“Me, too,” Billy agreed, taking a seat on the swing. “If this is how folks live in the country, I may get used to things out here.” A beat later, he looked at Rex and said, “What’d you do, use those cuffs with the plastic pulleys?”
“No,” Rex snapped.
She lifted a brow.
“Did I?”
Luke shook his head. “Yes. You were so excited about becoming a daddy that you didn’t pay attention to what you used. Lucy was asleep, and you saw a prime opportunity to strap her to the bed.”
Billy frowned. “Wait a minute. Did the two of you try to hold Lucy against her will?”
“Don’t worry about it, Billy.” She looked at Luke and then shot Rex a mean stare, one certain to make the hairs stand up on the back of Rex’s neck. “I’m used to them. We’ve been playing these games since before I was able to drink alcohol.”
“That’s not right,” Luke corrected her. “The first time we had sex was on your twenty-first birthday.”
She smiled. “Yes, but we’ve been chasing one another around since I was about this high.” She stuck her arm out in front of her and dropped her hand a few inches.
“Really?” Billy asked, studying the wood she was still swinging around. “You must’ve been a strong little tike, huh?”
She pursed her lips and batted her eyelashes. “Now you see why I don’t want Billy taking over the company?” Quickly, she addressed Billy, “Sorry, hon.”
Billy shrugged. “Hey, no problem. I couldn’t do what you do anyway.”
Rex rubbed his chin. “Could I?”
Lucy looked down at the heavy limbs she’d accumulated and sighed. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
“Are you letting him have his way?” Luke asked, not at all surprised.
“I suppose so. I always do.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lucy awoke to breakfast in bed. Luke carried a tray to her bedside, placed the wicker carrier next to a mountain of paperwork, and then kissed her gently on the lips. “I figured you needed to restore your energy.”
“I could get used to this,” she said, stretching.
“You deserve to be pampered,” Luke whispered against her lips.
“You think turning over the business to Rex is a bad idea. Don’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. This is between you and him.”
“I care what you think, Luke.”
He sat on the edge of the mattress. Happy to have his company, Lucy went about buttering her toast and spooning homemade peach preserves onto the light bread. “So? Tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours.”
“Let me ask you something,” he said, turning the tables. “If your grandfather were alive today, what would he say?”
She choked on her first bite of toast.
“That’s what I thought.”
She held up one finger and chewed. Taking a drink of freshly squeezed orange juice, she said, “I can almost hear him now.”
“It’s not what he’d say. It’s what he’d do. He’d try his damndest to get the reins of his company back.”
“I’m not handing over ownership. Rex is just standing in while I concentrate on more important matters, like starting a family with the two of you.”
“We haven’t even discussed this, Lucy. This is how you operate. You’re a right-now person.”
She laughed. “And what makes you say that, Luke McDavid?”
“You always have been. Everything must be done right when you make a decision to do it. There’s no waiting with you. When you were a kid, you wanted a horse. Your granddad went out and bought one a few minutes after you asked for one.
“You wanted a sports car, not the pickup he gave you for your sixteenth birthday, and what did he do? Traded it that day so you could still tell your friends you got a Mustang on your birthday.
“You couldn’t get anyone to rent to high school kids at Myrtle Beach for your senior trip, so the old man told you not to worry. He bought a fucking house, closed in two days, and you spent the summer there. And let’s not even get me started on how you got accepted at Vanderbilt.”
“I didn’t go.”
“Of course you didn’t. You fell in love with racing that year, and Mr. Malone didn’t just sponsor a race car, he bought a whole fucking team. Anything you want, you can have, and thanks to your financial situation, you’ve never wanted for anything long.”
“Are you mad at me for some reason?” she asked, noting his tone sort of suggested as much.
“No, honey. I’m not angry with you, but I need you to see what you’re doing here. I don’t think you want to be a mom yet. You certainly don’t want Rex running your company or at least you shouldn’t. Think about it. What the hell does Rex know about racing?
“Thing is, you decided to start a family, more or less told us that’s what you had in mind, and now you’re kicking up your heels and raring to go. You’ll fuck around the clock if you have to—not that I’m opposed to that, by the way—just so you can get started on expanding your family as soon as possible.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t had time to think about it. You rushed back into town like a bat out of hell, grabbed hold of our hearts like you’d just dropped them at the door and decided to stop back in and scoop them up, and now you’re talking a lifelong commitment with a couple of kids.”
“Eight.”
“What?” he screeched, apparently understanding but unable to process.
“I want eight kids.”
Luke rubbed his jaw.
“Oh come on now. You know you want a few little Lukes running around.”
Luke fell against the chair behind him. “This is my point. You just come up with these random ideas and then decide they’re the greatest notions in the world. You expect everyone to follow suit. I don’t want eight kids. I may not even want a kid.
