The cab of the rental car is filled with the scent of Stephany. Some sort of fruity smelling shampoo or body wash or something. It's light and feminine and it makes my mouth water.

My hand itches to reach over and touch her. Even if it's just to hold her hand. I'm trying to dial it back a notch but the more she talks the more I start thinking I want to do more than hold her damn hand.

"How about you?" Stephany's voice breaks into my thoughts, "It seems kind of obvious that getting married isn't your idea, what's up with that?"

Shit. I guess it was too much to ask to just sit beside her listening to her life story while I watched the great Pacific Ocean eat away at the shoreline.

I open my mouth to say something stupid. Something arrogant that would just wreck the whole drive and probably my chances.

Not just my chances to get in her pants. No. Worse than that, I realize, wreck my chances of developing anything meaningful with Steph.

A lot of conflicting emotions are at war in my gut here. If I start something real with Stephany... shit. So what am I supposed to do? Never love a woman because I'm worried my family will run her off? Or that any woman who marries me would just be in it for the money and the lifestyle and she'll leave as soon as she finds out that's not what I'm about?

Fuck it. I don't get the company till I get married. If I gotta do it anyway, I might as well take a chance with a woman that just might be up to the challenge.

"I figured Raven probably told you what was up with that," I smile tightly.

"Raven said it wasn't your idea," Stephany ventures softly, "She said she intentionally delayed finding you a match because she knew you weren't serious."

"I don't know if that's exactly true." I say slowly, thinking it through. I always knew I never had Raven fooled. No matter how many times I assured her it was my idea to sign up with her, no matter how many times I told her I was serious about a wife. She always knew I was getting forced into it, that it was really Dad and Randy that were pushing to marry me off but I wouldn't exactly say I'm not serious about marriage.

Finding a woman who'd be a good partner in my life and in my bed sounds pretty fucking sweet. It's just-- complicated.

Truth is, I'm surprised Raven kept my file open at all. Shocked the hell outta me when she called to tell me about Steph.

"Well, she didn't use those exact words I guess," Stephany says, "but she did say it wasn't your idea."

"What words did she use, exactly?" I'm curious to know what the hell Raven said that got Stephany to agree to drive up the California coast line with me on a moment's notice.

I hear Stephany giggle a little. It sounds so fucking sweet and I want to toss her down and tickle her so she'll do it again.

Crazy ideas running through my head right now. Images of walking on that beach down there, barefoot while I hold Stephany's hand like some sort of fucking erectile dysfunction drug commercial.

Except erectile dysfunction is about the opposite of what's going on with me. My damn dick keeps getting harder every time I hear her move on the leather seat next to me. She makes a little gasping sound when we come around a corner and the coastline comes into view again and the fucker jumps like it heard her.

"Sorry," she tells me, sounding kinda shy, "I don't drive up this far very often, I always forget how gorgeous it is.

It is gorgeous out here, somewhere north of Santa Cruz now, there's not much going on out here. Of course, there's something else I'd like to get a good look at too. Namely Stephany. Spread out under me while I drink that delicious pussy I got a taste of last night-- direct from the source this time.

I see a turn off that leads down to a little parking lot with beach access, so I pull in.

"So anyway," I remind her, "what did our friendly matchmaker say about me?"

"Oh," she giggles again and I love it, "she says you're a smart choice."

"What does that mean?" I'm still smiling as we leave the car and follow the path down to the beach, but I'm worried I know what it means. I know what it means when I hear my mom and Joanie say it.

Raven had made a better impression on me than that. If she's selling me based on my earning potential or my family's net value, that impression just took a plunge.

Stephany is ahead of me on the little wooden staircase that takes us down to the sand below. The beach here isn't like you think of when you think of California. The sky overhead is gray and the wind coming off the ocean is chilly, even though it's the middle of June. The waves are high and they crash violently on the sand and there's not much to the beach itself between jagged rock formations before it butts up against vertical cliff.

When Stephany reaches the sand at the bottom of the stairs, she kicks off the canvas shoes she's wearing and waits for me to join her. She's looking up at me and for a second I feel like she's already mine.

Something easy and familiar passes between us and I almost reach for her when I get to the bottom of the steps and pull her in for a kiss before I forget that I'm dialing it back.

"She thinks you're a smart choice for me is all," Steph shrugs, "it means she thinks we'd be good together. It's what she does, Devon."

Shit. I'm standing so close to her now, almost touching her just like last night. Only this time it's not because I'm trying to be a jackass or scare her off. This time it's because when I got to the bottom of the stairs, she didn't move out of the way. She's standing her ground, just like she did last night, and it makes me crazy with the need to feel her against me again.

"What did she tell you?" Stephany looks up at me, her eyes filled with something I'm not sure I understand, "When she told you she found a match for you? What did she say about me?"

"She said she finally did it," I laugh, "told me she found me a woman I didn't deserve that wouldn't put up with my shit and that if I didn't marry her I was fired."

It's true too.

Stephany laughs, "What kind of shit am I not going to put up with?"

This woman is gorgeous. Standing so close to me with the wind blowing through her dark hair, I lift my hand and tuck a wayward curl behind her ear.

I can see her nipples hard under the thin bra she's wearing and it could be from the cool breeze off the ocean, but the way her lips tremble and fall apart slightly when I touch her makes me think the wind doesn't bother her.

I reach out and grab her, bringing her closer to me till she's pressed up against my chest.

I'll tell her what kind of shit she won't put up with later, right now I need to show her what she will put up with.