Saving You (Love Wanted In Texas Book 2) (20 page)

Beer. Alone time with my dad. Something was fixin’ to go down.

“Dad, just come out and say it.”

He popped open the beer and took a drink. “Tell me about you and Libby.”

Walking over, I jumped and sat next to him on the tailgate. I couldn’t help but smile. “Ah hell, Luke. I’ve seen that goofy-ass smile before.”

Turning, I looked at him with a questioning look. He threw his head back and laughed. “I’ve seen it on my own face.” Nodding, I tipped the beer back against my lips. “It sure took y’all enough time to get together.”

My smile faded. “Yeah, that would be my fault.”

Raising his eyebrows my father asked, “How so?”

I shook my head. “Where should I start? I was afraid of my feelings for Libby, so I acted like an asshole. I pushed her away and into the arms of another guy. I hurt her more times than I care to think about.” Glancing at my father I asked, “Should I keep going?”

He smiled and let out a throaty laugh. “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, that’s for sure.”

I chuckled. “I’m going to take that as a good sign though. Seeing how happy you and Mom are, Lib and I would be lucky to have a love like yours.”

My father smiled and his eyes sparkled. Anytime I mentioned my mother to him, his eyes lit up. “May I offer you some advice?”

“Yes, always, Dad.”

He took another drink of his beer and looked straight ahead as if he was recollecting something.

He inhaled a breath and slowly blew it out. “No matter how bad things seem to be, never give up on your love. Fight for it with all you’ve got, Luke. There were times your mother had me wanting to pull my hair out—many, many times.”

I laughed as I took another drink of my beer. “I feel a ‘but’ coming.”

Nodding his head, my father said, “Your mother saved me, Luke. I tell her all the time if it hadn’t been for her love, I’m not sure what I would have done. Life without her is not an option.”

Looking straight ahead, I let his words sink in. “I feel the same way about Libby. I think I’ve been in love with her for so long, the idea of actually doing something about it scared the hell out of me. I kept thinking if it didn’t work out I’d not only being losing the love of my life, but I’d be losing my best friend as well.”

Laughing my father shook his head. “It’s like I’m listening to my younger self.” Turning, he looked at me with a serious look. “Do everything in your power, Son, to never hurt her again.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded my head. “Yes, sir.”

He nodded his head and looked away. “I know you won’t, because if I don’t kick your ass first, I know Josh will.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, for some reason Josh scares the piss out of me now.” My father threw his head back and laughed his ass off. “Trust me, someday, when you have a daughter, you’ll understand.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. I had never thought about kids before
. Ever.
That was the last thing on my mind. The idea of having a baby with Libby filled my heart with excitement. I smiled as I pictured Libby pregnant.

My father jumped off the tailgate and pointed at me. “No. Stop it right now, Luke Johnson. Right now.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Stop what?”

He kept pointing. “Don’t you even picture it in your mind. I know what you’re doing. I’m too young to be a grandfather and you have two more years of school.”

My mouth dropped open.
How did he know what I was thinking?
Then I decided it was time to play with good ole Dad. I smiled when I looked at his shirt. My mother would flip if she saw it.

Lick it like a lollipop.

I chuckled inside. I got my love of crazy shirts from my father, that is for sure. I put on a serious face and dragged my hands down my face. “Sorry, Dad. It’s just, it’s gonna happen.”

My father took a step back. Horror washed over his face. “I’m going to kill you, Luke Drew Johnson, if you say what I think you’re fixin’ to say.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “The passion between us is too strong.”

His mouth dropped open. “What the hell does that mean?”

Looking down, I kicked a rock. “We didn’t want anything between us, Dad and well, I’m afraid you and Mom are gonna be a memaw and pappy sooner than you thought.”

The beer dropped from his hand and he let out a gasp.

“W—what? Why in the hell would you think I’d want to be called—Pappy? I mean, Pappy?” I stood there shocked. He was more worried about the name Pappy than the possibility of Libby being pregnant.

