Loving You (Love Wanted in Texas) (5 page)

She wiped her tears away and smiled. “Oh, Tay, nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect. It’s amazing. It’s beyond amazing.”

Her eyes were a beacon of happiness. “Yes. You’ve already said that. Dang, you must have had some good sex this morning to be in this good of a mood.”

With a slight push, she shook her head. “I’m about to burst!”

“With?”

Placing her hand over her mouth, her eyes teared up again.

“Okay, you’re freaking me out. Are you about to burst because something happy has happened?”

She nodded.

“With you?”

She nodded again.

I laughed and said in a kidding tone, “You’re pregnant.”

Lauren stared at me with the biggest smile on her face I’d ever seen.

“Oh. My. Lauren! You’re pregnant?”

We both jumped up at once and wrapped each other up in a hug while jumping like fools.

“I’m pregnant!”

“You’re pregnant!”

When we finally settled down, I held her out at arm’s length. “No wonder you’re glowing. I noticed it the moment you opened the door. When did you find out?”

“Ten minutes ago!”

“Oh wow . . . wait. What? You
just
found out?”

She jumped up and down as she screamed out, “Yes!”

“Holy . . .”

“Shit! Holy shit!” Lauren said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the master bathroom. When she picked up the pregnancy test, she squealed and shoved it in my face.

Jumping back, I yelled out, “Gross! You peed on that thing!”

“Look! Look! Look!”

Laughing, I shook my head and said, “I can see it from here. It for sure says you’re pregnant.”

For one brief moment, jealousy raced through my veins before I quickly got it under control. “Does Colt know?”

She wrapped her arms around her body and shook her head. “No. I didn't even tell him I was suspecting it.”

“Have you been trying?”

“No. I started feeling kind of tired lately and when I didn’t get my period, I got curious.”

I took her hand in mine. “I take it this news makes you happy, then?”

Pressing her lips together, she nodded as more tears rolled down her face. “Colt?”

“I . . . I think he’s going to be happy. We hadn’t planned on kids this soon, but I swear to God there is something in the water here!”

Laughing, I pulled my best friend into my arms. “Remind me to drink bottled water.”

Lauren gasped and pulled back. “What? Are you having sex? With who? Why haven’t you told me?”

I held up my hands. “Whoa. Settle down, girl. I’m not having sex.”

Lauren frowned. “Well, that sucks.”

“Yeah, I kind of liked it the one and only time I tried it. It would be nice to experience it again.”

Lauren hooked her arm in mine as we made our way to her kitchen. As we walked through the house, I couldn’t help but smile. Everything about the house screamed Lauren. It was decorated in a French country theme, like something straight out of a home and garden book.

Walking into the kitchen, I looked around. “Did you paint your cabinets?”

Lauren glanced over her shoulder and stared at me. “No. They’ve always been this color.”

“Huh. Well did you do something different in here?”

She placed two glasses on the counter and pulled out the orange juice as she looked around the kitchen. “Nope. Nothing’s changed.”

With a frown, I brushed it off.

“Okay, so talk to me. I thought you had a date last night. No go?”

“Oh, it was a go. I mean he certainly thought it was a full on green light.”

With a giggle, Lauren took a sip of the orange juice and then sat on a stool at the kitchen island. “Do tell.”

Chewing on the corner of my lip, I replied, “There’s really nothing to tell. David is a nice guy, cute, a good sense of humor, kisses okay.”

“But . . .”

“But nothing. He’s just not . . . he’s not . . .”

“Jase?”

With a frustrated sigh, I mumbled. “Oh, not you too.”

“Okay, well help me understand why you didn’t have sex with this nice, cute, good sense of humor, good kisser.”

“Because I’m not about to jump into bed with every guy I date.”

Lauren grinned. “And . . .”

With a roll of my eyes, I huffed. “And he moved too fast. I mean, he had his hand up my dress before they served dessert.”

With a snicker, Lauren shook her head. “Damn . . . well, you can’t blame him. Look at you. What guy wouldn’t want to stick his hand up your dress?”

With a weak smile, I looked away.

Jase.

“Change of subject. How’s work?”

Ugh. That subject isn’t any better.
“It’s okay. My grandfather is driving me crazy, and if my grandmother tries to set me up with one more guy, I may have to leave my job.”

Lauren perked up. “Seriously? Because if you’re serious, I could really use your help here.”

I chuckled. “Oh, right. Like you could use a financial analyst on the payroll of your breeding business.”

The smile that spread across Lauren’s face caused my breathing to hitch. “You’re serious?”

Lifting the glass to her lips, she finished off her juice and set it down on the counter. “I’ve never been more serious in my entire life.”

Jase

“Damn, dude, you never want to do anything anymore. What happened to you?”

Pulling the hay bale off the trailer, I wiped the sweat off my face. “What do you mean what happened to me?”

Rick lifted his hat and wiped his forehead. “I’m just saying, before you went off to Paris last summer you were fun. Now you’re a stick in the mud.”

“I’m not a stick in the mud.”

The smell of the hay caused me to take in a deep breath. Something about that smell brought back memories of following my father and Reed around the ranch, trying to be just like them.

“You never want to go out. You never want to hook up with anyone either. When was the last time you got some pussy?”

With a roll of my eyes, I shook my head. “Nice, Rick.”

He pointed his finger at me and shouted, “See! Like that. The old Jase wouldn’t have cared less if I had said the word pussy or not.”

