Saving You (Love Wanted In Texas Book 2) (37 page)

I leaned forward with Luke’s help and pushed as hard as I could. I felt the pressure release as I fell back to the pillow. Lifting my head, I watched as the doctor asked Luke if he wanted to cut the cord.

Luke moved to cut it and the doctor said to us both, “You have a beautiful, healthy baby girl.” I didn’t think I could possibly cry any more, but tears streamed down my face. I let out a sob as I watched Luke crying. The nurse placed the blanket over my stomach and laid our baby girl across it. I reached down and traced her soft cheek with my finger.

“Hello there, princess. Mommy’s been waiting for you.” Luke leaned over and kissed her head and then kissed me as he whispered against my lips, “You are amazing. Thank you.”

The nurse took our baby girl and said she was going to clean her. Luke walked over to the table and watched as they cleaned up our daughter and wrapped her in a blanket. Luke held out his arms and I began crying again when they placed her in his arms.

“Libby, I’m going to slowly lift you up okay. Tell me if you feel sick or not.” I nodded my head as the nurse began to lift the bed.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. The man I loved more than anything, holding our baby girl.

Once I was settled and comfortable, Luke walked over to me. He had been singing to the baby and my heart was about to burst in my chest. One of the nurses looked at me and winked.

Stopping next to my bed, Luke looked at me and smiled the most breathtaking smile I’d ever seen. “My God, she’s stolen my heart and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.”

Wiping my tears away, I tried to calm my beating heart. I loved this man so much. When I thought he couldn’t make me love him more—he said something to make me fall even more in love with him.

As Luke reached down and placed our daughter in my arms, he kissed me. Smiling I whispered, “She’s so tiny.”

Luke chuckled. “Seven pounds two ounces.”

I held her in my arms as I looked into her big blue eyes. It was as if she was looking into my soul and knew exactly how I was feeling. I had fallen just as fast as Luke, and it appeared our daughter had as well. We continued to look into each other’s eyes as Luke ran the back of his hand down my face.

“I love you, Libby.”

Peeking up at him, I smiled. “I love you, Luke.”

Luke and I spent the next hour alone bonding with our daughter and looking at every square inch of her body. From her toes, to the tip of her head that was covered in light-brown hair.

There was a soft knock on the door. “Come on in,” Luke called out. The door opened and Luke’s parents and my parents all walked into the room. Ari and my mother both started crying. I glanced at my father and saw him wiping away a tear.

“Are you crying, Josh?” Jeff asked.

Looking at Jeff, my father chuckled and said, “Are you crying?”

Glancing at Jeff I noticed he quickly wiped a tear from his eye. “No, something got in my eye.”

“Who would like to hold her first? I asked. Ari and my mother walked up. “We had to draw straws to see and Heather won,” Ari said with a huge smile.

Looking down, my mother whispered, “She looks exactly like you, Libby.”

I lifted up the baby as my mother scooped her from my arms. The love that swept over my mother’s face caused my stomach to drop and a smile to spread across my face. I knew she held that same look when she gazed upon me and Will for the first time.

She began swaying slightly as she looked down lovingly at the baby.

Glancing up, she smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. “What did you decide on the name?”

Luke walked up next to me and took my hand as I nodded for him to tell them. “Mireya Hope Johnson is our precious little girl’s name.”

Ari covered her mouth in an attempt to keep her sobs back. My mother smiled and whispered, “Mireya, meaning miracle.”

Luke kissed me gently on the lips and said, “She truly is a miracle. She also brought us hope when we needed it the most.”

LUKE AND I
sat down on the sofa, dropped our heads back, and let out a sigh as I said, “She’s finally asleep.”

Nodding his head, Luke said, “She’s got a full belly, a clean diaper, and a comfy bed.”

I giggled and let out another sigh. “So much has happened in the last three months. We had a baby, you graduated college, and we moved into our very first house.” I turned my head to look at Luke. “No more sharing a house with four other people.”

Luke turned and wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “You can scream tonight when I make you come over and over again.”

My core clenched at the idea of Luke having his way with me. We had hardly been together. Luke refused to touch me while we stayed at my parents’ house. I was ready to scream all night while Luke had his way with me. “Do you think Mireya will sleep through the night? She only woke up once last night,” I said with hope in my voice.

Luke closed his eyes. “I sure hope so. How awesome would it be to sleep a solid six hours?”

I laughed. “Six? I’m thinking at least eight.” Grabbing my hand, Luke pulled it up to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

“I’m giving us two hours of playtime, Lib.”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “I like the sound of that.” I looked around at our little house. It was darling. We were renting Aaron and Jenny’s house that they had lived in until their daughter left for college. They had built a smaller house on the other side of their property, closer to Aaron’s daddy. The white beadboard on the walls added charm. Aaron had remodeled the house a few times over the years. The kitchen was huge and had everything we could ever dream of. The master bedroom downstairs had been added only a few years back. It included a huge master bedroom with a separate sitting area that had Mireya’s bassinet. I wasn’t ready to put her in her room yet, but Luke talked me into trying it out for tonight. We were using the guest room downstairs as her bedroom for now. No way was I having my three-month-old daughter alone upstairs.

I slowly pushed and stood. I took a few steps back and lifted my shirt over my head. Luke sat up and licked his lips. I loved how Luke admired my body like I was a goddess, especially after having the baby. I quickly learned to love my new curves.

