Copper Creek: The Complete Boxed Set

by Smith, Wendy

  “Are you having fun?” Owen asks.

  “It’s been a lovely wedding. The cake was wonderful.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I invited her.” Max pokes his tongue out.

  “Did you? Am I holding hands with your date?”

  Max laughs and shakes his head. “Miss Robinson was my teacher.”

  “Ohhh, so this is the famous Miss Robinson. Max talks about you all the time.” I laugh, as Owen twirls me under his arm, and I swing one way and then back again.

  “Max was one of my best students. Weren’t you, Max?”

  He nods. “Mum says Miss Robinson is the best teacher I’ve ever had. But she’s not my teacher this year.”

  Max left me at the end of last year to go to high school. When I came to town three years ago, he was struggling, but I don’t think anyone had dealt with a child like him before. Max was behind in his learning, and from what I could see of his school records he’d had difficulties all the way through.

  From talking to Lily, he’d had a premature and difficult birth which had influenced that. I took Max under my wing, and we made more progress in two years than he had since he started school. I worried he’d slip at high school, but from the sound of it, he’s showing everyone what he’s made of.

  “You two should get married,” Max declares.

  My mouth drops open, and all Owen does is chuckle.

  “Why’s that?” he asks.

  “Because then Miss Robinson could be my auntie.”

  Owen’s eyes sparkle, and my stomach flips. I didn’t come to Copper Creek looking for a hookup. I kept to myself after a bad breakup. But maybe he could be the man to make me change my mind.

  “That’s not quite how it works, Max. Miss Robinson and I don’t really know each other.” He ruffles Max’s hair. “Thanks for looking out for me though. Maybe when you’re older, you can be my wingman.”

  “What’s that?” Max asks.

  Owen grins. “Go ask your father.”

  Max disappears in an instant, and I gape at Owen. “Poor Adam.”

  He shrugs. “It comes with the territory. He’s just lucky I don’t explain sex to Max.”

  I laugh. “I’m pretty sure he’s got some ideas about that. He is in high school.”

  “Sometimes I forget how old he is.”

  Owen’s phone beeps and he pulls it out of his pocket. His eyebrows dip.

  “Is everything okay?”

  He shakes his head. “There’s been an accident just outside of town. Car versus truck. I’ve got to go.”

  “Is it someone you know?”

  Owen shrugs. “Not sure, but I’m a volunteer for the fire brigade. If they’re paging us, it’s got to be bad.”

  I nod. “Go.”

  “You owe me a dance, Miss Robinson.” He takes a step back and turns before I can say anything further.

  I’m left standing by myself on the dance floor, with people still dancing beside me.

  I look around the room. How many women has Owen been with here? His reputation precedes him, and I’m not sure what to think about that.

  If he really meant anything by his words.

  2

  Drew

  “Louise? I didn’t know your middle name was Louise.”

  Hayley reaches up and locks her fingers in my hair. “You never asked. And you clearly didn’t look at the marriage license application when you signed it.”

  I grin. “Even after this past year, I still have so much to learn about you.”

  She shrugs. “You know all the important stuff.”

  Her grip loosens and her hand drops as we drive past that damn community on the mountain. We’re headed to Corey’s place for the night. He’s staying at Adam’s and lending us his house for our wedding night to give us some privacy.

  It’s not easy when the town is full of family and Hayley’s parents’ friends.

  As it is, her parents are staying with Mum and Dad. God knows what our mothers will get up to, though judging by the way Mum looked by the end of the evening, she’ll be home and in bed. We’ll go by and visit tomorrow before we head home and then onto our honeymoon.

  “They can’t hurt you,” I say nodding at the huge fence.

  “I know I’m safe with you.” Her voice is soft. Something bad’s going on behind that fence, and she got sucked into it, but no one will ever get the chance to get near her again.

  “Always.”

  She leans over and pecks my cheek.

  “Let’s go and have our wedding night, Mrs Campbell.”

  I indicate and pull into Corey’s driveway. His house is tucked in off the street, and unless anyone comes looking for us, they’ll never know we’re here. It’s perfect.

  When I stop the car, Hayley grabs my hand. “What if I don’t want to change my name?”

  “You can do whatever you want. I just like the sound of Mrs Campbell.”

  She leans over, licking her lips. “Just as well I do, too.”

  I press my lips to hers.

  “Come on,” I say when we come up for air.

  She grins as I open the car door, and she does the same with hers. As she walks up to the front door, I grab our suitcase from the boot of the car. We didn’t pack much. Most of our things are still at home waiting for our ten-day trip to Fiji. Just Hayley and me, the sun and sand, and a teeny tiny bikini I managed to convince her to pack. My wife is hot.

  My wife.

  Locking the car, I follow her, placing the case beside the door as I slide the key Corey gave me into the lock and push open the door.

  She shrieks as I scoop her into my arms. Thankfully, she didn’t wear a big fussy wedding dress or it’d be a nightmare carrying her through the door. It’s fitting and slinky, and I can’t wait to peel it off her.

  “What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to carry me over the threshold of our house?”

  “I’ll do that tomorrow. Today, I just want to do everything by the book.”

