I glanced at the clock on the mantel. Liliana was spending the night at my parents’ house, and Truitt had texted to tell me he was meeting some of the guys for drinks at the Rusty Nail. I already felt guilty as hell that I’d found out yesterday and hadn’t told Truitt yet. I was nervous though. Scared of how he would react and worried he would think I was attempting to trap him.
“He is not going to think that, Saryn,” I chastised myself.
I heard someone drive up and park. I looked out the window and saw it was Truitt. Rus barked and ran to the back door.
“No running, Rus!” I called out, still being overprotective, though, he had clearly healed weeks ago.
Why was Truitt back so soon? Had the guys decided not to go out?
Drawing in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and quickly sent up a prayer for the right way to break the news to Truitt.
When I opened my eyes, he was standing there. I smiled when I saw him holding a giant bouquet of roses.
“Those are beautiful,” I said as I made my way over to him. Rus jumped up a few times until Truitt told him to sit.
“You’re not going to believe what happened to me in HEB when I was buying the flowers.”
Knowing this could go any way, I asked, “What happened?”
He rolled his eyes and replied, “I knocked over a huge display of flowers. Don’t ask me how, I just did. Water went everywhere, and I’m pretty sure the lady who works in the floral department called me a jackass idiot.”
I covered my mouth and tried not to laugh but failed.
“Truitt! How?”
He shrugged and handed me the red roses. “Be careful, there are thorns, and if you’re like me, you might have forgotten that. Maybe I never even knew it, but I do know.”
He held up a finger; there was a bandage wrapped around it.
Carefully, I took the flowers and walked into the kitchen. I gently put them on the counter, and then took out a vase to fill up with water. I trimmed the roses and placed them in the vase and set it on the middle of the kitchen island.
“What are you doing home, and why did you bring flowers? What happened?” I asked suspiciously.
With a soft chuckle, Truitt walked over to me and picked up my hands. He looked me directly in the eyes.
“Is it true? Are you carrying our baby?”
My stomach dropped, then flipped, then my heart fluttered. I must have opened my mouth a dozen times before I finally asked, “How did you know? Truitt, I only just found out yesterday. How? When?”
He laughed and crushed his mouth to mine. Then he drew my body up against his and deepened the kiss. There was no longer any need to worry about how he would react.
“Right now, it doesn’t matter. All I want to do is take you to bed and make love to you, after you promise me something.”
I was limp in his arms, relief flooding through my veins, along with a sense of desire. He knew. Truitt knew I was pregnant, and he seemed happy.
“Anything,” I whispered to him.
Truitt looked at me and those blue eyes seemed to peer right into the depths of my soul.
“Let me marry you.”
My eyes widened and I tried not to, but I laughed at the craziness of his words.
“Marry you! Truitt, we…”
“Are in love. We’re having a baby, and you’re the only woman I have ever wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I want you to be mine. I want to adopt Liliana and officially make her my daughter. I want us to be a family.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I threw my arms around his neck. When he wrapped his arms around me and whispered, “I love you so much,” I cried even harder.
Truitt reached down, picked me up, and then carried me to the bedroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed and rested me on his lap.
“Are those happy tears?”
“Yes!” I said, wiping them away.
“Yes, you’ll marry me, or yes, they’re happy tears?”
“Yes to both!” I exclaimed.
He grinned and then moved to place me on the bed.
“Strip out of your clothes, because I am dying to be inside you with no condom on.”
I laughed and leaned up on my elbows. “What?”
He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side. Then he worked at toeing off his boots and taking off his jeans as I knelt on the bed and began to undress. I’d seen Truitt strip in excitement to have sex before, but this time he was moving at warp speed.
Truitt stood before me in nothing but his boxer briefs. My mouth watered at the sight, and my fingers itched to touch his toned body. With each movement he made, his muscles flexed. My goodness, when would I get used to this man and his beauty, both inside and out?
And I was having his baby.
My stomach fluttered like mad. When he pushed his boxers down and revealed his erection, I instantly felt the wetness between my legs and moaned.
Truitt crawled onto the bed, which caused me to fall back onto it and wait for him to touch me. I practically shook with anticipation.
“The entire drive from HEB to here I kept thinking about how now we can have sex with no condom.” His eyes closed for a moment before he looked into mine. “I’m going to warn you now, sweetheart, I may come the moment I slip inside you.”
I giggled. “Is this all real?”
He moaned as he kissed along my neck. His lips made their way to my ear where he nibbled on the lobe before he pushed himself barely inside me. We both gasped, then he softly said, “No dream could ever be this amazing. Or make me feel this alive.”
My fingers moved slowly over his back, feeling each movement he made.
“Make love to me, Truitt. Please.”
His hands moved down my body, and he gripped my ass, tilting my hips up so that he could slide inside of me. This feeling was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I’d only ever been with one other man without a condom. I wasn’t expecting the connection between me and Truitt to be so intense. So moving. So unbelievably sexy.
Truitt groaned out in satisfaction, then looked into my eyes.
“I want to stay like this forever.”
