ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (196 page)

“It’s great, I’m flattered.” Amanda smiled, a soft pink tinge taking hold of her cheeks. “And this place is beautiful, really.”

“Yes, but not nearly as beautiful as the sight in front of me.”

“Now you’re just being corny.”

Buck shrugged, taking a bowl from the table and beginning to fill his plate. “Yep, but it’s true so it might as well be said.”

Amanda laughed, filling her plate as well with a little bit of everything, each dish making her mouth water as she attempted to decide which to try first.

“So,” Amanda said after about ten minutes of shoveling amazing food into her mouth, finally coming up for air. “You seem like a nice guy, attractive, not a terrible personality; why haven’t you mated before now?”

Buck nodded, wiping his mouth and leaning back in his chair a bit. “I knew this would come up,” he grinned, “and honestly, I’m not really sure. I guess I’ve just been busy and haven’t found that right person yet.”

“Mhmm,” Amanda said, not sure if she bought it yet. “So, you’re telling me that there are no eligible, nice, pretty girls in Montana that have peaked your interest?”

“Well, there was this one girl, but it didn’t quite work out. You see, she was allergic to dogs.”

Amanda paused, looking up to see the amused sparkle in his eyes indicating that he was clearly joking, making Amanda burst out laughing.

“Oh my gosh, I actually believed you for a second!” she said, catching her breath. “I can tell, I think I’m going to like you.”

Buck winked. “Well, I sure hope you do, because I think I already like you.”

Amanda grinned, a small little smile as she thought that maybe, just maybe, she could find herself falling for this man.

-x-x-x- Chapter 3 –x-x-x-

It had been four weeks since Amanda had started staying with Buck and his pack, and, if she were honest with herself, she was beginning to like it.

Buck was a nice man, and his pack was just as kind and easy-going as he was. The women were nice and the men, while a bit crass at times, were typically gentlemen. She found herself enjoying their Sunday movie nights and their daily rotations of cooking breakfast for the pack. She had been called-on to make breakfast by Buck early one morning, him having knocked on her door at the crack of dawn insisting on teaching her how to make his famous blueberry muffins.

Buck had pulled out all the stops when it came to courting her. He picked her fresh new flowers as soon as the ones he had previously picked looked close to wilting, and every night he took her out somewhere private for dinner and other date-night activities. He had even taught her how to ride a horse, saying that, if she wanted, they could find her own and she could name it.

Carl had been sincere in his promise, calling her every day to check on her and passing the phone around to other members of her old pack, and keeping her up to date with all that was happening with them.

All-in-all, despite her initial hesitation, Amanda was adjusting well to life with Buck. She couldn’t say that she was thrilled about being forced into a mating, but, if she had had the choice of mates and had met Buck naturally, she believed that she still would have been drawn to him in some way.

Despite all of this, Amanda would be lying if she said that she wasn’t nervous. Today was the big day. Her wedding day.

Growing up, if asked what her wedding day would be like, she likely could have come up with a number of ideas, but none would even begin to look like the real thing.

Instead of the traditional wedding dress, she was wearing a simple white sundress with a lace bodice. Her long brown hair was twisted in a fanciful style, with wildflowers that matched her bouquet, braided courtesy of Buck’s Beta, Claire.

Instead of a female as her maid of honor, Carl, dressed in a lilac colored suit, stood next to her, prepared to walk her down the aisle and give her away to Buck.

The wedding was in the field beside the pack home that Buck and Amanda had once had a picnic at. Wicker chairs lined either side of the red cloth aisle set in the grass, each side filled with members of either Buck’s pack or Amanda’s old pack.

Music drifted through the field from an iPod dock that someone had brought outside, and Buck stood waiting at the end of the aisle dressed in a well-fitted, fine tuxedo.

“Ready?” Carl murmured to her, looping his arm through hers.

“I don’t know, are you?” Amanda teased, “It seems like you have a bigger part in this wedding than I do.”

Carl was serving as the one who would give the bride away, the maid of honor, and the officiator of the wedding.

“I think I can handle it,” Carl smirked, “but remember, this is your big day. We’re all here for you.”

Amanda grinned widely, looking around the side of the house where Buck was waiting for her. “You know, I think I’m very ready,” Amanda said, sure of herself.

The song switched to the traditional marriage march and Amanda took a deep breath.

“Well, here we go,” Carl smiled, squeezing Amanda’s arm gently in support as they began the steady walk to the head of the aisle, all eyes fixing on Amanda.

The walk down the aisle ended up being much shorter than Amanda had expected, and soon enough Amanda was standing face-to-face with Buck, Carl moving to stand behind the two of them as the music came to a stop.

Carl cleared his throat, shuffling a bit nervously for a second before he began the ceremony.

Buck smiled at her, taking her hand in his and running his thumb soothingly over the back of it.

“Do you, Buck, take Amanda to be your bonded mate, to protect, care for, respect, and love, as long as you both live?”

“I do,” Buck said, voice ringing steady in the crisp autumn air.

“And do you, Amanda, take Buck to be your bonded mate, to protect, care for, respect, and love, as long as you both live?”

Amanda grinned, the answer rolling off of her tongue with surprising ease. “I do,” she said, meaning it.

“Then I now pronounce you bonded,” Carl said.

The audience cheered and clapped for the two of them as Buck leaned in and kissed Amanda, sweeping her off of her feet as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him hard.

After a few moments he set her down, the two breaking apart breathlessly, smiling at one another as they ignored the crowd.

