Grump’s City Girl (Boots and Heels #2)

30. Epilogue - Cassie

Four weeks later.

I’d gone back to Montana to sit in on Sam’s hearing; his trial was closed because Dad wanted to keep a tight lid on what had happened. The judge had thrown the book at him, and he was going to have life in prison—until Dad stepped in and laid it all on the line, admitting his fault for being an absent father and understanding why Sam had been drawn to such lengths.

The judge had relented and given him the same 35 years before parole instead of life, but even then, that was a chance.

By week two, Beau had contacted me, telling me that he had a BBQ planned for his mother and brother to visit, and from then on, I was antsy. We both knew he had given up a lot of money that would have fixed all his problems with his ranch, so I’d gotten into gear. I didn’t have degrees in business for nothing, so I’d taken it upon myself to put a plan together.

The folder was lying on my lap, and my foot was bouncing erratically as Porter turned into the drive for the ranch. I checked my watch and realized I was three hours early before the BBQ was to start.

“Make or break,” I whispered.

“This place is truly rustic, isn’t it?” Porter said through the intercom. “I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.”

“Meaning?” I teased. “In jeans and a T-shirt instead of a sequin dress and heels?”

“On a country road instead of in a high-rise,” Porter replied. “But honestly, you were happier in the last month here than you were with Vigo in almost two years. I prefer seeing you knee-high in mud and happy rather than in sky-high heels and unhappy.”

“Thank you,” I replied as the car came to a stop at the front steps.

Exiting the car, I headed inside, a bit thrown by how quiet the house was, and headed up to Beau’s office—but he wasn’t there. I should have expected that.

Leaving the folder there, I headed down to the stables and smiled as the mist-laden grass wetted my jeans.

The air smelled fresh and clean, and birds twittered in the trees. Animals rustled the bushes along the path. My skin felt warm from being out in the sun. It felt right being here; it felt better than the many days I’d slogged out in the city office, going to cocktail parties and sleeping in condos.

The stables were a large wooden space and smelled like hay, leather, and oats. As I stepped in, I edged close to a stall with Sweetie, Beau’s trusted horse, watching her with equal amounts of curiosity.

“Hey, girl…” I smiled. “Where is your rider?”

“Right behind you,” Beau’s rumbly voice made me turn.

Under the brim of his Stetson, his stunned blue eyes hit me like a beam of lightning, making the ground beneath me shake. I couldn’t breathe as he plucked that hat off and rested it on a hook.

I hadn’t had a second to think before he had me up against the nearest wall, and his mouth was on mine.

His kisses tasted like whiskey and coffee, with sweet heat and sultry lust. He found my mouth and plunged his tongue between my lips, fucking my mouth with his tongue the way I wanted him to do with his cock. We were in our own whiskey-buzzed, hazy world as we kissed each other hungrily like we’d been starving all our lives.

“Where are your guys?” I pulled away to ask.

“Out in the meadow,” he replied, kissing down my neck. “They’re working on wrangling apart some warring bulls.”

Pressed so tight against me, I felt his hard cock throb with demand as the stubble on his cheek scraped my skin. Beau’s raw groans in my ear made my pussy drip with need. I wanted him so badly I was aching at my core.

Gasping for breath, my cowboy reached for my jeans and clicked the button. I toed my boots off moments before he stripped my jeans off and had me back on the wall. His tongue found mine again, and I sucked on it hungrily, my body pleading for this beautiful man.

“Fuck me. Fuck me,” I whimpered into his mouth, wrapping my leg around his, grinding on his hard, massive cock.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” he murmured while shoving his pants down his legs, plucking a condom from his wallet and ripping the edge with his teeth.

His rough hand stroked my thigh, igniting every cell in my skin, then traveled slowly, torturously slowly, closer to my bare pussy. Beau ran a finger over my slippery wet slit, and I pulled in a sharp breath when he slid a finger and then another, inside me. His thrusts were slow, but the pleasure was scintillating.

Another hand came around and gripped my ass, holding me in place as his fingers curled up and found my G-spot.

“You’re so fucking wet,” he growled, low and throatily, into my ear.

“Please, Beau.”

That was all it took, and I felt him push into my snug opening, thick and hot and so, so hard. I clamped down on him like a vise as he slid in inch by inch, pressing me slowly open.