I reached up and placed my hand on the side of his face. “So do I.”
His mouth crushed to mine in what started as a sweet kiss, but quickly turned into something so much more passionate.
Our sweet lovemaking quickly turned to more.
So. Much. More.
After hours of making love in bed, mixed with some of the hottest sex I’d ever had in the shower, and on the kitchen island, and on the recliner in the living room, I laid in Truitt’s arms with my head resting on his chest. I moved my fingers absentmindedly over his muscles while he breathed, slow and steady.
“Saryn?” he asked, his voice sounding so at ease and carefree.
I moved my head, resting my chin on the back of my hand as I gazed into his beautiful blue eyes.
“Yes?” I responded in an equally relaxed voice. To say I was sexually satisfied would be an understatement.
It was also the first time in the last few weeks I hadn’t felt queasy.
A brilliant smile broke out on his face, and I almost sighed at the sight of it.
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Heat radiated through my entire body as my heartbeat picked up from sheer happiness.
“Yes. Nothing would make me happier than becoming your wife.”
I hadn’t thought it possible, but his smile grew wider and he pulled me farther up his body and kissed me so sweetly I nearly cried. I moved and rolled on top of him. I settled down on his growing erection and rocked slightly.
“When are we going to tell Liliana about the baby?” Truitt asked as he gripped the sides of my hips.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should wait until I’m a bit farther along.”
He nodded and lifted me slightly up as he moved his hips. With my hands on his chest, I practically purred as I sank down on him and he f
illed me to the core.
“Fuck,” Truitt gasped.
I gave him a saucy grin. I planned on doing exactly that.
Before I could move, he spoke again. “Let’s get married as soon as possible.”
With a frown, I asked, “Are you worried people will find out we got pregnant out of wedlock?”
He laughed, and I felt him grow slightly inside me. It felt delicious, and I wanted desperately to move, but he held me still.
“Hell no. I don’t give two shits about that. But I do want to start our lives together as soon as possible. I want us to move in together and be a family of three before the baby comes.”
I nodded. “I think we should move into your house.”
Truitt smiled. “Really?”
Rocking my hips slightly to get some sort of friction, Truitt eased his grip on me.
“Yes. As much as I love being near my folks, I want to start our lives with just the three of us.”
“Four, if you count Rus.”
A small bark came from the side of my bed where Rus was laying in his dog bed.
With a chuckle, I placed my hands on my stomach. “Five, if we’re going to get technical about it.”
Truitt laughed once more and flipped us over, somehow managing to stay inside me.
“Okay. Then let’s plan the wedding and then move you and Liliana in with me and Rus.”
My fingers pushed through his brown hair as I watched his deep blue eyes sparkle with happiness.
“I can’t believe I’m marrying you…and having your baby,” I whispered, utter disbelief mixed with pure happiness.
He withdrew some, then slowly pushed inside of me as he brought his lips to mine. He kissed me softly and whispered, “How did I get so damn lucky in love?”
Truitt
“MARRIED? ON VALENTINE’S Day?” my mother said, a look of utter shock on her face.
Evie, on the other hand, had a notebook and pen at the ready. “There are so many things to do! We only have two weeks!”
While Evie launched into planning mode, my mother sat perfectly still and silent. Both my father and Will stood and shook my hand and then hugged Saryn.
While Saryn was busy talking to her mother and our fathers, I walked over to my mother. She looked lost in thought.
“Mom?”
Her gaze lifted, and she smiled. It wasn’t the distant smile I’d grown up with, yet something was wrong.
“Is everything okay?”
She took in a slow, deep breath, and then exhaled just as slowly. “May we speak, alone?”
“Of course. Back porch?” I asked.
With a nod, I reached out for her and she took my arm. We walked together toward the back of the house.
“We’re going to get some fresh air,” I called back to everyone.
Saryn smiled and nodded as Evie called, “Don’t be long, we have a ton of things to plan!”
My father narrowed his gaze slightly before turning back to the conversation at hand.
We walked through the dining room and into the large open kitchen, then out through the mudroom and onto the back porch that stretched the length of my house.
“This piece of land is so different from the ranch,” she mused.
I looked out over the Hill Country and smiled. “It is.”
“Truitt, why didn’t you build your house on the ranch, like your brother did?”
With a shrug, I replied, “I guess I wanted something that was mine. That I’d earned with my own hands.”
She turned and leaned against the wooden railing. Her eyes were focused so intently on me that I found myself wondering if she was about to tell me she was leaving the country again.
“Truitt, are you sure about this? Getting married so quickly? Why the rush for a wedding right now?”
“I love her, I want to marry her. I thought you liked Saryn.”
“I do!” she was quick to say. “I adore her, as a matter of fact. And Liliana. It’s just, the two of you have had this whirlwind romance, and now barely a few months into being together you want to get married. I’m just worried it’s for the wrong reason.”
“The wrong reason?”
She turned and looked out over the countryside. “Your father and I barely knew each other when we got married. People around town said my father forced your daddy’s father into agreeing to the marriage. Your daddy and I never even had a say in it.”
