Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The Ranch
“You’ve got sex hair,” Wyn said the next morning when I opened the door to my bedroom.
I stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind me, and then hastily ran my hand through my locks.
“Not gonna help,” Poet said with a cheeky grin. “You must’ve had a good night. You never did make it back to the reception.”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” I said. “But if I did, I’d tell you Cas and I spent the night in the barn loft and snuck in around four in the morning.”
Wyn smirked. “So proud of you, girl.”
“Why are you guys here so early?” I asked, running a hand down my face.
“It’s nine a.m.,” Poet said.
“Is it?” I asked. “Wow.”
“We called Hadley, but she’s not answering her phone. We were going to knock on the cabin door, but last night was her wedding night. So it feels kind of weird to be interrupting their honeymoon,” Wyn said.
“Can you call it a honeymoon if they don’t go anywhere?” Poet asked. “Not even to The Regal Beagle for sparkling water and strawberries?”
“I kind of understand why they didn’t go on an actual honeymoon,” Wyn said.
“You guys have been up for hours,” I said. “I’m a little slow today. So give me a minute.”
“Oh, a minute to puke up your guts?” Poet asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m still mad at you for not telling me.”
“Meet us at the fire circle,” Wyn said. “We’re going to get Hadley.”
Nodding, I went back into my room and closed the door.
“Come back to bed,” Cas commanded.
“I didn’t know you were awake. My friends are demanding a meeting at the fire circle.”
I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth. While I was slathering my brush with toothpaste, Cas appeared and hovered in the doorway.
I met his gaze in the mirror.
“Yes?” I asked.
He came up behind me and slid his hand into my pajama pants. I wasn’t wearing panties.
“Salem,” he growled.
“Didn’t you get enough last night?” I asked. “And early this morning?”
“No.”
He brushed his lips along my neck and I dropped my toothbrush into the sink.
I leaned back into him. “We can’t, Cas. Not here.”
“Yes, here. It’s not the middle of the night. The house is probably empty.”
He removed his hand from my underwear, and then turned on the shower.
“That should mute the sounds you make. But for all that is holy, try to be quiet.”
His tone was husky as he went back to stroking me until I was wet and ready for him.
He shoved the sweats down my legs and did the same with his boxers. Cas gently pressed his hand to my lower back, silently urging me to bend over.
I spread my legs.
“God, I’ll never get tired of this view.”
His crown teased my entrance.
“I’ll never get tired of watching you take my cock,” he said, his voice pitched low.
He fed me inch by inch until he filled me completely. I hissed at the soreness between my legs, but that didn’t stop him.
With one hand, he held my hip. With the other, he slid his fingers between my thighs.
“So fucking wet. So fucking greedy.”
I stifled my cry of pleasure as I gripped the old counter.
My body was so sensitive, so primed. It took only a few deep thrusts and the stroking of his fingers before I clenched around him.
He bit my shoulder and growled out his release.
“Shower,” he said as he pulled out.
“Not with you,” I said, recovering my breath. “If I get in there with you, you’ll never let me leave.”
“Now you’re getting it.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me to him. All I wanted to do was curl up with him and go back to sleep. Which was the danger of Cas.
I forced myself out of his arms.
He adjusted the temperature. “Fine. I’ll let you shower alone. But don’t make a habit out of it, yeah?”
“I won’t.” I kissed his lips, and then stepped into the shower. I closed the shower curtain and immediately grabbed the bar of soap. “You’re still in here.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Fantasizing about you wet and naked, and hoping you’ll change your mind.”
“If you can promise me you’ll keep your hands to yourself, you can come in.”
“Can’t promise that, so I’ll stay out here.”
When he still didn’t leave, I sighed. “What’s on your mind?”
“How did Amber find out about us?”
“I don’t know. Does it really matter at this point? The cat’s out of the bag.”
“And the bun is in the oven.”
“Clever.” I snorted. “You gonna talk to Declan today?”
“No.”
“Oh good. We’re taking the mature route.”
I turned off the water and stuck my hand out of the shower. A moment later, my fingers grasped a clean towel.
“You’re fast,” he said when I pulled back the shower curtain.
I smirked. “In more ways than one.”
He kissed me and wrapped his arms around me, towel and all.
“Get out of here, woman. Stop tempting me.”
Ten minutes later, phone in hand, I headed downstairs. The den was quiet. I put on a fresh pot of coffee and had just poured a cup when my sister and friends arrived.
“Gimme,” Hadley said, reaching for my cup.
“Long night of honeymooning?” I teased.
“Hmm.” She took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes for a moment. “Yep.”
I handed Wyn and Poet two coffee mugs, and then grabbed another for myself.
“By the looks of it,” Hadley said, raking me from head to toe, “my wedding night was lucky for you, too.”
“Am I wearing it like a badge?” I demanded.
“A scarlet badge of honor,” Wyn said.
The four of us took our coffee mugs out to the fire circle.
“So, I call this meeting to order,” Poet said as she sat down.
“And normally, we would’ve let you both sleep, but there’s something that needs attention,” Wyn said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Wyn looked at Poet. “You tell them. You’re gentle.”
