by Paige Warren
This late, nearly everything was deserted, except for the Wal-Mart and one fast food joint. Every other business was lights out and blinds drawn. He prowled the streets but didn’t see Dacey’s car anywhere, or Dacey for that matter. On a hunch, he drove by the trailer park. Her car was parked in front of her rusted heap, and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. Had he done something to upset her that would cause her to run here after work?
Getting out of the truck and up the trailer’s steps took a bit of finesse, but he managed. He didn’t bother to knock and opened the door, swinging his way into the dingy, bloodstained living room.
Dacey kneeled on the floor, her hand on the dried blood spot.
“Sugar, what are you doing?” he asked softly, not wanting to spook her.
“I nearly died. I should have died.”
What the hell had happened at work? She’d been smiling, laughing, and in a great mood when she’d left him earlier.
“Darlin’, I don’t think I understand. Why would you want to die? Am I not making you happy? Did I do something to upset you?”
She turned toward him, her eyes sad and defeated. “No, it isn’t you, Ty. You’re wonderful.”
“Then what happened?”
“The mayor’s wife came in for coffee today. She saw me working behind the counter, saw my name badge, and threw a fit the likes of which I’ve never seen before. She demanded that Mr. Roberts fire me, or said she’d never step foot in his establishment again, and she’d make sure all her friends boycotted the place too. She threatened to have him shut down before the end of the month.”
He propped his crutches against the wall and did a half-crouch, half-fall onto the floor beside her. Hell if he knew how he’d get up, but right now his woman needed him. Tyson pulled Dacey in his arms, tucking her head under his chin, and lightly rubbed her arm.
“The mayor’s wife is a mean bitch. Always has been, always will be.”
“Mr. Roberts told her that he would rather have ten of me working for him than one of her in his shop.”
Tyson smiled. “Good for him.”
“No” she wailed. “Not good for him! He’s going to lose his business and all because he was nice enough to give me a chance at a normal life. I’m never going to have that here, Ty. I want to stay with you, more than anything, but you belong with Braxton Ranch, and clearly there’s no place for me in this town. They won’t let me rise above who I once was. It doesn’t matter if I clean myself up, get a better education, get a regular job … it’s never going to be good enough.”
“What are you saying, Dacey?” he asked his heart in his throat.
“I’m saying that I think I need to leave, Ty. Start over someplace where no one knows my name or my background. I need a fresh start and this town isn’t going to let me have that.”
He felt like his heart was shattering into a million pieces.
“What if I came with you?” he asked. “Would you even want me to?”
“I can’t ask you to leave your ranch.”
“Darlin’, I can’t work the ranch right now. The foreman has been in charge for years now, even while I was absent in Afghanistan. I think he can handle things a while longer, and if anything comes up, he knows my cell number. But there’s one drawback. I need to be near the VA.”
“Well…” She looked up at him. “Casper is a larger town, right? And it’s far enough away that people might not know about my past, or have even heard of me. What if we rented a place in town, maybe near the VA, and had a fresh start together?”
“You’re sure this is what you want?”
“I’m sure.”
He nodded. “Then we’ll go home and pack enough clothes to get by for now, and we’ll head into Casper. We can stay at a hotel for a few minutes and scout some places.”
She stared into his eyes. “You’d really do that for me? Just pick up and move, leave your life behind?”
“Yeah, sugar, I would.”
“Then if you can give up everything you know to follow me when I run away, then maybe I can be strong enough to stay and fight. I don’t want this relationship always to be about what I need, Ty. You have needs, too, and I want to make sure they’re being met. It’s not fair of me to uproot you just because I don’t want to face the town gossips.”
He smiled. “Then we’ll stay and fight. You know the best way to thumb your nose at them?”
“Show up at church?”
“Well, that would probably do it, but I had something else in mind. Something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while, but the timing is always off.”
She looked around. “Can it wait until we’re back home? I want out of this place. I’m torn between wanting to burn it or sell it, although I doubt anyone will buy a bloodstained trailer.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Instead of selling it, I think I’ll give it to the other girls Carlos owned. Some of them have their own places, but I know two who were living with him. If he’s in jail, then they’re homeless.”
He kissed her cheek. “You have a good heart, darlin’. Let’s get out of here and we’ll talk more at home.”
It was a struggle, but with Dacey’s help, he managed to get upright and moving again. She followed him home, parking beside his truck in front of their home. By the time Tyson was in the house, he was ready to collapse from exertion, but he had something important to do first. He went to the bedroom and retrieved the little box, hoping like hell he wasn’t about to royally fuck up, and then sought out Dacey.
