by Maisey Yates
He damn well wished that it did. He wished that he could experience that rush of rightness, of homecoming, that he knew you were supposed to feel when you returned to your childhood house.
But he would have to get back to a person he’d been, not just the place. And he figured that was an impossibility.
He didn’t have any time to worry about it now. He had drinks to serve.
* * *
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN you’re getting married?”
Sierra looked across the bar at her sister’s wide eyes. Madison had come into Ace’s tonight to check up on her, and her sister was clearly shocked to find out about her new status update.
“It makes the most sense,” Sierra said. She wasn’t exactly sure when she had started spouting Ace’s party line as fact. But he had a point.
“It makes the most sense to marry a strange guy you slept with once?”
“Oh, I’ve slept with him more than once,” she said, looking down at the bar top and tracing patterns over the wood grain with her fingertips.
“Did he...talk you into marrying him by using sex to muddle your brain?”
“His penis may or may not have been involved in the negotiation process.”
“That penis must be some smooth talker.”
“It’s very...persuasive.” She felt her cheeks getting hot. “I’m a little ashamed to admit how easy I made it for him.”
“He is hot,” Madison said. “And—as one who has not been totally immune to male charms in the past—I’m not judging you too harshly.”
“But you are judging me.”
Madison lifted her hand. “Yeah, a little. Also harshly. Just not too harshly. Just the right amount of harshly.”
“I want my child to have a family. I don’t want it to be broken up. You can understand that, right? Look at all the drama that’s happening with Jack, and Dad, and Mom, and the general drama surrounding the West/Monaghan debacle. I want to avoid anything like that.”
“Well, Ace doesn’t have a wife and other children. So I think you’ve pretty well avoided it.”
“You know what I mean. If we don’t get married, then we’re going to have to contend with the fact that we’ll have separate families to deal with. Separate lives.”
“You say that like divorce isn’t a thing. Because you know you might end up divorced.”
Sierra let out a hard breath. “And then we’ll be in the exact same place we’re in now. But he... Well, he convinced me that things can never be strictly platonic between us. Our bond isn’t exactly a lasting friendship. It’s more based on a mutual need to screw each other’s brains out whenever we’re alone.”
“That,” Madison said, lifting her glass of chardonnay to her lips, “is too much information.”
“Well, it’s true. I just want you to understand. Don’t you know what it’s like to be so attracted to somebody you can’t think straight?”
Madison tapped the counter. “Not really. I mean, it wasn’t exactly like that with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I was in love with him. And because I loved him I let him talk me into a lot of things that I didn’t really feel comfortable doing.”
Sierra grimaced. “It isn’t like that with Ace. He’s... He’s really not coercing me. I’m not clouded by emotion. But I am facing down the reality that he and I probably aren’t going to have a very easy platonic relationship.”
Madison fiddled with the coaster beneath her glass. “I just can’t believe you’re going to be the first one to have kids.”
A large roar went up in the crowd, the voices obscuring the country song on the radio, and both Madison and Sierra looked back into the dining room, just in time to watch someone tumble off of Ferdinand and onto the mats below.
Sierra felt a little sorry for the unknown, disgraced person, considering her own inglorious mechanical bull dismount only a few weeks earlier. Madison looked away from the spectacle and back to Sierra. Sierra cleared her throat. “Well, unless we plan this wedding at lightning speed Colton is still probably going to get married first.”
“Yeah, unless a miracle happens,” Madison said drily.
“I’m not holding my breath for miracles at this point.”
Madison took another sip of wine. “You know, Gage could have kids. We don’t know. He could be married for all we know.”
“I guess so. I kind of still picture him as a teenage boy. But, I guess he’s a man and everything now. I mean, I suppose he kept changing after he left.”
“He got to escape the family early. There’s no way he also found the fountain of youth. That just wouldn’t be fair,” Madison said.
“I don’t want to escape the entire family. Just Mom and Dad for a little while. Actually, really just Dad.”
“We both know Mom is pretty intense. I imagine getting away from her for a little while isn’t the worst, either.”
The door to the kitchen opened and Ace came out. Sierra’s stomach turned over, her heart suddenly beating faster. Her entire body gearing up for... Well, the one thing that she wanted when he was around.
Madison’s eyes narrowed, her focus now squarely on Ace. “So,” she said, her tone deceptively soft. “You’re marrying my sister, I hear.”
“That’s true,” he said.
“I was on board with you procuring her horse for her, but I was unaware you would be using said steed for manipulative purposes.”
“I swear to you, the horse was a non-manipulative gesture.”