Poet nodded. “Wyn and I went into town this morning for breakfast.”
“Oh no,” I murmured.
“Yeah, everyone was talking about the wedding,” Wyn said.
The two of them fell silent.
“And?” I prodded. “Go on. There’s more. There’s always more.”
“And the news of both Powell sisters being pregnant,” Wynn added. “And the drama of how it all came out.”
They went silent again.
“The rest of it,” Hadley demanded.
Poet cleared her throat. “It’s on the front page of the Huckleberry Hill Crier.”
“With photos,” Wyn added. “Of Declan’s hand pulled back ready to hit Bowman, Hadley’s stricken look, and Salem’s gobsmacked expression.”
“That’s not that bad,” Hadley said, her gaze darting to mine. “Not nearly as bad as Salem being on the front page for the bar fight with Amber.”
“Thank you for that.” I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “How is that possible, though? Amber left the party. It’s not like she was able to take candid photos of the drama going down. Not when she was involved in it.”
“The wedding photographer from the paper,” Hadley murmured. “Who came with Amber.”
“No. It can’t be. They signed an NDA, right?” I asked Hadley. “You had them sign an NDA so they couldn’t share their photos without your approval, right?”
Hadley shook her head. “No. Why would I have done that? They literally came to do a story on the wedding and us. I didn’t intend for it to turn into a saga.”
Poet sighed. “There’s more.”
“More?” Hadley demanded. “How much more?”
Poet winced at Hadley’s tone. “It’s all over social media.
The town paper’s social media account posted a video of the—er—baby daddy reveal.
And then they tagged Sweet Teeth because Gracie made the cake.
And because Sweet Teeth went viral not that long ago, they had a bunch of new eyeballs on their page . . .”
Hadley pulled out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen. I watched her face fall.
“What?” I asked, dread curling inside me.
“Our family’s dirty laundry is all over the front lawn and being set on fire,” she intoned, holding the phone out to show me.
I grimaced.
“How bad is it?” Wyn demanded. “It was at two hundred and fifty thousand views when we knocked on the cabin door.”
“It’s at a million views now,” Hadley said, swallowing. “And in the comments, people are tagging Bowman’s sponsors’ accounts.”
The back door to the house opened and Cas stepped out onto the deck. “Sorry to interrupt girl time. But I need to talk to Salem.”
Nodding, I hurried toward him.
We went inside the house and closed the door to give us privacy. He raked a hand through his hair. “My manager just called me.”
“Oh.” I nibbled my lip. “What about?”
“Seems you and I are both kind of famous now,” he said.
I winced. “That’s what Poet and Wyn wanted to talk to us about. The news is all over town, and in the town paper, and on social media.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I know. I’ve been tagged I don’t even know how many times.”
His phone rang and he fished it out of his jeans pocket. “It’s my manager. I’ve got to take this.”
Nodding, I turned to leave and give him privacy, but his fingers clasped around my wrist to stop me from leaving.
“Hey, Danny,” he said into the phone. “What’s up?” He listened, his expression braced for bad news. “Oh? Oh, really? You’re shitting me. Okay, yeah. Thanks.”
He hung up and lowered his hand, still clutching his cell phone.
“Bad?” I whispered.
“The owner of Cowboy Coffee saw the video.”
“Cas,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
He frowned in confusion, and then he cracked a smile. And then he began to laugh.
“What?” I demanded. “The implosion of your life because I have an archnemesis is funny?”
“No,” he said, his laughter quieting. He cradled my cheek in one hand. “He saw the video and he loves the fact that I’m now a family man with a woman and a baby on the way.”
I blinked. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
I let out a deep breath. “So, you’re not in trouble?”
“I’m not in trouble,” he said.
My phone rang and I glanced down at the screen at my boss’s name.
“Yikes,” I murmured.
“What?” Cas asked.
“I might be in trouble.”
“Won’t know until you answer.”
With a deep breath, I pressed the screen and put the phone to my ear. “Jack. Hi.”
“Salem Powell,” my boss greeted with a chuckle. “I’ve been talking about you all morning.”
“Oh?” I asked, my eyes shooting worry at Cas.
He took my other hand and linked his fingers through mine, lending me his support.
“Rudolph Lancaster demanded a meeting. They just left the office.”
My heart beat in my ears as I waited for Jack to deliver the final blow to my career.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were dating a professional bull rider?” Jack demanded. “I had to find out from them.”
“Oh, well,” I stammered. “It’s new.”
“They want you both in their campaign.”
“What’s that now?”
“They want you and your bull rider as the faces of their campaign. A rancher’s daughter and a professional bull rider fall in love? What could possibly be more authentic than that?”
The blood rushed from my head, leaving me dizzy. Cas immediately guided me to a kitchen chair, and then knelt in front of me.
“They’re offering you both a decent paycheck. I mean, it’ll probably seem like chump change compared to what Bowman makes on the circuit. But there you have it. Oh, and congrats on the baby.”
When I didn’t reply, Jack pressed, “Salem? You still there?”
“Still here,” I croaked. “And trying not to pass out from shock. You mean I’m not fired?”
Jack laughed. “Fired? Kiddo, you may have just jump-started a whole new direction in your career.”