One Night Bride by Marika Ray
28
Esme
“Good morning, sunshine,” I whispered against Remington’s scruffy cheek.
He groaned in response, but there was a smile on his face as he lifted an arm out of the covers to pull me on top of him. His eyes popped open and his expression turned to horrified.
“Why are you already dressed?”
I loved his scratchy voice in the morning and his hair all a mess. It was a side of him that was reserved just for me. His hips thrusted up, and as tempting as it would be to slide back under the covers and get undressed again, we had things to do today.
“Not today, mister.” I thumped his chest and rolled off him to stand by the bed. “We have a date.”
He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “It’s Tuesday. Don’t you have work?”
I shook my head, sending my ponytail flying. “Nope. I took the day off because I thought I’d still be in Wyoming begging you to take me back. But I underestimated my charm. You took me back way quicker.”
He lunged out of bed like he intended to grab me. I shrieked and ran across the room, grabbing his jeans off the chair and throwing them at his chest. He caught them but let them fall to the floor.
“Put those on and I’ll make you breakfast,” I said breathlessly, clutching the doorframe.
He grinned, walking toward me slower now, letting me look my fill. The man was stark naked, and it was a sight to behold. Ranch work had carved out an Adonis. Thankfully, I had every day for the rest of my life to look at him. The ring on my finger and the license from the state of Nevada said so. I would not be swayed from my plans for the day. I’d spent all day yesterday texting people to set things up.
“Get back in bed and I’ll make you forget about breakfast,” Remington rumbled, a wild look in his eye.
I bit my lip, considering. That was a very lovely offer. One I knew he’d make good on. Very good on. Then I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the beauty of his body and those blue eyes that held so much heat I felt scorched all the way over here.
“No! You’re trying to dick-stract me and I’ve put together a fun day for us. You always put together dates for us and I want to do the same for you.”
He snickered. “What’s a dick-straction?”
“Ask Wyatt. He knows.”
When he spoke again, Remington’s voice came from right in front of me. “Are you going to close your eyes the whole time, or…?”
My eyes flew open. “I will if you don’t get dressed and put away all my fun toys.”
He smirked. “Fine. I’ll get dressed. But I have to be at your parents’ house by five, so you can only have me until then.”
I frowned. That was the first I was hearing about those plans. “But I have plans for us to be there at six.” I’d invited us over for dinner, and Mom had enthusiastically agreed. Especially when I told her the wedding planner I’d hired would be meeting us there as well.
He shrugged and put one leg into his jeans. “Then I guess I’ll see you there.”
I scoffed. “Don’t be silly. We’ll go together.”
He zipped up his jeans with a headshake. “Can’t.”
“What do you mean ‘can’t’?”
He kissed my cheek and walked out of the room. “You’re not invited to my meeting.”
My jaw dropped. He was meeting my parents without me? What the hell was going on?
“You have your secrets. I have mine,” he called from the stairs. “Are you going to come make my breakfast or what?”
The man was infuriating.
And I loved him with all my heart.
“If you’re taking me horseback riding, that’s kind of a copycat of my date,” Remington said, looking out the window as I drove in the direction of the therapy horse farm he’d taken me to.
I glanced over at him, swinging his huge truck onto the dirt road that led to the horse farm. He finally let me drive this beast, but he sure was enjoying teasing me.
“You’re full of piss and vinegar today, huh?”
He shrugged, grinning as he squeezed my thigh, where he’d kept his hand the whole time I drove. “Got my girl back, Dad’s fine about me leaving the ranch, the nonprofit is in the works. Hell yeah, I’m high as a fucking kite.”
I grinned. I loved seeing him happy. “Oh, now you’re high, huh?”
“High on life, baby. High on life.”
I laughed as I pulled into the lot for the therapy horse farm. “Anyone ever tell you you should become a life coach?”
“Nah. I’ve heard this woman, Esme Waldo, is the shit for that kind of thing.”
I nodded sagely. “She is, yes.”
I put the truck in park and relaxed now that I’d gotten us here in one piece. Remington looped his index finger in the air.
“So, you really are copying me?”
I shook my head and scoffed. “Oh ye of little faith. Get out of the truck.”
I hopped out of the huge vehicle, landing on dirt, but wearing boots this time. I was ready for the mud or anything else the horse farm threw at me. I was a rancher’s wife, after all.
“Hey, Esme!” a lady called out from the barn. She handed a small dappled horse off to someone else and walked over to us. “I’m Amy. We talked on the phone.”
I shook her hand. “Yes. Thank you so much for being available so quickly.”
She pointed to the house. “Well, the boys are just old enough to go home with someone. Your timing was perfect.”
“Boys?” Remington asked.
I grabbed his hand, laced our fingers together, and pulled him toward the house as we followed Amy. “Just wait.”
When we got to the back porch, she opened the screen door and five black and brown furballs wiggled out to us, trampling right over our feet.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. I squatted down and had a seat, letting the puppies crawl into my lap. I knew the secret as to why we were here, and I was still surprised. They were way cuter in person.
“They’re all male. Purebred Labrador retrievers. We have both parents here on the farm, so I can attest to them being from good stock,” Amy was saying.
