Fake Fiancé Next Door_A Small Town Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  From his belt, he pulls a flare and pops it off into the air.

  May

  “I’m fine,” I say, seeing the three guys hanging around the bed as the doctor echoes my words.

  “You’re a lucky young lady,” The old doctor says, his bushy white eyebrows knitting together.

  I know I am. And as Clint’s worried eyes meet mine, I’m doubly aware of just how lucky I am. The doctor packs up and leaves, and the other two guys, Carson and Shane, follow him out to his truck.

  Leaving me alone with an intense looking Clint.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, needing to put it out there.

  But he’s at my side in an instant. “No, I’m sorry,” He says, looking me deep in the eyes as he takes my hand and presses my knuckles to his lips. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I want to work through this. I want you in my life, if you’ll have me. I love you, Sara May,” he says, his intense brown eyes on mine, “I always have.”

  My heart beats like a drum in my chest as his words sink in. He’s always loved me. “I always loved you too,” I say, feeling shy. “Is the mare okay?” I ask, feeling terrible.

  “Lady? She’s fine.” He seems perplexed that I’m asking.

  “I feel terrible. I shouldn’t have put her at risk, or put myself at risk, or anything like that. I am so stupid.” The words flood out and I notice Clint is watching me carefully. “What?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  I feel my eyebrows come together. Now doesn’t seem like the time for that. Shouldn’t he be mad at me for causing so much trouble, for risking his horse, for making a whole damn search party come out for me?

  “I must have cost you a fortune,” I whisper, feeling humiliated. How will I ever pay him back for this? For any of it?

  “You don’t owe me anything,” he says, his fingers warm in mine and his breath reassuring on my hand.

  And the words have a ring of truth to them. His eyes are warm as he continues. “I was so scared I’d lost you. I’m just glad you’re home safe.”

  Home safe.

  Does he even know what he just said? Tears trickles down my cheeks as I draw in a ragged breath. Home. I haven’t had one of those in so long.

  “Does it hurt?” he asks, and I glance at my sunburn.

  “No, the stuff doc put on it helped a ton.” But I’m not totally ready to tell him why I’m such a damn mess. Then I look into his serious brown eyes once more. “I love you. I love Grace. And this feels like home. More like home than even home does.” The words flood out and with them comes an intense relief that leaves me shaken.

  “I don’t know what I would have done without you. My ex was,” I suck in a shuddering breath and fight to get the words out around the tears. My voice lowers to a whisper. “He was a monster.”

  And the apology follows. “I’m so sorry. He might have followed me. I was so scared, but as time went on, I realized he was too much of wimp to actually do something like chase me. He wanted me while it was convenient. When I became trouble, he just gave up. I’m sure he’s with some girl right now, treating her like he treated me.”

  “Do I know him?” Clint sounds so quietly furious I feel a flutter of fear in my belly. Not fear for me, fear for Dillon.

  “Dillon?” I ask, shaking my head. There’s no way he knows him. That relationship came after I ran so far from home. “But I don’t’ care about him. That’s over, it’s behind me. I feel like you’re my future,” I say, feeling the honesty of the words. It feels good to finally totally come clean to him. This was a long time coming.

  And since telling him who I am wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d been scared it would be, I’m certain this will be fine too. Clint is a good man. And I haven’t had too many of those in my life. But I’m ready to have one. For good, if he is willing.

  “You know how to shoot,” Clint says seriously. “If you ever see that son of a bitch, you pull the trigger, understand?” He asks, and I nod. But he’s not done.

  “It’s not just you that you have to protect here,” He says, his eyes slashing back and forth over mine. “Grace needs you. She looks up to you, she trusts you.”

  “I’d never let anyone hurt her,” I murmur, watching his face. I’m doing my best to convey that I’m telling the truth. She means so much to me. “I’d die first,” I whisper, and his pupils dilate with shock. “I love her too,” I whisper. She’s such a strong girl, so beautiful and kind, compassionate and sweet despite the pain life has dealt her.

