Take My Hand: BWWM Romance

by Shanade White

  She’d made the selfish decision to make one more trip to several of her favorite places before she told Scott, then she’d tell him the truth. It was harder than she’d imagined to keep the secret from Scott, but she’d faced the truth that her life was going to change now that Scott was in it. The discussion about kids that day in the master bedroom had made her think about how much risk she took sometimes going into those neighborhoods. Putting herself at risk was one thing, but putting a child at risk was unforgivable. She also had to face the fact that if it was Scott going in there, she’d be upset.

  “Town courthouse? What do you mean? Where is this town?” he asked, his curiosity spiking. He hadn’t seen any sign of a town since he’d moved out there with Marissa, and he’d been back down the mountain several times.

  “Well, it’s not really a town anymore. It’s just a bunch of old abandoned buildings,” she said, shutting the computer, knowing that she’d never get anything done until she showed him what she was talking about.

  “Where is this place?” Scott was truly intrigued by the idea of an empty town just sitting in the mountains.

  “It’s about five miles from here. Come on, I’ll show you,” she said, getting to her feet.

  He followed her out to the falling down barn where she’d stored a four wheeler, then watched as she started it up. “Climb on, this is the only way to get there. The road washed out a few years ago.”

  Scott climbed on behind her and wrapped his arms around her making sure to brush his hand across her breast as he did. “You behave yourself, mister,” she said, grinning at him over her shoulder.

  “I was just making sure I got a good hold on you,” he said, trying to look innocent.

  When Marissa shut the four wheeler off in the middle of the ghost town of Cedar Ridge, Scott didn’t move, just sat on the back of the four wheeler looking all around him. It was like they’d just stepped back in time. The town wasn’t big, only one single dirt street crossed by another, but it was the condition of the buildings that surprised Scott. He could see the general store with a sign for the post office, a church, and a doctor’s office the sign swinging in the wind.

  “This is impossible,” he said, looking around him.

  “Believe it or not, back in its day this was a busy little town. It was a solid little farming community, but the dam up above us ruined all that. With no water, there was no farming. Most people just up and left, but a few stuck it out. How they survived up here I don’t know,” she said, looking around her at the parched landscape.

  “But how did it survive this long?” he said, opening the door to the general store to see that it was as if the owners had just walked out the day before.

  “Well, there were a couple of brothers who managed to hold onto the family land until well into the nineties. They maintained these properties all that time. I guess they had a plan to open the town up to tourists, but nothing ever came of it. Plenty of developers have looked at this area too, but there’s just not enough water,” she said, pulling him out of the general store and into the doctor’s office next door.

  “Who owns all this, the county? It could be opened up for tourism or something. It seems too good to just leave here rotting away,” Scott said, leaving the post office and heading to what look like the courthouse.

  “Actually, I own all of this. The county took all this land and lumped it together. To get my house, I had to buy it all. It’s really not worth that much, so the price was reasonable. The taxes don’t amount to much either. Someday, it might be worth more if a good water source can be found,” she said, following him across the street.

  She bumped into him when he stopped abruptly in the middle of the street. “Did you just say that you own the town?” he asked.

  “Yes, and about 250 thousand acres of worthless land,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I wanted the farmhouse.”

  “But this is awesome,” he said, heading again for the courthouse. “I want to explore every building. Good thing my brother Michael didn’t meet you first, he would have married you just for this.”

  Marissa followed Scott all over town for the next few hours, reciting every story she’d ever been told about the place. She finally managed to drag him away when his stomach began to growl loudly reminding them that it was dinner time. If she’d known that her little town was going to make him so happy, she would have shown it too him sooner.

  “I’m going back tomorrow to see if the blueprints for the farmhouse are in those filing cabinets we saw. I don’t understand why the county left all that stuff there. Those are official records. The birth and death certificates are valuable if nothing else,” Scott mused that night after dinner.

  “We’ll have to do something with them. They can’t just sit there rotting, but first let’s get the house done,” she said when she tripped over a loose floor board as she took their plates to the sink.

  “The roofers start tomorrow, which brings me to something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Some of the craftsmen and laborers wondered if we would let them camp out up here, it’s quite a drive back to town.”

  “Oh, Scott, I should have thought about that. They’ll need water and we should provide some kind of bathroom facility for them,” she said. “Do whatever you need to do. There’s a nice clearing north of the house about a fourth of a mile.”

  Two weeks later, she wished that she’d never uttered those words, never realizing just how many people it was going to take to fix up the house. Luckily, Scott had taken her advice and put their camp far enough from the house that they weren’t underfoot at night, but the daytime was a different story. Everywhere she went in the house either there was someone working or someone followed her and began to work. At times, she would have sworn they were doing it on purpose.