“I don’t care if you say pussy.” I shrugged and grabbed another bale. “I’m not in the mood to date any of these girls we grew up with. All the good ones left and moved on with their lives.”

“Damn. The good ones?”

“You know what I mean.”

We worked for a few minutes in silence and I enjoyed every second of it, until he started talking again.

“You remember Jill Gates?”

“I should hope so. I dated her senior year and took her to prom.”

Rick laughed as he unloaded another bale of hay and stacked it in the barn. “Yeah well, she’s back in Llano.”

“I thought she moved to Oregon or something.”

“Washington.”

“She didn’t like the rain?” I asked with a smirk.

Rick shook his head. “She didn’t like that her fiancé was sleeping around. My mom said she decided to come back and work for the elementary school. She’s a teacher.”

“Huh. I bet she hates that. All she ever talked about was leaving Llano.”

“Well, she’s back and rumor has it . . . she was asking about you.”

I stopped and looked at him. “Me, huh?”

With an evil smile, he nodded and said, “Yep. I bet I’d be right in saying she’ll probably be at Joe’s tonight.”

Thinking back to what my dad had said to me last week, I knew I needed to decide what I was going to do. It was time to either move on and let Taylor go, or go after her. Going after her meant trying to work a relationship living apart from each other and I wasn’t sure how easy that would be.

“So? You in or out?”

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I looked out over the field. As much as I didn’t want to let Taylor go . . . I knew what had to be done.

“I’m in.”

Rick slapped me on the back and practically shouted for joy. “Yes! Tonight is going to be awesome. There’s a new band playing there tonight also.”

I pulled my head back in surprise. “At Joe’s?”

Rick looked at me like I was saying something wrong. “When was the last time you were there, dude?”

With a shrug, I replied, “I don’t know . . . about a year or so.”

His smile grew bigger. “You’re in for a few surprises tonight.”

Walking down the stairs, I stopped in the living room and smiled when I saw my parents sitting on the couch together. They were both engrossed in a movie while holding hands.

“Hey, I guess I’m going to go out for a bit. I won’t be home late.”

They both turned and smiled. “Where ya going?”

“Joe’s.”

“Joe’s . . . what memories we have of Joe’s,” my mother said as she looked at my father who smiled lovingly at her.

“Yeah, I don’t need to hear about them, but thanks.”

I started for the door, but stopped and decided now was a good time as any to let them know my plan.

“So, I was thinking . . . the old hunting cottage is just sitting empty. I could fix it up and move in, if that’s all right with y’all. I’ve contacted an architect in Mason who I’ve spoken with a few times. When the time comes, I’d like to build a place on the property y’all gave me.”

My parents, as well and Reed and Courtney, bought out our neighbor’s ranch and spilt it between me, Liza, Walker, and Ava. We each received a little over twelve hundred acres.

“Jase, this house is plenty big enough for you to stay here. There’s no rush in moving out.”

My father shook his head as he pulled my mother closer and kissed her on the head. “I’m going to guess our son would like a little privacy.”

“Well, you have privacy here!” my mother said sitting up and giving me a serious look.

All I could manage to say as I looked at my father was, “Um.”

It wasn’t like I was planning on bringing a girl home anytime soon, but if I was moving on with my life and letting Taylor go . . . I needed to have my own place.

It must have clicked with her because she blushed and said, “Oh, I see. Well we’ll do whatever you want to the cabin to get it fixed up for you.”

With a nod to my parents, I grinned and said, “Thanks. I should probably be heading out. Rick will be waiting for me.”

“Have fun, sweetheart. Don’t drink and drive.”

“I will and don’t worry, Mom. I have no intentions of drinking.”

Drinking only ever led me to trouble. The last thing I wanted to do was get hammered and end up with Jill in the backseat of my truck.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I got to my truck. Pulling it out, it was a text from Rick.

Rick: Dude where are you? The band has brought fresh pussy in. The girls in this bar are beyond beautiful. I’m in absolute heaven right now.

Sighing, I got in the truck and shut the door. I sent him a quick reply and prayed I made it through this night.

Me: I’m leaving now. I’ll be there soon.

By the time I got to Joe’s, Rick had called three times. Each time I ignored it. Walking into the bar, my eyes widened in surprise. What once was a small country bar looked like a full-on club. The dance floor was huge with the stage straight ahead. The band was covering “Moonlight Crush” as half the bar seemed to be dancing.

“I was really hoping I’d run into you tonight.”

Turning on my heels, I came face to face with Jill Gates. “Hey, Jill. How are you?”

Her eyes moved over my body with desire. Looks like she hadn’t changed much.

“I’m doing much better now that I see you. I was hoping you hadn’t decided to become a city boy.”

With a light laugh, I pushed my hand through my hair. “Yeah, well at one time I thought I wanted something different, turns out ranching is in my blood. Besides, I really enjoy working with Walker and my dad.”

With a polite grin, she tilted her head. “So . . . are you going to offer to buy me a drink?”

And so it begins. “Sure. Sorry about that.”

She waved off my rudeness and walked past me and up to the bar. The band was taking a break and a DJ was taking over as I ordered myself a Coke and Jill ordered some fancy-ass drink that caused the bartender to shake his head as he walked away.

“What have you been up to since you graduated?” she asked, taking a sip of her fruity looking concoction.