Divided Interests (Southern Bride 3)

“If you want to. If you don’t, I understand.”

My head should have been swimming with confusion. I had to be crazy thinking of getting pregnant while opening up a new business. But, something deep inside knew I wanted this as much as Lucas did. We had wasted so many years, I didn’t want to waste another single moment.

“I can probably move the wedding up. It’s really just family and friends, and it’s not a big affair. I’ll call the florist tomorrow and ask the earliest we can get all the arrangements finished.”

“Your dress?”

“It was nearly a perfect fit. I did want to lose maybe ten pounds or so.”

Lucas frowned. “Why the fuck would you want to do that?”

I laughed. “I’m carrying a good extra ten pounds, at least.”

Lucas was still inside of me. Now he withdrew completely, leaving me instantly feeling empty.

He stared intently. So much so that I felt heat move up from my neck to my cheeks.

“What are you doing? Why did you pull out?”

Lucas slowly shook his head, stood, and reached for my hands, pulling me out of the bed.

“Lift your arms,” he whispered as he pulled my tank top off my head. He tossed it to the side and then let his eyes move ever so slowly over my body.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on. Every single thing about you is perfect. Everything.”

I could feel my blush grow hotter.

“Lucas, I—”

He pressed his finger to my lips. “I don’t want you to change and I never want to hear you say you have weight to drop. When I look at you, Paige… God, when I look at you, my breath is stolen from my lungs. You have no idea how you make my body feel so alive. The way I want you is unlike anything. If I could spend the rest of my life exploring your body like it was the first time, I’d do it day in and day out. Don’t ever try to change. Not for me, not anyone.”

I felt one tear, then another, trail down my cheeks. Lucas cupped my face in his hands and swept his thumbs over my skin.

“You are the most precious thing. You are rare, and beautiful, and perfect. I knew the moment I walked away from you that it was the biggest mistake of my life. Never again will I go a day without telling you how fucking lucky I am that you’re mine.”

I tried with all my might not to cry. After rubbing my lips back and forth in an attempt to settle my emotions, I looked up and met his gaze.

“I’m not perfect, by any means, but to know that’s what you see when you look at me makes me almost the happiest woman on Earth.”

He smiled, then frowned. “Almost?”

I nodded. “If you let me paint your office the color I picked out, I’ll be beyond crazy happy.”

Lucas stared in utter disbelief. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth before he lost control and started to laugh.

“You are impossible. How about this. I’ll let you paint it pink—”

“Light peach.”

“Whatever you want to call it,” he said with an eye roll. “If you marry me this weekend.”

“This weekend!” I gasped.

“Take it or leave it.”

“You know, I learned the art of negotiation from some of the best. I could attempt to sweeten the deal.”

His brow lifted.

“Fine. I’ll marry you this weekend.”

I screamed when Lucas picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. He dropped me onto the bed and we both laughed. The moment he slipped inside me, everything felt exactly as it should. And I was indeed, the happiest woman on Earth.

Lucas

I CAUGHT SIGHT of my father as I rode up on Ranger. It was a beautiful, cool fall day, something Texas didn’t have a whole lot of. It was always either damn hot or damn cold.

Ranger came to a stop, and I jumped off the side of him, adjusted my hat and made my way over to the fence.

“I told you I would fix this, Dad.”

He looked up at me and smiled. I knew it still meant a lot to him to have me back home, working alongside him, both here on the ranch and with Foster construction company.

“It was such a cool morning, I wanted to get it taken care of. What are you doing here?”

“Wanted to talk to you about a few things.”

He nodded. “Grab those pullers. We’ll talk and work.”

Smiling, I picked up the fence pullers. My father had always been the type of person who didn’t believe in wasting a single moment. If he could do something more efficiently, he did. I couldn’t help but wonder if he got that from his English father. I pushed the thought away and spoke.

“First, I wanted to talk to you about bringing Ranger to Granddad’s place. I’ve been working on the barn, not that it needed much work. Granddad made sure it stayed in good condition, even though he stopped keeping animals there years ago.”