  But one thing is still nagging at me. “How did you find me?” I ask, curious.

  Clint’s features lighten a bit and there’s a bit of boyishness I saw in him that day he’d fallen asleep. “Because someone or something wants us to find each other. I think we were meant for more than we ever thought.” He seems thoughtful a moment, and I nod.

  “I felt the same way. How did I choose this specific ranch to begin with? How as I on this road? I mean, the help wanted sign helped, but it’s so many coincidences in a row.” I trail off, wondering how everything managed to work out so perfectly.

  Over Clint’s shoulder, I see a familiar face and I rise up to sit, despite the protest of the massive sunburn I’d sustained.

  “Katie?” I ask, seeing her eyes are guarded. Behind her, I see Babs. My heart sinks like a stone. Katie knows. She’ll hate me forever now.

  Clint

  I glance back as Katie moves past me to gently hug May.

  “Oh my gosh!” She says, my ever exuberant sister. “This is perfect!” She says, “My best friend and my brother getting married!” She squeals in joy and I see May’s shock. I glance back at my mother, who’s beaming at us.

  “Where’s Grace?” I mouth and she motions over her shoulder. I gather that she’s with dad, and I nod.

  “We’re only here for a minute,” Katie says, glancing at mom, who steps in to give me a hug, then to hug May. “But,” Katie says, her eyes sparkling as she looks at May, “You’ll have to tell me everything.”

  Katie pulls me into a hug, growling in my ear that she’ll castrate me if I hurt May. “I love you too,” I say playfully and she gives me the look, the sister look that’s part amusement, part serious, but it’s all love.

  They leave quickly with mom promising she’ll call, but telling me she’s keeping Grace another night. “So you two have a chance to…” Her gaze skips to May. “Recuperate.” Her eyes come back to mine and I want to shake my head at her. But her joy is unmistakable as she takes Katie’s hand and heads to the door.

  I turn to May who seems stunned.

  “I thought she’d hate me,” She whispers, tears streaming freely down her face. “But she will, when they find out…” she trails off, pain written in her features.

  “I wanted to talk about that,” I say, my heart thundering in my chest. I’ve never been so sure of something in my life.

  And as I pull out the ring, her eyes widen. “That’s not…” she says, her lovely blue eyes clouding over with confusion.

  “I know. The other ring felt like it would forever symbolize the lie, the fake engagement. I wanted a fresh start.” I shift, getting on one knee as her face drops into an expression of shock and joy.

  “The world seems to want us together,” I say, wishing I’d prepared an actual speech. But like everything else in my life that has to do with May, I feel like whatever happens will be perfect. “And I want you in my life. No,” I amend, “I need you in my life.”

  She speaks up and I listen. “Someone or something wants us to find each other. We were meant for more than we ever even knew.”

  “Exactly,” I say, glad she feels the same way, that I’m not just crazy. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe we both are. “Before, I felt crazy for having fallen in love with you so fast. But after I found out who you were, it made sense. I loved you because I always have. Since that time when you were on Katie’s bike and you fell.” Her face lights up and I know she remembers too.

  “You skinn
ed your knee and it kept bleeding and you were so scared. Do you remember what I told you?” I ask and she nods, her blue eyes on mine.

  “You told me to hold onto you really tight, that I’d be okay.” She’s whispering, her gaze illuminated with the memory.

  “And I told you that I’d always be there when you got hurt. That you could count on me to be there.” The memory leaves warmth spreading through every inch of me. And while it all makes perfect sense now, that we were always meant to be, that even then we loved each other, we had to part ways.

  She had to chase her own demons. I had to love and lose Amanda to get Grace. But there’s more I need to say. “Everything that has happened to us up until now was preparing us for each other,” I say, lifting the ring. “Will you marry me?”

  She hesitates and my heart sinks. She eyes me, then the ring, before her lips part. “For real? Or just for show?” Her eyes light up with humor and I can’t help it. I kiss her.