She was in the kitchen, putting the clean dishes away and re-loading the dishwasher.
“Sugar, can you stop that a moment? I need to talk to you.”
He pulled out a chair and collapsed onto the seat. She sank into the chair beside him and looked at him expectantly. Tyson had never been more nervous in his life, and he reached for her hand while covertly extracting the ring under the table. He gave her fingers a squeeze and then took a breath to steady his nerves.
“When I said you were coming to live with me, I’m not sure what you had in mind, but I was thinking in the terms of forever. Before your near death experience, I had planned to ask you a really important question. It’s part of the reason I wanted you to sleep over that night, but things didn’t go as planned. Dacey, I hope you know how much I care about you, how much I admire you, and how much I…” Did he dare say the “L” word?
“How much you what?” she asked.
“How much I love you. I can’t think of anything else to call it. I’ve never been in love before, so I suppose it could be something else … but it feels like love. You light up a room when you walk in, much the way you light up my heart with your smile. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want you with me forever, Dacey.”
“I want that, too,” she said softly. “I’ve dreamed of you every night since the day we met, and those dreams always ended with me falling asleep in your arms.”
He pulled the ring out. “I want you to marry me, Dacey. And before you refuse, it isn’t because I’m trying to make you respectable, and I’m not trying to shackle you. I want to marry you because I can’t imagine my life without you.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “Ty … are you sure that’s what you want?”
“More than anything.”
“Then I would be honored to be your wife.”
He slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her hard. “Damn, woman. These last three weeks are going to kill me.”
She laughed through her tears and wound her arms around his neck. “They’ll pass before you know it.”
“I think this old soldier needs to get to bed, as much as I’d love to stay up and celebrate with you. We’ll go to dinner this weekend, on one of your nights off. Any place you want to go.”
“I love you, Ty.”
He caressed her cheek. “Love you, too, sugar.”
Chapter Seven
Dacey twirled in front of the mirror, giddy over her night out
with Ty. She’d chosen the Italian place again and couldn’t wait for their night to begin. She had some exciting news for him, well, two bits of news. The sparkle of her ring caught her eye, and she smiled as she admired it. While it wasn’t a traditional engagement ring, she thought it was absolutely perfect. A ruby red heart to symbolize their love and devotion for one another. They’d discussed it and decided to have a long engagement. Ty had argued, wanting her to have the benefits a wife would receive from having a former soldier spouse, but in the end she’d won.
“You’re taking too long, sugar.”
Strong arms came around her waist, and she leaned back against Ty’s chest. “I was just convincing myself that I’m not dreaming. That we’re really engaged, and we’re really about to have a night out at the best restaurant I’ve ever been to.”
“It’s all real, darlin’. Come on. If we wait too much longer, we’ll end up waiting for two hours for a table.”
The ride to the restaurant was silent. There was so much she wanted to say, but she didn’t want just to blurt everything out. Her news was going to change their lives, but in a good way. At the restaurant, they were seated almost immediately, and she relaxed against the booth.
Dacey made herself wait until they’d ordered their drinks and food before she talked to Ty about anything serious.
“Out with it,” he said. “You’ve looked like a caged fox all night. I’m waiting for you to gnaw off your leg to escape.”
Laughter bubbled up and spilled out of her lips at his imagery. “I’m not a fox about to gnaw off my leg. I just have some good news to share.”
“Well, tell me.”
“Remember how the mayor’s wife made such a stink about me working at Cuppa Joe?”
“I’m not likely to forget anytime soon. I want to strangle her every time I see her around town.”
“Well, the mayor came into the shop yesterday. He said he wanted to apologize to me in person for his wife’s rude behavior, and he assured me it would never happen again. Apparently she has a niece who’s an escort in Los Angeles, and he reminded her of the fact and pointed out that we aren’t all that different. He said she shut up real fast, puffed up like a mad hen, but he thinks she’s going to keep quiet.”
Tyson laughed. “I can’t believe he got her to back down.”
“Oh, even better. He told her that if she weren’t nice to me, he would make an example of her right before he dumped her ass. It seems they had something of an arranged marriage, and he can’t stand her.”
“Well, this just gets better and better.”
Dacey smiled. “That’s not the best part.”
His eyebrows rose.
“I went to the doctor this morning. It seems I healed at an accelerated rate.”
Tyson stared at her.
“It means … we don’t have to wait another two weeks. We can celebrate our engagement tonight when we get home.”
A smile split his face so big she thought it might crack. It was nice to know she wasn’t the only one excited about the upcoming night together. It had been five weeks since she left his house and nearly lost her life, and four weeks since she’d moved in. To her way of thinking, it was past time for them to do something other than sleep in that nice, big bed.