“Is this what you want?” He pushed in deeper, kissing me, letting me get used to his size again.

The feel of him made me tight and had my whole body buzzing as he slowly stroked me with his cock. As hard as he was and as wet as I was, it wasn’t long before Beau was thrusting with abandon. The moans that left my mouth were ones I would never admit to, not to my dying day.

“Don’t stop!”

I felt my pussy start quivering as the ridge of his cock stimulated my engorged inner walls drew screams of passion from me.

He pressed down even harder and ramped up his thrusting.

I whimpered, each thrust sending fiery bursts of pleasure through me.

Beau held me tight as he shifted tactics and began pushing slowly… sensually. The concentrated movement relaxed my tight muscles, and I moaned at the sensation of fullness his thick cock gave me.

Beau kissed me passionately, matching his pace, thrusting his tongue deep into my mouth. The lust in his veins changed his thrusts to strong and demanding, and I was so lust-drunk on him that my body was lax in his arms as his speed and depth increased.

In the flick of a switch, my scream exploded into a powerful climax. My back arched, as I gave my body over to him. My wet pussy pulsed rhythmically over him as my orgasm crashed over me. The pleasant feeling of the climax lingered long after it was over.

The climax came to me by surprise.

Beau came, grunting his pleasure while his tight pelvic muscles delivered repeated thrusts. I wrapped my legs around him and cupped the back of his wet hair while his hot breath skittered across my skin.

“Welcome back to me,” I said breathlessly.

His chuckle was warm against my neck. “I’ve missed you.”

Pulling his face up, I smiled. “Same here.”

Gently, Beau pulled himself from me—I hated it—and we cleaned ourselves up, then we headed to the house. “How did you know I was here?”

“Spies,” he said slyly, then laughed. “Nah. I got a couple of cameras installed as we’d upgraded our security lately, and it sent a notification to my phone. Seeing you pull up, I hightailed back here.”

We went to his rooms, and Beau stripped his shirt off, dropped it, and then reached for his belt. “Want to join me?”

“To wash off the scent of sex… or for round two?” I braced a hand on the wall to undo my boots.

“Both,” Beau grinned. “Sex first, obviously.”

The BBQ started off swinging; all the ranch hands had dates, a few people from the community had attended, and some contractors Beau used to help around the ranch were there, too.

Music flowed through the speakers, and the grills were on, steaks and ribs smoking. The air was thick with mouthwatering scents, but Beau did not seem affected by it.

Instead, his eyes flew to the backdoor, and I could sense his nervousness. His brother and his family should be arriving, and it would be the first time he would be seeing him in years. Knowing what he had seen with my half-brother, I could only imagine what he would feel now.

I rested a hand on his arm. “It’ll be all right. He knows you were looking out for him even when you couldn’t be there yourself.”

He threw back a mouthful of beer. “Hope so. Do you want to dance?”

A Texas two-step came on, and while I didn’t know two-step—my dance teacher didn’t have that in his repertoire—and while I was sure I stomped on Beau’s boots, I caught on quickly and laughed my ass off. When he spun me around like a tornado until I was dizzy, I hung onto him for dear life. His scent was so thick in my nose, and all I wanted was to get a plate of ribs and swap BBQ sauce with Beau.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” a strange male voice said, and Beau’s head snapped up.

Behind us was a tall man… his tan skin, square face, and thick brown hair told me instantly that he was Beau’s brother.

“Weston,” Beau gaped.

“Hi, brother,” Weston said.

I stood still, unsure of where this was going, and hoped no tension would erupt between the two. Beau’s throat worked, and his jaw went tight before he reached over. He grabbed his brother by both arms and pulled him into a crushing hug.

“Jesus, Weston,” he said. “I am so glad you are here.”

“How could I not be,” Weston said. “When you asked me to come, there was no way I could say no. You turned this place around, Beau, and goddamn, I am impressed. This is not the same ranch I remembered.”

“It's not,” Beau replied, throat working. “I knew we had such a big misunderstanding, and for years, I thought we were going to be at odds forever, but that video you sent a couple of months ago made everything clear for me. I know I still have some kinks to work out, but… water under the bridge?”

Weston’s shoulders sank in relief. “Hell, yes.”

