More than a Maid (15 page)

Maybe he'd make a great husband.
The thought made Marcy lightheaded for a second.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah… sure…" she answered weakly.

He opened the back door. "Here, sit. Let me help you."

Dazed, Marcy sat as Ramon knelt down to remove her sandals. His hands were gentle, his touch making her breath go shallow and her body tighten with longing. But he flashed her a wry grin and tickled the bottom of her foot when he stretched the sock over her toes, breaking some of her tension.

When he finished, he helped her to her feet and shoved the back door closed. He then stretched an arm around her back and started toward the pasture.

Hesitant, Marcy said, "So, we're really doing this, huh?" She tried to keep her tone casual, not wanting to insult him. But a smelly ranch on a Saturday night could certainly put a damper on their pleasant date. At least the temperature was comfortable, and not too hot and sticky for walking around.

"Yes. Don't worry, it'll be quick." He squeezed her tight as they walked. "But there's something I gotta tell you. I wanna take you up on your offer of helping with my bookkeeping. That is, if the offer's still there."

"Yes! Absolutely!" Marcy sank against him in a hug. "Anything to keep you from working so much."

Sounding relieved, he said, "Good. Hopefully it won't be too bad. That's one of the reasons I wanna show you around. Get you a little familiar with how we do things. I think it'll help you on Monday." He paused. "Wait. Is Monday okay? Is it too soon?"

"No, Monday's fine, as long as Victor's okay with it."

"I'll talk to him. The house looks pretty damn clean to me. Can't imagine he'd have a problem letting me borrow you."

Marcy groaned. "Does this mean I need to get up at three-thirty on Monday morning?"

With a sad sigh, he pulled away and looked down into her eyes. "I can let you sleep till four if it'll help."

"No… I'll be okay…"

"You can sleep in my truck on the way there, if you want."

Marcy groaned again, thinking about that gigantic truck. "Three-thirty is fine," she said. "As long as there's coffee."

He nodded. "There'll be plenty. I need you alert for this."

"For what? It's mostly just invoices, right?"

Ramon pulled her close to his side as they walked slowly through the field. "Yeah, but I may need you to go through the ledger and make sure nothing looks weird. Balance sheet accounts, mostly, like the payroll withholdings. Reconcile some bank statements. Stuff like that."

"Okay. Who does all that stuff for you, now?"

"Me."

"Really? Why haven't you hired someone?"

With a casual shrug, he said, "No need. I can do it. I take it to an accountant every quarter and they keep it all straight."

"So, you enter your own invoices? Print your own checks?" She raised an eyebrow. "Put those checks in the mail? You? The guy who owns the company?"

"Doesn't take that long. I'm very organized."

She chuckled, patting his chest. "Okay. Now I understand why you're so busy all the time. You're one of those anal retentive micromanager types."

He took a deep breath. "No, I'm not. I've been doin' this for years. Since high school."

"What?" Marcy looked up at him.

Nodding, he said, "Yeah. See, in high school they made me take a bus to another school for these special classes. I picked accounting and business." He groaned. "Like I was gonna take literature. Bunch offuckin' morons. Anyway—"

"Wait. You mean, they sent you to a vo-tech?"

Ramon huffed. "I wish. Those guys got to take welding." His eyebrows furrowed. "That's what I
wanted
to take. But no, it was some kinda candy-ass community college bullshit." Producing a long sigh, he looked at her and said, "Anyway, I took accounting in high school around the same time Henry fired the bookkeeper. Been doin' it ever since."

"Okay. But I think it's ridiculous that the owner of a company is doing his own bookkeeping."

"Well, whatever. It was fine till I bought the other ranches. That's when…" His voice trailed off. "Nevermind."

"No, that's when… what? Tell me. What am I getting myself into on Monday?"

Ramon sucked on his bottom lip for a moment, his eyes darting around the field. "It's kind of a mess. Or at least, it was until I bought the company. The accountants had to clean up the books before the bank would give me a loan to buy it. You shoulda seen the bill for
that
." His eyes widened, then rolled. "It's a lot better now but it's a lot to keep up with. Gotta get it all in better shape before I show it to Victor."

"Victor?"

"Uh-huh. He wants to help me."

"I thought you didn't want his help."

