Chapter 27
twenty-seven
HUDSON
Skyler stares at herself in the mirror, her mouth open as she traces the skin on her neck. “I can’t believe you gave me a hickey,” she says, frowning at the red mouth-shaped patch there.
I smirk, because it may have been inadvertent, but it also feels like some kind of sweet justice. Plus I like seeing the little bruise on her neck. I made it. She’s mine.
“We have ten minutes until the car arrives,” I remind her. My plans for a leisurely breakfast followed by a long, hot sexy shower in the double sized bathroom are out of the window. It turns out that a sleepy Skyler is stubborn as hell. She wouldn’t wake up no matter how many times I kissed her back, murmured in her ear, or – eventually – played Fleetwood Mac through the penthouse’s expensive stereo system.
“I don’t even have a scarf to cover my neck,” she grumbles, shooting me a dark look. But there’s amusement there, along with something altogether hotter. “Give me that,” she mutters, walking over to me and yanking my tie. It tightens dangerously around my neck.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I rasp, feeling my windpipe constrict.
“Don’t tempt me. Why the hell are we meeting your lawyer so early anyway?” She succeeds in taking my tie off and knots it around her neck like a choker. It looks surprisingly effective.
Now I’m imagining curling my fingers around it while I take her from behind. Note to self, give her all your ties.
“It’s not early. It’s almost ten,” I point out, unfastening my top button. “And I’d like to be back on the island before Ayda goes to bed.”
At that Skyler’s face softens. “Of course you do. Have you talked to her this morning?”
“We got on Facetime. I talked, she listened.” That was all in the other room while Skyler was asleep. “She and Autumn are going over to the bar today to help Jesse.”
“Oh.” Skyler claps her hands together. “I bought her a new coloring book. It’s in the drawer behind the bar. You should message Autumn and tell her.”
I give her a long look. “You want me to message Autumn to tell her?” I repeat.
“Yes.” Skyler nods. “It’s got princesses in it. Not Disney ones, real ones. Warrior princesses. I think Ayda’s going to love it.”
“And if I message Autumn and tell her about it, don’t you think she’s going to wonder how I know it’s there?” I ask, looking at her carefully.
Skyler frowns. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” I lift my brow.
“I guess we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, huh?” She smooths down the overalls she’s wearing. She won’t quite catch my eye. I check my watch, we’re going to be late and I hate being late.
But still I reach for her chin, tipping it up so her eyes meet mine.
“I think the cat is already out of the bag, sweetheart. You love me.”
She exhales softly.
“And I love you. So it’s a matter of controlling the cat. Making sure it doesn’t go feral.”
She narrows her eyes. “We’re not talking about a real life cat here, are we?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “No. But I’m tired of hiding this. I want to be able to come to your place and see you without sneaking around like a damn teenager. I want you in my arms and in my bed.”
Skyler pulls her lip between her teeth. I flick it with my thumb. “But if we go public, we need to do it right,” I say softly. “On a small island like Liberty, people talk. And I have Ayda to think about.” That’s my biggest concern. I just need to make sure we do this right.
“Of course you do. We don’t have to do this. We can go back to bedless sex.”
“No we fucking can’t.” My phone vibrates and I know that’s the driver. We still haven’t checked out.
This is what happens when you spend the whole night having sex at my age. Everything the next morning goes to shit. And yet I wouldn’t change a minute of it. Being inside this woman, holding her all night. It was the best damn night of my life.
“Listen,” I tell her. “I just need to talk this through with Dr. Methi, okay?”
“Dr. Methi?” She frowns.
“Ayda’s trauma doctor. Mine, too. I need to discuss the best way to deal with it for Ayda’s sake.”
“Do you think she’ll be upset about us? I don’t want her to be upset. I’d rather just keep things the way they are.”
“I think she’ll be ecstatic,” I murmur. “I just want to manage her expectations. Explain that this is…” I trail off.
“That this is new,” Skyler murmurs. “That we’re friends but we feel a lot for each other. But I’m not her mom or a mom replacement and never will be.”
I blink. “I guess. And I don’t want that to have any detrimental affect on her progress.” Because she still isn’t talking and it’s killing me.
“I think talking to her doctor is a good idea,” Skyler agrees.
My phone buzzes again. “Okay, we need to go.” I’m dropping her off at my lawyer’s on the way to my office. I have one meeting this morning before my driver picks us up to take us to the helipad.
And then we’ll be back on Liberty by tonight. She’ll be back in her place and I’ll be at home with Ayda.
I’m looking forward to seeing my daughter, but I hate the thought of not holding this woman in my arms while I sleep.
“I’ll talk to Dr. Methi soon,” I say, grabbing our luggage. “The quicker we make a plan, the better.”
Her eyes meet mine. There’s a warm amusement in them. She slides her fingers over the tie she’s knotted around her neck.
“Whatever you say, Dracula.”
* * *
SKYLER
The meeting with Hudson’s lawyer takes less time than I had expected. Drawing up a contract to add Jesse as an owner of The Salty Dog is simple, though he suggested he have one of his colleagues in a different firm do it, as there’s some kind of conflict of interest since he’s Hudson’s lawyer.
