Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (35 page)

Paul

Paul was pissed off that Luke started moving Sierra and Nathan into his house the night after he proposed, but he tried not to let it show.  He figured that Luke was going to have to deal with Kimber moving in with him eventually or he certainly hoped so at least.  He knew that he was in love with her, but he was afraid to tell her. 

It had all happened so quickly that he was afraid even more of screwing everything up.  He tried to listen to Kimber in ways that he felt he had never really listened to Sierra.  He wanted to understand the way she felt.  He was hopeful that she loved him too, but he tried not to let his hopes get too high, especially since his job was still driving him completely crazy.

He had been able to help Kimber some with her advertising, and the sales at her bookstore had picked up, but he felt as if he needed more time to devote to working with her to be able to really help her.  He felt like he needed more time with her period, and he knew that he definitely needed more time with his son.

Kimber

Kimber was thrilled that Paul had been able to help her with advertising and promotions for her bookstore.  The sales had picked up enough that she was beginning to believe that she could make even more money than she’d previously believed.  But Paul seemed disappointed that he hadn’t been able to help more, and she knew that his job was still making him unhappy.

He wasn’t able to spend much time with her, and most of their time together was spent with one or all of the children.  She didn’t mind and she didn’t think that he did either, but she wanted more time with him and she wanted alone time with him too.  Their kisses has definitely turned more passionate and she was looking forward to the next steps in their physical relationship.  As the days passed, she realized that she was falling in love with Paul.  The thought scared her, and even with as much as she wanted to tell him that she loved him, she held back.

Sierra

Sierra was glad that Nathan was with Paul that weekend and that Alexis and Halden were with their mother too.  She was so mad at Luke that she could hardly see straight.

“Dammit Luke.”  She glared at him.  “You know how mad it makes me when someone goes behind my back and makes big plans without me, especially when it’s something as important as our wedding.”

Luke offered her an amused smile.  She knew that he thought he could talk her out of being angry with him, and normally he could.  She and Luke were more like minded than she and Paul were, so any compromises they had to come to came a lot easier.  They had both grown a lot in their time apart, so even with Sierra’s fiery temper they were normally able to settle arguments quickly, even if it took Luke seducing her with his bedroom eyes like he was trying to do now and talking her into some fiery love making to calm her down.  But he had really pissed her off this time, and she almost regretted her quick decision to move in with him.

“Sie, I know that it’s important, but you didn’t seem interested when I wanted to talk about the details of the wedding before.  And I didn’t think it would be a big deal making this particular plan without you.”

“One big reason that my first marriage broke up is that Paul went behind my back and made a decision without me.”

“Baby doll, I’m not trying to impose my will on you the way that Paul always did.  I would never do that to you.  I know that your job is important to you and I’m fine with that.”

Sierra made a face at him.  “Paul didn’t exactly try to impose his will on me Luke.  Why do you still have such a bad opinion of him anyway?  I’m sure Kimber is thrilled with the way he treats her.  Do you think they’ve been to bed together yet?”

Sierra knew that what she’d said was petty, but she got the feeling that Luke was a little jealous of Kimber’s relationship with Paul.  She knew that he loved her, but while it had seemed okay for her to love Luke when she was with Paul, it didn’t feel okay for Luke to still love Kimber.  She
loved Paul of course, but the love was different now and felt a lot more distant than Luke’s love for Kimber. 

“I don’t give a shit if they’ve been together.  Can we please talk about something else Sie?”

“It bugs you doesn’t it?  I think you’re jealous.”

“Why would I be jealous?  I know that I’m with the woman I’m meant to be with.  I asked you to marry me didn’t I?”

“Yes, but how are you going to feel when Paul asks Kimber to marry him?  Am I going to have to deal with sullen pouting and you not telling me what’s really wrong?  Be honest with me Luke.  Just tell me that you don’t like the fact that my ex-husband is giving it to your ex-wife.”

Luke gave her an artificial smile.  “One more time Sierra, I do not give a shit if Kimber and Paul are sleeping together.”  His smile brightened then and became a little more real.  “But from what you’ve told me he’s so pathetic in bed that she’ll probably run away from him the first time they have sex anyway.”

“You sound about sixteen Luke.  I never told you that Paul was pathetic in bed, just that he didn’t seem to enjoy sex much, or with me anyway.  And Kimber and Paul have already been to bed together once so he can’t have been so bad that she’d run away screaming.”  Sierra threw a tight smile of her own at Luke, almost forgetting what had caused her to become angry with him in the first place.

