Page 19 of Luke

“Oh. That’s probably a good idea. You weren’t around for it, but our father did some pretty shitty things to all of us to try to get us not to hook up. I didn’t really understand the whole Jake and Lauren thing since it had nothing to do with him, but apparently it was just because he was worried Cade would marry a secretary or something.”

“I don’t know what to tell him,” Paisley confessed. Her stomach had been in knots since he’d texted.

“The truth.” Catherine shrugged. “I’ve seen him look at you. You aren’t going to lose him or his admiration with anything you say.”

“I don’t know about that,” Paisley worried.

“I do.” She cleared some of the clothes and took a seat on the sofa, patting next to her for Paisley to have a seat. “Luke doesn’t have to do all he’s doing for you and Garrett, right? Like, you know that. He could give you some money and walk away or even take you to court for custody.”

Paisley gasped at the thought.

“He wouldn’t. Believe it or not, you do know him. He is doing this because he wants to, not because he has to. That’s saying a lot because Luke slept around and he didn’t maintain any sort of relationship with anyone. I’m not saying that to hurt your feelings. I want you to know how special you are to him.” Catherine reached over and took her hand.

Paisley squeezed it. “I don’t want to make more problems for anyone.”

“Oh girl, you aren’t. Our father is the problem here. When Ryker left this morning, he said they were going to try to get ahead of the problems. If I were doing this from a PR perspective, I’d want to know absolutely everything so I can plan ahead. That’s likely all they are doing.”

“That’s pretty much what he said.”

“Then just be honest with him. In the end, if he can’t accept all of you, past, present, and future, he’s not someone you want anyway. I can guarantee you that Cade and I will always make sure that you and Garrett are taken care of no matter what if that helps. You’re family now.”

It was weird, being called family. She didn’t need the support because she believed Luke when he said that he would take care of them, and nothing she was going to tell him was that bad. She just didn’t like talking about it.

“Just think about it. I’ll head back home and you call me later.” Catherine stood. “Just give him some credit, okay? I think he’ll surprise you.”

Luke walked in before Catherine left the living room. “Hey, ladies,” he said with all his charm.

Catherine outright laughed at him while Paisley giggled. “You’re losing your mojo now that you’re a family man,” Catherine teased him.

“That’s not so bad. I’m getting a lot in return.” His eyes landed on hers and held.

“And with that, I will show myself out,” Catherine said as she left the room.

Luke waited for the door to close before taking the seat that Catherine had just vacated.

“Sorry for interrupting your girl chat,” Luke said.

“It’s fine. We were just talking.” She pointed at the other side of the sofa. “Our son is going to be so spoiled.”

Luke’s smile split his face. “I love it when you say that.”

“What? He’s spoiled?”

“No. Our son. I love it when you call him ours.”

She blushed and ducked her chin. “He is.”

“Yes, but it’s still nice to hear you say it.”

It was, she agreed, nice when he said it. She loved that he thought so, too. That he was stepping up because Catherine was right. He could have walked away.

She leaned back into the sofa cushions and made up her mind. She was just going to spill her past to him and it would be what it was.

“I grew up in the Midwest. I didn’t know my parents really. I lived with my grandparents until I was twelve. My parents liked to party, and not together. My mother would pop in and out now and then, but she never stayed and treated me more like a kid sister than her child.”

Luke shifted to face her but didn’t interrupt.

“She died when I was ten. I don’t even know if my father is alive. When my grandparents passed almost six months apart, social services tried to find him but they couldn’t. After that, I bounced around from foster home to foster home. Some were good, some awful. I knew I was never going to be adopted so I just counted down the days until I turned eighteen.”

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