  “For real,” I murmur against her lips as we lazily pull apart.

  “This has to be against the rules,” She says, planting a quick kiss on my lips before smiling, “You’re coercing me.”

  Amused at her wit and teasing, I ask, “Is it working?”

  “Maybe,” she says, opening her eyes to look into mine. “Kiss me again and I’ll tell you.”

  I kiss her, this time our tongues meet and it feels like heaven. She melts into me like she belongs in my arms. She fits me perfectly, and there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, with her. Forever.

  But I end the kiss and pull back a bit. “You’re killing me,” I say, watching the way she shivers as my breath cools her damp lips.

  “Oh, sorry,” she says, her face illuminated with joy and humor as she studies me once more. “Yes. Yes, please. I love you.” She leans in and I kiss her, finally feeling like everything is perfect.

  “I’m the luckiest man in the world,” I whisper, needing her to know how I feel. I want to tell her everything in my heart, how lucky I am, that this is perfection. But she rises up a bit, her hand wrapping in a fist around the lapel of my shirt as she clings to me.

  “Shut up and kiss me,” she says, pulling me closer.

  THE END

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  Claimed Bride

  Chapter One

  “What did you just say?” Jax spun and snarled at the mousy little man behind him. Samuel, his personal assistant lowered his eyes when Jax’s lit a luminescent yellow. Samuel knew from experience that when his master’s eyes held that tint, it was best to proceed with extreme caution.

  So, the short, balding man cleared his throat and while keeping his eyes trained squarely on the floor, he repeated the message he’d been trusted with delivering.

  “The High Council has sent word, summoning all four factions to a meeting tonight.”

  Jax inhaled a deep breath and held it for a few moments. Calming himself would keep him from striking out against Samuel; the man was just doing his job. Slowly, as each second ticked by, Jax felt the hot rage dim to a smoldering pile of ash. Apparently his eyes had gone back to their normal shade of dull brown, because Samuel immediately relaxed his shoulders and finally met his master’s eyes once again.

  When the last of Jax’s lava-hot rage ebbed, a splitting pain spread throughout his forehead; a repercussion of holding his anger in check. Of course, he’d let his leash slip in the first place, so perhaps he deserved the headache. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in a small effort to ward off the worst of the pain. When he felt like he could carry on a normal conversation without killing or maiming anyone in his vicinity, he turned and moved around behind his large, wooden desk and sat in the comfortable brown leather chair.

  “And what, pray-tell, did they say this “summons” was about?” he asked lightly, monitoring each word carefully.

  Samuel shifted nervously from one foot to another before clearing his throat once again. This next bit was what he’d feared worse. Jax wasn’t going to be happy to say the least, Samuel just hoped he lived long enough to see his sixty-fifth birthday next month.

  “Well your Highness, it appears as though the population has diminished so severely that the High Council has decided it’s time for each of the four leaders to take a mate in order to replenish our ranks.”

  The word “mate” jumped out and smacked Jax clean upside the head. Never in his seven-hundred plus years did he expect this. Before now, each leader was left to choose his or her own mate at his or her own discretion. Of course, throughout time, battles were fought, war was waged and numbers were lost.

  When his father had died and the mantle of reign fell to Jax, he sworn he’d never subject another person to his lifestyle. And now, the High Council - those pompous, high and mighty deities of fate - were going to demand he sever his own life-force in order to bring more children into a world they’d never be accepted much less survive? Not to mention there were not that many females left in any of the four factions.

  Jax could think of only one in the Wind’s and perhaps two in Fire’s. But neither Air nor Jax’s own Earth sect had any. They couldn’t interbreed, that went against the laws of nature. So, what exactly did the higher-ups expect them to do?

  Sensing Samuel’s increasing anxiety, Jax waved a hand to dismiss the man before he fainted. He really couldn’t hold the elder man’s delicacy against him. He was only human in a world full of dragons.

