Divided Interests

by Kelly Elliott

  I’d been gone almost an hour, with my feet pounding against the road, and I glanced down at my watch. I hadn’t heard yet from Lucas; part of me was worried. Pushing my fear away, I ran faster toward the house. I slowed when I saw Milo parked behind me.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  He smiled. “I got a call from Chuck.”

  With a frown, I asked, “Chuck Nelson? I thought he moved to Austin and opened up a club.”

  Milo rubbed his chin, a concerned look on his face. “He did, but he moved back to JC when Austin got a little too…weird. He opened up a bar right outside of JC.”

  I chuckled. “Okay, well, what does that have to do with me, and why do you look so stricken?”

  “Well, he gave me a call. Lucas is at the bar; he’s been there all afternoon. Said he’s on his way to being two sheets to the wind.”

  My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach. “Is he okay?”

  “I stopped by and talked to him. He’s pretty down on himself. I thought maybe you could head on over there.”

  It didn’t even take me a moment to make my decision. “Let me change. Will you text me the address to the bar?”

  Milo grinned. “Sure. It’s right outside of town, toward Fredericksburg.”

  Reaching up on my toes, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Milo. I know you got dragged into all of this.”

  With a boyish grin that made me smile, he looked away for a brief moment, then back to me. “I lost my head for a minute or two when I thought about asking you out, but all it took was one time seeing Lucas look at you. He’s never stopped loving you, Paige. I know that doesn’t make what happened between y’all better, but it’s true.”

  I placed my hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you, Milo. I’m going to go change.”

  Thirty minutes later, I walked into Chuck’s Place. I couldn’t help the grin that spread over my face when I saw Lucas. He sat at the bar, staring at a glass of beer. My heart hammered in my chest, and I had to focus on keeping my breathing even. He was so handsome. Even in this dark bar, he stood out. He always had. There had always been something so different about Lucas Foster. From the first moment we met, I knew my life would never be the same, even at such a young age. What started out as friendship didn’t take long to morph into something more.

  I slid onto the bar stool next to him and flashed a smile at Chuck.

  “Well, if it isn’t Paige Miller. I heard you were back in town.”

  “I see you are, too.”

  He nodded. “This town is my home. What can I do for you?”

  After a quick glance at Lucas, who was staring at me, I focused back on Chuck. “Maybe a water with lemon?”

  He winked. “Coming up.”

  “What are you doing here?” Lucas asked. He wasn’t drunk; I could tell. But something was for sure weighing heavy on his mind.

  “Milo told me you were here.”

  He rolled his eyes and let out a grunt before taking a long drink of his beer.

  “Want to talk about it?” I asked, bumping his shoulder with mine.

  Lucas looked directly into my eyes. “You know I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you, Paige. Even when I was with her, all I could see or think about was you. All I could do was curse myself for walking away from you.”

  “Why did you stand me up for dinner?” I asked, giving a quick nod to Chuck when he placed my water in front of me. “If you still loved me, Lucas, why would you hurt me again? Why would you stay in a relationship with another woman? Why travel with her and do all the things I wanted to do, but with her?”

  His eyes glassed over, and he took another drink of his beer.

  “Because I’m an asshole. That’s why your brother is right, Paige. I don’t deserve you. You deserve someone who is going to treat you like you are a princess. No, a fucking queen, because you are.”

  With a laugh, I shook my head. “I don’t know about queen, but I’ll take princess.”

  Lucas stared down at his beer. “I know Granddad was ashamed of me.”

  “He was not,” I countered.

  “He was. Look at the lengths he went to just to bring us together. I don’t know if he wanted us to get back together, but I’m positive he wanted me to man up and tell you I’m sorry for what I did. For how I treated you. I wish I could go back in time. I’d do so many things differently.”

  It broke my heart to hear the hurt and regret in his voice. “He loved you very much.”

  He scoffed. “Yeah, he did, and I let her come between me and family. Even right up until the very end.”