"Guess I changed my mind." He paused. "So, has Cara said anything to you about moving here?"

"Uh… not really."

He sighed, sadly. "Well, that figures."

"Why? Has Victor talked about moving here?"

"I shouldn't say."

"I won't tell her."

He smirked. "Yeah, right."

"No." Marcy shook her head, wishing she could tell him about the pregnancy and the fact that her best friend had been so moody, she wouldn't dare say anything to upset her right now. "Seriously. If you don't want me to say anything, I won't. To her or anyone else."

Ramon hesitated before saying, "All right. I'll put it like this. I think Victor would already be building a house here if he thought Cara would agree to move." His head slowly shook, his expression downcast. He stopped walking. "Do you think she'd wanna move here? Or does she hate me that much?"

Her voice laced with sympathy, she said, "I don't think she hates you. She… uh…" Marcy stammered for moment, thinking of a response, "doesn't know what to think of you." Laying her head against his chest, she said, "I'll put in a good word."

Ramon smiled. "Don't know how much it'll help, but thanks."

He took her hand and guided her past the trailer to a pasture where dozens of cows milled around. The smell didn't seem as overwhelming as it was yesterday, but Marcy tried not to breathe through her nose. She quickly deduced that all of the workers must have left for the day, but she didn't dare bring them up for fear of another argument. Aside from the smells, Marcy enjoyed the tour. And she quickly understood why Ramon was insistent about her boots. The ground was spotted with random patches of mud.

Ramon stopped to point out equipment and machinery as they headed past chutes and calving pens to a fence with a few horses grazing behind it.

"You have horses?" Marcy asked, gazing at the beautiful animals who seemed to be gazing back at her.

"Yeah. Just these few. You didn't know that? Isaac talks about 'em all the time."

"Maybe I wasn't paying attention. What do you use them for?"

"Moving the cattle around."

"Oh." She nodded, thinking about movies she'd watched with her grandma when she was a child. "You mean, like, in those John Wayne movies?"

Ramon chuckled. "Yeah, but on a much smaller scale. We just move from pasture to pasture." His eyes narrowed at her. "You like horses?"

She shrugged. "I think they're pretty but I've never been this close to them, except maybe at the circus once. Or a petting zoo."

"So, you've never been horseback riding? Even when you were a kid?"

"No. My grandma raised me and we didn't have much money. That would've required a special trip." She stared at a horse trotting toward them.

He peered at her, eyes wide. "You wanna ride one now?"

"Uh…" Marcy backed away as the horse stopped at the fence, then snorted. "I don't know. They seem so intimidating in person."

"Nah, don't let her scare ya." Ramon reached over the fence, rubbing the horse's forehead. "This is Dusty. She's friendly, but she's probably jealous I got a girl with me." He turned to Marcy, winking. "Seriously, if you wanna ride, let me know."

Nodding shyly, Marcy said, "Okay. Maybe some other time."

"All right." Ramon said goodbye to Dusty, then started toward a wooden shed with Marcy following along.

Inside the shed were three four-wheelers.

Ramon took keys from his pocket. "Do
not
tell Isaac about this. He's been beggin' to ride one but…" He sighed. "Talk about makin' Cara hate me."

She nodded. "I understand."

Ramon hoisted his leg across the vehicle, settling into driving position. "Get on. There's plenty of room."

"Don't we need helmets?"

He scoffed. "City girl. Don't worry, we're not gonna go that fast."

Marcy eyed the seat and, with Ramon's help, got into place behind him.

He reached back for her hands, then pulled her arms around his waist.

"Mmm." Marcy squeezed him tight, her cheek smashed against his back. So far, this was her favorite part of the tour.

He started the vehicle, and soon they were riding through the fields, past cows, equipment, beautiful meadows. Occasionally he stopped to explain something, but they stayed on the four-wheeler. Marcy was scared when they came to a pen where a new bull, Otis, snorted and grunted, butting his horns against the metal bars confining him. Ramon told her not to worry, he was probably spooked by the four-wheeler and he wasn't usually that angry. But Marcy's heart pounded fiercely through Ramon's basic explanation of calving season, including why he preferred the "old-fashioned way" of breeding as opposed to artificially inseminating his cattle. She slumped against him in relief when they finally zoomed away.

Their next and final stop was another shed near the trailer, where Ramon parked the four-wheeler.

