The Dilemma: A Her Choice Story Read online

  The Dilemma

  A Her Choice Story

  By

  Megan McCoy

  ©2016 by Blushing Books® and Megan McCoy

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published by Blushing Books®,

  a subsidiary of

  ABCD Graphics and Design

  977 Seminole Trail #233

  Charlottesville, VA 22901

  The trademark Blushing Books®

  is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

  Megan McCoy

  The Dilemma

  EBook ISBN: 978-1-68259-887-0

  Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  PSSST... AMAZON CUSTOMERS.... FREE STUFF

  Do you love Blushing Books and our spicy stories by your favorite authors, Vanessa Vale, Maggie Ryan, Yasmine Hyde, April Hill, Carolyn Faulkner, Alta Hensley, Stevie MacFarlane, Mariella Starr, Maren Smith, Misty Malone, Maddie Taylor, Bella Bryce and dozens of others?

  We have our own store, but we know many of you prefer to buy from Amazon, and now we’re making it much easier for you. We’ve started a new newsletter, aimed at just our Amazon customers.

  We’ll be sending out one newsletter per week, letting you know about our most recent releases. In addition, everyone on this newsletter is guaranteed TWO free stories per month, and to sweeten the deal, we’ll be giving one person on the list

  A $25.00 AMAZON GIFT CERTIFICATE

  every week. Nothing to buy... just stay on our list and you’re eligible for the drawing.

  Signing up is easy. Just text blushing2 to 22828

  OR use this link.

  WOULD YOU LIKE FREE STORIES ON YOUR KINDLE EVERY MONTH?

  That's right. FREE. And we're not talking about some short “throw-away.” Every month, Blushing Books gives our customers two novel or novella-length stories (typically at least 15,000 words) completely free. You can always download our current month's stories at our website, located at http://www.blushingbooks.com.

  But we're offering an additional service for Kindle customers - we'll send the monthly free stories directly to your Kindle device. They will also come automatically if you’re using a Kindle app on your smart phone or tablet. You don't need to do anything, pay anything or remember anything. Every month, free stuff will just magically appear.

  Here’s how:

  1. Email us at [email protected], and put FREE KINDLE STORY in the subject line of your email. The email address you mail FROM will not be kept or mailed in any way unless you also sign up for our newsletter with that address.

  2. In the body of your email, you will need to provide your KINDLE's email address. Your Kindle email will end with @kindle.com. If you do not know your Kindle email, you need to log on to your Amazon account and find it under "manage my Kindle."

  3. You’ll also need to add [email protected] to your permitted email list on Amazon (otherwise your Kindle will not accept email from us.) If you don’t do this step, you will not get the story. This is also found under the "manage my Kindle" section of your Amazon account.

  Once we get an email from you, you'll be added to our free monthly story list. You'll receive two free stories per month. And remember, if you prefer, you can always get the free material at www.blushingbooks.com.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  About the Author

  EBook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Blushing Books

  Chapter One

  “Elizabeth Anne!” Matt’s voice rumbled into her slumbering brain. “Are you sleeping?”

  “No,” she lied. “I’m watching.”

  “Who’s winning?”

  Who was playing? Who really cared? “The ones in the tight pants?” she guessed, cracking one eye open. Yeah, the game was still on. Still. On.

  “Liz, it’s a Cards/Cubs game!”

  Like that was supposed to be relevant? “Oh, sorry, I forgot,” she said, opening both eyes and smiling at him. Hot damn. Why watch little boys with ball bats run around on TV when she had a hot cowboy right here on the couch with her?

  “I thought you liked baseball?” he asked.

  “I used to. But now I have all the eye candy I want right here.” She wiggled closer to him.

  “You always know the right thing to say, don’t you?” He scooped her onto his lap and whispered in her ear, “Rest up. You’ll need your energy later.”

  “No matter who wins?” she giggled, suddenly wide-awake.

  “Cards win, I’m on top. Cubs win you are,” he said, softly.

  “What if it’s a tie?” Okay, she liked baseball again.

  “Then I’ll take you from behind.”

  “Sounds like I win no matter what happens, guess I’ll go back to sleep,” Liz shrieked as he began tickling her.

  “Seriously, guys? I’m trying to finish my homework in here so I can watch the end of the game. Keep it down or get a room,” Ben’s voice floated in from the back of the house.

  Matt smiled at her, and she melted. Yeah, a room. “Sorry, kid,” Matt called back. “Your mom can’t behave herself.”

  “Don’t I know it!” Ben agreed.

  “You two need to not pick on me,” Liz pouted, happily. She loved her two guys.

