“Yeah. A little over a week ago, actually. I married Paisley Morgan.”
A wide smile spread across Ethan’s face. “Congrats, man. Let me buy your beer. Marriage is a wonderful thing when you find the right person. I couldn’t imagine life without Aria Jensen.”
Ethan and Aria had been friends turned lovers and they both played a huge roll in the Houston Club.
While he was thrilled for the happy couple, Lucas didn’t really want to get into the whole marriage and love talk with Ethan...or with anyone, really. The arrangement he had with Paisley worked for them. They might not be in love, but they had a history, and they knew each other more than most married couples. They might be different people now, but they still had a bond that time and pain couldn’t erase.
“You’re a lucky man,” Lucas stated, making sure to keep the topic on Ethan. “Not many people find their soul mate.”
“I’d say we’re both lucky,” Ethan commented. “With all the chaos in this town, we need to cling to something good.”
Lucas couldn’t agree more. Only the “good” he was clinging to was the promise that he’d seek justice against Sterling for all the crooked dealings and people he’d betrayed.
Paisley was in that mix, so in a sense he was seeking justice for her, too. He kept reminding himself of that so he didn’t focus on the guilt he felt from using her to get to Sterling.
Lucas finished his beer, more than ready to get home to his wife. This new rumor could prove to be extremely useful in their journey, but Lucas still wasn’t ready to confront Sterling. He wanted a better timeline and a way to put him and Lynette together before Paisley was born. Maybe the affairs coincided. Revenge affairs weren’t uncommon.
Lucas couldn’t imagine being married to one woman and wanting another. Loyalty meant everything to him.
Suddenly, Lucas was more eager to get home. He’d never had someone waiting for him before and he knew this was something he shouldn’t get accustomed to...but that didn’t stop him from enjoying what he had now.
Paisley kept saying this marriage was temporary, but he knew her and knew that was her defense mechanism. She was afraid, but what she didn’t realize was that he was, too. Having her back in his life, back in his bed, terrified him. Because if she walked away again, he wasn’t sure if he could rebuild his heart a second time.
Eleven
“What do you say we go away?”
Angela Perry slid her arms up around Ryder Currin’s neck and threaded her fingers through his hair. She worried so much about the turmoil surrounding her family. But she and Ryder needed a chance to just be themselves without all the rest of the messy outside world getting in.
She was falling for him and she needed him to realize this was serious for her. Could they have a future together even though he was much older and his family and hers had been rivals for decades?
The rivalry didn’t matter to her, though it mattered heavily to her father. Angela couldn’t live her life to please her father.
Sterling had been released from prison last night and Angela feared they’d go back into a verbal sparring match over her relationship with Ryder. She’d yet to visit him. While she fully believed in her father’s innocence, she wanted him to understand that he couldn’t control who she wanted to spend her time with.
“Just the two of us,” she went on, loving how Ryder wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. “Maybe fly to the mountains and get a cozy cabin. Or, if you prefer me in a skimpy suit, we could go to the beach.”
Ryder pulled in a deep breath, and she knew from that second of hesitation that he would make an excuse or give a justifiable reason why they shouldn’t go. She didn’t want to hear all the reasons why this might be a bad idea. All she cared about was why they should escape and put their relationship above all else. But she didn’t want to argue in the few stolen moments they had together.
“It’s okay,” she quickly continued. “I know there’s so much going on and it’s—”
“Not that I don’t want to,” he interjected. “I’d love nothing more than to get away with you for a few days and forget we have a whole host of issues.”