Divided Interests (Southern Bride 3)

“I’m more than happy to do that for you.”

We both smiled slightly. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I didn’t just talk to you and tell you I was scared.”

Paige wrapped her arms around her body and took a step back. “I wish you would have.”

“Me too,” I softly said.

“So, what are we going to do? About the house?”

I exhaled a deep breath. “We’re going to find that chest and figure out what Granddad was thinking when he left us the house.”

“Lucas, you don’t think he did it as a way to force us back together? He always said we belonged together.”

“I’m sure that was part of it, but I feel like there is something more. Something deeper that we’re supposed to find. Together.”

“Truce, then?” she asked, the sweetest smile on her face.

“Truce. And maybe we can, I don’t know, start over again.”

Paige dug her teeth into her bottom lip and stared up at me with the most innocent look I’d ever seen. A look that said she was just as unsure about our future as I was.

“Start over as what, friends?”

“Is that what you want?”

When she looked off into the distance, I couldn’t ignore the instant ache in my chest, the feel of something heavy in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t sure if I could live with just being her friend for the rest of my life.

When she focused her attention back on me, she took in a slow, almost calming breath. “Why did you break up with Bianca? I want the truth, all of it.”

“The truth?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Um, well, I can tell you it was long overdue, but when I saw you I realized I didn’t want to be with her anymore.”

Paige let out a humorless laugh. “You didn’t realize that when she was trying to keep you from attending your grandfather’s funeral?”

My fingers sliced through my hair. “Of course, I did. I knew it maybe six months after I started dating her that she wasn’t going to be the one, but I didn’t want to admit I failed yet again.”

“And seeing me changed your mind? Why?”

“Because I still love you, Paige.”

The words slipped out so damn fast I couldn’t have stopped them if I had tried.

“What?” she whispered, so low I barely heard it.

“Fuck,” I said, scrubbing my hands down my face. “That was not what I meant to say.”

“So you don’t love me?” she asked, her voice shaking and unsure.

I faced her again. “I do, but I didn’t want to blurt it out like that. I wanted to…start over, Paige. Be friends with you, date you, show you that I care about you and that I’m not trying to pull one over on you. I don’t really know what in the hell I’m doing. I’ve been so out of sorts since I found out you owned half this house. I’m pissed at myself, I’m angry with Granddad, I’m fighting off the urge to kiss you every goddamn time I see you and then you go off and dress sexy and it’s taking every ounce of strength not to ask to kiss you.”

“You have kissed me, though.”

“I know!” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “I thought maybe if I acted drunk, I could make up for things.”

Her lip snarled. “By kissing me and touching me? You thought you could make things better with sex?”

I stared at her. “Yes?”

“Is that your answer or a question, Lucas?”

“Can it be both?”

She rolled her eyes. “Us having sex isn’t going to do anything but make this all more complicated, you know that, right?”

With a frustrated groan, I nodded. “Of course, I know that. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to want you, because trust me, Paige. I want you. I’ve never stopped wanting you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

Paige turned and walked a few steps away, her hand over her mouth. For a moment I wondered if I should have kept my feelings to myself, but that moment came and went. I was tired of keeping it in.

“I’m sorry, Paige. I’m sorry for everything.”

Paige

I FOUGHT TO keep my body from shaking. Tears stung at the back of my eyes as I tried not to cry. Since the day Lucas walked away from us, I had been dreaming of hearing him tell me he was sorry. I even dreamed I’d hear him tell me he loved me. The truth was, I had never stopped loving him. That had been obvious to everyone who knew me, especially with my insane jealousy of his relationship with Bianca.

“Paige?”

“Give me a moment, please,” I croaked, my voice shaky and unsure.

I felt his hands on my shoulders, and my breath caught in my throat. He turned me and placed his finger on my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his.

“I just want to be honest with you. I’m not asking you for anything. Well, maybe your forgiveness,” he said with a slight smile. My heart drummed faster in my chest.