"I hope that wasn't too boring," he said as he locked the shed.

"No." Marcy shook her head. "It was interesting. A little scary, but it was actually kinda fun."

"Good." His face lit up. Taking her hand, he headed toward the trailer.

"I can see why you enjoy it so much," she said. "There's so much going on. Animals. Cows getting pregnant. And you get to ride horses and four-wheelers all day."

Ramon laughed. "Yeah." Then his face got serious. "Wish I didn't have to spend so much time in the office. That's the only thing I hate about it." His eyes rolled. "I never understood why my brothers wanted outta here."

Marcy grinned. "We gotta figure out a way for you to stay outta that office and spend more time outside. I still don't understand why you haven't already hired someone to help you."

Sighing, he said, "I know. Guess I have a hard time trusting people to do the job right. It really wasn't that bad until I bought those other ranches. It was manageable. But now…"

"I understand." Marcy squeezed his hand, her heart racing. "It means a lot that you'd trust me to help you."

Their eyes locked, their pace slowing. The answer to Ramon's problems was right there, staring them in the face. Marcy could move there permanently and take care of all those administrative tasks that prevented him from enjoying his job. Was he thinking it too?

Maybe he was. But she knew she was getting ahead of herself. Ahead of both of them. Besides, it was all too perfect. She needed to pace herself and let the newness of their relationship—if it could even be called a "relationship"—wear off before making a decision to live there permanently.

But damn it. Wasn't it time something in her life was perfect?

Ramon wasn't dumb enough to get his hopes up. As they walked hand-in-hand to the trailer, every part of him screamed, "get her to stay." Especially after seeing how humble and welcoming she was when he showed her around. She was accepting of his ranch, but more importantly, of his love for his ranch.

Marcy was a hundred percent different from his first impression of her. She seemed to fit perfectly into his life. Hell, maybe she was destined to end up living there with him. If he'd made a wish list of all the things he wanted in a woman, including those things that seemed too perfect to wish for, Marcy had it all. Looks, brains, personality… a resume full of experience that would make his life easier…

But he wasn't ready to jump in just yet. His logic wouldn't let him. Maybe in a little while. But not just yet.

A minute later they were inside the trailer. Ramon prepared it earlier to make sure it was clean, smelled good, and the boys hadn't wrecked it.

He closed the door and asked, "You in the mood for dessert?"

"Sure."

"You like cake?" He went to the sink.

"Yeah."

He quickly washed his hands and said, "Have a seat," gesturing at the dining table as he went to the refrigerator to retrieve one of his favorite desserts, which had been thawing for a few hours. "Now, don't tell Patty about this. I love her cookin' but I've been cravin' this for a while."

Marcy took a seat, and soon he plopped a small, square-shaped cake down in front of her. "Chocolate?" she asked.

"It's yellow with chocolate icing. From the freezer section." He smirked. "Now, if I were by myself, I'd just take a fork and have at it. But if you'd rather I get a plate and cut you a piece—"

"No." She smiled up at him. "A fork's fine."

He nodded and rushed to the utensil drawer. "My kinda woman. Besides, you said you wanted to get to know the real me, right?"

"Uh-huh." She tucked her hair behind her ear, then reached for the fork as soon as he brought it to her. "You know, the real you's pretty cool."

Ramon dragged a chair as close as possible to Marcy's, then sat. "I think you're pretty cool, too." He looked in her eyes, then leaned over and kissed her, but quickly pulled back. He wished now that he had taken her straight to the bedroom. Eyebrows raised, he said, "Well, dig in. Ladies first."

Marcy hesitantly took a tiny portion from the corner of the cake.

"Oh, come on," he said, stabbing the cake with his fork. "You can do better than that. Don't be one of those women who doesn't eat. I hate that."

Rolling her eyes, Marcy said, "I've gotta cut down a little. Patty and those rich foods. I've only been here five days and my clothes are too tight."

Ramon shook his head as he took a bite, then quickly chewed and swallowed. "So what? You look good to me." He smiled. "So, you get new clothes? You know where the mall is."

She glared at him. "I'm trying to save money. That's why I hit up the clearance rack today. I don't wanna waste my salary on a whole new wardrobe because I can't wear the clothes I packed. Not to mention the dress I have to wear for the wedding. It's already ordered."