  Her frustration level was at it max, but she still had her trip to look forward to although it was overshadowed by the knowledge that she was keeping it a secret from Scott. As the day for her trip quickly approached, Marissa was still trying to finish the budgets and paperwork she’d need while she was there. It seemed like it was impossible to stay out of the crew’s way. She’d already moved twice and on top of that, Scott kept coming in while she was working, and she’d have to slam her laptop closed so he couldn’t see what she was working on.

  When the power went out making her lose an hour’s worth of work, she slammed her laptop closed and stomped down to the kitchen where she knew she’d find Scott. “I need a break from all this,” she said, practically having to scream over the sound of a drill.

  “What?” Scott asked, unable to hear her.

  Crossing the room, she got right up next to him, her anger flaring. “Everywhere I turn there’s someone working, there’s not a single room in this house where I can get some privacy. Now the power is going on and off, I just lost an hour of work,” she said, loudly.

  “What are you working on anyway?” Scott asked. Her behavior hadn’t skipped his attention.

  Silently cursing herself for bringing up work, she deflected the question. “How much longer is this going to take? Can we get at least one room done?” she asked, tears threatening. Feeling stupid, she turned to leave the room. “I think I need to take a walk.”

  “Hey, wait a second,” Scott said, getting up knowing that this was not the time to let her leave. Something more than the construction was bothering her, but there was no way she’d talk about it with a house full of people. They needed some privacy and fast.

  Picking up his radio, he called Sal his foreman. “Tell the crew to take the rest of the afternoon off,” he said, shooting Marissa a look that said stay right where you are.

  He took her hand and pulled her upstairs to the bedroom that would be theirs and up to the huge windows he’d installed along one wall. “Look out his window and imagine what the house will be like when it’s finished,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

  “I’m sorry, Scott. I never planned to do all this while I was livi
ng here,” she said, leaning back against his solid weight, taking a deep breath.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have gone at it quite so aggressively,” he said, kissing her neck. “But just think how wonderful it’s going to be when it’s all finished.”

  “I know, but in the mean time, I can’t get any work done and we have no privacy.” She pouted not ready to be placated.

  “There’s no one in the house now,” he said, sliding his hands up to cup her breasts, his thumb rubbing across the nipple.

  “But you never know when one of them will show up here. The other night, I was getting water, and Jeff came through the back door looking for his phone,” she said, trying to ignore what Scott was doing.

  “Hm, well, we’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” he said, nibbling on her neck and sliding one hand down between her legs. “I’m just going to lock the door and we’ll pretend that they are all gone.”

  Marissa gave up and tilted her head so he could continue his exploration of her neck, finally letting out a little moan of pleasure. Scott was across the room in three strides. He locked the door, then pulled her into his arms. “It’s just us for the rest of the afternoon,” he said, kissing her until all her frustration evaporated in a storm of passion.

  Later, they were curled in the over-stuffed chair Marissa had put in the bedroom for just such a purpose. With her head resting on his chest, she could feel his heart beat and knew that this was the time to tell him about her trip. She knew that he wouldn’t try to go with her, but she felt so guilty about it that her palms got sweaty.

  “Scott?”

  “Hm?”

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something,” she said, looking up at him.

  He picked his head up from where it was resting against the back of the chair, the shaking in his leg just beginning to stop. “What’s up?” he asked, knowing he’d read her right earlier.

  “I’m going to have to go out of town for a few days next week,” she said, putting her head down again to avoid his eyes.

  He looked at the top of her head wondering why this was such a big deal. It was almost like she felt guilty about leaving him. “I’ll miss you, but I’ll be okay here alone for a few days,” he said, rubbing her back.

  “It’s going to be more like five or six,” she said, cringing a little.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” he asked, still surprised that she was so worried about a business trip, it was beginning to make him suspicious.

  “No, that’s okay,” she answered quickly, “You have the house and everything.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m sure this won’t be the first time we’ll have to be separated. The time will go fast,” he said, kissing her on top of the head.

  “Yes, you’re right, it will,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Maybe when you get back, we’ll have your office ready,” he said, tickling her.

  Jumping off his lap, she said, “Do you really think so? That would be wonderful.”

  “I might be able to pull some strings and make it happen, but it might take a bribe or two,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

  “Oh, yeah, and who would I have to bribe to make it happen?” she asked, circling around the chair until she was standing behind him. Leaning down, she whispered in his ear, “The contractor is pretty hot, I wouldn’t mind bribing him.”

  Scott was on his feet in seconds, just the sound of her voice in his ear getting him hard. With a feral look in his eyes, he caught her when she tried to run across the room, threw her onto the bed, and covered her body with his. “The contractor might be open to a bribe,” he said, sliding into her.

  Chapter 10

  Marissa had an early morning flight so she left the house before the sun was even up. Scott stirred in the bed, but she kissed him on the cheek and told him to go back to sleep. The last thing she wanted this morning was a long goodbye, it would only make the guilt she was feeling that much more intense; this way she could leave without telling Scott any more lies. Slipping out the back door, she got in the car and began the long drive back to Los Angeles, wishing for once that she could let herself use the private plane her father owned.