Beau grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him into a one-armed hug when a lady in a cute sundress with the boy from Weston’s video in her arms came forward. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

The two pulled apart, and Weston wrapped an arm around the lady’s shoulder. “Beau, I would like you to meet my wife, Rachel, and my son, Luke.”

“Hey, Luke,” Beau greeted his nephew, then looked at Weston. “I never thought you would be a father so early.”

“Neither did I, but life doesn’t seem to follow our plans, I guess,” Weston replied.

“Oh, don’t I know it…” Beau shot a look at me. “If you knew how I met Cassie, my girlfriend, you’d think I was lying.”

Weston’s eyes flitted to me and then back to Beau. “I’d love for you to tell me later on. Deal? Right now, I want to get some ribs.”

Laughing, Beau nodded. “Help yourself, and yeah, we’ll talk later. And great to meet you, Rachel.”

“You too,” Rachel replied. “And… Cassie, was it?”

I nodded. “Enjoy the party.”

“Ribs are ready!” Ron called out, clacking the tongs. “Come get ‘em.”

I didn’t know when that conversation would happen because we got so caught up in eating, conversing, and dancing. By sunset, and before dusk fell, Beau asked me to come with him to his office. I didn’t know what he wanted, but my mind dropped on the folder I’d left on his desk.

“How did the trial go?” he asked as soon as we set foot into the room, and he flicked a light on to low.

“Sam is in prison for the foreseeable future,” I said. “The judge nearly gave him life without parole, but Dad managed to talk him down from it. By the time he gets out, if he does at all, he’ll be an old man and under house arrest for a while,” I told him. “Every day, I thank God that I’d decided to go and talk to Dad about going to the lake house the very night Sam had prepared to attack.”

I sank to a chair. “And the coincidences don’t exist.”

“That wasn’t a coincidence,” Beau said while circling his desk. “What’s this?”

I looked up to see him holding the folder, and I got up, reenergized. As he sat, I cocked a hip on the edge of the desk. “When we gave up on the prize money, I got to thinking. You still need capital to look at this place, so I made up a… thing. Many companies get capital from investors and shareholders who invest in a restaurant by buying shares in the company. Shares are like pieces of a pie; you still own the pie and just let others taste it.”

“I made up an offer, got positive feedback from brokers, and they amassed a list of investors who are willing to buy into this ranch,” I said. “I know it sounds like a lot, but it will help. We might have to do a lot, though, like creating an LLC, getting a board of directors, and figuring out the price for the shares. After that is sorted and the funds come rolling in, it will run like a machine, so what do you say?”

Beau looked stunned.

“If you agree, all you need to do is drop your John Hancock on the line, and I’ll take it from there,” I added.

“See…” Beau shook his head, “I wish you hadn’t done that yet, so this might make me look like a gold-digging asshole, but,” he plucked something out and flipped the lid, a hopeful expression in his gorgeous blue eyes.

The ring was gorgeous; a small emerald winked at the center of the delicate gold band. “I never expected to meet you, but I thank God for the day I did and every day since then. Every day when I discover new things about you, I fall further and harder. I love you without limit, and the thought of losing you cuts into my soul. Will you marry me?”

The honesty and the passion in his eyes made my heart warm. “Without limit, eh?”

“Yep,” he turned the box. “I know I sound like a loon with a fiddle, but I?—”

“Yes,” I told him.

His brows shot up. “Yes?”

“Yes, because I love you without limit too cowboy,” I ginned. “So yes, I would love to marry you.”

He pulled me off the table's edge and onto his lap, framed my face with both hands, kissed me tenderly, and then slid the stunning ring on my finger. “That looks good on you.” He smiled, rubbing a thumb over my knuckles.

“It does…” I smiled, flexing my fingers. “Should I hyphenate my name? How does Mrs. Cassandra Lynn Carrington-Lowell sound.”

He laughed. “Sounds good, but I think you’re jumping ahead. Right now, I fear how my guys will react when we get back out there. I will probably hear their jeers to my dying day.”

“Aw,” I laced my fingers around his neck. “Don’t worry, your kick-ass wife-to-be will defend you.”

He laughed. “I love that.”

“I love you ,” I replied. “And I will do so to my dying day, Beau.”

The End