A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3) (22 page)

I choose a steller rib joint for dinner, wanting something simple yet delicious, and it was a great choice. All our closest friends were there, covered in BBQ sauce, rolling their eyes at how good the food was. Lump even got it in her hair. Candace was trying to eat like a lady, but failed miserably.

I insisted that Gladis and Lady both go, telling Lady that it was to be her day off. No “yes, ma’am”, no waiting on anybody, and no holding back! She complied, but slipped up a few times where Gladis was concerned.

William wouldn’t stop touching me or looking at me with soft, warm eyes. He would lean over and kiss me randomly, tell me he loved me, and was just overall mushy. What was weirder, no one complained. Not even Lump. There wasn’t
one
eye roll!

It had to be tonight. It had to be!

I’d thought dinner would be the time, but it came and went without a proposal. Instead, we left the restaurant and headed to the bar for drinks. Gladis and Lady would be going home, but everyone else was on board. I wondered if he wanted to give me a great night, then do it at home. Maybe in the hot tub!

“Wait, Jess.” William held me back as we got out of the car at the bar, allowing everyone else to walk ahead.

He took my hand in his, looking down into my eyes.

This is it! He’s going to get on one knee?

He was looking at me expectantly. He said, “Is there something wrong, Jess?”

“Huh? Oh no! Of course not, no! I was just lost in my own world is all.” I smiled to reassure him.

He kissed me deeply, tasting of BBQ and spice. I fell into him, craving his body, relishing in his love.

“I just wanted a quiet moment to tell you happy birthday. And that I love you,” he said softly.

Still half thinking this was it, I allowed him to lead me to the bar. As he opened the door for me I had a moment of confusion. It was really dark in there. As if it was closed. It knocked me out of my own world for a second, straining to see in front of me.

All of a sudden a surge of light blasted me. I felt like I was back in my cottage with a growling Fred and someone outside. I jumped back and clutched William, blinking in the glare.

“Baby—are you okay? What’s wrong?” William asked me worriedly.

“SURPRISE!” came a chorus of non-burglars.

“Oh holy fuck." I clutched my chest, worrying about a heart-attack.

A crowd of people waving, laughing, pointing, and throwing streamer assaulted me.

I released William’s sweater. “Sorry. Surprised me.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. For a second there I thought I was in the cottage—“ I laughed shakily.

William looked like he swallowed a slug.

“Sorry, baby,” I reassuring him. “It was just Fred teamed with sudden light.” I laughed again, more confident.

William, still analyzing me, relaxed a little and nodded. “Happy birthday. I love you!”

A surprise party. It all made sense, now. He probably got the idea at that bull riding thing. It was why no one brought it up. It was why Candace didn’t know anything—she was terrible with secrets—and why Lump wasn’t concerned.

“I’m an idiot,” I said to nobody.

“What was that?” William asked, leading me past jeering and laughing people to a booth.

“Nothing” I shook my head as we passed a table with a mountain of presents on it.

I barely knew most of these people, but yet they must have brought presents. I was actually kind of curious what strangers thought I might want. There were probably a lot of bath items in there.

I got hugs from all my close friends. I had a champagne in my hand before I knew what was happening, and everyone was congratulating me. It was insane!

It was nearing the end of the night. All my close friends were sitting together at a table, having a calm drink away from the mayhem in the bar.

I was slightly drunk, but not as drunk as I thought I might be. William seemed fairly sober, which I thought odd, but then he was probably going to drive, and was also still healing, so I didn’t say anything.

“Do you want to open a few presents?” William asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Butterflies swarmed again. I had given up on a proposal since I thought the party was what everyone was hiding. But that look in his eye—that expectant, soft, mushy look—had me filling with anticipation again.

I shrugged nonchalantly. He smiled knowingly and a few presents were brought over.

The first was from Ty and Candace. I opened it to reveal a red, lace, see-through teddy.

“Cute Ty,” I said with a grin. He started laughing and hugged Candace in his mirth.