  As we step straight into Corey’s living room, I pause and close my eyes. It’s hard to concentrate when my wife is nuzzling my neck.

  I place her on the floor, and she smiles. “So, what’s the plan, Doctor Campbell?”

  “Why don’t we do it in Corey’s bed?” The plan was for us to spend the night in his spare room, but a chance to torment my brother is too much to pass up.

  Her mouth drops open. “We can’t do that.”

  “Of course we can. It’s a bigger bed than that one in the spare room. I bet anything it’s more comfortable. Come on.”

  I fling open the door, and behind me, Hayley gasps.

  Corey knew I’d do this.

  His room’s lit with small LED candles. They’re sitting on the furniture, the floor, the window sills. I grin at the sight of a note on the bed.

  Knew you’d end up in here. The bed’s better. Enjoy, little brother. I put clean sheets on, and they’d better be in the washing machine tomorrow.

  I laugh, and hold up the note for Hayley to read. She grasps my arm and leans her head on my shoulder. “This is amazing.”

  “Even the big, tough loner can be a romantic.”

  She looks at me with those blue eyes full of love. “I love you.”

  I drop the note on the floor. “Come on, Mrs Campbell. Let me show you how much I love you.”

  Her lips are sweet from the wine we’ve just been drinking. I nursed a glass for most of the afternoon knowing I was driving up here.

  I pull back and cast my gaze over my bride.

  “You’re so fucking gorgeous in that dress.”

  “Better get me out of it.” She’s breathless, and I reach for her back zip, slowly sliding it down.

  As it drops to the floor, I take a step back.

  Underneath the dress, she’s wearing a corset with thigh-high stockings. Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought about what I’d find under the white material, and Hayley is perfection.

  “Holy shit, princess.”

&nbs
p; “You like?” She flashes me a shy smile.

  “I love. But I’ll love it more when you’re out of that.”

  Hayley rolls her eyes. “My husband’s only after one thing.”

  “It’s our wedding day. You know that’s true.”

  She laughs as I scoop her up into my arms and deposit her on the bed.

  “How the hell do I get you out of this thing?”

  Her fingers pinch the ribbon bowed at the top. “Well, you start here …”

  “Do I need scissors?”

  “Drew.” She laughs.

  “Fine, but don’t be surprised if I resort to using my teeth.”

  Hayley screeches with laughter as I bury my face in her cleavage, peppering her breasts with kisses. She reaches for the buttons on my shirt as I tug at the end of the ribbon.

  “What do we have here?”

  Her lips twitch. “I don’t know.”

  It takes a few moments, but when the bow at the bottom falls apart, I push back the corset, revealing my half-naked wife. She’s more beautiful than ever.

  “Nearly there,” I say.

  She smiles, and I pull her to me, claiming her mouth with mine. God, I love this woman. I love her more than I ever thought possible. The best day of my life was the day I met her.

  Hayley falls backward on the bed, laughing as she pulls me with her.

  I reach for her white lacy panties, pulling them down her legs.

  “What about the stockings?”

  “They can stay.” I grin.

  Discarding my pants, I climb onto the bed between my wife’s spread legs. The silk of her stockings is soft against my skin as I lie on my stomach and bury my face between her legs. Teasing her clit with my tongue, I stroke her thighs. She bucks under me, moaning and tugging on my hair as she scrapes my scalp with her fingers. I’ve always loved going down on her, but tonight it’s something special. Hayley’s no longer just my girlfriend or partner—she’s my wife.

  I love that.

  “Drew,” she cries. Every time she calls my name it takes me back to our first time. I longed to hear her cry my name then, and it undoes me even now.

  I sit, pulling her into my lap and impaling her on my cock. Hayley gasps, and grips my shoulders. “I love you,” I whisper. “So much, princess.”

  “I love you too.” Her eyes fill with emotion, and I don’t have to ask to know she’s feeling the same way I am. “Husband.”

  There’s nothing that can take the smile off my face in this moment, knowing she’s mine and always will be. Hayley came into my life when I needed her, and nothing will ever keep us apart.

  Moving slowly, I savour each second. This is the start of our married life, and the continuation of the best relationship I’ve ever had. Hayley and I are perfect together.

  I kiss her, cupping her head in my hands, and giving everything to her. Our kiss continues as I thrust harder, her hips rocking against mine, our tongues duelling.

  Hayley’s heart was joined with mine a long time ago, but this day is special.

  This day we’re one.

  I drop my head to her neck, nipping at her skin. She gasps, pushing down harder on me until the pressure builds and we’re both overcome.

  She is me, as I am her.

  “Drew,” she says softly.

  I’m so deep inside her, and I gaze into her eyes as we sit with our legs locked. I don’t want to move. I press my forehead to hers. My whole life I’ve been a romantic, hoping to find the one person I’m meant to live my life with.

  Today, I married her.

  * * *

  These past six months we’ve lived together, but today we can’t get enough of each other. I guess it makes sense. Even though we’ve known for all that time we were it for each other, making the commitment makes things different between us again.

  I don’t even know what the time is, but it’s really late, and we’re both in need of sleep.

