Married by Christmas (Sapphire Springs Book 2)

by Angie Campbell

  “You took advantage of me while I was drunk,” she screeched, raising her arm and letting her makeshift weapon fly. “You rat!”

  “Mary Ellen, calm down,” he said, blocking the high-heel she threw at him with his hand. “We didn’t have sex.”

  She glared at him, seriously considering punching him in the throat. Now she was feeling rejected but wasn’t brave enough to ask if she wasn’t sexy enough for him. “Then why were we in bed together? And why can’t I remember checking in?”

  He took a deep breath, praying she was calm enough to listen to him now. Of course, he knew she was going to go back to railing at him the instant he told her what they had done last night. “I had you wait at the bar, while I got our room. You had a little too much to drink.”

  “That only answers half of my questions,” she hissed through her teeth.

  “And we’re married,” he said, the statement dropping between them like a ton of bricks.

  She stood frozen in place, her eyes trying to fall out of her head. “What?” she asked on a breath.

  “We’re married?” he answered. She had rattled him so much, this time it came out more of a question than a statement.

  “You got me drunk and married me?” she hissed, suddenly feeling like she might pass out. We’re married? How can we be married, and I can’t remember it? Oh, I’m starting to remember it now. I dragged him to the chapel. After he told me I needed to be sober to make that decision. Great! This is actually my fault. But I’m not going to tell him that.

  “Well…,” he shook his head, taking a step forward. “I didn’t actually get you drunk. You did that yourself.”

  “You planned this,” she snarled, leaning over to pick up her other shoe. This time, though, he grabbed her, tossing her on the bed before she could find her weapon. When he followed her down, she gasped, trying to roll away. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to stop you from injuring me?” he said, sounding more unsure of himself than he ever had. He didn’t figure there was any point to arguing with her over the planning or not planning of this. He didn’t figure she was anywhere close to ready to listen. When he pinned her hands above her head, she started to struggle.

  “Brock, let go of me.”

  He pulled her hands wide, dropping his head down to the mattress beside hers. “Please, calm down. You really need to hold still, or I might explode.”

  “Calm down? Hold still?” she screeched so loudly in his ear, he thought his eardrum would burst.

  Before he could second guess his actions, he leaned over and silenced her the best way he could think of. At first, she was so stunned, she completely stilled. That only lasted about two seconds, then she started struggling against him, trying to throw him off of her. When he nipped her bottom lip with his teeth, she groaned and slowly started to settle.

  Her lips parted on a sigh giving him a chance to dart his tongue past them. He still had her hands pinned down, but she managed to hook her legs over his butt, just trying to get closer. He groaned, letting one of her hands go, so he could run his up her side, under the t-shirt she had on.

  The second his calloused hand made contact with her softer skin again, she jolted, coming back to herself just like before and used her free hand to yank hard on his ear. “Get off of me, Brock Silverman. Right now, you are still in danger of losing those very important body parts.”

  When he crawled to the edge of the bed, looking like he was going to be sick, she actually managed a concerned look. “Brock, are you alright?”

  When he felt her hand brush his arm, he growled. “Don’t touch me, or you’ll be sure to find yourself pinned under me again. I can only take so much. And I’ve already come dangerously close to that point already,” he growled, shooting her a heated look.

  She jerked her hand back, not sure what to do with that. All she had ever wanted was for the man to want her, which she was starting to realize, he really did. And now they were married. Well, according to Las Vegas law they were. But not according to her own personal beliefs. A rotund Elvis impersonator in a bright red jump suit was not going to cut it for her. No matter how well he could sing ‘Love Me Tender’. Their wedding ceremony had to be performed by Pastor Macy with their friends and family present.

  “Just give me a minute,” he grumbled low. “The last time I came that close to having… Well, dang it, sex was before I broke things off with Jerri Streeter. It’s going to take me a minute to get myself under control.”

  She shook her head, what he had said, slowly sinking in. “Jerri Streeter? Isn’t that the black woman you dated who lived in Onyx Valley?”

  He gave her a dirty look, grumbling, “Yeah, she’s black. Do you have a problem with black people?”

  She gave him an aggravated look back. “Of course not. I adore James Sullivan and consider him a very dear friend. I was just wondering if she was the one I thought she was. She’s very beautiful and sweet. Why’d you break things off with her?”

  He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing no matter how in love with the woman he was, he couldn’t live with a racist. “We both realized we had no desire to marry each other. We were turning out to just be really good friends. We’re still friends, and she still lives in Onyx Valley. We parted very amicably.”

  She huffed, giving him a sour look, not sure how she felt about him still being friends with the beautiful woman, right before something else occurred to her. “You were dating her before I started working at the paper, weren’t you?” she asked, giving him an almost shocked look.

  “Yes, we broke things off about six months before you walked into my office at the paper the first time.”

  “You haven’t had sex in over three years?” she asked, sounding shocked.

  He held up a hand, giving her a very serious look. “I never had sex with Jerri. We never got that far. What I said was, I haven’t come that close to having sex in three years,” he grumbled. “It’s been longer than that since I actually had sex.”