“I don’t know if you really want children, Lucy. I damn sure don’t think you want to hand over your company, the company you and your grandfather built from scratch, to my brother or anyone else.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” A beat later, she said, “I’ve been living this life for a while now. I’m ready to settle down. Stock car racing is a demanding sport. I never have time to breathe. It’s a burden to lie down and go to sleep.”
“And you love Rex so much that you want him to enjoy that lifestyle?”
“He seemed willing to take over. I’m not exactly going away indefinitely. I’m just stepping aside so he can be the front man while I take some time to enjoy life again.”
“Rex wants you at his beck and call. Don’t you see that? He doesn’t give a damn about racing. This isn’t a good idea, Lucy. Your company may very well fail.
“I’m not talking behind his back here. I will talk to him and tell him exactly what I’ve said to you.
“The reason you were able to build Mason Malone’s High Performance Group into a powerhouse is because you were passionate about what you were doing. Your grandfather was able to funnel money into the company, and you had the desire to learn all you could about stock car racing. You were interested in the business. Rex’s only interest is you.”
“That’s not true. Look at your situation here. The two of you are thought of as the brightest businessmen in agriculture.”
“Yes, but, Lucy, we’ve had years of experience in livestock, not stock car racing. We don’t just farm. We day-trade stocks, play the futures, and dabble in real estate—farmland mostly.
“We’ve inherited so much money that if we never wanted to work again, we wouldn’t have to, but if we needed to start over, we know our business. We grew up messing with cattle, going to the stockyard, and trading livestock. Rex is a good businessman because he knows his business. That doesn’t mean he can take over your company and keep MMHPG profitable.”
“I want a family, Luke.”
“Honey, if that’s what
you want, I want you to have children when the time is right, but timing is everything. Search your heart and make sure you know what you want.
“I wanna be sure before I start bringing kids in this world. Rex knows what he wants, but he’s a good bit older than us, too. He’s waited five years, day in and day out, for you to come home.”
“And you haven’t?” she asked. “Don’t you want me anymore?”
Luke put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Honey, I’ll always want you, but if loving me—or Rex—means you have to give up your dreams, what will you have?”
She smiled. “Eight children who look like you and Rex?”
When he didn’t respond she pushed away her breakfast tray. “I was an only child. My grandfather was the youngest of eight. He used to tell me stories about life on the farm with his brothers and sisters. From the time I was a little girl, I wanted eight children.
“Maybe I look like I’m all over the place. Sometimes I act like I don’t have any sense of direction, but at the end of my life when that checkered flag waves high in the sky, I want to know my life meant something.
“Not only do I want to live well, I want to love well. If I’m always waiting for a yellow flag, someone to throw out a caution, I’ll have a lot of regrets when this life is over. I never want to feel like I missed something important, something big.”
Luke touched her cheek. “Me either, Lucy.”
“Good,” she said, pointing toward the rise in his Levi’s. “Now get over here and get to work because I’m missing out on something huge at the moment. Let’s not waste one minute. We have kids to produce.”
“What?” he screeched.
“I’ve got to have sex several times a day if I’m going to get pregnant.”
“If you’re serious about eight kids, then Rex and I will put a lot of miles on these sheets.”
“I hope so,” she crooned, kissing his neck. “Because I plan to put a lot of miles on you!”
Chapter Fourteen
Hours later, Luke dropped to the bed and rolled to his back. “Good Lord, woman, you’re insatiable!”
Lucy flipped over on her stomach, bent her knees, and crossed her ankles. “Good?” she asked, raking her nails over his belly.
“The best,” he promised, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Do you love me?” she asked, wondering why they never tossed out the four-letter word like they used to when they were kids.
He grinned. “I never stopped.”
“How come you never tell me?”
“Well for starters, you just got back in town. You could give a man a fair chance to tell you on his own, ya know?”
“Okay,” she said, clasping her hands under her chin and resting against his belly.
“Okay what?” he asked, grinning.
“So tell me.”
Luke clasped her forearms and moved her aside. He left the bed and walked over to the window and looked down at the lawn below.
She admired his physique from afar and couldn’t help but think about the Shetland pony references. Who was she kidding? Even back then, Luke McDavid had most men beat. Shetland pony’s ass. He was like a well-hung stud waiting to breed.
Her nipples throbbed with the thought. Luke hadn’t taken his time with her. He’d acted like he was in a hurry, as if he had somewhere he needed to be three weeks ago on a Friday.
Lucy understood why. There was a flicker of longing in his tortured eyes as he’d taken her, fucked her, loved her.
They couldn’t get enough of one another because this was real. This was what had been missing in Lucy’s life, and she didn’t have to ask if he’d felt the void, too. She just knew.
Lucy sat, crossing her legs Indian style. “I won’t bite.”
“No, but you’ll push and shove until I say what you wanna hear.”
“No I won’t. Either you love me or you don’t. We’ve known one another since we were kids. We’ve missed one another like crazy. At least, I know I’ve missed you.
“Believe me, I didn’t just come back into town thinking I was going to hook one or both McDavids. It wasn’t an easy thing for me to start thinking about riding two cowboys again. Whether you realize it or not, you guys are hard on a woman’s body.”