Apparently, Hudson paid for the bar renovations against his lawyer’s legal advice, and he suggests my lawyer – the one he’s referring me to – makes Hudson sign a waiver to state he has no claim on the bar at all. I couldn’t help but smile that his lawyer is even more grumpy than Hudson himself.
So now I have almost an hour before Hudson and his driver are due to pick me up. I walk out of the high rise building and into the New York City streets. It’s late morning but they’re full of people rushing to get somewhere. The sun is beating down from the topaz blue sky, and I head toward the nearest coffee shop and order a double shot cappuccino, because after last night’s bed-ful sex marathon, I need all the caffeine I can get.
“Cute outfit,” the barista says when she passes me the Styrofoam cup. “I love your tie.”
“Thanks.” I give her a broad smile, feeling content as I take a seat by the window. I have two messages from Lee. She’s sent a meme of two little girls – sisters – wearing the same dresses. The younger one is smiling at the camera, with a thought bubble coming out of her head saying ‘I’m dressed like my sister.’ The older one is scowling, while thinking exactly the same thing.
Under it Lee has written,
This is me every time you try to get me to wear a floaty dress.
I go to reply, but then a wave of nostalgia washes over me. I miss her face. So I hit the video call button.
She answers almost right away.
“How was your dirty night in Manhattan?” she asks. Because of course I told her about it.
“Perfect.” I sigh. “I hate how perfect it was.”
“Only you would hate perfection,” Lee replies. She’s in the kitchen, doing some dishes by the looks of it. I think her phone must be propped up on the window sill because she looks like she’s at a weird angle. “So he’s also a master at sex in a bed?”
A woman sipping a chai latte next to me whips her head around to look at me.
“Lee,” I hiss and she laughs.
“Just say yes,” she urges.
“Yes, yes he is.”
“So why do you look like you just found a penny and lost a dollar?” she asks.
“He wants us to go public about our dating.”
Lee’s hands freeze mid wash. “Seriously?”
I nod. “Yes, seriously. He’s talking about making a plan with Ayda’s doctor to make sure finding out about us doesn’t upset her.”
Lee’s brows knit together. “Is that what you want?” she asks.
I can’t work out why she looks so mad about that. “I guess…”
“You guess? This is a little girl we’re talking about. You can’t just guess, Skyler. You have to be sure.” Her jaw tightens. “This is so like you.”
“Why are you so mad at me?” I ask her.
“Because you never take anything seriously,” she says. A wail comes from behind her. “Oh damn. She’s only been asleep ten minutes.” She dries her hands off and disappears, reappearing a minute later holding Cora, doing the mom dance that all babies seem to love. “So you’re really staying there?” she asks.
And then it dawns on me. She’s upset with me because I’m settling on Liberty. “I think so,” I say, feeling reluctant to annoy her further.
“With your new brother.”
“You like Jesse,” I point out. They’ve talked a couple of times since it all came out. Lee even mentioned coming to meet him in the flesh when she gets a chance.
“Sure I like him. I don’t like that you’re willing to stay in the same town as him when you’re not willing to live anywhere near me or your niece.”
“Lee,” I whisper, trying to find the right words. I hate that she looks angry with me. I hate that she’s hurt. I hate that I could never stay around long enough to show her the love she shows me. “You’re my number one sister. You know that.”
“I’m your only sister.” But her lips twitch.
“You’re my very favorite, knows all the lyrics to Tusk , can do French braids like a professional, big sister who’s better than everybody.”
“Shut up.”
“Move out here,” I say.
“I’m not moving out there.” But she’s almost smiling now.
“You can live by the ocean. Cora can grow up breathing in the salt. You and James can have bedless sex to your heart’s content.”
“We’re not moving to the East Coast,” Lee mutters. “But I’ll come visit.”
“Good.” I blow her a kiss. “The only bad thing about Liberty is that you’re not there.”
She lets out a long breath. “I just want you to be happy,” she says.
“I am happy. I love it.” I pull my lip between my teeth. “I love him.”
“Skyler…”
“I know. It’s too soon. I’ve told myself that. And I’m pretty sure he’s said the same thing to himself a billion times. But there it is. I love him, the sex is perfect, and now he wants to go public.”
“Is that what you want?” Lee asks.
I nod. “It is.”
Her face crumples. “My baby sister’s going to settle down. On a little island over two thousand miles away from me.”
“I wish you were there,” I say.
“Maybe I do too,” she says. “I’m happy for you, I really am. Or I will be when I get over the annoyance.”
“Thank you,” I tell her. I glance at my watch. “I have to go. Hudson’s picking me up soon.”
She nods, dipping her face against Cora’s soft, downy scalp, breathing her in. “You know you’ll always be my baby sister? I’ll always want to take care of you.”
“I know that,” I tell her. “But you have other people to take care of now. And I can take care of myself.”
I have been for a long time. “I love you, sis.”
“Love you too.” She gives me a sad smile. “Just keep being you, okay? Don’t let anybody dim your light.”