by Lea Kinkade
“Wait right here. I’m going to go down and get the food I left in the fridge earlier and a fresh bottle of champagne. We’re going to be really decadent and eat in bed. Then I get to make love to you again.” He returned several minutes later to find her on the bed lying on her side and propped up on one elbow. Setting down the tray of food in the middle of the bed, he carefully popped open the fresh bottle of champagne. He went into the bathroom for the glasses and poured them each a fresh glass. Lying down on the other side of the bed with the tray of food between them, they ate the fruit and cheese he had prepared and talked quietly, sipping their champagne. Billy Currington was singing softly through the MP3 player, “I Got a Feelin’.”
* * * *
“Close your eyes.”
“Again? What else do you have up your sleeve?”
“Just close ’em, please. No peeking, either.”
She closed her eyes and waited. “Okay, do your worst.” She felt him moving and thought she heard him place his glass on the hardwood floor. There was some rustling around as he moved around on the mattress.
“Hold out your hand,” he said gently. Confused, she held out her right hand palm down. Gently enfolding her hand with his, he turned her palm over and brought her hand up, kissing it gently. When she felt him press something into her palm she suddenly understood what he was doing. Tears came to her eyes as he closed her hand gently around the object.
“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”
“Oh, my God, Ryan. What have you done?” Tears spilled from her eyes and streaked down her face as she looked deeply into his eyes. She saw intense love and hope in his unwavering gaze. Slowly, she looked down at her closed hand as she unfurled her fingers around the ring she knew would be there. In her hand was the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen. It was a one-carat, round diamond with a band of smaller round diamonds extending on either side, set in platinum.
She slowly started shaking her head back and forth. Her mouth opened and closed with no sound escaping her throat. He picked the diamond ring off the palm of her hand and, picking up her left hand, he held it in his as he looked deeply into her eyes.
“Samantha Michaels, I love you. You are everything I will ever want in a life partner. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“Ryan, I…I don’t know what to say. Why are you doing this now? What’s the rush?”
“I told you months ago I was ready to marry you. I want to start our life in this house the right way. If I can’t be married to you by tomorrow, please at least say that you’ll agree to be my wife. I love you. You love me. Take a chance, darlin’. You won’t be sorry.”
She looked down at the ring in his hand and felt the rightness of this moment deep in her soul. Knowing that she had never wanted anything as much as she wanted to be his wife, she slowly lifted her eyes to his as a serene smile lit up her entire face. “Yes, Ryan. I want to be your wife. I’ll marry you.”
“You won’t regret it darlin’. I promise you that.” He pulled her into his arms as he brought his mouth to hers in a soul-deep kiss. He pulled the robe off her body and crushed her to him. Her hands went to the belt of his robe and pulled. She brushed the robe off his shoulders and it fell to the floor, leaving his body open to her gaze. He was magnificent! That sculpted chest and abs. Those strong biceps and shoulders. And his cock! It was thick and long and fit perfectly into her body. And it was happy to see her.
He maneuvered her to the mattress and pushed her down onto her back. He quickly removed the leftovers from their late-night snack then climbed onto the bed, pulling her back against him so that her back rested against his chest while he caressed her breasts. Samantha’s hands rested on his forearms as he rasped his thumbs over her nipples, tightening the buds into tight, little pebbles.
His hands moved lower as she scooted back between his thighs, fingers trailing down her ribs and stomach on their way to her mound. His fingers framed her pussy just as it was framed by the neatly trimmed blonde curls that surrounded it. Moans and gasps escaped her lips as two fingers thrust into her heat, going a little deeper, sliding in and out of her, before moving up to her clit and rasping over the hardened little nub with his thumbs. Samantha moved restlessly in his arms, grasping onto his forearms, which anchored her even while her body was beginning to fly in all directions.
His fingers returned to her entrance, his way slicked by the honey seeping through the lips of her pussy. The orgasm broke over her as her inner muscles clamped down on his fingers, the only hint that she had reached her climax other than low gasps and moans from deep in her throat.
