*Jessie’s POV*
“Cam, I thought I told you to leave me alone.” I frowned, ignoring the fluttering in my gut. My mind and heart was still mighty angry at him, though my body seemed to disagree with me.
“I thought I told you I’m not giving up on us.” He retorted, shoving the flower bouquet into my hands. I scowled at his attempt to reconcile, and cast my eye downward from admiring his handsome self.
I focused hard on the flowers, impressed with the exotic ones he had chosen. I wasn’t a florist but I recognised the Dutch amaryllis flowers, which were orangey red.
“What is that one called?” I pointed to the whitish pink flower, which appeared to lie out in the bouquet. “Oriental lilies.” He answered; reaching up to touch its soft petals. His hand met my mine and I felt myself warm to the touch.
“Cam. . . . I don’t—” he cut me off, a sad look in his eyes. “Jessie, please. I’m begging you, come back home with me.”
I swallowed hard, willing myself to not say yes, no matter how much I wanted to. No matter how happy that would make me.
“I don’t trust you anymore, Cam.” I said quietly, not meeting his eyes. It was a small lie of course, I did trust him but the hurt overpowered that. The bouquet in my hands felt damp, as if the flowers were crying.
“Now hold on a second, darlin’.” The anger in his voice poured out, I lifted my head and stared at the man I was still horribly in love with.
“You lied to me; if you had been honest with yourself then none of this would have happened. You are not the only one that has been wronged.”
No I was not, but I could never have opened up to him about what I had suffered through my years. Cam had a point, but I wasn’t going to admit that to him.
“I need to get ready for work.” I said icily, stepping back into my rented home. Of course he’d follow me in, barely budging from the hard shoves I pushed at him.
“Aw hell no, you don’t get to walk away.” He angrily said, grabbing my arm. I yelped and tried to shrug free from his vice grip. “You do not get to walk away from me, again.” He added tersely.
“Don’t hit me!” I screamed; paling from the sudden flash of a slap across my face surged through my mind. I waited for the hit, waited for the stinging touch.
It never came
I opened my eyes slowly, to find a shocked Cam staring down at me. “I would never hurt you.” He promised me seriously, taken aback from my reaction. Too late, I thought.
Releasing my arm, I gritted my teeth at how vulnerable I’d been.
“Jessie we need to talk about this—” I glanced at him tearfully. “Please, just leave me alone. Forget about me, Cam. Do anything, but stop coming back for me.”
“No.”
“Why not?!” I screamed at him. The last of my control I had been struggling to maintain had snapped. “Why did you follow me across the states? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?! Why couldn’t you just forget about me?!” I pushed at his chest; he barely stumbled but was shocked at my outburst.
“Because I love you!”
During my tirade, he had flushed a dark red and grabbed both my hands and shook me, not violently, but it seemed like he wanted to shake some sense into me.
“Why is it so hard to believe?! I. Love. You.”
“You can’t love me! I ruin everything I touch.” I cried, the bastardy tears in my eyes betrayed me and slid down my face.
“Who the hell said that to you?!” he gritted his teeth and tightened his hands.
“Who do you think?” I asked bitterly, shaking my hands free from his warm hands. I wiped at my face, no longer seeing clearly.
“Those bastards that hit you, you listened to them?” he’d somehow brought me into his arms as I struggled to keep myself together.
“They said it was my fault, each time I was beaten they would say it was my fault. That I should remain quiet and do as they say like a woman should.”
My shoulders shook as I trembled into his arms. “Cam it hurt. I tried so hard to be their perfect sister but I couldn’t.” Cam settled me into one of the couches and walked into the kitchen. A moment later he came back with a glass of water in his hands.
“What would happen?” he asked roughly, handing me the glass.
“I-I would always argue back, if I cried then I would get a more brutal beating. They’re animals,” I looked into his eyes, mouth trembling. “No one could help me, Cam. Not even my parents.”
“I don’t get why your parents couldn’t have stopped those evil bastards.” Grabbing my hand, he rubbed soothing circles onto them.
“My parents were old, too frail to stand up to them. They’d shout and try to get them to stop, but what else could they have done?”
“They should have had them arrested for what they did to you.” he gritted his teeth, a vein stuck out on his neck, throbbing wildly.
“Six months before my birthday, my older brother Luke had thrown me down the stairs.” Shaking, I added “I almost died.”
“Bastard, fucking bastard.” He cussed out a few more words I wouldn’t dare to repeat. His eyes refocused and he continued.