“Do you like what you see?” I asked as I ran my finger along my cleavage and black lace bra.

Luke let out what sounded like a growl. He stood and began making his way to me.

I turned and headed to our bedroom, stripping out of my jeans as I walked along. When I made it into our room, I turned to see Luke slipping off his jeans and tossing them to the side.

“You drive me crazy with your body, Libby.”

“Good. That was my plan all along.”

I sat down on the bed and slowly scooted back as I leaned against the headboard. Luke crawled onto the bed and licked his lips before he pressed them to mine. Pushing my hands into his hair, I tugged and moaned. Luke pulled back and looked into my eyes. “When are you going to marry me?”

Smiling, I whispered, “As soon as you want.”

“Valentine’s Day.”

Shaking my head, I laughed. “That’s next weekend.”

“I know.”

I slowly ran my tongue along my bottom lip. “Where?”

Luke’s eyes lit up. “Port Aransas, under the pier on the beach.”

I felt the tears build as I thought back to that day. “Why there?”

Luke’s eyes sparkled and filled with love as they searched my face. Capturing my eyes, it was as if we were looking into each other’s souls.

“I was watching you walk away, but you stopped when I called out to you. When you looked back to me, I knew I could never give my heart to anyone else but you.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck I whispered back, “Yes, I’ll marry you next weekend.”

Leaning down, Luke brushed his lips against mine as he kissed me gently. Pulling slightly away, his eyes met mine as he whispered, “Libby, I’ll love you for the rest of my life and I’ll forever cherish the moment your love saved me.

The End.

Coming April 30, 2015

HOLDING YOU

Book 3 in the Love Wanted in Texas Series

LEANING AGAINST THE
rail, I watched Colt talk to one of Libby’s cousins. The way she was flirting with him turned my stomach. I’d like to pull her by that tight bun on the top of her head and slam her against …

“Lauren? Are you okay?”

Pulling my eyes from Colt and the blonde, I turned to face Grace. “Yep. I’m fine. Why?”

Grace smiled a knowing smile. “Well, to start with, you look like you want to kick that blonde’s ass from here to Timbuktu. Second, you’re gripping that bottle so tight your knuckles are turning white.”

Glancing at my hand, I loosened the grip on the bottle. Sighing, I looked back to Colt and the blonde. “He drives me crazy.”

Grace chuckled. “Why? Because a hot girl is attracted to him? Poor Colt can’t help it if he is a mini version of his daddy, Lauren. Girls are going to flock.”

Rolling my eyes, I looked away. “He sure looks like he is interested in her.”

Grace sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “You know what I see, Lauren?”

Turning to look at Grace, I asked, “What?”

Not taking her eyes from Colt, Grace smiled. “I see a guy who is being polite and talking to one of his friend’s cousins. I see that every time she takes a step closer to him, he takes a step away from her. His smile isn’t touching his eyes, and he looks bored out of his fucking mind. I think you need to go save him from what clearly is a conversation he doesn’t want to be in.”

My head jerked as I looked to Colt. It was then, for the first time, I noticed he was wearing a fake smile. When she threw her head back and laughed, she took a step closer and Colt turned his body away from her and took a small step away. Lifting his Coke bottle to his lips, his eyes caught mine. I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t smiling because he looked at me. I was smiling because I saw how miserable he was. He didn’t want to be talking to the blonde and in that moment of realization I was ecstatic.

“See what I mean?” Grace said as she nudged me with her shoulder.

Colt smiled back, and this time his smile did reach his eyes. They lit up for the first time in weeks and I loved that it was because of me smiling at him. Ever since he moved into the house we were all sharing, all we did was argue about the stupidest things or avoid each other all together. I knew my frustration toward Colt was from him turning me down the night I asked him to make love to me. Then of course there was the fact that my father seemed to think I couldn’t take over the family business without Colt’s help. Part of me knew I was being unfair to Colt. His love and knowledge of horses would be an asset to our breeding business and my father could see that. And Colt explained his reasons for not making love to me that night, yet it still didn’t lessen the blow when he turned me down. The embarrassment from that night still clung to my heart and was the main reason I avoided Colt. Well, that and the fact that anytime I was near him I wanted to jump his bones.

But tonight I’m not going to avoid Colt. Tonight I would be a good friend and save him from the blonde who clearly wanted more than just a causal conversation.

“Excuse me, Grace. I can’t pass up this moment. I’ll be able to rub it in Colt’s face later how I rescued him from this situation.”

Grace laughed as I began walking toward Colt. His grin turned to a full-blown smile, as his eyes never left mine. Seeing the blonde out of the corner of my eye, I glanced to her. She was staring at me with daggers as I made my way over to them. Her eyes moved up and down my body. I knew I looked good. The chiffon, platinum colored bridesmaid dress that Libby had picked out for us to wear fit me like a glove. Even Meg said my breasts looked killer in the dress. Colt hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of me when I walked down the aisle.

Walking up to Colt and the blonde, I smiled bigger. “Hey, Colt.”

“Hey, Lauren.”

Turning, I smiled at the bitch.
I mean, the blonde.
“Hi. I’m Lauren. You are?”

Flashing me a fake smile she said, “Tina.”

I nodded my head. “Nice to meet you, Tina.” Tilting my head slightly, I looked back at Colt. “You promised we would dance.”