“Some. But he had girlfriends before me.”
The sheriff gave a whistle. “And you weren’t going to file? I’m glad this young man talked some sense into you.”
Jake’s eyes locked on Buttercup’s. “She still isn’t convinced. I can tell. But please tell us, how long have you been an officer of the law?”
Hitching up the waist of his pants proudly, the sheriff declared, “Over thirty years now, I’ve been serving the dear people of our county.”
“And tell me—from your experience, if a boyfriend with a history of domestic violence tracks you down, convinces you to meet him alone and tell no one, then proceeds to tell you he really wants to drive the car you are about to enter, what does that sound like to you?”
“An abduction. Plain and simple.” The older man gave a shrug of his shoulders, looking to Buttercup to see if she had a rebuttal.
“Any questions, Buttercup?” Jake asked, squeezing her shoulder.
“No, sir.”
“All right. Let’s get this thing filled out.”
To Ray’s chagrin Buttercup had taken to staying over at Jake’s. Sure, she was sleeping in the guestroom, but that little fact made the separation no easier for Ray.
The truth was Jake would not let Buttercup out of his sight. And she was loving every minute of it. Fearful that Tom would return, he kept Buttercup with him day and night. She had learned how to wield a nail gun, how to lay tile and how to properly work a caulk gun. Always having a love for numbers, she had also taken over Jake’s accounting for his handy man business. And this was the first week she had done all the billing for him as well.
When she would visit the ranch, the little Stevenson boys would surround her. Momentary guilt would sweep over her, but Jessica was always right there by her side, reassuring her she had made the right choice.
Ray was not so understanding of the situation.
“I mean—you aren’t even married. Why can’t you stay here?”
“Jake doesn’t feel comfortable unless I’m with him. Just until this Tom thing settles down.”
“But I can protect you from that scum.”
“You have your own family to take care of, Ray. Besides, I don’t want to risk him coming here looking for me.”
Finally giving in, Ray had given Buttercup his blessing.
When explaining her brother’s unease to Jake later, she had said, “He just doesn’t get it. You know—since we aren’t married. He’s kind of old-fashioned.
“So am I. Why don’t we get married?” It had been Jake who insisted she sleep in the guestroom in the first place. Jake flashed his wide smile, but it didn’t melt the ice that was forming in the pit of Buttercup’s stomach.
“I don’t want to be married,” she answered softly.
“Why?”
“Think about it. My dad left Ray’s mom. My mom left my dad. I left Tom right after we got engaged. Marriage just doesn’t work.”
“What about Wes and Carrie? Ray and Jessica?”
“Carrie and Jessica both have prior broken engagements.”
“And afterwards they married their soul mates. It means I’m the man for you.”
“I just can’t stomach the idea of it.”
“You can’t stomach the idea of marrying me?” Jake’s eyes suddenly went cold.
“Not you, per se, just marriage in general.”
“But you were engaged to Tom?”
“I know. That’s my point exactly. I shouldn’t have been engaged.”
Jake looked down at her hands in his lap. Grabbing the fourth finger on her left hand, he ran his thumb over it. His gaze locked on hers. “Well, I’m afraid that’s a deal breaker for me, Buttercup.”
“Why? Isn’t it just a ceremony? A legal thing that doesn’t matter.”
“Not to me.”
“What is it to you?”
“It’s everything. An eternal commitment of eternal love. Our happily ever after.”
Buttercup’s insides went funny. As if she was standing from a great height, looking down. The room began to spin.
“I should go back to Ray’s.”
Jake stood. “No, you aren’t. We are going to talk this out and you won’t be leaving until we both are back to feeling good.”
“I should go.” She had no other ideas to make the dizzy feeling go away.
“How are you going to get there, Buttercup?”
“If you won’t drive me, I guess I’ll have to walk.”
“You walk across Poke Town and when you get to Ray’s, your brother will take you over his knee himself and spank your butt right there in the front yard of his house when you arrive.”
Buttercup thought through the mental image Jake had painted for her. Poke Town had grown since she had last lived here and there were parts of town that weren’t so safe for her to be marching through alone. She couldn’t be sure that Jake wasn’t right about his assessment of what Ray’s reaction would be.