“Jessie, I would never even think of hurting you, or any other woman. It’s fucking disgusting, and a special spot in hell is kept for those woman beaters.” Pulling me into his arms, I finally let go.
I realized why I couldn’t forgive Cam for the past month and a half he was here with me in Wisconsin. Some part of me believed all men were like my brother, especially Cam. My epiphany was long overdue.
Those blue eyes I had fallen for were tenderly looking at me.
How could I have ever thought Cam was like them when all he did was protect me?
Here in Cam’s arms, I felt like I was at home. I was too caught up in a lie, trying to escape from a home of hatred that I never noticed how . . . it felt to be in his arms, in the ranch.
“I want to go home.” I said faintly, longing for the stables. I had longed for the town and family that had welcomed me as if I were one of their own. Cam frowned suddenly, pouting his lips a bit in thought.
“There’s something I haven’t done yet.” He said to himself. I looked at him a bit weirdly, wasn’t he happy I was going back with him? “What is it?”
Bending down on one knee in front of me, Cam grinned. He looked nervous as he pulled out a royal blue box out of his pocket. One glance and I almost peed myself.
“Jessie, in all of my years I’ve made a lot of mistakes. The worst mistake I ever made was letting you go. So I want to make sure, as long as I make mistakes. I want you to be right next to me when it happens.” He smiled slowly at me when I started to cry in joy.
Opening the small box, a gorgeous engagement ring was nestled right in the centre; the ring had a dark blue sapphire in the middle as small diamonds were embedded around the sapphire.
I choked a bit, lord that ring look too fancy for me. It looked really expensive as well, and I worried about how much he would have spent on the ring. I would have been just as happy with no ring, to be honest.
“Will you marry me?”
“Hell yes! I mean, yes.” I bounded into his arms, a euphoric feeling through me. Cam let out a joyful shout and spun me around in his strong arms. Cam would repeat “I love you darlin!” into my ear as we held onto each other, well clutched at each other.
He broke away from me and reopened the box, setting me back down on the ground. I bit my lip as he slid the engagement ring on my ring finger. It felt cold, but I felt so warm and happy on the inside.
“Pack up your things, darlin’. We’re going home.” Bending down, he pressed a kiss that sent me into frenzy.
*A Month later*
So many things to do and not enough time to do it in! I never thought planning a wedding would be this chaotic. Goodness, there were so many decisions on the smallest of things.
Oh, in case anyone was wondering, Cam and I decided not to have a long engagement. The wedding would be in another month, on February 7th. Sounds too fast I know, but believe me my head hadn’t stopped spinning since I first saw him.
“Alright, now what kind of floral designs do you want on the invitations?” The wedding planner, Jasmine Bleak asked me. I blew out a frustrated breath and looked down at all the samples along with Cam. He looked equally as tired as I was.
“I don’t know, Cam what do you think?” I asked him, holding back a smile. He pursed his lips and grabbed two samples. “I can’t make my mind up.” We looked down at them together, as if we were deciding which invitation would live or die. “The spring red would look fabulous.” Jasmine suggested, pointing to the one in Cam’s left hand. “Then we’ll have that design.” Cam looked to me and shrugged.
I held in a giggle, poor Cam was absolutely dying on the inside. “Now, we need to order the cake. So tomorrow, we’ll be going down and sampling each wedding cake option for y’all at Windsor’s Bakery.”
Cam blew out a frustrated breath and stood up, bending slightly down as he held his Stetson in his hands. “I’ll see you later, darlin’.” Kissing my cheek, he tipped his hat on and quickly walked out of Jasmine’s office.
I laughed at shook my head; Jasmine was trying to stifle a giggle. “Don’t worry, all fiancé’s are like this.”
We continued talking for another hour about the wedding plans, what bouquets I wanted for the bridesmaids, flowers I wanted, where the wedding would be held, on and on until I started to build a migraine.
“Alright, I think we got enough covered Jessie.” I rose up and shook her hand, then escorted myself out. As I walked past the cream carpeted, white walls and orange decorated building, I grabbed my phone and called Susanne to pick me up.
“So, you ready to look for your wedding dress?” Susanne asked me as we set off to the ranch to pick up Mary. “I’m definitely nervous; I mean the wedding is in a month!”
“But you have most of the things down, right?”
“Yep, all that’s left are the bridesmaid’s dresses, my bridal dress and the wedding cake.”
“Then calm down!” she laughed, “You got me and ma to help, also Lucinda is being a good sport.”
“Yeah, I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids.”
