by Ashlee Price
“Then I will have to keep it up so that you will stop all this nonsense. I know that you feel it too Davina. I love you and this, what just happened, tells me that you feel it too. How could you not?”
It was a challenge, for her to deny what was happening between them. She couldn’t, even as her lower half backed against him and where she needed him most. “We hardly know each other Marcel. Let us just be lovers and cross the other bridge when we get there.”
No man could refuse her offer or the hand reaching out to take him into her palm. He was ready for her again, so soon after with only the thought of having her again. They both stayed out of the office all of that day, but both were raring to go when the next day rolled around. No one seemed to notice that Marcel was wearing the same suit he had left earlier the day before in. No one would have said anything if they had.
***
The rest of the week they both went to work as they were supposed to, but Davina hadn’t spent a night home at her house since. She was not ready to move in with him at the ranch, but she was over the part of her pride that kept her away. She wanted to spend every moment that she could with him, his looming departure only making the feeling stronger. He would be gone back to Conroe and though she didn’t know if it was her place to be with him, Davina knew that she wanted to spend every moment until then with him, although they left all of the talking for when they were at work.
Marcel couldn’t keep his hands off of her and he had convinced himself that he would make her want to stay in other ways besides his good looks and charms. He was not above using every depraved move he could think of to keep her.
When the weekend came, he wanted to take her home again. This time not to stay in his room again, but to show her the other project he had been working on for the last couple of years. He knew that he wouldn’t want to always stay at the ranch. Marcel had his own wants of a family long before Elna put it in his head. He wanted to show Davina what he had waiting for her, if only she would say yes.
He went to her on Friday evening, moments before they would travel home together. He always stopped at her house first, waiting for her while she got clothes for the next day. It was no different that day, Marcel sitting there as she packed an overnight bag.
“This seems tedious, don’t you think?”
“What? I don’t have to come if you don’t want me to.”
He shook his head. “I never want to wake up without you again Davina, this is my point. We come here and get your things, we should be together.”
“We are together.”
“Will you come away home with me for the weekend, instead of staying around here?”
“Yes, I figured that you would want to go home.”
“Soon I will have to go back to my duties at the ranch.”
She looked down and sighed. “I know. But I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore?”
“We aren’t, I’m just not ready.” He didn’t go on with his thought, getting up and grabbing a drink. It was not going as he had planned. Why couldn’t it ever?
Chapter 10
Like the time before, Davina was true to form and didn’t make it a half an hour into the trip before she was asleep against him. It was worse that time, Marcel knowing full well what she felt like against him. They were no longer just friends, but lovers and he wanted more. The trip home only gave him time to think and plot how he would convince her to stay there with him. Davina was a city girl, but he desperately wanted her there. If he had to go and live there with her, he would, but their true happiness was on the ranch.
When they pulled up, there were still lights on in almost every window and he took a deep breath before he woke her up with a kiss. It was going to be an eventful visit, he could just feel it. When she pulled him down for more, Marcel questioned if he shouldn’t show her the surprise right then, just to give them some alone time.
She made up his mind though when she pulled away and got out of the car. “Come on Marcel. I thought we were going to go say hi to Elna before it got too late?”
He was still reeling from the kiss and she seemed unfazed. Her emotions were either not as strong or highly guarded. Marcel was still not sure which one. He hoped that she was just trying to keep her head, because he had already lost his own.
They were just in time for a late dinner and everyone seemed to know that the two of them were a couple. Marcel caught Elna’s gaze a couple of times, but he wasn’t sure what she was trying to convey. Elna was looking better and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before she would be ready to take the helm again. Time was running out.
***
“I will be coming back on Monday Marcel.”
He looked down. “Oh.”
“I thought you would be happier. You can be back here with your horses and the sun. We both know that is what you really want.” Elna smiled to herself, though her face showed a concern. It had been her intentions all along to get her assistance and son together. The heart attack had just given her a reason, but after seeing the two of them together, she was convinced that what they had was not going anywhere. He loved her and Elna was sure that Davina felt the same way.
“I am. Of course I am happy that you are ready, but don’t you think it is too soon? I worry that you are pushing yourself too much.”
“Are you worried about me or worried that you won’t get to see Davina anymore?”
He paused and looked back at her from where he had started to pace again. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I am talking about, but you don’t need to worry Marcel. She already loves you. How could she not? Ask her what it is you want to ask her and she will say yes.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because a woman knows these things Marcel and I know you. I haven’t seen you like this since that sweet little girl you fell in love with when you were in high school.”
“That sweet girl broke my heart if you remember.”
“How could I not? It’s different this time. You two are perfect for each other.”
“Why do I feel like it was your plan all along?”