"So? You order another one and let Victor pay for it." Ramon snickered. "Save your money. If you need to buy something, let me know."

"I don't know…"

In a forceful tone, he said, "I mean it." Then put his fork down and his hand under her chin, turning her to face him. "My house, my rules. And that's a new rule."

A shy grin crept across her lips. "I'll think about it."

He let go of her and picked up his fork, his head shaking. "You
really
hate being told what to do, don't you?"

"Yes," she answered, plainly. "And I don't like taking handouts from people. I feel bad enough taking Victor's money."

As Ramon chewed, he shook his head. Then he swallowed. "You need to stop feeling bad about that. We really did need you. And you're about to help me even more, with bookkeeping. We've already been over this." He smirked, then took another bite. He covered his full mouth with his hand, mumbling, "Now eat."

She shot him a rebellious glare, then dug in with her fork.

A few minutes later, Ramon had eaten nearly half the cake and Marcy had the equivalent of a small piece, then said she was full. Ramon rolled his eyes and put the forks in the sink and the remains of the cake in the fridge, making a mental note to dispose of it before Patty found it.

Unable to wait any longer, Ramon was about to take Marcy's hand and lead her to the bedroom when she excused herself to use the restroom. So, he used the opportunity to unlock the bedroom and make a few preparations.

He'd already changed the bed linens earlier that day. In the storage closet he found two candles, both of them vanilla. He lit them and placed one on the dresser and one on the nightstand. Then he turned off the light overhead and turned on a small lamp in the corner. Along with the light still streaming through the windows as the sun set, the room had enough light to let him see her luscious body. But hopefully she'd think it was dark enough to be romantic.

Ramon pulled the covers down, thinking about taking off his clothes when Marcy walked into the room.

"Hey," she said as she looked around. "This is nice. I love candles."

"That's good." He walked up to her and took her hand, pulling her to the bed.

Marcy giggled, and he stopped in his tracks. She said, "So, that's it? Dessert, then… bed?"

He let go of her hand and scratched the back of his neck. "Uh… was there somethin' else you wanted to do? Like, talk or watch TV, or what not?"

"No. I just wasn't expecting to go to the bedroom so soon. That's all."

"Shit. I shoulda thought of that. I'm sorry."

"No, no!" Marcy widened her eyes, her head shaking fast. "It's fine, really. It's great. You just surprised me."

Ramon felt like an idiot. They'd had such a great day, he thought it was only natural to end their date here in the bedroom and stay there till morning. But he now realized she probably expected them to start out talking in the living room, proceed to kissing, then make their way back here. And with another woman, maybe that's what he would've done. But he'd gotten so much more attached to her today, all he could think about was getting her naked.

He gave her a concerned stare. "Do you wanna go back to the living room? I'm really sorry. I just figured—"

Marcy reached up and put her hands around his neck. "No. I promise, it's fine. I'm glad you didn't waste time. I mean, we would've ended up here anyway, right?"

"I sure as hell hope so."

She smiled and stood on her toes, her lips heading for his as he bent down to kiss her. Her lips were soft and she tasted like cake. It was a shame that he'd have to throw her down on the bed and stop kissing her, but he couldn't help it. As his feelings for Marcy increased, so did his desire for her body.

He felt her hands unfasten his belt as they kissed, so he went under her shirt to unhook her bra.

He was seconds away from tearing off the rest of her clothes when her hand slipped into his underwear, her fingers instantly curling around his erection.

Marcy pulled away from him, whispering, "Sit down," as she shoved his pants and underwear down.

Intrigued, Ramon kicked his clothes away and took a seat at the side of the bed.

Marcy stood in front of him, lifting her shirt off, then tossing her bra to the floor. "I was thinking…"

"Yeah?" Distracted by the lovely half-naked woman, he reached forward to fondle her breasts, hoping she'd be quick with whatever she wanted to say.

She moaned when he squeezed her nipples. "Ooh… as I said… I was thinking. You've been so good to me all week, I think maybe it's time I returned a certain… favor?" The side of her mouth quirked up in a playful half-smile, then she dropped to her knees.

Ramon closed his eyes and whispered, "Yes," as he entered the warmth of her mouth.

Her tongue danced around his shaft, her head bobbing up and down, taking as much of him as she could.