“How did you getting angry with me for booking a band for the wedding turn into an argument about whether or not I’m jealous that Kimber is with Paul?”

Luke tried to pull her into his arms but she turned away from him.  She knew that Luke’s lack of honesty had been one of the reasons that his marriage had ended.  She had always thought that they could be honest with each other at least, especially with the history they had together, but she knew that he wasn’t being honest with her about the way he felt about Kimber and Paul being together.  She wondered again if they could really make things work.  Sometimes all the love and the passion in the world wasn’t enough to keep a relationship together.

“Do you want to smoke some weed baby?”

That was another thing that had started to irritate her.  Luke’s career was going well, and smoking marijuana did seem to put him in a creative mode, but he seemed to be turning into a pothead.  While she enjoyed smoking pot with him now and then, she thought that enough was enough.

“No Luke, I don’t want to smoke any weed.  You seem to be smoking way too much of it these days yourself anyway.”

“I thought you loved stoned sex.”

“Shut up Luke.  This isn’t funny.  None of this is a game.  I used to think that Paul was too damned uptight, but I’m beginning to wonder if you aren’t too laid back.”

“Really Sierra?”

Irritation had crept into Luke’s voice. 

“Yes Luke.  It may seem like a small thing to you that you booked a band without asking me, but it wasn’t small to me.  I don’t want a big wedding and I told you that from the beginning.  I know that you know the band and they’re really big right now, but I honestly don’t give a shit.  I would have been a lot happier marrying you in your backyard like we had agreed on instead of turning everything into a big media event.”

“Are you concerned that the media will be there?”

Sierra sighed.  “Luke, I know that you get media attention, and I also know that you’ve been trying really hard to keep the attention away from your kids and from me.  But this whole thing seems wrong to me.  It does seem like an attention grab instead of something like you.  I’d be happy to let the whole world know that I was Mrs. Luke Stone, but it has nothing to do with the fact that you’ve written some hit songs.  I don’t want my son involved in this and I wouldn’t think that you’d want your children involved in it either.  And there is no way that I’m marrying you without the kids being there.  So we need to work this out and soon, or we won’t be getting married.”

“Don’t threaten me Sierra.”

Sierra sighed again.  “I’m not threatening you Luke.”

“It sure as hell sounded like a threat to me.”

Knowing that if she said another word to him, she would say something that they would both regret, Sierra turned away and walked out of the room.  He didn’t follow her, even when she went down the stairs and out the door.  She didn’t pause in her car, not letting herself think about what it could mean if he didn’t come after her.

Luke

Luke was tempted to follow Sierra when she left the bedroom, especially after he heard the front door open and close, but he knew better than to believe that he would be able to win in an argument with her now.  He supposed that he could see how she might feel as if the changes he had made in their wedding plans might seem to come from a want to draw attention to himself.  But he was so proud to be marrying Sierra that he wanted the whole world to know and wasn’t sure why she didn’t feel the same way.

What she had said to him about being jealous of Kimber and Paul’s relationship bugged him too.  He loved Sierra more than anything in the world besides his children, and it felt a little weird to hear her say that he was jealous of Kimber’s new relationship.  He did still love Kimber, but he wondered if her new relationship would bother him less if it was with someone other than Paul, and he was pretty damned sure that it would.

When Sierra didn’t return to the house that night or the next morning, he tried to call her, but she ignored him, sending his attempt straight to voicemail.  He sighed and decided not to leave a message, wondering if the compromises he was going to have to make in his new marriage would be as easy as he had thought.

Sierra

Sierra was tempted not to go home that Sunday, but she knew that Paul would be dropping Nathan off.  It would look a little strange if not only she wasn’t there, but Luke had to explain to him that she had gone back to the old house.  So she saved both her fiancé and her ex-husband an awkward meeting and drove back to Luke’s early Sunday afternoon, still several hours before Nathan was due to return home.

Luke gave her a guarded look when she came through the front door.  “Hi beautiful.”

“Hi.”

She sat down next to him on the couch and put her head on his shoulder.  She knew that they needed to talk and that there was a lot that they needed to talk about, but she wanted him to hold her for a quiet moment.  She had always felt secure in Luke’s arms, and right now, she needed to hear that everything was going to be all right.