“Your
real
present is still on the table. That was Ty’s idea,” Candace said with an eye-roll, swatting Ty away.

The next was from Lump and Adam. It was a white, lace bra and panty set.

I just shook my head. “What a bunch of dopes!”

“You’re not even gonna say thank you? What a bitch!” Lump chortled.

William then gave me his gift, which was a ring sized box from his jeweler! I almost crapped my pants!

Taking two deep breaths, I opened it slowly, a smile creeping up my face, excitement filling my limbs. I could see him watching me closely out of the corner of my eye.

As the lid cleared, a beautiful pair of diamond earrings sparkled at me.

It wasn’t a ring. He wasn’t proposing.

My expectation fell, but I boosted my smile to compensate. They were beautiful. They weren’t what I really wanted, but given all my refusals thus far, William probably was afraid of a rejection in front of all his friends.

Letting the last of my disappointment fall away, I smiled big and gave William a hug, thanking him for their beauty, and because they weren’t underwear.

He kissed me tenderly and said, “I think you’ll have plenty of lacy things after tonight.”

“Willie probably wants to help you open yer gifts!” Adam boomed.

I noticed Lump looking at me closely. I had my disappointment locked down tight, though. I was in a sublimely happy mood and everything was perfect. The party, my friends—everything was perfect. I felt truly loved by this group of people.

The rest of the night passed in fun, but I couldn’t get the question out of my head: Is he ever going to propose? Or bring it up? Does he still want to marry me?

We left for San Francisco on a Friday night four months later. William had recovered perfectly, and was a stress ball trying to get his life under control. He gave up his father’s dream of being the C.E.O. of the family company. The company was growing so fast that that job would be more than a full time job. William just didn’t have the time or the inclination.

Luckily, William’s accident had sent shock waves through the family, bringing everyone closer together. Also bringing change in its wake. His brother, of all people, decided to move home and take up the family mantle. He would take over for his father, letting William be on the Board of Directors, helping his sister, who was Chair, watch their brother’s moves. Apparently Tom Jr. could be sneaky when he wanted to, and while it would be great for the prosperity of the company, it usually wasn’t ethical.

A manager was brought in for the bull riding arena. Land was procured and a new arena built off of the ranch. It was large and state of the art. Riders would pay for the privilege to ride William’s bulls, and it would be rented out some weekends for small rodeos. When we left for San Francisco it was newly finished, and there was already a long wait list to ride.

All the old regulars were able to side-step the list, of course. Or they could continue to go to the Davies ranch for the smaller bulls, which was perfect for the little cowboys.

William kept his breeding and ranch going himself. He just couldn’t give those up since he built it from the ground up, paying special attention to our co-owned bull, which was growing up to be giant and mean. Adam was thrilled to get his stud fees, and thanked me constantly for asking him to help me out. Apparently it was a fine bull. I didn’t know, or care because the little bugger still, undoubtedly, hated me. It might be peaceful with the boys all day, but if I showed up, it was stamping and huffing and following me with its beady eyes.

The boys, aside from laughing, taunting me constantly, saying “Look out, Jess! The bulls getting out!”

Even though I stopped falling for that old rouse after the first two yells, I still always turned to look just in case. That mean little sucker was plotting revenge on some long lost grievance, and it would like nothing better than to trample me. I knew this. I could see it in that evil stare!

Something of a shock was how close I had gotten to William’s brother, Thomas. He was trying to get a handle on the company and didn’t want to ask the people that reported directly to him. Apparently he didn’t think they were all that bright or competent. Instead of just saying that, though, which would have had Tom arguing for them, he just asked my advice. Constantly. It didn’t matter that I was in over my head, or that it was beyond my education level, he’d ask me anyway.

Most the time I tried to figure out the answer, but occasionally I just got pissed off and I told him I was too stupid to answer his question. He then got mad and told me I wasn’t too stupid at all, just too lazy. That of course would prompt me to figure out the answer through research, or being sneaky, and get back to him with a snotty attitude.