  He grew quiet, and I let him be in his own thoughts for a moment or two.

  “Lucas, can I ask you a question?”

  Turning his whole body, Lucas looked at me. “Of course, you can. I don’t want there to be anything unsaid between us anymore.”

  I chewed on my lip for a quick moment, then asked, “If you were so unhappy with her, why did you stay as long as you did? Why did you allow her to put a rift between you and your family?”

  His eyes turned sad. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. Maybe because I was afraid of failing again, even though I knew it was never going to work out. She was a distraction from everything that reminded me of you. And Johnson City reminded me of you. Maybe deep down it was me avoiding home and all the ghosts of memories that I’d be forced to face, and I used her as an excuse.”

  “And one day you woke up and decided you were done?”

  He laughed. “Nah, I decided I was done a long time ago. But seeing you, that day on the front porch of Granddad’s house, of the house we once dreamed about owning, knowing that we both held a piece of it, I knew the charade was over. It wasn’t fair to Bianca, and it wasn’t fair to me. Truth be told, I knew on the plane ride back that I was going to end things. She caused me to miss my granddad’s fucking funeral. I just didn’t want to deal with it until after coming home and all of that.”

  I nodded. “If William hadn’t left me the house, would you have sold it?”

  A look of utter sorrow moved across his face. “I’d like to think I wouldn’t. I might have gone down to the wire and come to my senses. It would have been the last thing that tied me to you. I don’t think I could or would have let it go.”

  I let out a soft chuckle. “So, you’re sitting in a bar, drinking because you’re feeling like a worthless piece of shit who treated his family and friends like complete assholes.”

  His eyes widened. “Did I say all of that?”

  With a shake of my head, I replied, “I filled in the blanks for you.”

  Lucas laughed. “Thanks for that.”

  I gave a half-shrug. “No problem. Are you ready to leave? How much have you had to drink?”

  “Three beers.”

  My eyes widened in shock. “How long have you been here?”

  “Since I left the house. Didn’t make it to my folks’ place.”

  I looked over at Chuck in confusion. “Milo said Chuck called because you had been here all afternoon and…” My voice trailed off. “Milo.”

  Lucas lifted the corner of his mouth in a half smile and my insides clenched with desire.

  “Seems like everyone is trying to help us along the way,” I said.

  Lucas pulled out a few twenty-dollar bills and tossed them onto the bar. “It seems like.”

  “Want to go back and play in the attic again?” I asked as I slid off the bar stool.

  Lifting his eyes to meet mine, a slow, sexy smile spread over his face. “Can we please make sure to lock the damn doors?”

  I laughed and took his hand as we walked out of the bar together.

  “’Night, you two!” Chuck called out after us.

  “’Night, Chuck!” we both called back.

  Glancing around the bar, I noticed a few people watching us leave. Hand-in-hand, two old lovers who seemed to be picking up where they left off.

  “Rumors are going to spread like wildfire, y
ou know that, right?” I asked as we walked over to my SUV.

  “So, let them.”

  I pressed my lips together and narrowed my gaze on him.

  “What?” he asked with a bit of humor in his voice.

  “You’re okay with what people are saying, or possibly saying? Good or bad? True or false?” I asked, watching him carefully.

  Lucas moved closer to me, causing me to lean against my car.

  “Sitting in a bar for hours, thinking about all the things I’ve done wrong the last ten years of my life, I can honestly say I don’t give two flying fucks what anyone says, what they think, or what they talk about. We aren’t in high school anymore, Paige.”

  I swallowed hard as I stared into his beautiful green eyes. “What do you care about?”

  “Finding that chest.”

  My heart sank.

  “Learning your body all over again.”

  And my body came right back to life.

  “Watching a sunset with you, seeing where life takes us next, and honestly not even caring, as long as I get to do it with you.”

  “Lucas,” I whispered.

