Without You (Love Wanted in Texas #1)(77)

I sat down on my bed and stared at her. “And?”

“And what?”

My whole body dropped as I looked at her. “And…what were Maegan and Josh doing?”

She tilted her head and looked at me like I had grown six heads. “Really, Alex? They were screwing. You know, having sex, getting it on, bumping uglies.”

“I know what screwing means, Grace! When did you see this?”

“New Year’s Eve party. I left my phone charger in Meg’s car, and she had parked it behind Grams and Gramps’s barn. I walked up and heard little Miss Meg crying out, and she wasn’t saying, ‘Oh God,’ ’cause she was praying.”

I slammed my hands over my mouth. “No way. Her parents were there. Everyone was there! She could have gotten caught.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Please, I think Meg likes the thrill of having sex right under everyone’s nose.”

I shook my head. “Wow. Do you think Meg’s had sex with a lot of guys?” I stood back up and put my suitcase on the floor near the door.

“Nah. She told me she’s only been with three guys.”

“Only three guys? Gesh, that’s a lot if you ask me.”

Grace got up and put her suitcase next to mine. Then, she stopped and looked up, like she was thinking hard. “Considering we’ve only been with one guy each, I guess three probably seems like a lot, but it’s not. I knew some girls from Mason who slept with almost the whole football team.”

“That’s true.”

“Hey, Lex. Can I ask you something?”

The look on her face told me she was about to ask me something she had thought long and hard about. Grace wasn’t impulsive by any means. When she turned serious, it would usually be because she was about to talk about something serious.

“Of course you can, Grace. Always.”

She began chewing on her bottom lip. “Are you…I mean, do you think you’ll be happy with just being with Will?”

I gave Grace a small smile. “Yes. I can’t really imagine being with anyone else.”

“What about when y’all were apart? Or when you were going through that whole crazy thing with Blake? Did you ever once want to be with someone else?”

I didn’t answer right away as I thought about her questions. “I can honestly say, Grace, I’ve never wanted to be with another man besides Will.”

“When did you really know Will was the one?”

I smiled, and my heart started beating faster. “I think I knew for sure the moment he picked up Emma after I’d dropped her while I was swinging. He dusted her off and smiled at me as he handed her back to me. I couldn’t have been more than ten years old, but I remember thinking to myself that I was going to marry him. Then, when I got Banjo and Will began helping me train him, he touched me one day, and something happened. It was so weird, like my body just said, Oh, yeah, he is the one. I’ll never forget it. In that moment, I think he stole a piece of my heart with just his touch.”

Grace smiled. “That’s beautiful, Alex.” She looked down at her hand. “Just a touch,” she whispered.

“Just a touch,” I said.

She looked back at me and shook her head. Her eyes changed. I wanted to ask her why she was asking me all this, but something told me that Grace might have experienced something with someone, and she wasn’t really sure what to think of it.

“You still gonna have a fling this week?” I asked.

The left corner of her mouth rose up, and she smirked. “Hell yeah, I am.”

I shook my head and laughed.



I sat in the beach chair, reading, as Grace sat on one side of me and Libby sat on the other. Lauren and Taylor were playing football with the guys as Maegan stood off in the distance, talking to some girl from Baylor she’d run into.

“Odd to see Maegan talking to a girl,” Grace said.

I glanced up. “Why?”

“I don’t know. She just always seems to gravitate toward men. Maybe being at Baylor is a good thing for her.”

“She said she loves it there,” Libby said as she looked at her magazine.

“Break time. Damn, I need to cool off!” Luke shouted as he took off toward the water.

Colt followed, but then Maegan walked by, and he stopped and said something that made her laugh. She was smiling as she made her way to her chair next to Grace.

“God, I need to get laid,” Meg said as she plopped down.

“Me, too,” Grace mumbled.

Libby shot her head around me and looked at Grace. “What did you say, Grace?”

Grace smiled and winked at her.

I laughed as I watched Will, Lauren, and Taylor all walk to the edge of the water. Will dove in as Lauren and Taylor just stood there and talked. I looked back down at my book and smiled as I attempted to get lost again in the story.

A few minutes later, I heard Meg start laughing.

She called out, “Holy shit! It’s like a wet T-shirt contest, but better! Mr. Johnson, you, my dear, are packing some serious heat.”

I looked up and saw Luke standing there, drinking a Coke.

He looked confused as hell as he stopped drinking and looked at Maegan. “What?”

Meg laughed her ass off. She looked over at Libby. “Too bad you have a boyfriend, Lib. You could be getting some of that!” She threw her head back and laughed harder.