Chapter 15 #2
“I think it is,” Skye said. “Want me to put it around your neck?”
Lindsay nodded eagerly.
Anne returned then, glancing at her daughter’s new pendant. “Someone’s got a present.”
“Yes, I have a magic talisman now. And Skye says I can bring all my dolls and show them to her.”
Anne laughed, glancing at Skye. “Oh, Skye. You have no idea what you’ve just gotten yourself into. But we have to go now. We’re meeting Dawn and her mom, remember?”
Lindsay nodded, looking a bit regretfully at Skye.
I was studying my sister closely, and as I walked her and Lindsay to the car, I pulled her to one side.
“Do I have to beat someone up?” I wasn’t even joking.
She patted my shoulder. “No, just the usual. Making excuses for having no time for Lindsay. Not that much of a difference, really. She barely saw him when we were married anyway.”
“Anne….”
“Don’t.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Offer to talk with the dickhead, which is code for breaking his jaw, giving him a black eye?”
“Possibly.”
“See? I know you. There’s nothing you can do. Except spoil us, like today. And ask Skye over too. She’s fab.”
I agreed 100 percent.
“Have fun in France.”
“We will,” she said. They were leaving tomorrow. Still frustrated at my sister’s situation, I wanted to talk with her more, but Anne got in her car and drove away before I could say anything else.
I walked out to Skye, who was sitting, enjoying the sun. I kissed the side of her neck.
“You were amazing with Lindsay and especially Anne. How did you know just what to say?”
She shrugged. “Instinct, I guess? It’s important to be reminded what you’re great at in those moments when you doubt yourself and every decision you’ve ever made.”
She cast her gaze down. Was she talking from experience? Who’d made her doubt herself? I wanted to make sure it never happened again.
“Did that happen to you?” I asked calmly. She straightened, opening her eyes.
“Dad left when we were little, so… yes.”
“Shit.”
“Mom went through a rough time, especially because she was a homemaker. But she regained her confidence bit by bit after starting her job as a teacher and realizing she was really good at it.”
“Did she remarry?”
“Yeah, a few years ago. Mick is a great guy.”
“Do you have any contact with your dad?”
“He did pay some child support, but since the company he’d worked for had gone bankrupt and he was unemployed, that didn’t amount to much. We never saw him again though. But that was a long time ago. We moved here from Boston. He remained there.”
“Your mom moved here on her own with four kids? That was brave.”
Skye chuckled. “Yeah, Mom’s tough like that.
She also was looking after our cousin Hunter too, so technically five kids.
We were all crammed in this tiny apartment.
Tess and I shared a bedroom, the boys another one, and Mom slept on a pullout couch in the living room.
We used to pretend the fire escape was our domain, gave the neighbors hell traipsing all around it. ”
“How did your mom cope with the divorce?”
“I don’t think she did, honestly. The first few weeks after Dad left, she cried for hours every day.
Things got a bit better after we moved to New York.
I think the change in scenery helped. But there were still these moments when I could tell Mom was just gone, disappearing into her grief again.
She’d stare into space, and her eyes were glassy.
Tess and I learned to read those signs, and we’d quietly go with the boys to another room, to give her some space.
Or… we plied her with ice cream. We adapted depending on the supplies in the freezer.
But I think that time wasn’t all bad, you know?
We grew very close together, and it made us appreciate every little thing we had.
” With a grin, she added, “Cole and Ryker invented their own games that made no sense to me and Tess, but we pretended to go along with it. Anyway, I do have lots of good memories from those years.”
I liked that she saw the positive side in everything. She was a dreamer but a fighter too.
Smiling, she sank lower in the chair, closing her eyes again. “This is such a gorgeous day.”
“Do you have plans right now?” I asked.
She opened an eye. “I should get on with my Pilates. Have anything else in mind?”
“A few things.”
She opened the other eye too, smiling. “I’m all ears. Oh, before I forget, there’s a show on Broadway I want to see. I’m going with Tess and probably our almost-sister-in-law. I’m going to buy tickets on Monday. Interested?”
Pulling out her phone, she showed me the synopsis. It was an obscure one I hadn’t heard about, which explained why there were still tickets available.
I kissed her forehead, then sat in the chair next to her. “Restaurant Days is coming up, so I’ll barely see you for the next two weeks.”
It was a fourteen-day-long festival where restaurants in New York showcased special menus to attract new clientele.
“Oh? You need to be there personally?”
“With my deadbeat of an ex-in-law quitting, it’ll be good for me to be seen, give interviews, just generally be in the restaurants and greet critics.”
“Makes sense.”
“I’ll probably sleep in Manhattan at a hotel.”
“Boooo. So I won’t see you run anymore?”
“It’s gonna be tough to make it work.”
She pouted, rising from her seat and grabbing her empty cup of coffee. “I need more of this.”
“Me too. Let’s go inside.”
“So, what exactly did you have in mind for today?” she asked in between yawns while the coffee machine filled our cups.
I wiggled my eyebrows. “We could both go on a run. The adrenaline will wake us up.”
“Pffft… that’s a firm no.”
“I have another proposition.”
“Unfortunately, you missed your chance to impress me.”
I stepped right in front of her, so close that her breasts pressed against me. I had her trapped.
“Doesn’t seem like that to me.”
“You just caught me by surprise.”
“And that blush is because you’re surprised, or because you can’t wait?”
“Depends on the proposition.”
“I skipped my routine last night; you skip yours now.”
Skye laughed. Again. “It’s all or nothing with you, huh?”
“Damn right it is.”
“If you think you can make it worth my while…,” she teased.
“We have a deal.”
I hadn’t known Skye for long, but one thing was clear: with her, I wasn’t in control of myself. I wanted her in my bed. Last night we’d just slept there, but now, I wanted to sink inside her.
Laughing, she clasped her arms around my middle.
First on the agenda, I was going to worship her body.
We went up the stairs, straight to the master bedroom.
I immediately reached for the hem of her dress, but she pushed me away.
My biggest priority right now was to have her naked.
She looked up at me, eyes wide and playful, clearly with other thoughts on her mind.
She walked over and sat at the edge of the bed, her hand on my belt.
“I like where this is going,” I said. I liked watching her take charge.
She took her time undoing my belt, tugging down my pants. I took off my shirt, watching her face as she smiled, tracing a finger down my chest, slowing as she continued farther down. I was already hard, my erection just in front of her. She moved her finger up the length of it, right to the tip.
Lowering her mouth to my cock, she took it all in, wrapping her hand at the base. I rocked back and forth, gritting my jaw so hard that my teeth were grinding. The urge to claim her escalated instantly.
I drew my fingers up her neck to the back of her head, moving my hips. I was going to explode, and I wanted to be buried deep inside her when that happened.
“Lie on the bed,” I said.
She didn’t, ignoring my request as she just licked around the tip, her eyes playful.
“Skye. Bed. Now.” I was losing control and needed her obedience.
Pouting, she leaned back on her elbows, watching me hungrily. Then she sat back up, taking off her dress. I couldn’t decide what was sexier, Skye in that white lace, semitransparent bra and panties or Skye naked.
Instinct took over. I barely remembered that we needed protection.
“I have condoms in my bathroom. I’ll get them. Stay here.”
“Not going anywhere.”
I was excited at the prospect of spending the whole weekend with her, happy she and Tess were delegating both days to their sales associates.
I was usually happy with keeping everything casual and not defining the parameters of a relationship.
But now, I wanted more with Skye, and I wanted to shed my old ways. They felt like a suit I’d outgrown.