Chapter 26
—It’s never too late to live happily ever after.—
Two months later
“Where’s Leighton?” Liliana asked as she stepped into the kitchen, her dark hair mussed as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
Lucy looked up from her coffee mug. “What do you mean? He won’t be over until later.” It was Saturday, and he was taking the two of them out to brunch later.
Her cousin snorted. “I know he sneaks out every morning. I’m not stupid.”
Lucy winced as she set her mug back down. “You know about that?”
“Oh my God, I’m fourteen. I don’t care if you guys are having sex.”
Lucy winced again. “I’m new to this whole guardian/parent thing. I just hope you know that it’s not casual or anything. That I wouldn’t be bringing random guys by or anything—”
“Of course I know that. I also know that man wants to marry you as soon as possible.” She pulled down a box of tea bags and picked her favorite, Earl Gray, before putting it into the water-filled pot on the stove.
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on. I know where it’s headed with you guys. The way he looks at you is crazy.”
She knew that Leighton loved her but marriage seemed kind of soon. They’d just gotten settled into a routine. But… “How would you feel if we do get married?”
Liliana shrugged, having settled very easily into life in Redemption Harbor. Probably because she was finally living with family for the first time in her life. “I really like him. And he treats you well. He’s probably one of the nicest men I’ve actually ever met. He’s like this giant teddy bear around you. If you guys get married, I think we should move to a bigger place though. Maybe someplace that has horses,” she said, grinning. She’d been spending a lot of time at the Alexander ranch.
It turned out that Brooks was a billionaire cowboy with a huge ranch, and he welcomed anyone he considered family there. Since she was with Leighton, they were now family too. It was…taking some getting used to. Having so many people who cared about her and Liliana with no strings attached was incredible, if overwhelming.
“Anything you want,” Lucy said. “But don’t think this means that we’re getting married. Leighton and I haven’t talked about that at all.”
“I have a feeling you’ll be engaged by spring,” her cousin, who was far too young to know about such things, said as she smiled and pulled out her favorite mug. It had dancing unicorns on it to match the ones on her sleep shirt.
Things had gone more smoothly than Lucy expected when she’d moved her cousin back here. Liliana had hated boarding school. Truly, utterly hated it in a way that she’d never told Lucy about. She still kept in touch with some friends, but come to find out she’d always suspected what her father did. Not the depth of it, of course, but she’d had way more of an idea than Lucy ever had of who Alexei had truly been.
Because some of her friends had told her that they’d heard things. And one of her friends had a father in one of the cartels. Which was something Lucy was definitely not going to think about. Liliana had always been too afraid to ask Lucy because she’d been afraid that Lucy was involved in the same things her father was.
Now everything was out in the open, and they’d made a life for themselves. Oh, Lucy was still learning, and figured that the whole parenting thing was going to get harder as Liliana got older. But she loved it in Redemption Harbor.
Living in New Orleans had been an impossibility for her. There had been too many memories there. Marco was in prison—so was Nathan. But they were very small fish compared to the people the Feds had brought down. Agent Blake checked in every now and then to give her updates, and Lucy was very grateful because she knew the woman didn’t have to. Lucy was fairly sure she checked in more out of respect for Leighton but it didn’t matter. She was grateful for the updates, regardless of why they came.
Hell, she was grateful for her whole life here. Leighton had asked her to move to Redemption Harbor and it had been an easy choice. Starting over with the man she loved? Not a hard decision. Once he’d shown up in London, she’d known without a doubt that he wasn’t walking away from her. He was in this for the long haul. And so was she.
* * *
“What are you up to, sneaky man?” Bundled up in a thick coat, scarf, gloves and boots perfect for the January weather, Lucy glanced over at Leighton, who’d decided to take her on a surprise ATV drive on Brooks’s property. And it was just the two of them.
Even though Liliana was older than Valencia, the little girl had asked her to come ride horses at the ranch. And since there was no way Liliana would ever say no to her, Lucy and Leighton had some time alone where they could do whatever Leighton had planned.
Ever since Liliana had told her she knew what they were up to a week ago, Lucy had felt weird about having Leighton over.
“You’ll see.” He glanced at her, his expression unreadable.
“It’s pretty cold, so if you’re planning to get naked…I’m probably going to leave most of my clothes on.”
He let out a startled laugh and reached for her hand as they drove over a dip in the dirt road. “I wasn’t planning on that. But if it’s on the table, I’m in.”
Tightening her grip in his, she pulled in a deep breath of the fresh winter air. She loved it out here and thought that if one day she and Leighton did get married, maybe he’d want to move out here. It was only twenty minutes from the city and from her new job—where she now worked for Mercer Jackson, running one of his new restaurants. And though she loved the condo she and Liliana lived in, there was something to be said about being surrounded by acres of green and trees.
It made her feel at peace in a way she’d never imagined.
“You okay?” he asked quietly, sensing her mood.
As always. “I’m good. Just thinking about how much I love it out here. And how much I love you.” She never got tired of saying that.
He simply squeezed her hand tight and continued driving. When he slowed a few minutes later, she shifted slightly in her seat as they pulled up onto…well, she wasn’t sure what it was. A cluster of trees had been cut down and a big spread of land had been cleared. And huge framing for a house had been started, but no slab had been poured yet.
“Oh, Brooks is building a new house?” She knew that a bunch of his ranch hands lived on the actual property. And his dad did too.
“This isn’t Brooks’s land,” Leighton said, pulling up to the wooden boards.
“Oh…crap. Should we head back?” She’d assumed Brooks owned all of this area.
“We’re good.” He turned the ignition off and stepped out. “Come on.”
“Ah, okay. What is this?” She rounded the ATV and immediately reached for his outstretched hand. She couldn’t seem to get enough of touching him, of feeling like she finally belonged somewhere—to someone. She had a real family now. One that wasn’t defined by blood only.
Leighton cleared his throat, seeming nervous for the first time in…ever. “I hope it will be our home.”
“What?”
“I, ah, I bought this spread of property from Brooks. It’s about ten acres and there’s a direct shot to the main road, so we won’t have to use an easement.”
“Um, okay.” She wasn’t sure what that meant, or what it meant that he’d bought a place out here. When she turned to him, he dropped down on one knee.
She stared at the box in his hand as he swallowed hard. Her confident Leighton, who no longer had sad eyes, looked nervous.
“Yes!” she shouted even though he hadn’t actually asked her anything.
He let out a long breath and grinned. “I bought this property and I want to build a house here. One that’s new and ours. Something we build together from the ground up. Liliana will be able to have a horse, or more, if she wants. I probably should have asked you first, but—”
“Yes, yes! I want all of this. And you, forever.”
Laughing, he opened the box and slipped the sparkly ring on her finger before kissing her hand. Then he tugged her down to him, where he kissed her again. And again, and again.
And despite what she’d said about not getting naked, when he kissed her senseless after offering her everything she’d never known she wanted, she threw out her “no sex outside in the winter” rule. Then she claimed the man she’d fallen head over heels in love with. And let him claim her right back.