  She shook her head, giving him a skeptical look. “I’m having a hard time believing that one.”

  “I’m not Zane. Not that I’m bad-mouthing my best friend. I just never could take the cold approach to sex that he did,” he said, shaking his head. “Of course, I think for him, it was a form of defense. It may have been the only way he managed not to kill all those other men Amanda was dating. Especially Austin after he started abusing her.”

  “You’ve not been with anyone in the last three years?” she mumbled, shaking her head, feeling a little confused.

  “Jerri was the last woman I dated,” he breathed deeply, finally starting to feel a little more in control of his body. That was until Mary Ellen reached out and ran a hand down his arm, bringing the rebelling part of his body to full attention again.

  “I didn’t realize you hadn’t been dating,” she whispered, feeling awed. Has this been going on as long for him, as it has me?

  He sprang from the bed, turning to look down at her. There was no way, with her trying to touch him, he was going to turn his back on her. She might be acting a lot calmer, but he didn’t, for a second, believe she was ready for them to pick up where they had left off when she decided to get all snarly on him again.

  She took one look at him and covered her face with a gasp. “Brock, would you, please, cover yourself?”

  “What?” he mumbled, glancing down. “Oh, sorry.” He yanked the sheet off the bed, wrapping it around himself. “I’m still a little excited.”

  “A little! Can’t you find underwear that contain it better?” she asked, causing herself to blush.

  “My boxer briefs usually contain it just fine, when I’m not raring to go,” he huffed. “It’s not like I am completely hanging out of them. I’m just poking out of the waistband.”

  “Just poking out of the waistband? Are you crazy?” she screeched. How big was it anyway? There was quite a lot of it sticking out of the waistband of his boxer briefs. It was almost to his belly button. And she d
idn’t even want to think about how thick it was.

  “On that note, I’m going to the bathroom to take a cold shower. Unless you want to volunteer to help me fix it in a much more pleasant manner,” he added, bobbing his eyebrows, feeling certain he was taking his life into his own hands with that statement.

  She shook her head, giving him a dirty look before turning her back on him. He had given her way too much to think about. Right now, the best thing for both of them, was for him to go take that cold shower he was talking about.

  9:07am

  Brock had been standing in the shower, cold water slushing over his body for several minutes now, and he was still just as overheated as he had been when he first stepped in. He had just resorted to trying to recite all the names of his mother’s extremely large family when he heard the bathroom door swing closed.

  His head popped up, his eyes turning in time for him to watch Mary Ellen pull his t-shirt off over her head. “Mary Ellen, what are you doing?” he growled, knowing darn well this wasn’t going to be what it looked like. There was no way she was going to go that easy on him over all this. He knew her well enough to know, she was going to place all the blame on him. Right down to her getting herself drunk. While he did see how most of it was his fault, he didn’t tell her to order her first Long Island Iced Tea, much less the next three she’d had before he even got to the restaurant. Not to mention the two he forgot her ordering with dinner, until now. The woman had been drinking like a fish last night. It was a wonder she could even pull herself out of bed already.

  “Well, that shower is plenty big enough for the both of us,” she answered, opening the glass door and stepping in. “And with all those shower heads, we’ll be able to stay on opposite ends of the shower,” she added with a big smile, not even having the decency to blush. He could tell by the look on her face, she knew exactly what she was doing to him. He didn’t realize she had decided to show him exactly what he would be missing if he didn’t get this mess worked out. She was hoping it would give him the proper incentive. “We won’t even have to be close enough to touch.”

  “Are you saying, you’re planning on taking a shower with me, but not letting me touch you?” he growled, already knowing the answer. He had known the answer the second he saw her in the bathroom with him. He just wished he could figure out what she was up to.

  She chuckled, stepping under one of the rain shower heads to let the water wash over her. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” She had never been ashamed of her body. She knew there were a lot of men out there that actually liked full figured women. But when she heard him groan and saw a certain part of his anatomy twitch in response to her nudity, she couldn’t deny the ego boost.

  When she grabbed a wash cloth and her shower gel and started soaping herself, he literally grunted and braced himself against the tile wall. “That’s cruel, Mary Ellen. Very cruel.”

  She turned facing him, giving him a way too innocent look. “Really? How’s that?” she asked before raising her hands to her hair and tipping her head back to let the water rinse through her hair and over her body.

  “You know darn well how that’s cruel,” he growled, taking a step in her direction.

  “Uh-uh,” she said, wagging her finger at him. “You stay on your end of the shower.”

  “Mary Ellen,” he growled so low, she was sure if she had been standing with her hand against his chest, it would have vibrated her whole body.

  “You can’t touch me until we’re actually married,” she smirked.

  “We are married,” he grumbled, ramming his hands on his hips. He knew exactly what her problem was, but he wasn’t happy about it.

  “Not from my point of view,” she snapped, slapping his hand away when he reached out like he planned to pull her into his arms. “It takes more than a government issued piece of paper and one gaudily dressed Elvis impersonator. You want to be married to me, I require a church appointed minister. And you’re going to have to actually ask me first.”