I smiled as I walked over and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, you just look like a Pappy, Dad.” He pushed my hand off his shoulder and turned and walked away. He was mumbling something, but I was trying too hard not to laugh so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I pulled out my phone and sent Libby a text.

Me
: Do you love me?

Libby
: More than anything.

Me
: Do you trust me?

Libby
: With my life.

Me
: Text my dad and say, Hey Pappy, what’s up?

Libby
: Okay … why?

Me
: I told him you were pregnant and we are calling him Pappy!

Libby
: What? HAHA! OKAY doing it now!

Spinning around, my dad pointed to me. I slowly dropped my phone to my side. “Your mother and I taught you better. Always, always wrap your stick!” He pushed his hands through his hair as he let out a moan.

“I’m not going to be able to keep Josh from killing you. You know this, right?” He dropped his head back and looked up at the sky as he lifted his fist. “Why a boy? You did this to pay me back, didn’t you?”

I looked up and laughed. “Yep, it’s a blessing indeed.”

“You think this is funny? Luke, you’re going to start your life out struggling. And what about Libby?” His phone went off in his pocket and he pulled it out. The face he made caused me to smile bigger.

“What the fuck?” His head jerked up as his mouth dropped open.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. He started walking toward his truck shaking his head. He turned and looked at me. “Luke, you have to know that y’all are too young to be having a baby. I’m too young to be called Pappy, and Josh is going to kick your ass.” He turned and showed me the text from Libby.

Libby
: Hey Pappy! How is your day going?”

God I love her.
Libby always went along with my pranks. No matter what the outcome was, she was always in. One hundred percent.

“Dad, it’s a joke.”

He began running his hands through his hair. “Oh God, Josh is gonna kill me. He’s not only going to beat the shit out you, he’s gonna beat the shit out of me.”

I walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders. “Dad, look at me. It’s a joke. Libby’s not pregnant; I’ve always wrapped the stick and always will.” I frowned and made a face. “Well, I guess I won’t always, but—”

Anger washed over my father’s face. “Luke Drew Johnson. I ought to kick your ass now for doing that to me.”

I laughed as he pushed me away. “Little bastard, you scared the hell out of me.” Placing his hand on his heart he looked up and mouthed,
Thank you.

I SAT ON
the porch of Gram’s house as I listened to my mother, Alex’s mom, Ellie, and Grams, talk about life. Listening to them always made my heart soar. I glanced over and looked at Grams. She was talking about Gramps. Grams and Gramps were Alex and Colt’s great-grandparents, but it felt like they were all of our grandparents. I can’t even begin to count the number of times we have all sought them each out for advice.

“Garrett intends on taking me to Florida. Why in the world would I want to go to Florida? That man is crazy if he thinks he is dragging me away from my garden for two whole weeks.”

I smiled as I glanced over to Alex. She was rocking away as she focused on the women surrounding us. She looked over to me and smiled as she shook her head.

“Grams, you’d have a lovely time in Florida,” my mother said with a sweet smile.

Grams shook her head. “Heather darling, have you ever been on a plane with Garrett?”

Smiling, my mother shook her head. “No, I can’t say I have, Emma.”

Ellie started giggling. “Emma, tell them about the time Garrett passed out on the plane.” Alex quickly turned and looked at her mother. “What? Gramps passed out on a plane?”

Grams slowly nodded her head and was about to say something when Gramps cleared his throat. I turned around to see, Gramps, Alex’s dad Gunner, my father, Luke, Will, and Colt all walking up from the main barn.

“Why good afternoon, gentlemen,” Grams said with a smile. “What a fine group of handsome men we have here. Isn’t that right, ladies?”