  A year ago, living as a single mom, alone, broke, working two jobs, and stressing over her shut down tween son, she couldn’t look ahead to her life today. Living in the most beautiful place on earth, with the handsome cowboy she met on vacation to Rose’s Ranch with her brothers. Her son thriving, happy and almost back to the decent, sweet kid he used to be. Thanks to Matt, and her part time job in town as a dental tech, along with pitching in on the chores here at the ranch, that she also got paid for, her money woes were almost a thing of the past. She felt more than satisfied with her life choices over the past year, including moving in with Matt right before Ben’s school started, at what seemed to be midsummer. Didn’t school used to start after Labor Day? Not anymore apparently. It hadn’t seemed like a rush decision, to move in here, but the right one for them both. For all three of them, she hoped.

  Ben seemed happier here, though he and Matt had some head butts a few times. That was to be expected, she knew. Ben had been the only male in her life since his dad died so she realized that was bound to happen when a new man joined their little family. Overall, though, he was calmer and less quick to snap at her or ignore her. Not knowing if it was Matt’s influence, the new school he’d started last month, or more outside time on the ranch and away from his electronics, didn’t bother her much. She just felt grateful for the change.

  Liz slid off Matt’s lap. “Want some popcorn?”

  “Sure,” he said, eyes back on the game. “Hurry up, Ben. Fifth inning,” he yelled to the back of the house.

  “Five more minutes,” Ben called back.

  Liz smiled and figured she’d make him popcorn too. Squealing as Matt smacked her butt, while she walked past, she turned and pouted at hi
m. “Ow!”

  “Just reminding you to get yourself back here, fast as you can, I need my woman,” he said, without looking up.

  Sighing, she rubbed her butt, fighting down her smile. Yeah, she was Matt’s woman, all right. She hoped for always. Who knew though? She wasn’t taking anything for granted yet. She’d talked to her brother Eric before she moved down here, about just that issue. She didn’t want to uproot her son again. He’d been through so much since he lost his dad. Eric told her that his wife Holly agreed, if it didn’t work out with Matt, she and Ben would move in with them, at least till she found a close by apartment. Eric had played protector to her since their parents died, and then even more so once her husband, Troy, had died. She appreciated it but really wanted to make it on her own. She was a grown woman, with an education, and with a kid. People did it all the time, and she could, too.

  Inhaling, she smelled the buttery popcorn and listened to the soothing homey sound of popping, along with the sound of her guys shouting at the TV in their cozy cabin’s living room. She still had a few loose ends to tie up from her old life, but hoped here would be a fresh start and the beginning to a new, better one, with a guy she loved and who loved her, and Ben.

  Liz looked over as the front door opened, and Matt’s son’s familiar call, “Hey old man,” as he walked in.

  “Game is on!” Matt called back.

  Liz said from the kitchen, “I’ll put on more popcorn. Anyone want a beer or a soda?”

  “Beer!” From Matt.

  “Beer,” from Blaze.

  “Me, too,” Gabe yelled, and she smiled. Those two were a matched set. Blaze and Gabriel, or Gabe, as most everyone called him. It was rare to see one without the other, after work hours. She was glad Blaze had a good friend. Gabe taught school, but all summer and every chance he got, he was here. She thought he had permanent residence in the bunkhouse, but wasn’t for sure. Maybe he had an apartment or something in town? She didn’t know for sure. Didn’t matter, really.

  “Me, too,” Ben yelled back, who had apparently finished his homework.

  Liz grabbed three beers and a soda from the refrigerator, and brought them in while the popcorn finished up.

  “Why am I the maid?” she grumbled.

  “Because you’re the one who looks cute in an apron and heels,” Matt said, grabbing his beer. “Thanks, babe.”

  Ben, Gabe, and Blaze all moaned, but grabbed their drinks. Ben scowled at her, but took his soda without complaining. Liz went back for the popcorn, then snuggled on the couch between Matt and Ben. She couldn’t think of anyplace she’d rather be.

  Until two hours later, flat on her back, crashing into an orgasm. Because the Cardinals won. She loved it when the Cardinals won.

  * * *

  Matt walked into the dining hall the next morning, smiling and ready for coffee and some of their ranch’s cook, Mariah’s great eggs, crispy bacon he could smell from a mile away, and whatever bread Jenn had whipped up from scratch while they all still slept. He could have cooked in his cabin, or Liz would have fed him, but she was sleeping so soundly after their celebration of the Cardinals’ win last night, that he slipped out not to wake her. It was her day off from the dental office where she worked part time, so she didn’t have to get up. He’d quietly gotten Ben off to school, making a game of whispers and exaggerated tiptoes that had even the sullen teen fighting back a smile, and headed down to see what was going on at the ranch today.

  His dad’s new wife, Candy, or as he liked to tease her, his new mommy, who was about ten years, if that, older than he was, stood in front of the coffee bar, filling her cup. She’d been a hotel executive manager for years, before she married his dad and became the general manager of Rose’s Ranch. Actually that was flipped. She came down for the job and stayed for the hot cowboy, she said. Since her arrival, and subsequent management, things had run so smoothly, his dad was thinking of adding on to the business, again. They already had three new cabins going up this summer, and almost finished, plus she was remodeling the old ones, one at a time. She’d added activities at the lake and expanded their winter offerings. His dad, Jeb, wasn’t the only one who thought she was amazing.