  “I know, you said slow, and I’m going to try hard to go slow, but Paige, all I really want to do is kiss you.”

  With a quick lick of my lips, I placed my hands on his broad chest and softly said, “Then kiss me.”

  Lucas grinned from ear to ear and did just that.

  Lucas

  AFTER KISSING PAIGE in the parking lot of Chuck’s Place, I followed her back to the house. It was late and neither of us wanted to explore the attic. Truth be told, the idea of going up there at night sort of freaked me out.

  I crawled into bed and spent an hour staring at the ceiling. The soft knock on my bedroom door had me lifting my head. “Paige?”

  The door creaked as she peeked her head in. “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting up.

  “I can’t sleep in that room.”

  I smiled. “Do you want to sleep in here? With me?”

  She darted across the bedroom and climbed onto my bed. I groaned internally because she had on her sexy little pajamas. Thank God her hair wasn’t in the damn pigtails.

  Without hesitation, Paige climbed under the sheets, pulling them all the way up to her chin. We laid there in silence for a few minutes before I felt something on the bottom of the bed.

  “Something is touching my foot,” I whispered.

  “What?” Paige whisper-shouted.

  Pop.

  Pop.

  Pop.

  “Holy shit, it’s hitting my foot!” I said, sitting up quickly and reaching for the side light. When I turned it on, I stared at the little black-and-white beast at the bottom of my bed.

  “It’s Oreo!” Paige said in delight. “Come here, sweet girl. I’m so sorry I just left you up there!”

  Oreo walked across the bed, her tail swishing back and forth as she moved. At one point, I was positive she shot me a fuck you look as she curled up between me and Paige.

  “The cat cannot sleep in my bed.”

  “What? Why?” Paige asked in a mock shocked voice.

  “I don’t want her hair getting everywhere.”

  Paige pouted. “She’s scared too, Lucas. Are you really going to kick her out?”

  “Yes!”

  Paige smiled and snuggled up next to the damn cat. “She won’t bother you, I swear. You won’t even know she’s here. Will he, sweet baby girl?”

  Oreo meowed and then proceeded to lick her ass. I snarled while Paige covered her mouth to hide her chuckle.

  I turned off the light. “Now I’m really not going to be able to sleep.”

  “You can’t sleep?” Paige asked softly.

  “No, I can’t.”

  “Do you need some warm milk? Or I could make some tea?”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “Good night, Lucas,” Paige said, reaching over and taking my hand in hers.

  Her hand against mine instantly made me relax. Just one simple touch and within minutes, I was sound asleep.

  I woke up the next morning with Paige snuggled next to my side, my arm around her and Oreo sleeping right on my chest. Her face inches from mine. As soon as I opened my eyes, the judgy cat was staring at me.

  I watched Paige sleep. She was beautiful. I wanted to wake up like this every day.

  My gaze went back to Oreo. “You can leave now,” I said in a hushed voice. She stared at me. I jerked my body just enough to make the cat move but not enough to wake the sleeping beauty next to me.

  The cat moved, but so did Paige. Her hand was on my chest, and it slowly made its way down my body.

  “Mmm, Lucas.”

  My body froze. I had two options. Let her hand wander down to my stiff-as-a-rock cock or wake her up.

  Oreo jumped back onto the bed. Her judgmental cat eyes glared at me.

  “Fine!” I said.

  “Paige? Baby? Are you awake?”

  She nuzzled against my body more.

  “You feel so good.”

  I swallowed hard. “Thank you?”

  She giggled, and I knew she was awake.

  “Your cat is staring at me like I’m about to ruin your virtue or something.”

  Paige lifted her head and rested her chin on the back of her hand, which was currently on my chest.

  “Oreo, did you sleep good?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Seriously, Paige? You’re against my body, I have a raging hard-on, and you’re asking the cat if she slept good?”

  Paige lifted her head and looked at me. “Did you sleep good?”