She shrugged, “It may be, but it doesn’t make me any less right. Go to her and ask what it is in your heart.”
Marcel went to find Davina with her words in his mind. It was all he could think of and he hoped that she was right. He still wasn’t sure, but the hard lump in his pocket had been there for days while he tried to get up courage. It was too soon, but he didn’t care. He had been told years ago when he had asked his father about love in his youth that he would just know and Marcel just knew that she was the one for him.
When he found her he pulled her to the side and asked her to come with him for a ride. It wasn’t quite yet dark and he wanted her to see the surprise in the light. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He pulled her up next to him on the horse and took off towards the far reaches of the family land. Each sibling was given a part of it and he had used his to make a home that he knew he would need one day. Even before he had met Davina, in the back of his mind, he was always preparing for her. When it came up in the distance and they stopped, he could feel her grip tightening around him.
“What is this place?”
“Your new home if you will have me.”
“Have you?”
He got down and helped her down, setting her on the ground before he went to his knees. “Will you marry me Davina? Live here with me in our new home. It must be fate because it was finished the week after I met you. I love you and I know you love me.”
Marcel looked up at her with hopeful eyes and she was shaking her head before she could think of the words. She didn’t want to keep him wondering. He picked her up and kissed her before setting her back down next to the startled horse. He had been so in the moment, that he had forgotten the most important part. Sliding the ring on her finger, they kissed again, in front of their new home.
~THE END~
Introduction
Scott is the youngest of the Callahans and the last one still determined to keep up his bachelor ways. There’s a lot of family pressure to marry his long-time girlfriend Lisa, and he realizes that she too has her heart set on marriage and children. But that’s never been in his plans. Scott can’t be tamed, and he lets her go because of it. He knows that he would never be able to give her what she needs, so he figures she can go find it elsewhere.
The only problem is that the very idea of losing Lisa sends him into a tailspin. And when Lisa starts to move on, it seems like there’s no way to stop his quick downward spiral. Scott becomes enraged with the loss and will stop at nothing to get her back.
Scott cannot live without Lisa, and he has to find a way to explain his rash behavior when he doesn’t even understand it himself. Will she be able to forgive him, or is it all just too little, too late?
Chapter 1
“Scott, you need to marry that girl. You guys have been together for years.”
Scott nodded, though he wasn’t really listening. He knew that his mom had pushed everyone else into marriage, but he was the last holdout. Even his free-spirited brother Henri had found a woman for him to settle down with and now Scott was feeling the pressure. He wasn’t going to cave though and when he finally looked up at her, she realized it as well.
“I don’t think Lisa is thinking about marriage.”
“Nonsense, son. Every woman is thinking about getting married before they are five years old. You love her don’t you?”
It was a question that he had asked himself many times. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about getting married, but with Lisa it was different. He loved her in a way, but the very idea of getting married never even entered his mind until the family got involved. He was the last one to take the plunge and Scott wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that same. Sure all of them seemed happy, but he didn’t believe that they were as happy as they appeared.
“Not Lisa. We have never talked about it and we have been together for five years.” Scott didn’t think he had to mention the conversation they had had about it long ago. He had told her that he had no desire to ever get married and she didn’t either. That was all that had ever been said about it. There had never been any more talk and no talk of children. For Scott that was just fine, but for Elna, she was convinced that she wouldn’t be in peace until all of her children had found love and were happy.
“Well I think you might be missing the signals. Did you see how upset she got at Gemma’s wedding?” Elna had seen the woman teary-eyed next to her son and Scott hadn’t even acknowledged it.
“Mom, all women get like that at a wedding. I think I saw every female in the place crying. I don’t know why you guys do it, but I figured it was pretty normal.”
Elna didn’t want to hear it. She wanted him to realize that he wasn’t complete without a wife, but that didn’t seem to be the way he thought about it. Scott was perfectly happy the way things were. He and Lisa got along fine, but moving in with her and getting married wasn’t in his wheelhouse.
“Well, it’s not going to happen, so stop pushing it.”
“Son, if she was the one for you, you would want to marry her.” Elna was sure of that, but wondered if Lisa just wasn’t the one for her son.
“Maybe not, but can you not bring all of this up tonight? I don’t want you giving her any ideas.”
Elna nodded and went back to the dough in front of her. She would never understand her youngest. He had always been the rebel when it came to everything and now his rebellion was keeping him from being happy. Elna knew that all he needed was the right one and all of her children would be married. Elna liked Lisa, but it was becoming clear that she just may not be the one for him.