“Darlin’, I love the way your face looks when you come like that.” He pulled her around so that they were face to face and took her mouth with his again. Her mouth opened wide, letting his tongue have its way with her. Finally, when they were both breathless, he pulled his mouth from hers. He moved to the end of the bed, pulling her with him. His cock was standing at attention as it leaked a drop of cum. Crawling off the bed, he reached back for her legs and flipped her over onto her stomach.
“On your knees, woman.” She loved this position with Ryan. She pulled her knees up under her and walked her hands so they were under her shoulders. Kneeling before him, ass up in the air, she shivered with response.
Stepping up to the edge of the bed, he ordered her into position.
“Spread your thighs.” She slid her knees farther apart on the bed. “Wider.” She complied with a smile.
With a slow, tortuous stroke, he impaled her. Moaning with delight, she arched back toward him. He plunged back into her, groaning with pleasure as he slid in to the hilt.
Ryan grasped her hips tightly and began thrusting into her deep heat earnestly. His cock hit her sweet spot with every slide out of her slick pussy. He fucked into her with firm, short digs, ramming into the hilt with each thrust stroking her cunt. He covered her back from behind as he continued to thrust into her with his hard length. Kissing up her back, he reached around her and fondled her nipples, bringing them back to pebbled hardness.
His arms slid up her back to her shoulders. Wrapping one arm around her shoulders and the other around her waist, he lifted her so her back rested against his chest, his cock still hard inside her body. While his right hand found her creaming pussy, his left hand massaged her breasts, tweaking her nipples between thumb and finger. Finding her clit, he rubbed it back and forth, fanning the flames of her ardor. Her head fell back against his shoulder on a moan. With a flick of his fingers on her clit, she came hard, her release coating his fingers as they swept through her wet heat.
Hands back on her hips, he began to fuck into her with his thick, hot erection. He rammed his aching cock into her deeply. Another orgasm loomed over her as he continued his feral strokes. Her pussy lips gripped his turgid length as another orgasm started deep in her heat. Another thrust. Then another. He threw back his head, closed his eyes, and pounded forward one last time before his release overtook him and he released his seed deep into her body. Her lips brushed over his clenching jaw as she lay back against his shoulder, fully satisfied.
Slowly, she eased down onto her elbows as each attempted to even out their breathing. His hips still flexed spasmodically as he carefully lowered himself onto her now-limp body, covering her with his strength. He whispered kisses over her sleek back and shoulders. Without withdrawing from her sweet pussy, he eased them down to the mattress onto their sides. They lay spooned to each other as their breathing returned to normal. He nuzzled her neck, his cock still deep inside her swollen pussy. They fell asleep like that and didn’t wake until morning.
As the sun rose over the horizon she lay wrapped in his arms. Ryan was still asleep, but he still held her tightly to his side. She held her arm out as she admired the beautiful engagement ring on her left hand. Ryan had great taste in jewelry. It was just the sort of ring she would have chosen for herself. Smiling with happiness, she laid her hand on his chest and snuggled more deeply back into the
curve of his embrace.
Moving day dawned bright and clear. Between Ryan and the rest of the Chisholm brothers, packing up their belongings at the apartment took no time at all. The furniture store was delivering all of the furniture between 9:00 a.m. and noon, so Samantha and Jessie stayed at the new house and waited for the delivery in order to direct the furniture placement.
“What the hell is that?” Jessie squealed as she spotted Samantha’s engagement ring and pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh, my God. Congratulations, you two. When did this happen?” The rest of the Chisholm siblings crowded around Ryan and Samantha, admiring the ring.
“Ryan asked me last night, and I said yes.”
“Do mom and dad know?” asked Xander with a smile as the brothers slapped Ryan on the back and gave Samantha a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“No. You guys are the first. Let mom and dad figure it out on their own like Jessie did. Mom will have my head if she finds out we told you guys first. They’ll be here in a little bit.”