Amanda grinned brilliantly, leaning up on her toes to bring him into another kiss. Buck laughed, kissing her back eagerly. Amanda held him tighter, her heart soaring.

It was funny almost; Amanda couldn’t help thinking to herself as Buck took her hand and they ran down the aisle that a month ago she had called Carl crazy and sworn that she’d never go through with it. And now, she was entering into a marriage, a mating with Buck, not only willingly, but eagerly. For once, Amanda though to herself with a smile, she had a surprise she liked. She grinned at the man beside her as rice rained down on her head. Yes, it had been a bit of a roller coaster to get where they were, but, if she were honest with herself, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

-x-x-x- Chapter 4 –x-x-x-

It had been a week since their marriage, and yet Amanda and Buck had still yet to consummate it. To her surprise somewhat, Buck had been firm in his insistence that he would not pressure her into sex. In fact, he had insisted on waiting in order to allow Amanda to make sure she knew what she wanted. But, if Amanda asked herself frankly, she could confidently say that she was sure what she wanted, and Buck was it. All she needed was the right time to let him know. And, she had decided after she woke up next to him that morning after a night of just sleeping, tonight was that night.

She smiled to herself as they walked into town, Buck’s arm wrapped around her waist as he told her the story of how he had first learned to ride a horse and how he had accidentally put the saddle on backwards, and had to wrap his arms and legs around the horse’s neck just to stay on.

“I was trying to impress this girl at a ranch I had gotten a job at. I told her that I was a natural-born rider. When I finally got help from her father and got my feet back on the ground, my face was so red it could have been mistaken for a tomato,” he joked, making Amanda laugh.

Unconsciously, she had snuggled into his chest, taking in the strong, woody smell that seemed to cling to all of Buck’s clothes and the faint scent of lavender from the body wash she had found in his room that he avidly denied as being his.

“So, where are we going tonight?” she asked, hoping that for once he’d tell her.

She had no such luck. “Sorry Mandy,” he said, calling her by a nickname he knew she hated, but he used because he loved to see the adorable wrinkling of her nose when he called her that. “You know the drill; always a surprise.”

They walked for a little longer, trading childhood stories and laughing all the while as they continued into town.

“Ah, here we are!” Buck said, gesturing at a small stone building they stopped outside of.

“What is this place?” Amanda asked, looking at the sign in curiosity, gleaning nothing from the shop’s simple name of ‘Stacey’s Place’.

“Well,” Buck said, opening the door and causing the bell above it to alert the shop’s owners that they had customers, “we had dinner earlier,” he said, referring to the picnic in the field next to his house they had recently come from, “so I thought that I’d take you out for dessert.”

Amanda took a whiff of her surroundings, taking in the delicious scent of chocolate, vanilla, and the number of other sweet smells that filled the bakery.

“This place has the best cupcakes in town. And their pie is great. I had to stop coming here after work because they would always convince me to take two home with me. One for me, and one for the first member of the pack to get to it.”

Amanda smiled, eyes eagerly taking in all the decorative cakes, beautiful cupcakes, and scrumptious pies in the glass cases.

“Welcome to Stacey’s; what can I get for you?” a woman behind the counter whose nametag read ‘Kimberly’ asked.

“I will have a slice of your famous huckleberry cobbler with ice cream and whatever this gorgeous woman wants.”

Amanda smiled, leaning into him a bit more as she considered her options. “I think I will have a slice of your triple-chocolate Oreo mudslide cake please, with ice cream as well.”

“Ohh, good choice.” Kimberly smiled, ringing them up quickly before getting their dessert.

Buck lead Amanda over to a nearby table, pulling her chair out for her before sitting across the table, licking his lips as he took in the mouthwatering smell of his pie.

“It looks so good, I almost don’t want to eat it,” Amanda said, picking up her fork, “almost.”

She dug in, trying not to moan at how good the cake tasted in her mouth and failing just a little bit, Buck’s eyes lighting with something like desire as he looked at her, caught off guard by how sensually, though unintentionally so, she ate the cake before gathering his wits about him and turning to take a bite of his own dessert.

“Buck? Buck! I can’t believe it’s you!”

Both looked up at the female voice that came from the back of the store, Amanda’s fork still in her mouth.

Before either could say a word, a tall, slender woman with curly blonde hair and a pink apron covering her sweater and jeans came over to them, stopping right in front of their table with her hands on her hips and a large smile on her face.

Buck blinked, taking a second to place the woman’s face before a grin took over his features and he stood, scooping the giggling woman into a large bear hug. “Emily, I can’t believe it’s you!”

Amanda frowned, taking in the woman’s slender hips, large bust and bright pink lipstick as the woman took a step back to admire Buck, hands resting daintily on his biceps as his hands came back to rest easily at his sides.

“How long has it been?” she asked, a slight country lilt to her voice.

“Gee,” Buck said, scratching his chin, “I don’t know, maybe four, five years I’d reckon. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah, my cousin owned the store, but she and her husband moved out to the Golden Coast to retire, so I decided to take a break from teaching and took this place over. Science was never my favorite subject anyways.”

Buck grinned. “So, what have you been up to?”

Amanda frowned further as the woman went into a long, animated tale of her life since she had last seen him, and Amanda slowly realized that if Buck hadn’t introduced her yet, he wasn’t likely to.

She began eating her cake, her annoyance growing with each bite. The two of them had turned completely away from her, with Buck’s back towards her and Emily never even sparing her a glance.