  He gave her a bright smile and stepped closer, proving how crazy she could make him sometimes. He knew full well, if he got too close right now, she could very well do him a bodily injury. Considering there wasn’t an inch of him not exposed, one would have thought he would have given it more thought before getting that close. “Mary Ellen, will you marry me?”

  She gave him a sour look and stepped back out of his reach. “Nice try, Mister, but you’re going to have to put more effort into it than that.”

  With that said, she opened the shower door and stepped out. She decided she’d take the time to actually wash her hair when she got back home. She was feeling so weak in the knees already, she knew she wouldn’t make it another second in that shower with him, without jumping on him. She’d just have to wind it up and pile it on top of her head for now.

  9:48am

  Mary Ellen gasped, turning her back to him when he came out of the bathroom naked as the day he was born, missing the smirk that crossed his face. He had figured accurately that it had taken every ounce of fortitude in her sexy little body to walk into that shower with him. However, no matter how much he enjoyed watching her blush like that, he was truly grateful she was already dressed. He wasn’t sure he could have stopped himself from throwing her down on the bed and ravishing her if she had still been naked. A man could only take so much.

  “Brock, why are you naked?” she squeaked out, putting her hands over her eyes, despite the fact she still had her back to him. “Couldn’t you have put your clothes on in the bathroom?”

  “That would have been kind of difficult,” he answered with a smirk, his arms crossed in front of him. He was waiting to see if she would make the mistake of turning back around.

  It was all he could do not to chuckle when he saw her start to turn her head. She had to have caught him out of the corner of her eye. She jerked back before he could actually see her eyes, but he did notice when her cheek got even more fiery. “Why would it have been difficult?” she choked out.

  “I was in such a wound-up state when I went in there, I forgot to grab clean clothes,” he answered, starting to get all wound-up again, despite his best efforts in the shower. She had on some kind of form hugging pants and a tank top with really thin straps. At least he thought it was a tank top. With women’s clothing, it might have some other fancier name for it. He was starting to think he liked torturing himself. He couldn’t seem to peel his eyes off her heart-shaped bottom long enough to think straight.

  “Well, you could have wrapped a towel around your waist,” she hissed. “Are you dressed yet?”

  “Oh, I need to put clothes on,” he said, finally snapping fully back to the present.

  “Brock,” she growled, rubbing her hands over her eyes. “Would you hurry up, please?”

  “Mary Ellen, it’s not like you haven’t seen me naked,” he grumbled, giving the back of her head a dirty look before moving over to dig around in his overnight bag for his clean underwear. “You were just in the shower with me.”

  “That doesn’t mean you need to wander around in the buff,” she grumbled, keeping her back to him, her arms crossed in front of her. He’d bet she had her eyes closed as well.

  “I’ve got my underwear on. You can loosen up a little, now,” he grumbled, seriously thinking about tossing her back on the bed and seeing how long it took him to peel that second skin she was obviously planning to wear as pants off. He wasn’t sure he liked those pants. He might like looking at her with them on, but he didn’t like the idea of other men looking at her with them on.

  She finally spun around to look at him, her finger in the air like she was getting ready to chew him out when there was a knock at the door. She gave the door a dirty look, then looked back at him. “Are we expecting someone?”

  “Yeah, that would be my cousin’s courier,” he grumbled. “Will you, please, go answer the door? I need to get some pants on.”

  She gave him an aggravated look before turning toward the do
or with a huff. Not bothering to look back to see if he was out of sight of the door, she flung it open, growling at the poor unsuspecting woman on the other side. “What?”

  The woman looked surprised for all of two seconds. “Hi. You must be Mary Ellen. Jacob warned me you might be a little grumpy, considering how crazy Brock’s been acting for the last year or so.”

  “Yeah, and who are you?” she snapped in return. She had already been irritable and seeing the pretty brunette with the tanned complexion didn’t help her mood at all. Now she was wishing she had been a little more cautious in opening the door. She had been expecting a man in some kind of uniform when Brock said it would be his cousin’s courier. Not a tall, thin woman in a tight sweater and even tighter jeans.

  “Michelle,” she answered with a big grin, feeling certain the pretty blonde had wanted her whole name.

  “Do you…”

  “I’ve got it, Mary Ellen,” Brock said, walking up beside her. He wasn’t sure what to make of her grumpy behavior. He was used to her being grumpy with him, but she was usually extremely polite with anyone she hadn’t met before. He wasn’t sure if he had just managed to put her in such a foul mood, or if it was something else. When he tried to step around her, she slid over in front of him, causing the woman at the door to laugh. He shook his head, looking down at her with a confused look before looking back at the brunette. “Hey, Michelle. I wasn’t expecting you. I figured he’d send one of his mid-level employees.”

  “Not with this, he didn’t,” she grinned, placing a small box wrapped in Christmas paper with a big red bow on top in the hand Brock managed to stick out around the blonde’s shoulder. “He even threatened me with dire consequences if I lost that package. There was no way he was going to trust a paid employee with it. He figured if you were willing to come all the way to Las Vegas from Missouri, I could drive from Los Angeles. He didn’t want you storming into his office because someone ran off with that thing, instead of meeting you with it.”