Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
S ky swung the flashlight in a slow arc as she continued to call Bella’s name. They’d been walking through the forest near Rosemary’s home for the better part of an hour but still hadn’t found the little dog. This had happened once before, and Rosemary had called her that day too, only that time, Sky had found Bella within fifteen minutes.
She knew Rosemary was getting old, but the woman really needed to make sure Bella didn’t get out by herself.
“Why does she call you?” Becket asked.
She glanced at him, but the darkness kept most of his face shadowed. “I look after Bella a lot at the doggy daycare, and the dog likes me. Rosemary also doesn’t have anyone else to turn to in town.” She worried her bottom lip. “I found her a lot faster last time. What if—”
“We’ll find her,” he interrupted.
“I hope so. But she’s getting old, and she doesn’t see very well and it’s dark. She could have made her way to the street and walked in front of a car.”
“She won’t walk in front of a car.”
“You don’t know that.”
Becket stopped. “Hey, look at me.”
She swallowed, taking a moment before looking up. Even in the darkness, she could see his eyes were shining with intensity, so focused on her it was almost as if the forest faded away around them. “We’ll find her, and she’ll be happy and healthy. Then we’ll return her to Rosemary.”
“You can’t guarantee that.”
“No, but my gut tells me it’s true. And my gut’s rarely wrong.”
“Always so confident.” She wished she could say the same about herself. A small smile lifted her lips. “If she skipped dinner, she won’t be happy. I once gave her lunch twenty minutes late and she gave me the cold shoulder for a good hour after.”
“So she’s probably wanting to find us as much as we want to find her.”
Sky nodded before searching with the flashlight again. She wished she was as positive as Becket. But she knew the pain of losing a pet, and right now, all she could think about was the worst-case scenario.
“I once had a goldfish.”
She looked back at him. “You did?”
“Yep. I was in first grade and Billy Young had one. He talked about his fish all the damn time. I hated him.”
She laughed. “Why did you hate him?”
“Because he was annoying. But he talked about that goddamn fish so much that I wanted one. Mom said I could have one, but I’d be one hundred percent responsible for him.”
“Something tells me this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”
“He died.”
“I knew it.”
“Monsieur Claude ate him.”
Sky frowned. “Who’s Monsieur Claude?”
“He was Clara’s dog.”
“So that’s why you hate dogs.”
“I hate dogs because I’d wake up to Monsieur Claude’s disgusting dog breath in my face every morning. Because even though he was Clara’s dog, I still had to pick up his shit every other week.”
She tilted her head. “Small prices to pay for the kind of love you probably received. What happened to Monsieur Claude?”
“He lived to a ripe old age of sixteen before he passed away. Clara made us have a funeral. I didn’t get a funeral for Jaws.”
She choked back another laugh. “Your fish was named Jaws?”
“Yep. And he lived in a paradise tank.”
Sky threw her head back and laughed. If Becket was trying to distract her, he was doing a good job. “Well, his life might have been short, but it sounds like he was loved.”
She was still smiling when she spotted a shadow of movement behind a tree.
She stopped. “Did you see that?”
“What?”
She waited. Another slight movement.
She took off. Becket cursed from behind, but she ignored him as she raced forward, weaving around trees and jumping over branches.
Then she saw Bella. The poor thing was whimpering and trying to move, but her collar was stuck on a branch.
Sky dropped beside her. “Oh, Bells, what happened?”
Bella dug her head into Sky’s chest.
Becket dropped beside them and carefully untangled Bella’s collar from the branch
“There you go.” Sky lifted Bella as she stood. “Want us to take you home for dinner?”
Bella’s ears perked up, and Sky laughed as they headed back to Rosemary’s house.
“I’ll take her if she’s too heavy.” He reached forward to take the dog, but Bella growled at him.
Sky laughed. “I think she knows you don’t like dogs.” She handed him the flashlight instead.
“And people wonder why.”
She grinned as she snuggled Bella closer to her chest.
As they neared the house, Sky scanned the dark patches of grass. “You said there was a fire here?”
“Yeah, Rosemary was burning off some old stuff. I asked her not to do it again.”