  “Hey, where was my morning text, mommy?” he asked, filling his cup, next to her.

  “Sorry, late night,” she smiled at him, her mouth still swollen and he tried to block the image of Liz’s kiss swollen lips. He and his dad, Jeb, had shared a house after his divorce when Blaze was small, till he came home and found his daddy chasing his new mommy around the house, both of them wearing next to nothing. He moved to the cabin as soon as possible after that. Let the old man have his fun while he still could. He figured Blaze probably thought the same thing about him. “It will be out soon. Right now I need coffee.”

  “Me too.” They headed to the same table, put their coffee down and went to the steamer table for food. Candy always texted the lead people the daily schedule. If they had clients leaving or coming in, how many were expected for meals, what was on the schedule, trail rides or buggy rents, how many and what kind of boats were going out. She had some kind of magic spreadsheet that just keep track of things. He didn’t understand it, but he knew it worked, and it was because of her that the ranch’s tourist business had grown so fast in the last year. Grown smoothly, which was the key.

  “Oh, hey, you got some mail over at the house. There’s getting to be a pile, if you want to pick it up sometime today,” she said.

  “Will do, or at least, I’ll send Liz over for it. She’s off today.” He scooped eggs and bacon and what the place card said was oatmeal raisin bread onto his plate.

  “How are things going?” Candy asked him. “Getting along with Ben okay?”

  “As well as can be expected. He’s not giving me the death glare or the evil eye more than a few times a day. He likes hanging out with Blaze, so that’s something. Blaze is leading that three-day camping trip next week and he wants to go to that. He’ll only miss half a day of school and we figured it would be good for him.” Matt slathered his bread with the real butter they bought from the farm down the road and took a bite. Should they do cows? Would people appreciate the added extra of that? Would it be more work and expense than a perk, though? He shelved the thought to talk about at the next board meeting with his dad.

  “The fact you and Liz will get a few days alone is a perk, right?” she teased.

  “Just a happenstance,” he grinned back at her. “Did those new horse packs come in yet?”

  They settled into chatting about ranch business till Candy excused herself to go to the kitchen to see what Mariah, their head cook, had planned for the day.

  Matt leaned back. He figured he’d go grab the mail and head to the cabin to see if Liz was awake before he went to the barn for the day. He hoped she was. A quickie wasn’t out of the question, if she was up to it. He sure was. Last night had been great, and gave him an appetite for more.

  Grabbing the mail from the Lyon’s Den—his dad and Candy’s house, as well as the office where people checked in, and home to a small gift shop that Candy had created after she began—he nodded to the teenager dusting the shelves. The first day Candy had arrived, she hadn’t been able to figure out where to check in, or where anyone was. She changed that with set gift shop hours and check in times, as well as having someone around in the office part of the building while everyone else was out at work. That got the clients checked in happily. No one complained about the set hours, and they had no angst over where to go to check in because she’d also added signs that clearly defined spots. One sign, hanging over the bedroom hall clearly said No Admittance, and Jeb had added a door that locked. That gave them some privacy at night, and even during the day, if needed. Lord knows they needed it. They were like out of control teenagers, and if it weren’t his dad acting that way, he’d think it was funny.

  “Mr. Lyon?” the teenager asked nervously, flicking her dusting brush around in a way that made him nervous for the knick-knacks nearby. “Do
you know if there’s any room on Blaze’s camp out left? I’d be glad to go with him, them, to help out. I can cook and brush the horses and whatever needs done. I’m not scheduled that weekend.”

  Another Blaze groupie. How that boy wasn’t fighting them off with a stick, he didn’t know. “I don’t know,” he told her, solemnly. “You need to talk to Ms. Cassandra or Blaze about that.” Candy had been Cassandra before his dad laid eyes on her and decided she was the sweetest bit of Candy he’d ever seen. No one outside of the family called her that, however. And the family only called her that because they loved how it made her blush. Although he’d heard her answer the phone using that name a time or two, so she must be getting used to it.

  “Thank you, I’ll do that,” she giggled back to him and returned to her shelf dusting while he started sifting through the mail. Wasn’t as much mail as there used to be, he noted. He got most of his bills on line, and apparently Liz did too. They’d just started combining bills and expenses. He made enough, it wasn’t something he wanted her to worry about, but she insisted on getting her dental tech license current in this state, and paying her way, as well as Ben’s. He respected that, but realized he would win her over to his way of thinking soon enough. He had nothing against her working. Everyone needed to do something and she had worked hard for her degree. She should be able to use it. He just didn’t want her stressing out over money like she had been for the last few years since her husband had died.

  They’d sat down and she showed him all her bills, and he’d paid a few off and she made plans for payments on the rest of them. He thought they’d worked that out very well.

  However, he looked at this batch of mail and frowned, knowing something was wrong. Carefully, he tucked the envelope back into her little batch of mail and headed to the cabin.