  Chapter Two

  Oliva Williams was a woman on a mission. Enlisting in the Army directly after high school graduation, she’d endured the years of hellish torture Uncle Sam’s best threw at her.

  Ten years later and at twenty-seven years old, she’d finally obtained her rank as Master Sergeant. A week after her promotion she’d been deployed again. It had been her third deployment but first as a senior NCO. The mission had lasted a little over a year. Luckily she’d returned with her entire unit, with not a scratch or bruise evident among them.

  She assumed her summons to the Pentagon had something to do with that. She sat in an otherwise empty waiting room and counted the minutes until she was called back.

  She’d never been in this particular wing of the Pentagon so when a sliding panel opened across the room from her, she stood abruptly. She’d been staring at the same spot for an hour and never realized it was, in fact, a door.

  The officer beckoned her to enter and once across the threshold, the revelation of her exact location hit her like a bolt of lightning.

  It was a war room. A war room filled with men and women of the very highest of military ranks and positions. The all sat around a large, oval table - the middle illuminated with a map of the entire world. Once she stepped within view, all conversation ceased abruptly and the man sitting at the head of the table stood to greet her. She nearly fainted as the President of the United States held his hand out for her to cross the room and sit at his right side.

  She didn’t miss the looks of animosity and general bias that always accompanied woman of her rank and stature. Although centuries old, the U.S. Military still lagged behind in some aspects - gender equality being just one of them. Another was the fact that despite her murderous physical training, she still couldn’t shake that extra twenty pounds off her body. She wasn’t fat by any means - just healthy with plenty of curves. At six-feet-two-inches tall, she weighed around two hundred and five pounds. About sixty-five pounds too much according to her physician. But no matter how much she pushed her body beyond its limits, those extra pounds stubbornly hung on.

  In the end, she’d decided to just let sleeping dogs be. That extra weight didn’t hinder her in her duties - hell, she performed better than half the young meat-heads serving under her command.

  “Sergeant Williams?” The President’s gravelly voice prompted her attention back to the strange situation she suddenly faced.

  “I’m sorry, Sir,” she rushed o
ut, embarrassed at her sudden distraction. “What may I do for you, Sir?”

  The older man smiled, a sudden gleam coating his wrinkled face.

  “Sergeant Williams, I’d like you to meet Jaxen Monroe,” he drawled and Oliva’s eyes suddenly diverted to a shadowy corner across the room from her. A black silhouette of a man separated itself from the dark wall and approached the table with a predator-like swagger. Olivia couldn’t help but gawk at the man. Tall, probably somewhere around six-feet-four - possibly more - and muscular; danger radiated off him in loud, blasting waves.

  She frantically glanced around the room, looking to see if any of the others noticed the strange “otherness” clouding the man. When everyone’s eyes remained on the papers before them, her anxiety ratcheted up a notch.

  She gave Mr. Monroe a curt nod and then turned her attention back to the President. She cleared her throat and tried her best to school her next words very carefully.

  “May I ask just what this is about?”

  Jaxen and the President shared a look of mutual trust and then Jaxen turned and asked her the most ridiculous question she’d ever heard.

  “Will you marry me?”

  Chapter Three

  Olivia nearly fell out of her chair. She gaped up at the President who’d remained standing and then at the stranger who’d just proposed to her. After studying him under closer scrutiny, she took in his jet-black, collar length hair pulled into a low ponytail and had to blink twice when her perusal was answered by a shimmering net of golden flecks raining down from the crown of his head to the end of his strands.

  She stared - simply mesmerized - by the unfolding magic. It was as if an invisible spider had draped a golden net atop his head; highlighting the inky blackness with flashy, golden highlights. But as silky and beautiful his hair was, his eyes were even better. Deep chocolate and oval, they almost screamed feline by the way the tilted up at the corners. His strong, Romanesque nose sat proudly above warm, inviting lips.