“I don’t believe you. Nothing personal. I’m predisposed to being suspicious of men.” Madison tilted her head to the side and looked at him as though he were something potentially vile. “I just want you to know, Mr. Thompson, that while I might appear fragile, I grew up on a ranch. Yes, my family is well-to-do, but I made a point to educate myself on the finer workings of horsemanship. All of it. I am well familiar with the process that turns a stallion into a gelding. And I will not hesitate to use it on you if you hurt my baby sister in any way.” She smiled then, the expression sweet, her blue eyes glittering. “I may be small, but I am fierce. And I will unleash my fierceness on you without mercy.”
“I believe it,” he said, his expression mildly amused and more than a little bit impressed.
“Well,” Madison said, “now that we have that out of the way, congratulations.”
Ace walked up beside Sierra, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “Thank you.”
It was strange, having him touch her like this in the bar, in full view of everybody. It wasn’t as though the relationship was a secret, but they certainly hadn’t made it public.
“Okay, you’re going to start rumors now,” she said, stepping away from him.
“There’s nothing wrong with rumors. Anyway, they would be true,” he said.
“I’m not sure I’m ready for the broader world to know the circumstances of our lives.”
“By which she means Mom and Dad. Oh, and probably Jack.”
Sierra groaned. “I forgot that I have another overprotective brother to explain this to. I already weathered talking to Colton.”
“I haven’t received a single death threat from him,” he said. “After meeting your sister I have to say I’m almost disappointed by that.”
“I can issue death threats for the both of us,” Madison said.
“Clearly.”
“So, when is the wedding?” Madison asked.
“As soon as possible,” he said, at the same time Sierra said, “After the baby is born.”
“You said you wanted to wait until you get a paternity test,” Sierra said.
Madison’s head whipped toward Ace. “You did not say that.”
“To be fair, I had a bad experience,” he said.
“Still,” Madison scoffed. “That’s as
inine.”
“No argument from me,” Sierra said. “I don’t really see the point of getting married until after,” she said, directing that statement at Ace. “Anything can happen between now and then.”
“Fine. I can see the point in waiting until after you’re twelve weeks along, but after that, I think we should get married. Do you really want our baby at the wedding?”
“This isn’t 1950. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“That’s really what you think? That’s really what you want the whole town to see?”
She wanted to stomp her feet. “Madison, talk some sense into him.”
“I don’t have a lot of sense. Just physical threats. But, in this instance, I think he might have a point.”
“That isn’t fair,” Sierra said. “You can’t side with him.”
“I’m not siding with anyone. I just think you might be happier ultimately if you do it sooner. That way you can prepare for the baby together.”
“It isn’t like I can’t move in with him before we get married,” she said.
“I’m just trying to consider the gossip,” she said. “With what’s happened...”
“I know. Jack. Dad.” Sierra scowled, hating that both of them had a point. Hating that she cared. But if a few months made the difference between people viewing their child and marriage as the whoops that it was, and people seeing them as a normal couple... Well, she couldn’t think of a good reason not to hurry up and get married.
She wasn’t entirely certain that was a correct or stellar reason to go ahead with the marriage. Anyway she had...feelings for Ace. Sex feelings, mostly. But there were some heart feelings, as well. Not love, or anything crazy like that. He didn’t believe in love, after all. And she had never been in love before, so she was hardly going to go fall in love with a man she had been involved with—in the loosest sense of the word—for just about a month.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it in a few weeks, how about that?” she said.
“Fine with me,” he said.
“And you aren’t invited to any more life planning sessions,” she said, directing that comment at her sister. “Not if you are going to blindly side against me.”
“I am on your side. The side of least resistance in terms of how your life will play out later. It’s easy to give controversy the middle finger until you’ve actually experienced the toothy end of it.” Madison tapped the counter, standing suddenly. “Well, I’m going to go. It was nice to officially meet you, Ace. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
Madison breezed out, leaving her barely touched glass of wine sitting on the counter.
“Well, she’s a whole thing,” Ace said.
“Yes, she is. A whole thing that is recently dead to me for taking an opposing stance.”
Ace turned to face her, and she backed up against the bar. He moved toward her, gripping the side of the counter, his arms corralling her. “And why exactly is she presenting an opposing stance? I thought you were feeling a little friendlier toward the idea of marrying me.”
She swallowed hard, trying to do her best to not get sucked into his dark gaze. He really was overly compelling. “Well, yes, but I thought I would have a little more time to adjust to the idea.”
“Does the idea of marriage scare you?” he asked, raising his hand and brushing a strand of her hair out of her face.
“Well, I’m not feeling overly friendly toward the institution. All things considered.”
She looked around, trying to gauge the reaction of her coworkers. A few of them had clearly noticed something was going on between Ace and herself, but everyone was going out of their way not to stare too obviously.
“What are you afraid will happen?”
I’m afraid it’s just another thing I don’t know how to do.