  I smiled. “The best sleep I’ve had in years.”

  “Me too,” she said, dropping her chin back on her hand. “I have to ask you something.”

  “If you’re going to ask me something that requires thinking, don’t.”

  She chuckled. “Why not?”

  “I’m not sure if I have enough blood in my brain to think. It’s all in my dick.”

  “Well, this is about your dick, so…”

  I groaned. “This is mean. I just want you to know that.”

  “Noted. But that night you came home and pretended to be drunk…”

  “I was sort of drunk.”

  “You still knew what was going on, though? Right?”

  With a quick glance at her, I nodded. “Yes. I did.”

  Her teeth dug into her lip. “I heard you in the shower.”

  My breath stalled. “What did you hear?”

  “You…making yourself come while saying my name.”

  I closed my eyes. Heat rushed into my cheeks, and my hard-on quickly lost his morning glory.

  “Sorry about that. I guess I was a bit worked up.”

  She sat up and moved over me, then straddled my hips. My cock instantly woke back up, causing her to raise a brow.

  “It was hot, hearing you. Seeing you.”

  My brows shot up. “You were watching me?”

  “I heard a loud sound and thought you had fallen because you were drunk. Then I saw what you were doing and I…was too shocked to leave.”

  Laughing, I grabbed her hips and pushed my dick up into her warm heat. We both let out a moan of pleasure.

  “Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are, Paige?”

  She shook her head.

  “I’ve been jerking off to mental images of you since I first moved in.”

  Her tongue swept over her lip. “Do it now,” she said, sliding off of me.

  “What?” I asked in half-amusement, half-shock.

  “Play with yourself. I want to watch you.”

  I was positive my face had one hell of a shocked look on it. “You want me to jerk myself off while you watch?”

  She nodded.

  “When in the hell did you get so kinky?”

  Leaning down, she brushed her lips over mine gently. “I don’t know. This is a new side of me and I sort of like her.”

  “I
fucking love her.”

  “Then will you let me watch you?”

  Tossing the covers off, I pulled my cock out of my pants and stroked myself. My eyes locked on Paige as she watched my every move.

  She licked her lips, moaned, chewed on her lip, squirmed as she sat next to me. God, I was going to lose my load any moment, but I didn’t want this to end. She was watching me like she’d never seen my dick before, and it was hot as hell.

  Then her eyes flicked up to mine. We stared at each other for a moment before she opened her mouth slightly.

  “Lucas, I want you.”

  “Thank you, Jesus.” I let out a sigh of relief and took my pants off. I pulled the silk nightshirt over her head and took in the sight of pure perfection before me.

  “I’ve missed you, for so damn long I’ve missed you, Paige,” I whispered, leaning down and taking a nipple into my mouth. Her fingers went into my hair while she let out a long moan.

  “Now. I need you now. I can’t wait a second longer,” Paige panted.

  Pushing her down, I moved over her and in one movement, I pulled her pajama shorts and her panties off, tossing them to the side.

  Paige spread herself open, and I wanted to taste her, but she grabbed at me, pulling me up to her while she wrapped her legs around me.

  “Make love to me, Lucas. Please.”

  My cock was pressed against her entrance, ready to dive in when I remembered my wits. “I need a condom.”

  Paige nodded as I jumped out of bed and grabbed my wallet.

  She stopped me before asking, “Have you ever slept with anyone without a condom on?”

  “Of course not. Not ever.”

  “Same here.”

  The thought of Paige having sex with another man nearly drove me mad.

  “How many guys have you been with?” I asked, not sure why I did.

  Her brow raised. “Do you really want to have that conversation now?”

  “No. Not really, but I want to know.”

  “Since you, only two.”

  I stared at her for a moment before I ripped the packet open and slipped the condom on.

  “I’m on the pill since we’re putting our business out there.”

  Moving to the bed, I settled between her legs, then pushed the tip of my cock inside her, causing her to suck in a breath.