Crossroads: the Chance City Series Book Three
Copyright© 2023 by Robin Deeter
Chapter 20
Romantic Sex Story: Chapter 20 - Carter “Wheels” Ellis doubts that he’ll ever find a wife since he’s a paraplegic. But Nora Guthrie has strong feelings for him, and they begin a powerful romance. Sparks fly between Mayor Carly Branson and male prostitute Ray Stratton despite their mutual hate. Or is it love? Four people come to important crossroads. Will they find happiness, or take a wrong turn and end up heartbroken?
Caution: This Romantic Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Consensual Heterosexual Fiction Historical Mystery Western
Ray hauled his horse to a skidding stop outside of his bunkhouse. He jumped down and ran inside. He pulled his saddlebags from underneath his bed and started shoving clothes in them. As he took socks from the top drawer of his dresser, his fingers brushed over the key to his safe deposit box.
Taking it out, he held it up, twirling it around. The box the key opened contained the money that Carly had paid him the last two months. He’d never touched it because he didn’t want to use it for his own gain.
Since Carly had already paid for Izzy’s fall tuition, Ray’s expenses were few since he lived out on Sundance Ranch. Therefore, he’d just banked the money, intending to surprise Carly by setting up a college fund for their baby when they conceived. Their baby.
The thought of being a father had scared the hell out of Ray at first, but he’d quickly grown excited about the prospect. He’d been chomping at the bit for the wedding, the day when he’d no longer take any measures against pregnancy. So many times, he’d pictured Carly pregnant with his child, had imagined what it would be like to feel his child move within her.
I should’ve known that it was too good to be true. I should’ve known better than to hope that for once in my sorry life, something good would work out for me. I should’ve never touched her.
He shut his eyes tight against the burning tears, willing the gate in the wall around his heart to close firmly. With supreme effort, he succeeded in shutting down the pain. As Ray finished packing, he told himself that this was for the best. A marriage with Carly would never work. They were too different, lived in two different worlds that could never mix.
When the saddlebags were jam-packed with the things he’d need the most, he hurried from the bunkhouse and secured the bags to his horse. Leigh waddled her way across the drive from the barn, her gait awkward.
Ray’s mouth quirked up at the cute sight she made. She’d grown huge, her large, rounded belly making it difficult to bend over or turn over in bed.
Leigh saw Ray tying the bags on his horse, which only meant one thing: he was leaving.
She made her way over to him. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.”
His grim expression told Leigh that something very bad had occurred and that he felt that his only option was to leave.
“What happened?”
Ray gave her a tight smile. “I overreached. That’s what happened. I got caught up in a fairytale. One that didn’t have a happy ending.”
Leigh didn’t ask when he’d be back. She already knew that he wouldn’t be. “You’re breaking a lot of hearts, Ray. Including mine. I’ve gotten pretty fond of you.”
“Sorry about that and leaving you in the lurch right now.” He waved a hand around at the ranch.
Leigh’s green eyes met his. “Any chance you’ll reconsider?”
“No. Tell Johnny I said goodbye and that I thank him for being such a good friend to me. I’ll write when I get settled somewhere,” he said, mounting up. “Take care, Leigh. I’ll tell you congratulations now since I won’t be here when the baby comes.”
“Thanks. Take care of yourself, Ray. I’m real sorry things didn’t work out.”
“Me, too, Leigh. Me, too.” Leaning down, he handed Leigh the safe deposit box key. “Will you make sure that Miss Branson gets that?”
Leigh took it, curiosity in her eyes. “Sure.”
“Much obliged.”
He touched the brim of his hat to her and trotted down the lane and out of sight.
That very night, Carly showed up at Sundance Ranch. She knew Ray better than anyone now, and she’d been certain that he would leave town. She hated the fact that she’d been right. As Johnny admitted her into the Decker’s kitchen, he tried to smile at her, but failed.
Carly accepted the chair he held for her, apologizing for interrupting their meal. Quieting her nerves, she looked around at each family member.