“Ah, and who’s the maid of honour?”
“You, of course.”
Susanne squealed in excitement and hugged me round the shoulders as we set foot on the ranch. We hugged each other properly and began discussing what colours would be good for the bridesmaid’s dressed.
I was too busy looking at Susanne and my feet as I talked, when I felt my oxygen cut off. I was in a giant bear hug from Marcus and I started wheezing. “Let go! You can’t kill the bride to be yet!” Susanne thumped against his back and I was relieved to be breathing again.
“Hey, we’re going to have an official new sister in our family. So sue me if I hadn’t seen Jessie for a few days and got excited.” He snapped at her, though there was no anger or defence in his tone.
I sighed, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I was just caught up in the whole planning.” He shook his head at my worry. “We just missed Suanne and you after all.”
Susanne and Mary were with me discussing the wedding plans when Cam was unfortunately too busy.
Mary finally came down the stairs and grabbed her purse from the table as we set off to Susanne’s car. We drove off to Wedding Wishes, talking excitedly about what to look for in the dress.
When we were finally in the bridal boutique, we had a look around with the shop keeper for a bridal dress. I saw a few pure white ones and tons of crème dresses, the shopkeeper Rosetta O’Neil explained that now day’s brides wore crème dresses instead of the traditional white.
I sauntered off around the shop, admiring the bookcase like furniture that held all sorts of designs of bouquets. They looked very dazzling I have to say, in all sorts of booming colours.
Turning, I passed dress upon wedding dress. I felt the beautiful satin material to flowy whites, from strapless to straps, traditional to modern. As I rounded the back corner, I paused in mid step.
On the display mannequin, was the dress I had been looking for. It was traditional white, but with such a fantastic design it looked like a modern Cinderella kind of bridal dress. It was absolutely just gorgeous.
“Can I see this dress?” I called loudly, gently holding the material. I almost shuddered; it felt like sensual silk to my touch. Rosetta and my future in laws walked over to where I was standing.
They were all impressed with the dress and helped me fit in the private changing room. I had to be super cautious around the dress, or else I’ll step on the material and rip it.
I gently bunched up the dress from the side and pranced around, feeling like a queen.
“It looks amazing, Jessie.” Mary smiled, helping me set down the dress carefully. Susanne nodded, eyes blazing “Yeah, if you don’t buy it it’s going to be mine.” I laughed and turned to look in the mirror that was in the changing room.
I bit my lip as I stared at myself; I was wearing a black long sleeve t shirt so it looked odd with the dress, but believe me it looked absolutely amazing. “How much is the dress?” I asked Rosetta, who had been smiling at me.
“Three thousand and five hundred.” She answered, I found myself trying to bite my bottom lip off. “Ugh, it’s expensive… but it’s so nice!” I whined to myself, Mary patted my hand and grinned at me. “It’s all covered, sweetheart.”
I was about to argue with her, I could never let her pay for my wedding dress but the look on her face told me to accept graciously. I grinned at her, sheepish all of a sudden. “Thank you so much, Mary.”
“Some adjustments will be made if you like.” Rosetta offered, eyeing the back of the dress with a small frown. “Yeah, I was wondering if we could make the dress sort of pop out, like a hoop skirt.” I suggested, turning around to see the back of the dress.
It sagged a bit to the floor, but the hoop skirt idea would fix it. “And also can we make it a bit tighter, I feel like if I let go then it’s gonna fall off.” Rosetta nodded and gestured for Muriel, the boutique’s tailor, I guess, to come take my measurements.
I held very still as the women measured me, then I slowly walked back to the changing room. I lifted my arms and the dress fell to the ground. Carefully stepping out, I shucked on my blue jeans and pulled back the enormous black curtain.
Now for the bridesmaid’s dresses, I thought cheerily. One item crossed off the list. Susanne and I waited for Lucinda to arrive, who would be late due to a meeting with her potential employer.
“Sorry I’m late. Did you find the bridal dress?” she huffed, face red. I grinned at her and pointed to the dress rosette and Muriel were carefully picking up. She nodded, “Dang, that’s one dress.” She murmured.
We all looked around for a bridesmaid dress, until sure enough Susanne found a really beautiful light violet strapless dress. “You really do have an eye for dresses.” I said to Susanne, smiling.
We ordered four dresses of the lilac strapless, since I had two other bridesmaids as well. Shawnee Grey and Melissa Everett were a few good friends I knew during my time here.
