The way his eyes lit up holding her, had me questioning if he was still getting married to someone.
“Noah,” Grace said, barely above a whisper.
Noah’s eyes roamed Grace’s face as if he was trying to memorize this moment. “We have to keep running into each other more often Grace. I’ve missed seeing you.”
Taking a step back, Noah dropped his hands from Grace’s arms. “Um, what are you doing in Austin?”
He looked surprised by her response. “My parents live here. It’s summer break. What are you doing in Austin?”
Grace turned and looked at me with pleading eyes. I knew her mind had gone to jelly.
“Baby clothes.” I pointed to my stomach. “I’m due in November and well, the mall in College Station doesn’t have … the um … the um …” I snapped my head over to Grace. She was staring at Noah. Glancing back to Noah I laughed. “Well, hell. Pregnancy brain already. I can’t remember what I was saying.”
Noah laughed. Grace snapped out of it and chuckled, about thirty-seconds too late. “Yeah, we’re here buying some stuff for the baby.”
“Congratulations, Libby,” Noah said as he smiled that knock-me-over smile of his.
“You,” Grace blurted out. Noah and I both turned and looked at her. She chuckled nervously. “I mean, what are you doing at the mall?”
“There you are, Boo Bear.”
Noah’s face instantly blushed.
A beautiful, tall dark-haired woman grabbed Noah’s arm. She had on a tight, thin, white sweater that hugged her breasts and accented her thin waist. Her black skirt hugged her perfect hips and stopped just short of her knees. Her sky-high black leather boots rounded out the whole outfit. “I’m sorry, we’re going to be late. I need to make my appointment to get registered for the wedding or they will bump us.”
Glancing to Grace, she attempted a smile.
The girl pulled Noah away. “Sorry gotta run. I hope I see you around, Grace.”
I bumped Grace’s arm. She turned and walked away. I quickly followed. She was mumbling something as we made our way to the MAC store to buy more make-up. “What are you saying, Grace? I can’t hear you.”
I was rushing to keep up with her, when I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. “Grace! Stop and talk to me. Are you okay?”
“Boo Bear? What the fuck kind of pet name is that? What, do they play footsies also while they’re fucking in bed?”
“Grace!” I said as I looked all around us. “Keep your voice down for Pete’s sake.”
Grace threw up her hands. “I give up. I hereby announce to the world that I give up on men. I mean he’s going off to register for his wedding and not two seconds earlier he had his hands on me like he wanted me. What kind of an asshole does that sort of thing?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, but he’s a cute asshole.”
Rolling her eyes, Grace sighed. “And he’s good in bed. Bastard.” Turning on her heels, Grace marched into the MAC store and proceeded to buy over one-hundred dollars of make-up.
LUKE REACHED AND took my hand in his. I couldn’t wait to get out of the truck. We were heading back to College Station for Luke’s last semester of school. It had to be one of the hottest Augusts on record. The further along I got, the more miserable pregnancy was.
“What are you thinking about?” Luke asked.
I had been staring out the window when I turned and smiled at him. “I can’t wait to get back to the house. I’m ready to be alone with you.”
Will and Alex were in Mason this weekend talking about wedding plans with my parents. Grace and Lauren were planning on going out tonight so the house was all ours.
Luke lifted his eyebrow and ran his tongue along his bottom lip. My body hummed with the idea of him kissing me between my legs.
I jumped and started laughing as I placed my hand on my stomach. “That was a big kick.”
Dropping my other hand, Luke placed his hand on my stomach. I moved it to where the baby was kicking. His hand jumped when the baby gave another good kick. Looking at me, Luke laughed. “Damn, it might be a boy. That was a good strong kick.”
Biting my lip, I nodded. “I can’t believe we have less than three more months to go.”
“I know. I can’t wait to see if it’s a boy or a girl,” Luke said with that panty-melting smile of his.
Nodding my head, I looked down at my stomach. “We’re going to be a family soon.” Luke took my hand in his and squeezed it. I thought back to our conversation last night with our parents.
LUKE AND I sat on the sofa in my parents’ living room. Four sets of eyes watched our every move. I began chewing on my lip, but knew what I was about to do was the right thing. I took in a deep breath and blew it out.
“Mom, Dad, you’ve always told me to follow my heart. I made a decision about school.” My mother sat a little straighter. I knew getting my college degree was a huge deal for my parents.
“Okay,” my mother said as she smiled gently. I glanced around the room and looked at our parents. When Ari winked at me I instantly felt at ease.
“Luke and I have talked a lot about what we thought was the best thing to do for us. Luke wanted to stay in College Station after the baby was born so that I could finish school. I’d have to take a full load and I don’t see doing that with a newborn baby. I don’t want to live in an apartment and have Luke working and doing something he doesn’t want to do. He wants to be here. Learning and taking on more things with the ranch.”
Jeff smiled as he looked at Luke.
I took in another breath and went for it. “I talked to Ellie yesterday about learning more things on the business side of the ranch. She’s been handling it with the help of Gunner’s mother, Grace. With Grace and Jack now leaving and going out of town more often, and the cattle ranch growing bigger, Ellie needs help. Gunner and Ellie have agreed to pay me a salary to be Ellie’s assistant, with the expectation that I’ll be training to take on more things.”
Glancing over to Ari, she gave me a huge grin. She had been so supportive of my decision. I had talked to her about it first to feel her out on how my mother would react. I didn’t think my mother would be supportive, but Ari assured me she would.
Luke took my hand in his. “Once I graduate, we’ll be moving back to, Mason. I’ll be working full time on the ranch. Libby will be starting off part-time and increasing her hours. I talked to Aaron and Jenny yesterday, also. With them building a new house, their place will be empty come December. They’ve agreed to rent it out to Libby and me.”