“I’m here to ask a favor of you, a rather large favor that requires deception on your parts, as well as mine.”
Cy asked, “What kind of deception?”
“Before I explain that, I first need to tell you that I love Ray with everything within me. He’s unlike any man I’ve ever been involved with, and I refuse to live my life without him. I know that he loves me, too, and that he’ll come to realize that we’re meant to be together. At least I hope he will. I’m not ready to give him up without a fight,” she said.
Johnny said, “But he already left town and we don’t know where he’s goin’.”
Carly said, “I know, but he’ll be in contact. I’m sure I’ll be able to track him down.”
Cy asked, “Why don’t you just go after him now instead of waiting?”
“Because he’s not ready right now. He’s too angry and closed off. He needs time,” Carly said. “I’m prepared to wait until his anger has cooled and he’s willing to hear me out. And there are some things I need to do in the meantime to prove some things to him.”
“Now, on to the deception. It’s very simple. Can you just say that Ray went to Chicago on business? I don’t want anyone to know that he and I are ... separated right now. I’m prepared to return the favor in whatever way you’d like,” she said.
Cy looked at her ring hand. “How are you gonna explain that?” He tapped the naked ring finger.
Carly swallowed hard as a wave of sadness washed through her. “I sent it out to be fixed because one of the stays in the setting broke when I snagged it on a dress.”
Cy smiled at her craftiness. “And what sort of business are we supposed to say he went away on?”
“To Chicago to see some new baking techniques and do some research on equipment. It’s no secret that he was planning on opening his own bakery, so it’s entirely plausible and it might take some time. Perhaps a month or two,” Carly said. “That should be time enough.”
Daphne smiled. “You’ve thought of everything, just like Catherine always said you do. I’ll do it. Catherine certainly would have.”
Carly’s eyes shimmered with sudden tears. “You were her best friend, Daphne. She said that you were the only one of her friends with whom she could be completely honest. I’m glad she had you.”
Daphne grew misty-eyed. “She was a wonderful person and I miss her every day.”
“Aw, hell,” Leigh said. “You two just have to bawl, don’t you? I didn’t know her, but I’m sure she was a great girl.” Her eyes swam with tears, and she took out her handkerchief to blot them away. “I cry at everything, even happy things.”
They all laughed at her, and Cy put an arm around Leigh. “It’s okay, honey.”
Leigh sighed and leaned against him. “I’m as big as that barn out there. It’s a wonder I still fit through doorways. But I’m not really complaining. I’m glad that I have the chance to be as big as a house—”
“Barn,” Johnny said.
“What?” Leigh asked.
“You said that you were as big as a barn, not a house.”
Leigh scowled at his teasing grin before smiling again. “Ow!” She grabbed her ribcage. “Dang it! Settle down in there. That really hurt.”
Cy put his hand on her belly and leaned closer. “Be kind to your mother,” he said in Comanche. “Or one day she will exact revenge on you in a very embarrassing way.”
Daphne burst into laughter and Cy grinned at her while the others all looked on in confusion.
“What did he say?” Leigh asked Daphne.
Daphne translated, letting the others in on the joke.
As their laughter subsided, the rest of the Sundance Ranch family also agreed to help Carly with her deception in the name of love. She thanked them and took her leave, letting them resume their meal. Johnny insisted on walking her out to her buggy.
“Carly, you know that if he’s let go long enough, he might go back to hustlin’, don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, I know. While that thought absolutely devastates me, I also don’t care in a way. Those women might have his body for a time, but I’ll be the one who’ll win his heart, Johnny.”
Johnny frowned a little. “You love him that much?”
“Yes, I do, and I’ll do anything to get him back,” Carly said. “I’ll fight whatever whore or trollop I have to because they can never be to him what I can, what I’ve been. They don’t see the real Ray, but I do. I see the kind, good, decent man he is inside, not the man he shows the rest of the world.