Remington just stood there, his gaze taking in all the wiggling puppies. Then he looked at me with eyes wide with barely concealed joy. “Is this—”
I nodded, standing up while holding one of the little guys. “I know you said Ol’ Red stays with the ranch, but I thought we could get our own dog. I heard Labs are extremely loyal pets after they get over their puppy stage. You don’t have your horses or cattle anymore, but we could still have a dog.”
Remington put his hands on my face and squished my lips together, kissing me over and over until the little wriggling ball of fur in my arms managed to lick his cheek. Remington took the puppy with a whoop and holler, sitting on the wood deck to let them race all over him.
“Wow. I should take a picture of him. That would get the rest of the litter adopted in no time,” Amy said next to me, watching Remington have the time of this life with all the puppies. There was nothing like a hot guy playing with puppies to melt a woman.
I smiled, knowing what she meant. My ovaries were vibrating like they were nearing their expiration date. Amy had to go back to the horses, but said to come find her when we’d picked one out. I sat back down and joined in the fun of playing with puppies.
Remington reached over to grab my hand. “Best date ever.”
Pride filled my chest. “The hard part will be choosing just one.”
He stuck his lower lip out and I thought of Julie. How did she ever say no to him growing up? “Can’t we get all five?”
I barked out a laugh. “My house is not big enough for five grown dogs!”
He finally shrugged in agreement. “Fine. If I can only have one, it’ll be this one.” He pointed to the little brown puppy that had climbed on his lap the second he sat down, curled into a ball, and promptly fallen asleep, despite his brothers jumping all over. “I think this one needs me.”
And that right there was why I loved this man. It wasn’t about which one he liked the best. It was about which puppy needed him. I leaned over to give him a kiss, beyond grateful he was mine.
“Let’s take our new puppy home and decide on a name.”
We decided keeping Bear—named such because his paws were already huge—at home while we went to my parents would be a very bad decision. Potty training and keeping him from chewing us out of house and home would be of utmost importance. We asked Izzy to dog-sit, but she said she had somewhere to be. She wouldn’t tell me where, and that made me more than a little curious. We’d told her the night Remington and I got back together that she could still live here, but I got the sense she was still thinking of moving out to give us space.
So the three of us were pulling into the driveway of the house I’d grown up in right at five o’clock. Bear squirmed in my lap, threatening to dart out of my grasp if I turned my attention away from him for one second.
“I’ll be out when I’m done. Keep Bear company.” Remington started to get out of the truck.
“Wait! You’re serious? I can’t come in?” Bear started to chew on the ends of my hair.
Remington turned to me, deadly serious. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, honeypoo.”
“That was straight Dr. Seuss right there,” I deadpanned.
He shot me a wink and strode off, knocking on my parents’ door. They let him in and didn’t even bother waving to me in the truck. Well, that was nice.
“What in the world is going on in there?”
Bear did not answer me. He did find the strap of my purse though, and I had to rescue it from his mouth. We spent the next fifteen minutes playing a game I liked to call “catch Bear chewing something and distract him with something else he will end up chewing.” As far as game or names went, it needed a little help.
A knock on the window had me jumping. Remington smiled at me, motioning for me to get out. He pulled the door open, and I made a grab for Bear so he wouldn’t try to jump down.
“All done?” I asked.
Remington simply nodded and helped me climb down, shutting the door and walking us to the house. I gave him a side-eye at the lack of clues as to what had gone on inside, but he ignored me.
Mom opened the door, swinging it wide and acting surprised to see me. “Hey, sweet girl!”
She hugged me, giving special attention to Bear, who ended up licking her whole face before she could disentangle herself. Dad came up behind her and growled at Bear. The puppy whimpered and buried his head in my chest.
“Jeez, Dad. You’re scaring the poor puppy.”
“Nobody Frenches my wife but me,” Dad explained.
“Ew. Please stop.” I moved into the house, grimacing at the topic of conversation. Leave it to my parents to still embarrass me at twenty-four years old. I could hear Remington chuckling as he came into the living room with me.
We all sat down and Mom asked to hold Bear. I was glad for a break so I could explain why we were here.
“So. Remington. I invited us over to have dinner with my parents as the last part of our date. We’ll be having a very special guest.” I paused for dramatic effect. “A wedding planner!” I gave him jazz hands, hoping he’d find the same joy I did in planning an actual wedding for us.
He nodded, but frowned and looked down at his hands.
“What?” I said, putting my hands down lamely. “You don’t want a big wedding? That’s okay. We can keep it small.”
His head popped back up and he was grinning, obviously just teasing me. “Nah. I think we can go as big as you want. I was thinking that I got here in the nick of time.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “What do you mean?”
“I called your parents yesterday to come talk to them today at five.” He tilted his head at Dad. “I just asked for your dad’s permission to marry you.”
My heart melted even as the irony of doing everything backward hit me. I held up my hand, the one that already sported his engagement ring. “I don’t think you actually got here in the nick of time.”
“That’s what I said,” Dad muttered. Mom backhanded his arm.
Remington waved a hand through the air. “We went over all that Nevada stuff. This is for real, though. And your dad said yes.”
Mom stood from her chair and held Bear up like Mufasa in Lion King, her excitement palpable. “Let’s plan a wedding!”
Dad waved a hand at Remy. “While they do that, you and I can discuss a disturbing video of you in a Speedo I just had forwarded to me.”