“I don’t know. Affairs, secret babies.”
He chuckled. “That’s the last thing you have to worry about with me.”
She bit her lip. “And why exactly should I believe that?”
He frowned. “Because I asked you to?”
“Right. The man who demanded that I get a paternity test thinks he can simply ask for trust and get it.”
He sighed heavily, stepping away from her. “Okay, I was out of line. Except I don’t really think I was.”
“Right. Because you have to protect yourself. Well, I have to protect myself, too.”
“My wife had an affair. Believe me when I tell you there aren’t very many people on this earth who respect the sanctity of marriage more than I do. Because I’ve been kicked in the nads by people who didn’t.”
She gritted her teeth. “Okay, that’s fair.”
But she couldn’t get rid of that nagging little voice that had spoken the truth immediately after he had asked the question. She didn’t know how to be a wife. She was facing down the fact that she was about to be a mother, and she was expected to be a wife, too.
She knew how to be a girlfriend for a finite amount of time. She was pretty good at that. At least, she hadn’t had any complaints. But she had a feeling that it was a far cry from engaging in a real, long-term relationship.
Being a wife meant that when things got difficult you had to stick it out. You didn’t cut and run just because the guy said anyways instead of anyway, and after six months you wanted to shove the extra letter up his rear.
You had to stick it out. You had to stick it out even when things were hard.
Judging by the way she had handled the situation with her father, she was pretty sure she wasn’t a shining example of how to do that.
“I should probably make a doctor’s appointment,” she said.
“I don’t think they usually rush to get you in at this stage.”
She shrugged. “Still, I would like to get confirmation.”
“All right. I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Sierra, you’re going to get checked out because you’re having my baby. Where else would I be?”
The strength in that statement, the certainty, struck her down deep. She wasn’t used to men like this. Her father had barely bothered to show up to major life events after she was born. She couldn’t imagine him being doting when she was in a prenatal state.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Why don’t you make an appointment and just let me know what time I should show up. Better still, I’ll take you.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THEY SPENT THE next few days settling in. Sierra had opted to spend the last couple of nights in the small house. And they hadn’t had sex again. It had taken a lot more strength than Ace would like to admit not to press that issue.
She was pregnant; for all he knew she might not be feeling very well. Though she hadn’t said anything about that.
He had a feeling it was all to do with accepting his proposal and dealing with the implications of it.
She had dinner with him every night, and they spent that time together trying to fill the enormous blank spaces in their knowledge of each other.
She told him about going to school in Eugene, and how waffles with bacon on them from hole-in-the-wall restaurants had been her guilty pleasure while studying. About how her first boyfriend had broken her heart. And how she’d never considered doing anything other than what her father had told her to do. Had never considered living anywhere other than Copper Ridge.
In return, he’d told her all about the rodeo while she’d looked at him with a wistful expression on her face, like the description of dust, hay and animal smells was her idea of heaven, too.
He was discovering she wasn’t at all the woman he’d first assumed she was. He was discovering she was a woman he liked quite a bit.
Still,
he missed having her in his bed. He wasn’t sure how a woman he’d only had twice had become an elemental kind of need that felt as necessary as breathing. He was going to have to get a handle on that.
Their relationship was going to be based on their desire to do what was right for their child. The passion was an added bonus. It had been instrumental in him convincing her to marry him. But it didn’t mean he could just let it burn unchecked.
She had managed to get a doctor’s appointment surprisingly quickly. Which was why he found himself up uncharacteristically early again, sitting in the waiting room at the office. That had been her request. He would’ve happily gone in so that he could be a part of it, but he could see that she needed her space.
She needed a lot of space.
That surprised him the most. She had her little freak-out, and she ended that by clinging to him. Since then, he couldn’t help but feel like she had been slowly backtracking.
He looked up at the clock. It felt like she had been in with the doctor forever. But it had only been about a half an hour.
He leaned back in the chair, letting out a long sigh.
The front door to the clinic opened, and in walked a mutinous-looking Kate Garrett, followed by her fiancé. Who also happened to be his reluctant fiancée’s half brother. So that was great.
Damn small towns.
Kate locked gazes with him, her eyes very round. He could tell she wanted to ask what he was doing here, but also that she knew it would earn a return question.
He had no idea how to handle this situation. Did you greet people you knew at the gynecologist? Just one of the many things he had never had to deal with before, since he hadn’t ever been in a committed relationship while living in Copper Ridge.
“Howdy,” Jack said finally, as he and Kate made their way up to the check-in desk.
Ace was suddenly hoping the clock worked in his favor and Sierra stayed back in the office until Kate was called back.
He imagined though, since he was sitting in the middle of the world’s most obnoxious coincidence, that was a little bit too much to hope for.