“Fine,” she said, holding her head in her hands, willing the room to stop spinning.
Sitting beside her, wrapping his arm around her, Jake asked, “Tell me, right now, exactly what this fear of yours is all about.”
“It’s like my family has a curse. It seems the engagements and marriages make someone leave. I just don’t want to risk you leaving me.”
“I’m never, ever, going anywhere, Buttercup. If you are my wife, you should know—you are stuck with me for life. Richer, poorer, sickness or health. I will be by your side every step of the way. Forever.”
His hand rubbing her back made the fear, the dizziness melt away.
“Jake Hargett, are you asking me to marry you?” she teased.
Getting down on one knee, the look he gave her made her heart stop beating. Pulling from his pocket a small, gold, antique ring, he held it out to her.
“My grandmother’s ring. It’s been in my family for over two hundred years. A sign of love, and fidelity. Will you do me the honor of wearing this ring? Of becoming my wife? Buttercup?”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she whispered the word, “Yes.” And this time she knew when she answered this question, she would be Jake’s—for eternity.
The End
Coming Soon
from Shanna Handel
Book One in the new Dirty Texas Love Series
Boss of her Heart
Bella
I had sworn off the bad boy. You know, the drop dead gorgeous guy with the sexy dark hair perfectly swept back in an effortless look that you know actually cost him two hundred dollars to achieve?
The man with the worn in jeans hanging from his trim hips. The thin material of his shirt pulling taut over the tight muscles of his shoulders as he moved. Long and lean—not from working out in the gym, but from his active lifestyle.
You know, the guy that has your panties melting just from that confident glance from the corner of his flashing eyes? That guy.
I had sworn them off. So, why I had I opened my big mouth last week and asked one for a job?
Garrett Love—can you believe that name? Weston, Garrett, and Carrie Love the proud owners of The Lonestar Cattle Company had become like a family to me and my son over the last few months. And Garrett had quickly become the star of my X-rated dreams every night since I had first laid eyes on him.
Sober for ten years and having sworn off his playboy Wall Street ways, he was a safe bet, right? The look of the bad boy but with ten years of excellent behavior under his belt.
I couldn’t help but hope there was still a little bad boy left for me, somewhere buried deep within those jeans. I liked my escapades in the bedroom to look like my riding boots at the end of the day. Filthy dirty.
Hitting the side of my head with the heel of my hand, I hoped my inappropriate thoughts would be dislodged. I was talking about how I felt about my new boss, after all.
My first day on the job and I was going to be late. Damn, damn, double damn. I tore my eyes from the clock on the wall
and continued to struggle to get my riding boots pulled on. Grabbing my keys and racing out the door, I couldn’t stop myself from daydreaming about the boss man taking me over his knee for a long hard spanking for being late on my first day.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the review mirror. My cheeks blushing as red as my hair, as I threw my keys in the ignition. “Come on, Bella, be professional,” I muttered as I turned the key. There was a groan, and a moan, not from me—from Bessie’s engine. A high-pitched whine and then—nothing.
“Damn,” I rested my forehead on the steering wheel of my Wagoneer. “Not today, of all days.”
Hopping out of the car, I gave old Bessie’s thread bare tire a kick of my boot. I might be late, but there was no way I wasn’t showing up for my first day of work. Hustling down my mile-long dirt drive, I set my sites on the main road.
“Thanks again!” I called, smiling, waving and shutting the door of the semi.
Walking towards the barn, I looked over my shoulder giving, Bill, my new friend, a final wave, laughing as he honked his great horn at me. When I turned back, I bumped straight into the rock-hard chest of Garrett Love.
“What—was that?” he asked, his hard gaze boring into mine. His mouth was set firm, his jaw clenched with an intense look of displeasure.
“That was Bill.”
“And did you know, Bill, before this morning?”
“Technically, no. But I found out that he drives by my house once a month when he delivers onions,” I said, brightly.