She pulled back from him several minutes later.  “I’m sorry about the other night, but we do need to talk, and we are going to be honest with each other, even if it hurts.”

Luke sighed.  “I’m sorry too baby.  I guess maybe part of the reason I decided to book the club and the band for the wedding was because I wanted attention.  But I’m so proud to marry you Sierra.  I didn’t care if everyone knew.  I should have put more thought into it though.  Maybe the band will agree to play in our back yard.”

Sierra gave him a half-hearted smile.  “Maybe.  I think we’ll survive even if they say no.  It seemed like we were in agreement on most of the important stuff even before you proposed but now I’m beginning to think that we need to make sure.”

“Sie, please don’t tell me that you’ve changed your mind about marrying me.”

“I haven’t Luke, and I know that things are going to come up for both of us that we’ll have to compromise on and that there are going to be hurt feelings along the way.  That’s the reality of being in a relationship.  But I have to know that you’re going to be honest with me.  I will understand if you’re a little jealous of Kimber and Paul’s relationship.  You have two children with her and you spent years of your life with her.  I understand that you have to be in the public eye to a certain extent at least, but we have to be even more careful about that now because it’s not going to just be about your children being there with you, it’s going to be about my child being there too.  I don’t want that for Nathan, and I really didn’t think that that’s what you wanted for your kids either.”

Luke sighed.  “Kimber and I talked a lot about that when I first started to gain popularity and we agreed that the kids didn’t need to be in the public eye.  I’m sorry baby.”

“You have to talk to me Luke.  I spent most of my marriage with Paul feeling like I wasn’t part of the decision making process.  I am not okay with that.”

Luke squeezed her hand.  “I know Sie, and I’m sorry that what I did made you feel that way.  I want us to make decisions together.”

“We have for the most part.  Are you okay with having the wedding in the backyard?  I really would prefer it that way.  If we didn’t have the kids I would elope with you.”

Luke chuckled.  “Yes the backyard is fine, though I’m sure that Alexis will ruin her dress.”

Sierra shrugged.  “She’s a kid.  Let her ruin it.”

“I love you Sierra.”

“I love you too.  Now that we’ve got the wedding issue worked out, can we talk about how much pot you’ve been smoking lately?”

“Okay Sie, I promise you that I will cut down.”

She held out her pinky.  “Pinky swear.”

He smiled back, then leaned in to steal a kiss while sealing the pinky swear. 

“Thank you.  Now we need to talk about Kimber and Paul.”

Luke sighed.  “Do we really have to?”

“Yes we have to.  I know that you two have reasons not to like each other, but you’re grown men.  You are going to be his son’s stepfather and whether you want to think about it or not, he is going to be the stepfather of your children.  You need to learn to get along.  Haven’t I done well with Kimber?”

“Of course you have.  But it’s a lot easier for the two of you.”

“How is it easier?  Did I not have an affair with her husband?  Did she not have sex with mine?  Am I not helping to care for her children?  Is she not helping to care for my child?  Kimber and I face the same issues that you and Paul do, and while I’m not sure that she exactly likes me, she’s always been polite to me.“

“I think that Kimber tried not to like you, but she found it pretty hard since you’re so damned wonderful.”

Sierra shook her head at him.  “I am a bitch.”

“True, but you have plenty of redeeming qualities.”  He winked at her.

“Ha ha Luke.  Will you admit that you’re a little jealous that Kimber is with Paul?  And will you promise me that you will try to give Paul a chance?  Your kids must like him.”

Luke made a face at her.  “I don’t see why they would.  He’s a stick in the mud.”

“Seriously Luke, quit trying to change the subject.  And your kids do like Paul.  Your daughter told me so.”

“I’m sorry Sie.  It’s just hard for me to like the guy since he was such an ass to you.”

“Babe, he wasn’t an ass to me.  Okay so maybe he was, but I was a bitch to him.  We didn’t agree on things and chose to ignore them or go around them instead of working on trying to fix them.  Paul has plenty of reason not to like you too.  He probably thinks he has more reasons not to like you than you do not to like him.  Can’t we all just get along?”

Luke laughed.  “I promise you that I will try baby.  It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows though.”

Sierra rolled her eyes.  “Of course it’s not silly man.  But thank you.  Do it for the kids.”

“Yes ma’am.  Speaking of kids, do you want to go upstairs and practice some baby making before little man gets home?”

Sierra smiled.  “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

Luke took her hand and led her towards the bedroom.