Marry Me, Baby: Evergreen Grove

By Elisabeth Staab

Dante Ramos will win at love if it's the last thing he does...

Since I retired from boxing, I’m fighting to keep my life off the damn ropes.

Lately, one thing after another’s going wrong. There’s the road-trip on Valentine’s weekend that coulda gotten me and my girl both killed. Then came the unspoken secrets that put so much distance between us.

My love for Michelle is everything that keeps me human. I can feel her slipping away.

I’ve got one last shot. A desperate proposal.

And it’s all about to go wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elisabeth Staab
• Release date: Feb 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9780997136647

Elisabeth Staab

Elisabeth Staab took a long time to find her passion. After trying many jobs, she realized that nothing beats romance. She digs coffee, saucy stories, and sexy things that go bump in the night. Once, she ate dinner in a jail and liked it. She lives in the Washington DC area with her incredible family and does her best to juggle life while ignoring the laundry.

Book preview

Cover of Marry Me Baby

Marry Me, Baby (An Evergreen Grove Proposal)

Elisabeth Staab

(Evergreen Grove, Book 4.5)

Since I retired from boxing, I’m fighting to keep my life off the damn ropes.

Lately, one thing after another’s going wrong. There’s the road-trip on Valentine’s weekend that coulda gotten me and my girl both killed. Then came the unspoken secrets that put so much distance between us.

My love for Michelle is everything that keeps me human. I can feel her slipping away.

I’ve got one last shot. A desperate proposal.

And it’s all about to go wrong.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2017 by Elisabeth Staab.

Cover design by Babski Creative Studios

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please respect the work of this and all authors whose work you read. If you don’t, you’ll lose your dog, the love of your life, and your beer. Maybe also your boots and your truck. Best not to tempt fate, yeah?

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Marry Me, Baby/ Elisabeth Staab -- 1st ed.

ISBN 978-0-9971366-4-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page

About this book

Copyright

Dedication

1. HIDEOUS REFLECTION

2. BOWL OF CHERRIES

3. REALLY PRETTY PAPER

4. GOOD ENOUGH

5. NO WORRIES

6. MILKSHAKES, BABY

7. BACON

8. CHUNKS OF GLASS

9. A MILLION MINUTES

Also by Elisabeth Staab

About Elisabeth

Acknowledgements

Copyright

To Tom, who taught me that the rockiest of proposals can be the start of the best adventure.

1. Hideous Reflection

Dante

Now get the fuck off my property!

That guy, the one screaming his head off? That’s a crazy-ass retired boxer waving a shotgun in my general direction. Mine and my girlfriend’s.

We came to ask a few questions. No such luck.

Time to hit the damn road.

I grab Michelle’s hand and shove her ahead of me, racing across a packed-dirt yard that looks like it’s given up any hope of growing grass. Go. Get in the Jeep. Get in the motherfuck— Michelle, let’s go!

She’s trying to turn around. To look back at where we just came from or say one last thing, I don’t even know. What in the hell is she thinking?

Jesus, I know what she’s doing. She hopes she can reason with this guy. Talk him down.

The wild look on that man’s face tells me we’re long past the hope for any sort of sensible discourse. We passed reasonable when he pointed two barrels in our faces and hurled a load of slurred insults my way.

After shoving a pale and shaking Michelle through the passenger door of my ride, I take a half-second to glance back at Reuben Billings. The once towering heavyweight champion from back when I was still driving toy cars under my ma’s kitchen table now looks like way too many badasses have wound up looking after the machine spits them out: unsteady on his feet, wild eyes darting around in sunken sockets, and incoherent speech.

The harsh February sunshine on his weathered skin makes it easy to see the salty gray mixed into the hair on his head and in his overgrown stubble. The man’s only forty-five, but he looks a decade or two older. Having seen film of Billings in his prime, it burns to witness how this giant has been slain by his own dragon. More than that, it scares the shit out of me.

This man and me, we have demons in common. Can’t help but wonder if I’m catching a glimpse of my future’s hideous reflection.

I’d come here hoping Billings and I could help each other. Seems like he doesn’t want help.

Dante, are you all right?

Michelle’s staring me down from the passenger’s seat. Her violet eyes spark at me, and wild strands of her dark hair have escaped from its ponytail. She’s afraid, and I want to tell her it’s all okay. Except right now I don’t know.

Yeah, I’m solid, I finally tell her. Nowhere close to the truth at the moment, but I figure I will be. Eventually.

My grip on the wheel is so tight that my knuckles turn from dark tan to stark white. With a growl, I hit the gas, sending Michelle deep into the passenger’s seat.

Coming here was a mistake. All I want now is to get gone.

2. Bowl of Cherries

I'm sorry, baby.

My girl reaches carefully over the gearshift of my Jeep to