“I am not going to say a word when she gets here. I just wanted you to think about it. I’m not getting any younger Scott and I would like to see all of my children happy and married. “
He sighed and knew that her heart was in the right place, even if he didn’t agree with how she wanted to push it. Scott knew that Lisa was a great girl, but he had never felt the way his brothers had about their wives. He had never felt like Gemma when she was getting married. The look of love was clear in her eyes and for a moment, he was jealous of it. But with Lisa, he didn’t feel the same way.
“I am happy mom. Not everyone has to get married to be happy.”
She nodded, but wasn’t really listening. Her life hadn’t started until she found their father and Elna just wanted the same for him. Her other children were happily married or in the process. That just left Scott.
“I know. I am not going to say any more about it. I know that you are doing the best you can.”
Scott excused himself. He had to go get Lisa for dinner. It was the weekend and everyone was over at the family ranch. It was something that they did every Sunday night before she went back to the city to run the business from there. The only problem was that these dinners had come down to pushing him into marriage.
“I will be back in a little bit. Don’t start without me.”
Elna just smiled and shook her head. “If only you wanted a woman as much as you wanted a cooked meal. You know that some women cook.”
“Lisa doesn’t.”
***
“Do we really have to go?”
Lisa didn’t want to go to the dinner. It wasn’t just Scott that was feeling the pressure about marriage and though she wanted to be married and she loved Scott, the dinners always put a bit of strain on them when they got back to her place later. Lisa didn’t want to get married if he didn’t want to get married. There was no forcing the subject. When he was ready, he would be ready. Now she wished that he would be ready soon, but there is nothing that she can do to push it on.
“You don’t have to go, but if I don’t go, I will never hear the end of.” Scott wasn’t going to mention that Sunday dinner was the only home-cooked meal he got most weeks. Lisa and he didn’t really live together, but he was over there often and she just simply didn’t cook. She didn’t know how and when they were together, they always ordered something to go.
“Well I don’t really want to go, Scott. I love your family, I really do, but there is just always this pressure.” Lisa felt it too, but to have it brought up by Elna all the time, somehow made it worse.
“You really don’t want to go?”
She shook her head that she didn’t, though she hoped he wouldn’t be upset about it. It was one thing to have to hear it from his family, but he had never really thought about how it affected her. “I won’t go if you want to stay here.”
Scott didn’t want to stay, but he would.
“No, no, you should go. I am just going to stay here and get some cleaning done and order some Chinese.”
Scott didn’t think that she was being for real. Lisa had a way of testing him and he wasn’t sure if it was another test or if she really didn’t want to go.
“I can stay here with you.”
She shook her head again. “No, you should go see your family. Everyone is going to be there.”
“Are you sure?”
She said she was, but Scott still wondered if he would have to pay for it later. When he left, there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before and he wondered what it meant. Even though they had dated for years, there was still a lot that he didn’t know about her. What was going through her head right then, he couldn’t fathom.
“Yes, Scott. Really it is fine. I am just having a day and I don’t want to get into all of it right now. You have a big family, Scott, so you are used to that whole production. I am an only child and I am just not used to all of that.”
He gave her a kiss and then another before he left. Scott had a feeling that he should have stayed. When he got back to the ranch and Elna made note of her absence, he wished that he have talked her into it. It wasn’t that hard to do, Lisa would do anything for him.
C
hapter 2
The dinner was much what he expected it to be. Far too many happy people, and everyone was in gagging love. It was strange to be in the middle of it all, but Scott just tried to ignore the ribbing from his brothers. Gemma and Elna were more worried about where Lisa was.
“Well not everyone is ready for marriage and love. I think that she is feeling the pressure as well.”
“There is no pressure, Scott. We just like having her around and think you should make an honest woman out of her.” Gemma tried to smile to take off the blow from her words. Everyone there liked Lisa and everyone just wanted Scott to be happy.
“There is definitely pressure. Mom gave me the run down before I went to get her. She just doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Probably because she wants to be married, but you are just too hard headed to see it. You are wasting all of her good years waiting for you to make a move.”
He had never thought about it like that, but it was just like Gemma to make him see things from another point of view. She was a bit of an empath and Scott didn’t doubt that she was right about it. Did Lisa want to get married? What if he never went there with her?
Scott didn’t answer, trying to pay more attention to the food in front of him. His mother had always been a good cook and it was only when Davina stayed with them for a time, that he got a good meal. Scott was ruled by his stomach and no amount of pressure was going to ruin the plate in front of him.
“Scott?”
He looked up and it was Gemma still looking at him. “What?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yes, something about her wasting her years with me. That’s great sis, thanks for that.”
She sighed and shook her head. “You know that it is true.”
He may have, but he was not going to admit it. “Lisa stays because she wants to. If she wanted to do all of that, she knows that she can do what she wants. She is her own woman.”