  “Drew.” She strokes my face with her palm, and lets go of a contented sigh.

  “Princess,” I murmur.

  “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  I frown at her serious tone. “What is it?”

  She licks her lips slowly, and it makes my cock twitch in response. “I screwed up.”

  Smiling, I kiss her hand. “Whatever it is can’t be that bad.”

  “You know how insane this wedding preparation has been. Mum’s been driving me crazy.”

  I nod. “I noticed her talking about how proud she was of her doctor son-in-law. That’s a change of tune since we first met.”

  Hayley laughs. “I heard that, too.”

  “So what’s wrong?”

  “I think I screwed up taking my pill. And, well, you did say you wanted to have babies as soon as possible.”

  My eyes widen. “You’re …”

  “I’m pregnant, Drew. You’re going to be a father.”

  I grin, claiming her mouth with mine and giving her gentle kisses to convey how happy I am.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

  My grin grows bigger. “Do bears shit in the woods?”

  She laughs, slapping my bicep. “I’m happy, too. I had planned to tell you I wanted to go off the pill for a wedding present, but my addled brain had other ideas.”

  I press a kiss to her temple. “I love your addled brain.” Placing one hand on her stomach, I let out a big breath. “You and me. I think we found another puzzle piece.”

  Tears roll down her cheeks out of nowhere, and I kiss her softly. “I love you, Drew.”

  “I love you, too. More than anything. I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

  She bites down on her bottom lip. “About that.”

  “You want to wait?”

  “At best, I’m six weeks. I think we should make sure everything’s okay first. I know we’ve both seen things go bad.”

  She’s right, and even though I want to tell the world, I need to keep this to myself for a while.

  “Anything you want, princess.” I frown. “Hang on. We were drinking champagne at the wedding reception.”

  Hayley shakes her head. “You were. I had mine swapped out for sparkling grape juice.”

  My mouth falls open. “You’re so sneaky.”

  “Maybe, but no one worked it out. I just told the caterer wine goes to my head too fast and I wanted a clear mind for my wedding night. She understood.”

  I grin.

  Hayley makes my heart full, but if it were possible, this news makes it swell even further. I’ve found everything I ever needed in her, and each day gets better and better.

  Everything is perfect.

  3

  Owen

  There’s nothing left of the car.

  I don’t recognise it at first. All I hear is the wailing coming from the back seat. Someone’s alive.

  Simon Peters pries the back door open, and I peek in to see a young girl in the back seat. It’s dark, and I can’t see her well, but I manage to get the harness of her car seat open and free her. As we move back into the area illuminated by the rescue vehicles, I hold my breath. She wails in my ear.

  I know this child.

  She’s been in my bakery so many times in the past three years. Her mother came in at least three times a week for bread, and her daughter was always with her. Cara.

  I look back at the car. The front of it has completely collapsed, and there’s no way anyone survived in the front.

  “Two bodies.”

  Instinctively, my hand goes up to shield the child from seeing anything.

  “Owen. Take her over there.” I have to be guided away, the urge to see Cara overwhelming. Maybe a miracle’s happened and she’s survived. My stomach churns, knowing that’s not the case.

  Ava’s all tears and snot as she keeps crying, wriggling in my arms. I know she wants down, but I can’t let her get back to that car. Not when it’s her mother and father still in it.

  “Hey, sweet pea. I’ve got you.”

>   “Mummy.” She lets out a heart-breaking wail, and I rock her in my arms. I don’t know a lot about kids, but this one needs comforting.

  I’m glad I’m holding her and not at the car. Cara and I had a fling nearly five years ago, and she was one of very few women I became attached to. We might have only seen each other in passing since, but the thought that she’s gone rips my heart apart.

  The town doctor, Joseph Paton, pulls up at the scene.

  He comes straight to me.

  “Hey, Ava. Let me just have a quick check.”

  Patting her on the back, he feels up her spine, and I nod. “I think she’s okay. Upset, but okay.” I nod toward the car. “I think you need to get over there.”

  He nods. “It might pay to get her out of here. Take her to the fire station and find her something to eat. The last thing she needs to see are her parents being taken out of the car.”

  “Of course.”

  It’s the last thing I want to see, too.

  He heads toward the car, and I give Ava a little smile. “Hey, sweetheart. How about I take you to the fire station and make you a hot chocolate?”

  She sniffs. “I want my mummy.”

  “I know you do, honey, but it’s just you and me right now.” I wink. “Tell you what, the bakery’s between here and the fire station. How about we stop and get a gingerbread man? I’m sure there are some left.”

  Her eyes widen, and she nods.

  “Come on, then.”

  I don’t have a car seat, but there’s a picnic blanket in the back, and I fold it so she can sit on it. It’s not like I’ll be pulled over. The police are distracted.

  In the glovebox is a travel pack of tissues, and I pluck one out and hand it to her. “Here you go. Wipe your eyes.”

  When she’s settled, I drive straight to the bakery. There are a few leftover cookies, and I grab the container they’re in and offer it to Ava.

  She picks out two, and I take her back to the car, driving the short distance to the station. Maybe here we’ll find a distraction to keep her busy until someone comes up with what to do with her.