He was just as bull-headed and stubborn as I was, so we pushed each other incessantly to do better, constantly tormenting the other. We fought as often as we got along, and consequently I rarely got the fake Thomas charm anymore, which I was thankful for. Although, I often got the Thomas bitchiness, which he was
also
known for, but only amongst family. I didn’t love that so much.

I now saw why William could deal with me. He grew up with a person just like me constantly picking on him.

I had heard no word of a proposal. Not one. I hinted a few times about it, nearly asking if he was ready to get married or what? But refrained. It was slightly embarrassing to demand to know why someone didn’t want to marry you anymore. I figured I’d wait until after we both slowed down a little, then start hinting more obviously. With Thomas on my case, and William trying to sort out his life, there was barely enough room for lovemaking, let alone rings and parties and planning a wedding. We were barely getting away for the San Francisco trip, and
that
I wasn’t going to let go. I also wasn’t letting Thomas know anything about it, because I caught him trying to cancel my flight one day to keep me in Texas!

Talk about ethical issues.

We finally arrived, no thanks to Thomas flaking out on taking us to the airport, into the cool fog of the San Francisco evening. It had been a long week and by the time we got to the hotel all I felt like doing was relaxing. I had done most of the planning for the trip, based on the fact that I knew William would go overboard, so we didn’t have anything planned for tonight.

The room was a mini-suit, which I now saw was the size of an average room in Texas, but three times more expensive. Apparently
go big or go home
was not the philosophy in this neck of the woods. Although, where quality and stateliness was concerned, we were definitely getting what we paid for!

We put our stuff away and settled on the couch.

“So...” William put his arm around me.

Sometime in the last four months, as he was taking care of all the facets of his busy life that made him
him,
he’d gone back to his old self. He was confident in himself, moving through a room with purpose, drawing eyes like honey drew bears. He was suave and debonair, he was gentle and tender, he was rugged and masculine. He was my William, and I had never loved him more. Our relationship was never better. If our life never changed from this moment, it would be more than I’d ever hoped for.

“So,” I answered, leaning my head against his shoulder.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t really care. You?”

“Room service and nudity?”

“Sounds good to me,” my lips curved into a lazy smile. “Room service first, though.”

“I was thinking nudity, actually.”

“That might cause a ruckus when we answer the door for room service.”

“Robes, darling. There are robes for that. Is this your first time in a hotel?”

I slugged him, then let him lay me back onto the couch. He kissed down my neck, removing fabric as it got in his way. I worked the buttons on his shirt, then his pants, taking his hard length firmly into my hand.

He used his incredible strength to turn me so I was kneeing, holding onto the arm of the couch. He was behind me in a second, opening my folds with the head of his cock. He eased himself in slowly, putting his arms on each side of mine.

He kissed my back delicately as he slowly pulled himself out. That act seemed to take all his willpower, because he then thrust himself forcefully, fully sheathing himself. Grabbing onto my shoulders with his hands, he started to pummel, slapping against my body.

I clutched onto the couch, moaning. Taking his thrusts, hard and firm, until I was panting in delight.

“Oh Jess,” he said with release, just a little too soon.

My body backed down, not getting the height to send me over the edge. It wasn’t the first time, as was usual for women, but since he got me there more often than not, I never complained, like now. Plus, it still felt amazing.

The problem was, this time he’d noticed.

“Too fast?” he asked, sitting down behind me and pulling me across him.

“No. It’s not you, it’s me.” I smirked.

“Shall I finish you off?”

“Too much effort.”

“Sleep, then, is what you need. Sleep until late tomorrow morning, then the boat cruise in the evening. Will that cure you?” I could tell he was a little worried I would be like this the whole trip.

“Sleep will be plenty. I need to get relaxed and get in vacation mode. Then I’ll be right as rain. I’m just drained. Your brother’s been hounding me non-stop to help him, and I still have a mountain of my own work. Eh, just on and on.”