He chuckled.
“But I took the plunge.”
“Now that you have, you’re all in, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m in, too, Lucy.”
“No you aren’t,” she said somberly. “You have doubts. Maybe you should. But talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Luke squinted his eyes and stared at the space between her legs. “Do you just wanna get laid again or are you unaware of the kind of view I have right now?”
She snickered. “Watch it, cowboy. I’m always better the second time around.”
“You don’t say.”
“Really,” she assured him. “If you’re gonna ride, you gotta get in the saddle or step completely away from the horse.”
He laughed at that. Before he could respond, Rex walked in the room and collapsed on the bed. “Is this what the two of you have been doing all morning?”
Lucy draped her body over his shoulders, hugging him tightly. “How was your first meeting?”
“They hate me,” he complained.
She kissed his cheek. “They didn’t like me either when I first took over. They’ll get used to you.”
“I don’t know a damn thing about racing.”
“Told ya,” Luke said.
“You told her what?” Rex asked, looking down at Lucy’s hands as she unfastened his buttons.
“I told her you didn’t know anything about racing and that’s not where your interests lie.”
He shrugged. “I want Lucy to stay at home and do what she wants to do. We’ll make something out of this. You’ll see.”
“Did you show the guys the plans for the garage and track?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “No one except the kid is interested in moving here.”
“His wife, Melinda, has family in Bristol. That’s why,” she explained, rubbing the knots out of his neck. “The others will come around.”
“I don’t know. They’re pretty concerned about how long it will take to construct a new practice track. Those with families aren’t impressed by the schools here.”
“We attended Hawkins County Schools. We turned out just fine.”
Rex shrugged. “Then there’s the issue with someone by the name of Fred Graves. Anyone you know?”
Lucy stilled behind him. She hadn’t heard that name in over a year.
Luke bent down and picked up his boxers. Rex turned to face her. “Do you know him or not?”
“Did he call this morning?”
Rex studied her face, acting as if he wanted to memorize every worry line wrinkling her forehead. “Who is he, Lucy?”
She swallowed once, afraid to tell him the truth, terrified of the reaction she’d see if Rex and Luke knew what extreme measures she’d taken in order to keep her company profitable and her grandfather proud. She’d gotten in bed with the devil, and the devil expected her to continue paying dues.
“He asked you a question,” Luke said. He knelt to the floor again and picked up her nightshirt, a sexy little transparent, sleeveless number he’d discarded at some point.
Lucy took the garment and slipped it on. Trying to buy some time, she pretended to struggle with the small opening at the neck, conveniently forgetting to unbutton the three pearl stones at the top.
“She’s stalling,” Rex remarked, accustomed to her tactics. Lucy couldn’t pull any punches with these two.
“I don’t ask you about your past. You have a history, but I don’t inquire about it. I don’t want to know.”
“That’s your right,” Rex informed her. “But just because you don’t ask, doesn’t mean I won’t. Who the hell is he?”
She slid away from the bed and paced the floor, pausing at the window
to peer down on a few of the fellows. “I see Mark Watson made it.”
“Yes, and the rest of your team members are here, too. Cook is preparing a picnic-style feast for this evening. I thought that would give you a good chance to address questions and concerns.”
She nodded. “That’s a wonderful idea.”
“Who. Is. He?” Luke hit her up for answers this time.
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”
Rex slapped his palm against the mattress. “Damn it, Lucy. I’m not asking you. I want to know, and I deserve to know right now. What are you hiding from me?”
Lucy stormed across the room. Waving her finger in front of his face when she approached him again, she said, “Just because your life is an open book doesn’t mean mine is. There are some secrets a woman never shares, stories she never cares to tell, replays she isn’t interested in seeing again, and discussions she refuses to have. This is not open for discussion.”
Rex snarled. “Like hell it isn’t. Graves is on his way. He said to let you know he’d be here in time for the meeting tonight. I suggest you decide how you want to handle him because he said he has something to show your team. Something, apparently, you haven’t seen.” With that Rex stormed out of the room.
Lucy sat on the edge of the bed. “This can’t be happening to me.”
“You fucked him. So what. We weren’t in your life. You weren’t in ours. But we are now, Lucy. If he has something over you, I wanna know about it. And by God, I wanna know what it is before this guy drives in here with every intention of embarrassing you.”
“Luke, you wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She shook her head. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “There’s no way you’d ever understand this.”
“Shit, Lucy,” Luke said, kneeling in front of her with his hands placed on her knees. “Don’t you know how much I love you?”
She gnawed on her bottom lip. “You said the four-letter word.”
“I said it in my own time—which didn’t take me too long since I’ve loved you for most of my life—and I said it when you needed to hear it most. I’m in love with you, woman. You know that. You’ve always known. Rex feels the same way, too. Nothing will change our feelings. Nothing or no one.”
Acres, Natalie - Sex Drive [Country Roads 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 9