“I’m not desperate to have him just for myself, but also for his sake. I love him too much to let him lead that kind of life any longer, Johnny, and I’ll do anything to give him the kind of future he deserves.”
Johnny nodded. “I’ve always said that about him whenever anyone said anything bad about him. We went through a rough patch, but we got through that real quick. You’re right. He’s a good man and I know how much he loves you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
Carly kissed his cheek. “Thank you. No wonder you’re Ray’s best friend and I’m glad you’re my friend now, too.”
Johnny grinned and blushed. “Thanks. Me, too.”
He helped her into the buggy and waved her goodbye.
Two weeks after he’d left Chance City, Ray finished with his last customer of the night and sent her on her way. Then he went downstairs at the Black Anvil to get a drink and maybe strike up a card game. Maybe he could win big that night.
Oscar, the bartender smiled and poured him a whiskey without being asked. “I don’t know how you do it. What did that make today? Five?”
“Six,” Ray said.
“Holy shit. How’s that even possible?”
Ray laughed because he sounded like Johnny. “Practice. Lots and lots of practice. And believe it or not, not all of them want sex.”
Oscar snorted. “Sure they don’t.”
“It’s true. Some of them are virgins who don’t know what to do on their wedding night. Their mothers don’t tell them and if they don’t have girlfriends who’ve been with a man, they don’t have anyone else to ask about it. That’s where I come in.”
“So how many did you actually sleep with today?”
“Two. The others just wanted advice. Of course, one did want to just look. You know, so she wasn’t scared to death over what a man’s privates actually look like.”
“Did you show her?”
“Yep.”
Oscar smiled. “What did she think?”
“She was confused, couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.” Ray downed his drink.
Oscar guffawed and poured Ray another shot. “What’d you tell her?”
Ray winked at him. “I showed her what the fuss was about.”
“I thought you said you only slept with two of them?”
“That’s right.”
Oscar frowned. “But you slept with her?”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn’t that make it three?”
Ray grinned. “I didn’t say which two I slept with. She was one of them.”
“You gotta be the luckiest son of a gun that ever lived. You got women lined up to sleep with you and you make good money off them, too,” Oscar said.
Downing his second drink, Ray just smiled and walked away from the bar. On the surface, Ray looked like he had the world by a string, but what people didn’t see was the wounded heart that he barely kept beating sometimes. They didn’t know that every time he touched another woman other than Carly, another piece of his soul died.
Despite the miles that separated them, she was always there with him. The women he slept with were the beneficiaries of his fantasies that he was making love with Carly. If not for that, he wouldn’t have been able to perform, no matter what technique he’d tried. And that’s what hurt him the most: using something so good, so right, to do something so wrong.
Only his deep devotion to Izzy kept him going, driving him to repay her for everything she’d done for him growing up. Shoving all the hurt and anger down as deep as he could, Ray sat down at a table to play cards. As he did, he thought about Ollie playing poker and smiled at the memory.
Conjuring those memories were sometimes the only way he could keep from crying, so he did it often. At night, he invariably dreamt of everyone at home, most of all Carly, and the loneliness ate at him. His smile faded as he picked up his cards and got down to the business of making more money.
Rob jumped when the door of the sheriff’s department flew open, banging the wall from the force exerted to open it. It scared him so badly that he almost drew his gun until he saw that the person responsible was Johnny.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
“Where’s Cy? The Dog House? On patrol? Where?”
Johnny’s wild-eyed expression made Rob’s heart jump around in his chest. “He’s interviewing some suspects in the back.”
Johnny ran off before Rob could stop him.
“You can’t go back there!” Rob hollered, going after him.
Johnny ran pell-mell through the doorway leading back to the cells and then turning the corner down the corridor on either side of which sat an interrogation room. He banged on one of the doors and Cy opened the one on the opposite side of the hallway.
“Johnny, what the heck are you doing?”
“You have to come now. Now!”
Cy glared at him meaningfully. “I can’t. I’m in the middle of something here.”