“Bella Buchanan, did you hitchhike to The Lonestar Cattle Company this morning?” he asked, as he raised one of those dark, perfectly shaped brows at me. My insides melted at his stern tone.
“Maybe? Possibly? Yes?”
My admission was met with silence. I filled the tense air with nervous rambling. “My car wouldn’t start, it made this really weird noise and I was already late and it’s my first day and I…”
“I think we’d best have a little talk, boss to employee.”
My stomach dropped like it did the time I took Oliver to the amusement park and he made me ride the Free Fall. The ride climbs vertically to the top of the tower in seven point two seconds, then without warning, the car is released, and the riders drop sixty feet in less than two seconds. With Garrett’s livid eyes gazing down on me, that was how I felt right now.
His fingers wrapped around my elbow. His tight grip had the skin under my light jacket tingling as he led me to the office he had built onto the back of the barn.
Sitting me down in the wooden chair in front of the desk with a thump, he shut the door tightly behind us. He stood behind the desk.
He put his hands flat on the desk and leaned his weight on them, his eyes flashed as he growled, “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you, hitchhiking out there?”
I gave a nervous gulp, avoided his eyes and instead focused on the place where the rolled-up sleeves of his button-down work shirt met his toned forearms.
“Um.”
He ran his hands through his tousled hair, and paced back and forth behind the desk. “I have half a mind to put you right over my knee and spank you for doing something so absolutely reckless.”
Okay—so he didn’t say that. I imagined that part.
He asked me, “Why didn’t you just call me to pick you up, Bella?”
“Um.” My master’s degree in communication was apparently a giant waste of money.
Returning to standing behind the desk, his gaze locked on mine, daring me to take my eyes from his. When he spoke, his tone was low, dangerous almost.
“Don’t you ever do that again, Bella. I don’t care if you are on your way to work, the gym, the grocery store. You call me. You do not hitch a ride. Do. You. Understand?” He punctuated each word with a rap of his knuckles on the desk.
“Yes, sir,” I whispered.
At my utterance something in his faced changed. There was a look of recognition as he considered my face. The look was fleeting, but I had seen it, clearly.
“If I hear you so much as stuck your thumb out anywhere near the side of a road, I will take you over my knee and spank you until you are unable to sit comfortably in a saddle for a week. It that understood?”
My knees felt so weak, I thanked my lucky stars I was seated in a chair. Hiding my trembling fingers, I nodded my head.
So, it was as I had thought. Garrett was an ex-bad boy turned good with dominant tendencies and a hand that itched to spank. And he was my boss. And I was absolutely, head over heels in love with him.
Garrett
After the stunt she pulled, she needed her bottom bared and spanked until there were tears in her eyes and her trembling voice promised never to do such a thing again. And then a good hard, ‘don’t you forget who the boss is around here’ fuck.
But instead, I maintained my professional composure, after I threatened to spank her ass that is, and gave my new employee a detailed tour of the ranch. Knowing in the back of my mind that I had the contract, still warm from my printer, sitting in the middle of my desk drawer.
The End… for now…
Authors note:
I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek of Boss of her Heart, the debut novel of my new series, Dirty Texas Love. These books follow the characters you have come to love but with a much steamier storyline. Each one can be enjoyed as a standalone. I can’t wait to share the full story with you soon.
Xoxox Shanna Handel
Shanna Handel
Shanna Handel is a spanked wife and author of clean spanking romance that is seriously hot. She balances submission with naughtiness in her daily life, as well as in her works. All of Shanna’s stories include tales from her experience, as well as direct quotes from her loving, firm husband. Her goal is that you come to love her characters as much as she does, and she hopes her books cross your mind every once in a while after you read them.
Don’t miss these exciting titles by Shanna Handel and Blushing Books!
Taken by Surprise
Taken off Guard
Ruby
The Trouble with Christmas
Sweet Texas Love series
Daddy Mine, Book 1
Forever Daddy, Book 2
Bartender Daddy, Book 3
Texas Daddy, Book 4
Dirty Texas Love series
Boss of Her Heart Available Soon
Connect with Shanna Handel:
www.shannahandel.com
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