One Night Bride by Marika Ray
14
Esme
I’d never been so confused in my entire life. I was born the type of girl who knew what she wanted and went after it with a tenacity that would make CEOs quake in their high-end loafers. Watching my father lead this town as I grew up had made an impression on me. People wanted leaders to help them along their own paths. Leaders should only be in that position because they gave more back than they took. My motto with my coaching business was always to give far more value than the dollars my clients gave me.
And yet, I’d never considered what the addition of a man to the equation would give not only me, but also my clients.
Until Remington showed up as some kind of stripper entertainment at my retreat.
Pretty sure there was steam coming out my ears when he sauntered down those stairs without a shirt on. Pretty sure if I’d had a chance in that moment, I would have wrapped my hands around his beefy neck and tried to choke him until he begged me for mercy. I wasn’t a violent person by nature, but that boy pushed all my buttons. On purpose, usually.
But then I’d watched him as he milled about the room, charming the socks off all the ladies I’d grown up with in this town. He’d avoided being groped by Poppy, which was no easy feat. He’d petted Yedda’s cat, who wouldn’t normally let anyone touch her. He’d even gotten Mrs. Trudowsky to dance with him when she said her feet were too tired to participate in our group exercise. Which, by the way, if you’ve never physically shaken off your troubles when you played that Taylor Swift song, I don’t know if you’ve truly lived.
And holy fuck nuts, the guy was hot. He was all muscles, and tan skin, and that charming aw-shucks grin the ladies ate right up. And then those eyes would swing my way and it was like he saw right through me. Right to the part of me that wondered who I’d be if I didn’t have my business. And that scared me. He could ask me to give it all up for him, and I just might do it.
“So, Remington,” Poppy began, having settled down when she realized he’d keep outrunning her grabby hands all night. “I can imagine you run a highly successful catering business based on your work here tonight. What insights do you have for us on starting a non-traditional business?”
Remington cleared his throat and glanced over at me. Oh, no, buddy. I wouldn’t help him out. He’d gotten himself into this mess, he could get himself out.
“Well, I think the most important part is listening to what your heart is telling you. If you’re going to be putting all your time and energy and money into building a business, it should be something you passionately care about. Because if you don’t, what’s the point? So you have money in the bank, but you wake up hating life every day? No, thanks.” He gestured back to me at the front of the room. “Which is why Esme had you do that exercise at the beginning, where you tap into what your dreams are.”
All heads swiveled back in my direction. I shot him the first genuine smile I’d sent his direction tonight. That was a classy move, shifting the conversation back to my coaching. Classy for a guy who currently had whipped cream smeared across his bare chest.
I clapped my hands together. Time to end the evening.
“Okay, that’s it for tonight. I appreciate you giving up your evening to talk about these things. I’d like you to write down your dreams on paper this week, spending quiet time with each of them to see if one speaks to you in a big way. We can piggyback on those dreams next week and talk about how to put those dreams into tangible action.”
The ladies all thanked me for the evening and talked amongst themselves as they gathered their things. Most spent just as much time thanking Remington for the evening as me, which smarted my pride yet also made me curious. Maybe something was missing in my coaching and I hadn’t even realized it.
Poppy was the last to leave, and she only left then because Yedda and Polly dragged her out by the arms. Remington gave her a wink as her friends manhandled her down the driveway which seemed to satisfy her. Izzy gave me a hug and headed upstairs as she had to work early tomorrow. The second Remington shut the door, and we were all alone, he spun around and put his hands up.
“Okay, listen. I didn’t mean to hijack your retreat. I laughed, because, come on. Those ladies are crazy, and they heard—”
I shushed him by putting my finger across his lips. His eyes widened at the intimate touch. “It’s okay. I get it. You had to do something and your plan, as insane as it was, worked brilliantly. Thank you.”
I spun away to grab a trash bag from under the kitchen sink. We had a mess to clean up. Remington followed me, taking the bag out of my hands and following me around as I picked up leftover cups and plates.
“Really? That’s it? You’re not mad?”
I threw a handful of dirty napkins into the bag he held for me. “No, I’m not mad. I mean, at first I was. I made a mental list of at least five ways I wanted to kill you just with the things I had available in the living room. But no, I’m not mad any longer.”
He put a hand on his bare chest and I couldn’t help the extra second my eyes took to stare at his muscles before focusing on cleaning up again.
“I feel like I should still say I’m sorry a few more times. Like maybe your ‘I’m not mad’ is girl code for ‘it’s fine,’ which we all know means the opposite.”
I tried to hold back the smile, but couldn’t. He really was charming. The asshole.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He threw a half-eaten dessert in the trash and eyed me wearily. “Sure…”
“Why do you want out of the ranch so badly? Why do you want to run this nonprofit instead?” I felt like maybe if I understood his line of thinking, I could more readily agree to try this dating thing for real.
Remington set down the trash bag and went to work on picking up the pillows scattered all over the floor. “I love the family ranch, I really do. But I don’t feel like it challenges me anymore. It’s great physical work, but I also want to challenge my brain. And I guess I just feel like there’s more I could be doing to help the world in general, rather than just give them good steak to eat, you know?”
I cringed, thinking of those poor cows I’d seen on his ranch ending up on someone’s dinner plate.
“Don’t go city girl on me,” he said, teasing me.
I threw a pillow at him and it hit him square in the chest. He grinned and kept picking up.
“So, what’s your nonprofit all about?”
His face changed as he thought about it. His eyes glowed, and he talked with a passion I recognized. “I want to help boys that don’t have a father. Killam needed someone to show him how to be a man, and I was lucky enough to fill that role for him. But I know there’s plenty of other little boys out there that need that too. They need more than just a teacher to show them how to live.”
“What kinds of things would you do?”
Remington mashed a pillow in his hands, excitement jumping off his skin. “All those little things that slip through the cracks. Like how to fish. How to tie a damn necktie for an interview. How to change a tire. And all the intangible things too, like how to argue respectfully and how to ask for what you want. How to be an honorable man who gives something to society, rather than takes.”
I’d long stopped cleaning up, just stood there watching him speak about something that obviously came from his heart. He was a handsome man, hot enough I’d jumped him in a public bathroom just a few minutes after meeting him, but tonight, when he talked about his business idea while helping me clean up, that’s when I fell for him. The man behind all the muscles and the blue eyes brighter than the summer sky.
“Remington?” I walked toward him, reaching out to pull the pillow from his hands and toss it on the floor.
“Yeah?” He looked at me like he’d forgotten I was in the room.
I reached up and laid my palm against the back of his neck, tugging gently as I went up on my tiptoes. His eyes widened right before mine slid shut and our lips connected. He froze, but I didn’t care that I’d surprised the hell out of him. I had to kiss him. Had to taste those lips that spoke so passionately about helping others.
In the next second, his arms wrapped around me and he tilted his head to get better access. He lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, our lips still fused together. He started walking to the couch, but I had a better idea.
I broke away from the kiss and tried to catch my breath to speak. “My bedroom. Now.”
He didn’t ask me to repeat myself. Somehow, he got us up the stairs with my legs still wrapped around him tight and teasing those lips. When the bedroom door shut behind us, I didn’t know if I could get these clothes off fast enough. All I wanted was him. In me. Over me. Surrounding me.
I was finally ready to admit I wanted more.
More Remington.
More us.