“You’re right. They’re going to be so happy for you,” said Jessie as tears continued to run down her face. After a few minutes, the guys took off in several trucks to the apartment to start packing.
Paying for her half of the furniture had put a serious dent in her savings, but Samantha knew she wouldn’t have felt like the house was hers if she hadn’t done it. She had taken today and the next two days off to get things settled into the new house. Ryder was covering for Ryan at Chaps & Spurs for the next few days as they got settled in. Ryan and his brothers arrived back at the house just as the furniture delivery truck was heading back out.
For now, they had purchased bedroom furniture for the master suite and for one other room to use as a guest room. They would leave the other bedrooms empty until they knew for sure what they were going to use them for. Ryan had dropped some not-so-subtle hints about filling them with babies, but Samantha had told him they might need to negotiate on the number first.
Leaving everything in the trucks for the moment, the men headed inside to get a look at the new house and furnishings. Samantha, Jessie, and Taylor were in the master bedroom putting the sheets on the massive California King bed Ryan had insisted on. It was in the Mission style, as was most of their furniture, and Samantha loved it. As they added the muted yellow comforter to the bed, Samantha looked around at the sage-green walls of the bedroom and sighed in satisfaction. Ryan had deferred to her opinion on the wall colors and she was happy to see that the medium-tone green that she had chosen for the walls worked well in this large room. With the muted yellow bedding and some throw pillows that matched the color on the walls, the bedroom felt like an oasis of serenity that she knew Ryan would appreciate just as much as she would.
After a quick look at the furniture, the men began to unload the boxes from the trucks. They’d had the foresight to label the boxes with the name of the room that the items in the box had been taken from, so they took each box into the corresponding room in the new house. They were done within an hour and, by that time, Cassie and Alex had shown up with enough food to feed an army. It took several minutes, and Samantha blatantly used her left hand to dish up her lunch, but Cassie finally spotted the ring on her finger and nearly had a fit and pulled her in for a long hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, my goodness. When did this happen? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“Ryan asked me last night. We wanted it to be a surprise. I hope you’re not disappointed.”
“Disappointed? Never. This is the best news we’ve had since little A.J. was born. How could you think I’d be disappointed? You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to my son.” Cassie was crying and pulled her husband to her side.
“Congratulations, son. You’ve done well for yourself. Samantha, welcome to the family. You fit right in,” said Alex Chisholm as he hugged Samantha and kissed her cheek.
“When’s the wedding?” asked Cassie with a devious glint in her eyes.
“We haven’t even talked about it yet, Mom. Give us a chance to get settled into the house, and we’ll let you know when we decide on a date.”
When Jordan and baby A.J. arrived, the whole scene was repeated. It was about 1:30 p.m. and everyone had eaten their fill. Xander took the baby back home and left Jordan to help Samantha start unpacking boxes. Cassie and Jessie stayed to help as well. The men left the women to sort out the unpacking of the boxes. That night, Samantha and Ryan christened their new bed several times as they continued to celebrate their engagement.
* * * *
Samantha woke up one morning in early October in Ryan’s arms and thought about all the changes in her life over the past year. A year ago today, she had moved her life to Deseo, Texas. She had found love and was fulfilled in her career. She now had a fiancé as well as a large family through Ryan. The Chisholms knew about her childhood growing up in foster homes and the reasons for it, including the details about her mother.
Ryan had asked her to share her story with his family so they could know and understand her better. Since she felt they had a right to know but didn’t want to repeat the story for each and every sibling, she had told the entire family at the Fourth of July celebration out on the Ranch. Ryan’s youngest sister, Jennifer, had been home visiting for the long weekend from her busy law school schedule in Austin. Eli was at a rodeo and unable to make it back home for the festivities.
Samantha had become so close to Cassie, Jordan, Taylor, and Jessie that she felt like she was truly a part of the family. She was even becoming closer with Ryan’s brothers, especially Ryder, since he was over at their house a lot. Ryan and Ryder were so close, and Samantha felt a special affinity for this brother who was so much a part of the man she loved.