Their food arrived and they both nearly inhaled their dinners, anxious to pay the check and get back home. Their waitress had to think they had the worst manners, especially when Ty drained his glass of wine all at one time like he was doing shots. Dacey was giddy as they went out to the truck, and she slid to the middle of the bench seat to press against his side on the way home.
The scenery flew by, and she had to wonder just how fast he was going, but she didn’t dare ask. Mostly, because she was afraid of what his answer might be. If he was going over one hundred, she really didn’t want to know. The ranch came into view and butterflies erupted in her stomach. It was going to be the first time they’d made love, the first time he hadn’t had to pay for her services. Yes, she’d given him blowjobs off and on over the last month, but it wasn’t the same as their bodies joining.
They barely made it in the house before they were stripping off each other’s clothes. “Couch,” he said with a growl, herding her toward it.
“I need you, Ty.”
“Sugar, this is going to be quick and dirty because I don’t think I’ll last once I’m inside of you. I promise to make it better next time.”
She crawled onto the couch and grabbed the back cushions, arching her back to push her ass out. “Now, Ty. I don’t need words. I just need you.”
He gripped her hips and plunged balls deep inside of her.
“Dammit, Dacey. I didn’t put on a condom.”
“I don’t want you to wear one. My birth control is good for another three months, and the doctor at the hospital said I’m clean.”
That seemed to be all he needed to hear. Tyson took her like a man possessed, their bodies slapping together. The force of his thrusts nearly lifted her off the couch, and every nerve ending in her body sang. She’d wanted him so bad, so much that it hurt. His powerful body pushed her closer to a climax, and she dug her hands into the cushions, straining for release.
Ty gave a shout and came inside of her. A hint of disappointment hit her, but he wasn’t done with her yet. Tyson reached around and strummed her clit until she was pressing back against him and calling out his name. Pleasure rippled along her skin, and the force of her release nearly took her breath away.
They lay panting afterward, both too sated to move.
“I always knew you’d feel perfect wrapped around my cock with nothing between us.” He kissed her shoulder.
“No barriers between us, ever. We’re in this together, Ty, whatever may come.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “Even if that whatever includes the pitter-patter of little feet.”
“Even then.”
Especially then. A family was something Dacey had always wanted and always knew she’d never have. But Ty was giving her a chance at normal, and she was going to grab it with both hands. It was going to be one hell of a ride.
Epilogue
One year later
Ty stood at the front of the church, tugging on the sleeves of his tux as he anxiously awaited the arrival of his bride. His father had flown in for the occasion and had offered to walk Dacey down the aisle since she wouldn’t have either of her parents in attendance. The mayor had made an appearance, with his wife in tow. They were seated on Dacey’s side of the church, the old woman looking sour and pinch-faced, like she’d been sucking on lemons.
The organ started, and his gaze jerked to the back of the church. His bride stood in the doorway, his father on her right. She looked stunning in a white dress with a scalloped hem and sweetheart neckline. And he only knew those facts because she’d yammered incessantly about her dress for weeks, not that he’d minded. His breath froze in his lungs as she made her way down the aisle, her steps keeping time with his heart.
When his father handed her off to Tyson, his hand trembled.
The minister smiled as they turned to face him.
“We are gathered here today to witness the union of Tyson Lawrence Braxton and Dacey Angeline Morgan. If there is anyone present who feels these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
Tyson nearly laughed when his sweet bride looked the mayor’s wife dead in the eye and growled.
“Tyson, do you take Dacey to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
“I do.” His voice was strong and sure.
“Dacey, do you take Tyson to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
She smiled brilliantly. “I do.”
“You may kiss the bride.”
Tyson hauled her into his arms, to the amusement of the congregation, and kissed her like he was a starving man,
and she was a prime rib. Wolf-whistles and cat-calls went out before he set her back on her feet.
“This has to have been the fastest wedding in the history of weddings,” Dacey said with a smile.
“I tried to get him just to say man and wife, but this was as pared down as he was willing to go.” Tyson grinned. “I didn’t want to give you time to chicken out, or realize you could do way better than a busted up soldier.”
“You’re not a soldier anymore, Ty. You’re my handsome rancher.”
“As long as I’m yours, you can call me whatever you want.”
Dacey kissed him long and hard, not caring what their guests thought. It was her wedding day, the first day of the rest of her life, and she was going to kiss her husband as often and as passionately as she wanted. And if people didn’t like it—like the sourpuss mayor’s wife—they could just kiss her ass.
The End
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Other Books by Paige Warren:
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