I looked down and gave a small nod. “Dad told me a little bit about it.”
Her expression was one of utter sadness. “I wasn’t the girl your daddy wanted to marry, but I tried so hard to be the woman he might fall in love with. Rumors flew around town about him stepping out on me, and I looked the other way. I guess I did it because I felt like he had no choice in the matter when it came to marrying me.”
I took a step back. “What?”
She gave me a weak smile. “It’s silly thinking now, I know that. And your father and I are actually in a really good place. Together. But I can’t help but wonder with this rushed wedding and the way you are looking at Saryn…the way you are so protective of her today, well…” She gave a soft laugh. “Once upon a time your father looked at me that way when I was pregnant with your brother.”
I swallowed hard, and she took my hands.
“Was this baby planned, Truitt?” She looked almost sick with herself for even asking.
“Saryn didn’t trap me, Mom. Um…” I felt my cheeks grow hot as I was about to tell her what happened. “We used protection every time, but once my condom did break. Saryn is on the pill, but things happen.”
A wide smile broke out over her face, and she hugged me. “I knew she wasn’t that type of girl, but I don’t want rumors to follow her around like they have me.”
“We’re going to announce the pregnancy when she’s out of the first trimester, and I don’t give two shits if people know that she was pregnant when we got married.”
“So, you’re happy?” Mom asked as she squeezed my hand.
I returned her smile with one of my own. I knew there was a deeper reason she was asking me all of this. My parents hadn’t been happy when they got married. “I’ve never been happier, Mom. I’m glad you’re here to share this with me.”
Tears pooled in her eyes and she looked down to regain composure.
Things with my parents seemed to be getting better. After Christmas Eve they insisted we do a family dinner once a week. Roger hated it at first, but eventually he grew to enjoy our dinner nights.
Liliana adored him. She was calling him Uncle Roger now. Her little family was growing by leaps and bounds, and she was thriving.
“Mom, how are things with you and Dad?”
“Like I said, we’re in a good place. I’m seeing someone once a week, a therapist.”
I lifted my brows in surprise. “Really? That’s good.”
She nodded. “It is. I realized when I heard you and Saryn were together that I was being selfish. All those years I was so angry at your father for cheating on me. The affair didn’t last long, maybe a month or two, but the pain was so real. Maybe it was all the other affairs, as well, that hit me all at once. When Roger took me aside Christmas Eve and asked me if I knew about Tim and Liliana, something inside of me cracked open. I was finally able to talk to you boys about it, and that was such a relief. I took my hurt and anger out on the two of you, and I will never be able to make up for that.”
I took her into my arms and rested my chin on top of her head. “Mom, the past is in the past. You’re here now, and that is all that matters.”
She hugged me tightly before stepping out of my arms.
“So, the baby is a secret for now?”
“Yes.”
There was a hint of a smirk at the corners of her mouth. “You do realize that Evie knows.”
I jerked my head back in surprise. “How?”
With a wave of her hand, my mother laughed. “Truitt, please. A mother knows these things. It only took one loo
k at that girl tonight to see. She practically lit up the entire room with that glow on her cheeks.”
“She is glowing, isn’t she?” I said with a smile so big my cheeks hurt.
My mother nodded. “Yes, she is. Now, we better get back in there.”
As we walked back into the house, Saryn came down the long hall from the direction of the master bedroom. I could tell instantly she had gotten sick. Apparently, so could my mother. She jumped into action and wet a paper towel for her.
“Sweetheart, put this behind your neck. It used to ease the nausea for me when I was pregnant with the boys.”
A look of shock passed over Saryn’s face. “You told her?”
Laughing, I answered, “No. She seems to have some weird sense for this kind of thing.”
Saryn looked at my mother who promptly hugged her and whispered, “I won’t tell a soul.”
When they parted and Saryn looked at me, she sighed. “My mother knows, as well. She whispered it in my ear when my parents first walked in. She said I was glowing and told me to tell her later how far along I was.”
Mom let out a howl of laughter.
I rolled my eyes and brushed a piece of hair from Saryn’s cheek. “Do you want to lie down?”
“No. We have way too much to do.” Looking at my mother, Saryn grinned. “Is everything okay?”
Taking Saryn’s arm in hers, my mother replied, “Everything is more than okay. I’m going to have the daughter I’ve always wanted and another grandbaby.”
It wasn’t lost on me that she said another. Saryn must have noticed, too, because she wiped away a tear that had slipped free.
“Thank you, Janet.”
My mother gave Saryn a wink. “Come on, let’s get back in there. We have a lot of things to plan and only a little time to do it.”
When Saryn glanced back to me she mouthed, I love you.
“Love you, too,” I said as I followed them back into the main living room.
The rest of the evening was spent eating pizza Ryan and Roger had brought over and talking about throwing the best quickie wedding the town of Boerne had ever seen.
Saryn
LUCY STOOD BEFORE me with her hand over her mouth.
“OH. My. Gawd. How does this dress fit you perfectly?”
Lucky in Love Page 30