For months after becoming engaged, Samantha and Ryan had resisted setting a date for the wedding. Cassie continued to gently hound them about it. Samantha and Ryan discussed it and decided they wanted a holiday wedding and picked Christmas Eve as the big day. They were planning a wedding out behind the big house, like Jordan and Xander, and so they didn’t need to worry about church availability or reception sites. In Samantha’s opinion, that gave them plenty of time to plan a wedding. Although they wanted to keep it small and intimate, they knew Cassie Chisholm would be hugely disappointed if she couldn’t invite whoever she wanted. Cassie had gotten her way with both Levi’s and Xander’s weddings, and Samantha didn’t know how she would refuse the woman that she now called Mom.
Cassie had insisted that they get an engagement portrait taken and publish the announcement in what she termed the “area papers.” Unbeknownst to Samantha, that included the major papers in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Austin. In town, the news of their engagement had been received mostly favorably. Most of the town was happy for them and made a point of stopping into Bach Florists or Chaps & Spurs and wishing them well. A few of Ryan’s old girlfriends, or girlfriend wannabes, spread some mean-spirited rumors that Samantha was after the Chisholm money, but the rumors quickly died down after Cassie Chisholm had gotten wind of them. Samantha didn’t hear anything about the rumors until well after the women had been approached by Cassie.
Chapter 15
One day in late October, Samantha left the shop a little early and headed home to her fiancé. As she walked in the front door, she heard Ryan arguing with someone and paused in the entryway. “I’ll decide when to tell her about this. Just keep this as quiet as you can for now. I need to prepare her a little bit, I can’t just spring this on her with everything she’s gone through in the past. I owe her more than that.” Ryan sounded insistent.
“I think you should tell her as soon as possible. She has a right to know, but I understand what you’re saying. It has to be soon though, son. You’re not going to be able to keep this a secret for too much longer. Right now only the immediate family knows, but it’s going to be all over the newspapers soon. You need to decide how you’re going to handle the press. They’re going to be all over this. Any scandal t
hey can exploit, they will.” Samantha recognized the grim voice as that of Alex Chisholm.
“I know, Dad. Thanks for giving me a heads-up.”
Coming out of her reverie, Samantha stepped fully into the foyer and shut the door behind her, making enough noise that the men in the family room would hear her. The conversation stopped and Ryan called out to her, his voice moving toward her. “Honey, is that you? You’re home early. What happened? Are you sick?” He walked to her quickly and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“No, not sick. It was slow, so I took advantage of being the boss and let myself off early. Cheryl was working, and she knows how to close the shop, so I decided to let her. Do we have company? There are a couple of cars outside.”
“Yes, Dad, Xander, and Uncle Marcus are here to discuss some ranch business.” Ryan obviously didn’t want her to know what the conversation had really been about. Uncle Marcus was Alex Chisholm’s younger brother and the lead attorney for CRE as well as the personal lawyer for all the Chisholm’s. He looked a lot like his two brothers.
“Ranch business? I didn’t think you got involved in the business.”
“I’m still a shareholder, so I still have a vote on the important stuff.”
“Oh, well, don’t let me interrupt you. I’ll just go upstairs and get out of your hair.”
“That’s not necessary, Samantha. Marcus, Xander, and I were just leaving. I think we got things settled as much as we can right now.” Alex smiled at her as he moved toward the front door, followed by Xander and Marcus. Each man stopped and gave Samantha a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek as they said their good-byes and walked out the door.
Samantha and Ryan stood in the foyer looking at each other a little uncomfortably. “Well, I’ll just go get supper started.” Samantha moved quickly to the hall table and put down her purse. It was obvious that Ryan wasn’t ready to tell her what was going on. She needed some time alone to figure out what that conversation had been about. Obviously it was about her, but she couldn’t understand what they had been discussing. She needed some time to think about the little bit of the conversation she had overheard. Knowing she should just ask Ryan, something held her back.
