Saving You (Love Wanted In Texas Book 2)(41)
“Grams, you’d have a lovely time in Florida,” my mother said with a sweet smile.
Grams shook her head. “Heather darling, have you ever been on a plane with Garrett?”
Smiling, my mother shook her head. “No, I can’t say I have, Emma.”
Ellie started giggling. “Emma, tell them about the time Garrett passed out on the plane.” Alex quickly turned and looked at her mother. “What? Gramps passed out on a plane?”
Grams slowly nodded her head and was about to say something when Gramps cleared his throat. I turned around to see, Gramps, Alex’s dad Gunner, my father, Luke, Will, and Colt all walking up from the main barn.
“Why good afternoon, gentlemen,” Grams said with a smile. “What a fine group of handsome men we have here. Isn’t that right, ladies?”
Smiling, I looked each of them over. Good lord. It should be sinful to have six good-looking men all standing together like this. Gramps held his own with his blue eyes and gray hair. Gunner was beyond breathtaking and Colt was a mini version of Gunner. Except Colt had that ever present five o’clock shadow that fit him perfectly. Will was the spitting image of my father, handsome as hell. He smiled as he looked adoringly at Alex. My father smiled and winked at my mother, causing me to turn and look at her. When her face flushed I looked away. Their love affair, as she called it, seemed more on fire than ever before. Will and I had walked in on them last night in the kitchen. Of course they were just kissing, but Will declared to have the image burned forever in his memory.
Glancing back, my eyes locked onto the most beautiful green eyes. My heart fluttered and it felt as if the energy in the air changed. Luke was staring at me with the most breathtaking smile I’d ever seen. In less than a week, we’d all be heading back to school and the idea of living in the same house, waking up every morning wrapped in his arms, thrilled me beyond belief.
“Libby? Hello? Libby, darling are you even listening to me?”
I shook my head and turned to Ellie. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I was, um, lost in thought.”
She smiled sweetly and then continued on. “We’ve made plans to have dinner with all of you before you leave. Tomorrow night, seven sharp at your parents’ house. There are some—things we’d like to discuss with all of y’all. The idea of us buying the house in College Station was a good idea, but now that two of y’all are couples. We’d like to go over some ground rules.”
I nodded my head and peeked over to Alex. Her face was flushed and she looked down. This wasn’t going to be fun. It was sure to be awkward as hell. Gunner cleared his throat. “We’ve already chatted with the boys.”
Luke let out a deep laugh. “Chatted? I wouldn’t necessarily say threatening to end our lives is chatting.” Alex stood up. “Daddy, you didn’t!”
Gunner smiled. “Oh yes, I did. Two boys, four girls, all under one roof, what the hell were we thinking?”
My mother stood up, leaned down and kissed Grams on the cheek and then turned toward the guys. “We were thinking that they are all adults, we raised them right and that Will, Luke, and Colt will do nothing but always respect and protect our girls.”
Gunner and my father both turned and looked at Luke. Daddy raised his eyebrow at Luke. “That was before Luke started dating my baby girl.”
My mother slapped my father lightly on the chest. “Stop it. Come on, let’s head on back. I’ve got a roast in the crock pot.” Ellie kissed Colt on the cheek. “Don’t be out too late; you leave to go back to A&M tomorrow.”
Colt returned a gentle kiss on Ellie’s face. He had to report to A&M a few weeks ago for football, but was home for a few days.
Taking my hand in his, Luke pulled me to him. “Want to go for a ride? I can saddle up a few horses.” I nodded my head and smiled. I loved spending time with Luke. It was nothing like when we were best friends. It was a million times better.
“Gramps, Lib and I are going to take a couple horses for a ride,” Luke shouted for Gramps to hear. Raising his hand, Gramps called out, “Have fun!”
Luke and I quickly walked to the barn and saddled up two horses and made our way onto one of the many trails that ran over the ranch. Since we were little kids we had been riding all over this property.
When we got a good ways away from the house, I looked at Luke. “So how horrible was my father to you?”
Luke looked over my way and gave me that naughty smile of his. “Let’s see, he told me if I hurt you, got you pregnant, made your grades slip, slept in the same room as you, got you pregnant—”
I giggled. “You said that twice.”
“Only because he said it like six times. After of course, he gave me the lecture about always using protection, making sure my number one goal was keeping you safe.”
My eyes widened in horror. “Please tell me you’re kidding?”
Luke pursed his lips and looked up. “Nope. I had to sit there with your brother on one side of me, who by the way, has also threatened to cut off my balls if I hurt you in any way. Yeah, with Will glaring at me from the side, your daddy came full force. Right out of the gate, he was telling me how he could kill me and make it look like an accident.”
I covered my mouth, stopped my horse, and let out a moan. “Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry.”
He stopped his horse and looked deep into my eyes. “I’m not, Libby. It just shows how much they love you. If Grace was to bring a guy home tomorrow, I’d take him out to the barn and show him how accurate of a shot I am. I have no problem spending the rest of my life in jail for having to shoot someone for hurting my sister. Or you.”