Ramon opened his eyes, gazing down at her as she pleasured him. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was enjoying it as much as he was.

Then she opened her pretty eyes, and Ramon smiled at her. After that, he was ready to explode. Looking in her eyes intensified his physical sensation.

"No," Ramon said, abruptly. He knew it sounded rude, but his mind was too preoccupied to think of anything nicer to say to get her to stop.

Marcy released him. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

"No. Not at all." He panted, his voice weak. And he couldn't think clearly enough right then to explain he'd rather get off deep inside a different part of her.

Ramon put his hands under her arms, lifting her, then spinning her to the bed.

She landed softly on her side.

He smiled, checking out her body as he helped her out of her shorts. For a second he thought about positioning her on her hands and knees… but no. Right now he needed to see her face as he made love to her. There was something special about looking in her eyes at such an intimate moment. Something he'd never experienced with any other woman.

For the first time in his entire life, Ramon was on the verge of falling in love.

Ramon plucked a condom from the nightstand, tore open the wrapper, and put it on as fast as possible.

Marcy lay on the bed, peering up at him with a dreamy gaze.

He hovered over her, positioned himself between her legs, and said, "We're alone out here, so remember," he pushed into her, "you can scream as loud as you want."

With a silly smile, Marcy tossed her head back, her arms reaching around him. She let out the loudest sound he'd heard from her yet. "Ohhhh! Yesss!"

Ramon paused, laughing. "Okay, you don't have to fake it. Just let it happen naturally."

He started again, slowly. Determined to make her moan that way for real. He studied her face, listening to her smallest reactions. Taking his time to learn her body. Every thrust was deliberate, tailored just for her. He wanted to be unforgettable to her. If she was ever with another man, Ramon wanted Marcy to always think about him.

But maybe… just maybe… she'd never be with anyone else again.

That idea made him smile and quicken his pace.

As he continued, Marcy got louder. Her body arched beneath him, legs wrapping around his waist. She held him between her thighs, matching each thrust with the tilt of her hips.

His eyes locked on hers as she cried out his name with an orgasm that shook them both.

* * *

On Sunday afternoon, with Ramon holed up in his office, Marcy focused on cleaning. She hummed a happy tune to herself as she transferred towels from the washer to the dryer, thinking about Ramon.

She closed the dryer and set the timer, then floated out to the hall where she saw Victor heading her way.

"Hey Marcy," Victor said in a tone that carried a hint of anxiety. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure. Is this about me going to work with Ramon on Monday? He said he'd talk to you about it."

Victor arched a brow. "You don't really think of me as your boss, do you?"

She shrugged. "You hired me and your name's on the paycheck."

Chuckling, he said, "Don't be ridiculous." Then he waved, motioning for her to come with him.

Marcy followed Victor to the front porch.

"Please have a seat," he said as he closed the door.

She sat in a chair.

Victor cleared his throat, taking a seat beside her. His voice was quiet. "Sorry to be so secretive about this. I'm gonna trust you not to mention it to Ramon or anyone else. Okay?"

Marcy gulped, scared. "All right. What is it?"

Hunched forward in his seat, Victor laced his fingers together. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Armando and I have been trying to locate Henry Platt, the man who used to live here and moved all of us to Texas."

She nodded. "I've heard a little about it."

"Good. I really didn't wanna bring you into this. I barely even mention it to Cara. There's some family history we've been trying to research and…" He let out a defeated sigh, staring off in the distance. "We had a feeling Ramon was lying to us but we found out for sure, today. You see, Henry hiding out, off the grid.
Way
off the grid. Ramon told us he called him a few weeks ago but today I learned differently."

"What? How?"

"There's a lady traveling with Henry. Elsa. She was the housekeeper until they took off together."

Marcy nodded, not telling Victor that Ramon had already filled her in on that part.

Victor continued. "Anyway, we tracked down her daughter. She told me Elsa mentioned to her that Henry calls Ramon at least once a week. She even had Henry's cell phone number but it's one of those prepaid, disposable phones, and no one's answering." He sighed, looking in her eyes. "Anyway, we need Ramon's cell phone records. They're not in his office here. We're pretty sure he runs 'em through the office in Kernersville. We think that's why he's been so weird about any of us going over there."