I was walking back to the bouquet station of the boutique and picked up a pink and yellow bouquet. “SWORD FIGHT!” Susanne declared and I ducked away, laughing. We battled as if our bouquets were light sabers, like Jedi’s or King Arthur’s knights, giggling our heads off.
“God have mercy on her husband.” Rosetta laughed at our display; we immediately stopped fighting and smiled sheepishly at her. Rosetta pushed back her long, charcoal black hair and her brown eyes shined. “She’ll make for an interesting bride.” She murmured to a laughing Mary and Lucinda.
*Later*
“Ugh, I’ve never been this tired before.” I complained—coming downstairs after my shower and putting on my less haggard face— as I lifted my aching feet onto the couch. Cam adjusted them so now they were on his laps.
“Never? Not even that one time in the barn?” he grinned at me slyly. I tried to hold back a big smile, but it immediately broke through.
“Cam, we haven’t talked about where were going to live?” I reminded him. He tipped his head back and leaned further into the couch. “Why not stay at the ranch house?” he suggested.
I frowned slightly, “Hon, we were a little too loud last time. Do you really want to continue that on a daily basis?”
He laughed, shifting to lie gently on me. He was careful not to lean all his muscly weight on me. “Wouldn’t want that, would we.” He agreed, kissing a trial on my neck. I shuddered against his hot lips.
“Perhaps a little privacy would be better for y’all.” Jack said, sitting on the opposite couch with a newspaper in hand.
Cam quickly lifted himself off; I flushed horribly as he picked me up bridal style to our bedroom. “You know I made a promise to you.” He reminded me, though he didn’t sound particularly happy about that.
“What if I want you to break it?” rubbing my hands all over his chest, I leaned back onto his bed. He shook his head, closing his eyes while gritting his teeth.
“I want our wedding night to be special.” I frowned at him, “it will be.”
“No, ah uh. You’re not going to change my mind on this.” Shaking his head back and forth, I stared up at him challengingly. “Oh, really?” I asked, wrapping my legs around his waist.
Leaning up, I kissed him on the mouth. When I felt him respond with a huge poke to my abdomen, I knew I had him there.
*Author’s Note*
IT’S NOT OVER YET!!! Go to my profile and click on Buckley's Rowdy Ranch Restricted Chapters to read Cam and Jessie's sex scene since it won't let me post the link in the story.
*Back to Chapter*
Collapsing on me, I felt his heart hammer against mine. We were both pleasure drunk, sweaty from the greatest workout I ever had. I think I found a new way to exercise. . .
“Oh lord . . . goodness Jessie.” he huffed; Cam’s face was flushed red and sweat beaded on his face and entire body. “That . . . was . . . amazing.” I breathed slowly; my mouth was a bit slow as my mind struggled to make a coherent thought.
“You’re telling me,” shifting slightly to make sure he wasn’t crushing me—which he wasn’t—he peppered my face with tender kisses. I kissed his handsome face, his chin, cheeks and lips. He brushed his lips against to my closed eyelids and gave me a toe curling mouth kiss.
Anything I was about to say was lost on my tongue as my eyes closed tiredly, my body relaxing against Cam’s as I fell into sleep. Just before I crashed into unconsciousness, I felt Cam wrap me into his arms and rolled us to our sides.
*Next Day in Lucinda’s POV*
As I walked out of the town café, I said goodbye to my friends—Susanne. Shawnee and Melissa— and walked to my car in the parking lot. I strolled with a happy spring to my step.
After I realized what a horrible bitch I was to everyone, especially to Jessie. I changed, became a better person.
I helped my mother with the gardening, did painting lessons with my father. I really bonded with my family again, which made me immensely happy. I Spent time with Jessie and Susanne, hell I even made good with the rest of the Buckley family.
I accepted long ago that Cam would never be mine again. He was too in love with Jessie. Besides, I surprisingly had my eyes on someone else.
He had a sexy accent; the way he smoked in people’s face, the damn way he acted made me pant after him. Mouth tightening, I cursed his name inside my head. He could be such a rude bastard! And don’t get me started on the way he talks in riddles!
Shrugging as I walked to my car, I was stopped by some guy. He was blonde, dark tan skin and cold brown eyes. Tall as well, I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
“Can I help you?” why the hell did he come up to me? He had this psyhco vibe to him, my blood curled from his touch.
“I’m looking for my sister, maybe you can tell me where she is?” he asked, glancing around. I shrugged, “What’s your name then?” I asked him quickly, wanting to get as far as possible away from him. I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Luke Maureen.”