your time,” I say softly. “And hopefully tomorrow you won’t feel as bad.”

She looks up at me, and even though we just had easily the best sex of my life, I don’t know whether it’s right to kiss her. I want to, but despite the sex, I still don’t know where we stand.

“Thank you,” she says.

“Any time.” As I head back out into the bedroom to get dressed, I realize that I mean it.6RachelI have to hand it to my husband; he draws a hell of a bath.

This entire day has turned my world upside down, and after last week, I honestly didn’t think that my world could be flipped any more than it already was.

The ranch is so much bigger—and so much more beautiful—than I thought it would be. The resort side of it is incredible. This would be a hell of a place to take a vacation. I guess that’s kind of what I’m doing, though I honestly don’t have any plans right now.

After walking out of the kitchen two days ago, I didn’t know what to do. This seemed like the only logical choice, and yet I don’t know what I’m doing here. It’s strange that this place belonged to my grandmother—a woman that I never knew.

There wasn’t ever a time that I heard a good word about my father from my mother. But this place … it is hard to imagine that someone so bad could build something this successful and this beautiful. And more than that, everyone that I’ve encountered both while we were riding and before seems to love Clayton.

There are no signs of resentment or even apathy. Only wide smiles and open greetings. They treat him with the kind of respect that I could only dream of in the workplace. It’s the kind of respect that Solomon should have given me, no matter what rank I was in the kitchen.

What would Clayton’s employees think of me? Would they give me the same respect that they gave him because I am his wife? Does he want anyone to know that we are married? I don’t know how much people here know about what’s happening between us. It makes me realize how little I actually know about Clayton. Is he the kind of man that is honest about everything? Even the fact that he had to marry a stranger in order to keep the ranch? Or is he the kind of man that wouldn’t feel it was anyone’s business, and just let everyone think that the ranch passed directly to him without any trouble?