  Scott rolled over feeling the empty place in the bed. Marissa had only been gone a few minutes and the pillow was already cold. Pulling the pillow close to his nose, he inhaled, catching Marissa’s scent in the soft down. Breathing deeply, he tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t seem to shut his mind down again.

  He finally got out of bed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee, he’d just have to start his day earlier than he’d planned. When he walked into the kitchen he saw that Marissa had left one of her bags by the back door. Going over to pick it up, he wondered if he’d be able to get her on her cell phone, but only got her voice mail when he tried. Finally, he decided to call her assistant. She’d be able to get a message to Marissa, but when he finally got the woman on the phone, she seemed to know nothing about Marissa’s trip.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Terrell, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about,” she’d said right before he thanked her and hung up.

  He went to their room where Marissa had left a copy of her itinerary for him and checked the information. It clearly said that she was flying into Houston later that morning, but her flight was a few hours later than what she’d told him. He was instantly suspicious. Even after they’d had that wonderful afternoon the other day, she’d been acting strange. She was hiding something, and he was going to find out what it was.

  Throwing some clothes into a bag, he headed for the car and Los Angeles determined to beat Marissa to Houston and follow her. He took the first flight he could and was waiting in baggage claim when she came off the plane. It wasn’t hard to follow her, but he was shocked when they arrived at a run-down apartment building in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Using a key she pulled out of her purse, she let herself into the building.

  Scott was completely baffled. What would Marissa be doing in a neighborhood like this? It just didn’t make sense. He thought about going in the building and confronting her right then but decided to wait and see what happened next. After a few hours, he’d all but decided that confronting her was the only way when a young man rang the buzzer on the outside of the building.

  As he watched, a woman came out. She was wearing a loose pair of black pants and a brightly colored shirt, her hair covered by a scarf wound around her head. She gave the young man a hug, then arm and arm, they walked down the street. Scott was about to turn away when he noticed that the woman looked a lot like Marissa. Then as he watched closer, he was sure. She was walking exactly like his wife.

  Jealousy flaring hotly in his blood, he got out the car to follow them, not sure why he wasn’t confronting her right then. They walked several blocks down the street then through the doors of a soup kitchen. Scott stood looking at the sign wondering what was going on. A woman having an affair wouldn’t do it at a soup kitchen, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation as to why she’d be in disguise. It had never occurred to him that she might have been involved with someone else. In fact, he’d never even question her about it.

  Determined to get to the bottom of the situation, his jealously barely under control, he walked into the soup kitchen looking for Marissa. But she was nowhere to be seen. He felt very out of place in his nice clothes at first, but then he noticed that most of the people in the room weren’t what he was expecting. The looked like regular people out for lunch. Before he knew it, a young girl had swooped down on him and put a tray in his hands, filled it with food, and found him a seat.

  He ate everything on the tray, surprised at how good the food was, nothing like he’d imagined it would be. When he’d finished, he moved to a table against one wall to watch for Marissa who he hadn’t seen yet, but he felt sure she was in the building. It seemed unlikely she’d leave out the back door even if there was one. Finally, he got tired of waiting and decided tha
t it was time to check out the back of the building.

  He walked through the doors to the back as if belonged there, but there was no one in the kitchen. He could hear voices down a hallway to his left and the sound of water. Assuming Marissa wouldn’t be washing dishes, he took the other hallway that opened off the kitchen, following it down a dark corridor to a closed door. He hesitated outside the door, hearing the soft murmur of voices through the door, then leaned in a little closer hoping he wouldn’t get caught.

  “You did what?” a young man’s voice asked.

  “You heard me. I got married.” Scott recognized Marissa’s voice at once.

  “But why? I mean who goes through with an arranged marriage these days?”

  “I guess I do. I had no choice, Matt,” she said, exasperation in her voice.

  “Well, where is he? You didn’t tell him about us did you?”

  “No, not yet, but I will when I get back,” she said, then gasped when Scott burst through the door.

  Hearing the man refer to them as us had burst his carefully held control. Visions of the two of them together overriding his better sense. “You can just tell me about it now,” he said.

  Marissa jumped to her feet. “Scott, what are you doing here?”

  “Well, you forgot one of your bags and when I called your assistant to get her help getting a hold of you, she didn’t know anything about this trip so I followed you. What the hell is going on here? Who is this, your boyfriend?” Scott was so mad that he was tempted to grab the kid and punch him right in the face.

  “Matt, go out front, I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said, giving Scott a fierce look.

  Matt scampered out of the room, then Scott very slowly shut the door. “I know that this happened fast, but you could have at least told me you were involved with someone, I deserved at least that much,” he said, through clenched teeth. “What are you doing here? This is a dangerous neighborhood, you have no business being here.”