Smiling, I looked each of them over. Good lord. It should be sinful to have six good-looking men all standing together like this. Gramps held his own with his blue eyes and gray hair. Gunner was beyond breathtaking and Colt was a mini version of Gunner. Except Colt had that ever present five o’clock shadow that fit him perfectly. Will was the spitting image of my father, handsome as hell. He smiled as he looked adoringly at Alex. My father smiled and winked at my mother, causing me to turn and look at her. When her face flushed I looked away. Their love affair, as she called it, seemed more on fire than ever before. Will and I had walked in on them last night in the kitchen. Of course they were just kissing, but Will declared to have the image burned forever in his memory.

Glancing back, my eyes locked onto the most beautiful green eyes. My heart fluttered and it felt as if the energy in the air changed. Luke was staring at me with the most breathtaking smile I’d ever seen. In less than a week, we’d all be heading back to school and the idea of living in the same house, waking up every morning wrapped in his arms, thrilled me beyond belief.

“Libby? Hello? Libby, darling are you even listening to me?”

I shook my head and turned to Ellie. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I was, um, lost in thought.”

She smiled sweetly and then continued on. “We’ve made plans to have dinner with all of you before you leave. Tomorrow night, seven sharp at your parents’ house. There are some—things we’d like to discuss with all of y’all. The idea of us buying the house in College Station was a good idea, but now that two of y’all are couples. We’d like to go over some ground rules.”

I nodded my head and peeked over to Alex. Her face was flushed and she looked down. This wasn’t going to be fun. It was sure to be awkward as hell. Gunner cleared his throat. “We’ve already chatted with the boys.”

Luke let out a deep laugh. “Chatted? I wouldn’t necessarily say threatening to end our lives is chatting.” Alex stood up. “Daddy, you didn’t!”

Gunner smiled. “Oh yes, I did. Two boys, four girls, all under one roof, what the hell were we thinking?”

My mother stood up, leaned down and kissed Grams on the cheek and then turned toward the guys. “We were thinking that they are all adults, we raised them right and that Will, Luke, and Colt will do nothing but always respect and protect our girls.”

Gunner and my father both turned and looked at Luke. Daddy raised his eyebrow at Luke. “That was before Luke started dating my baby girl.”

My mother slapped my father lightly on the chest. “Stop it. Come on, let’s head on back. I’ve got a roast in the crock pot.” Ellie kissed Colt on the cheek. “Don’t be out too late; you leave to go back to A&M tomorrow.”

Colt returned a gentle kiss on Ellie’s face. He had to report to A&M a few weeks ago for football, but was home for a few days.

Taking my hand in his, Luke pulled me to him. “Want to go for a ride? I can saddle up a few horses.” I nodded my head and smiled. I loved spending time with Luke. It was nothing like when we were best friends. It was a million times better.

“Gramps, Lib and I are going to take a couple horses for a ride,” Luke shouted for Gramps to hear. Raising his hand, Gramps called out, “Have fun!”

Luke and I quickly walked to the barn and saddled up two horses and made our way onto one of the many trails that ran over the ranch. Since we were little kids we had been riding all over this property.

When we got a good ways away from the house, I looked at Luke. “So how horrible was my father to you?”

Luke looked over my way and gave me that naughty smile of his. “Let’s see, he told me if I hurt you, got you pregnant, made your grades slip, slept in the same room as you, got you pregnant—”

I giggled. “You said that twice.”

“Only because he said it like six times. After of course, he gave me the lecture about always using protection, making sure my number one goal was keeping you safe.”

My eyes widened in horror. “Please tell me you’re kidding?”

Luke pursed his lips and looked up. “Nope. I had to sit there with your brother on one side of me, who by the way, has also threatened to cut off my balls if I hurt you in any way. Yeah, with Will glaring at me from the side, your daddy came full force. Right out of the gate, he was telling me how he could kill me and make it look like an accident.”

I covered my mouth, stopped my horse, and let out a moan. “Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry.”

He stopped his horse and looked deep into my eyes. “I’m not, Libby. It just shows how much they love you. If Grace was to bring a guy home tomorrow, I’d take him out to the barn and show him how accurate of a shot I am. I have no problem spending the rest of my life in jail for having to shoot someone for hurting my sister. Or you.”