Absolutely. This property was far too close to the forest.
The front door opened, and Rosemary gasped when she spotted them with Bella.
When Sky reached her, she handed Bella to the older woman.
Rosemary buried her face into Bella’s furry head. “Oh, darling, are you okay?”
“She got her collar stuck on a branch,” Sky explained.
“I think she’s hungry,” Becket added.
“Well, of course you’re hungry. It’s steak night.”
Sky could have laughed. The dog ate better than most fully grown humans.
Rosemary glanced up. “Thank you! Both of you. Would you like to come in? I could make some coffee?”
Sky shook her head. “That’s okay. We should head home. Have a good night.” She gave Bella one last pat before turning away.
She was still smiling as they got back into the car. “Well, that’s my good deed done for the day.”
“It’s nice that you helped her.”
“I love Bella.”
When they got back to her house, Becket walked her inside. Her awareness of him was like a pulse on her skin. The heat from his hand on her back. His pine scent surrounding her. Trying to ignore it, she dropped her purse on the hall table and focused on the happiness of finding Bella.
“Thank you for sharing your family with me tonight.”
She turned—and her smile quickly slipped when she looked at Becket. He stood only a foot away, and the look on his face…it was dark and intense…and so fixed on her, she could barely breathe.
“You fit in well,” he said quietly, taking a small step toward her. “Thank you for coming.”
She swallowed—a big gulp of a swallow. He was so close. And he was making her want to do things that she should not be wanting. Like run her fingers down his chest. Put her mouth on his to see if he tasted as good as last time.
He inched another step forward. “Would you like me to go?”
“That would be smart…wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe. But I don’t always like to be smart. It’s too safe. Sometimes it’s nice to be a bit reckless.”
Her heart pounded against her ribs as little wisps of air rushed in and out of her chest. “I’ve never been good at reckless.”
She should back away, but her feet refused to move. It was like he’d locked her in place.
He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and the feel of his fingers against her cheek burned. “Do you want me to leave, Sky?”
Say yes, Sky. Close the door and watch him walk away.
But the words never reached air.
One more step forward. He was so close, she could feel the warmth of his body seeping into hers.
“Sky?”
“I don’t know what I want.”
A hint of a smile curved his lips. He lowered his head so that his mouth brushed her ear as he whispered, “Liar.”
She was a liar. And with his mouth so close, she was forgetting why she was even bothering with the lie.
“I don’t want you to go.” The words were so quiet that she wasn’t even sure they reached him. “I want…”
Oh, screw it.
She slipped her fingers into his hair, tugged his head down, and their mouths collided. It was a lips-sealed-together, body-against-body kiss that sent her blood rushing through her veins.
She groaned at the feel of his soft lips. Just as soft as before. And when his strong arms encircled her, pulled her closer, a craving grew in her body, throbbing inside her lower belly. A craving to sink deeper into him. A craving to taste and feel more of him.
His tongue ran over the seam of her lips, and she opened for him, letting him inside. Letting him tangle his tongue with hers while she melted.
What did he do to her? How did one kiss make her forget everything around them? Every argument that had come before this.
She ran her fingers over his chest. A chest so sculpted and muscled that it felt like stone.
Almost of their own accord, her fingers started to undo the buttons. One by one, she exposed his chest until his shirt was completely open and she was touching bare skin. Skin that made her want to groan and whimper and draw him closer all at the same time.
Suddenly his hands lowered, and he lifted her, turning them so that she was pressed to the wall…and then he was everywhere.
* * *
Fire burned through Becket’s blood. Sky was in his arms, and she felt so good. Her soft curves melded against his hard edges, and the feel of her fingertips exploring his chest tormented him.
All he could think was…it wasn’t enough. He needed more of this woman. He needed to taste every inch of her. To explore and lose himself in her.
He dropped his hands to the hem of her dress and tugged. She lifted her arms willingly, and he pulled the material over her head.
Black lace covering ample breasts turned his cock to stone.
Fuck, she was gorgeous.
He returned his mouth to hers, and she threaded her fingers through his hair. Tugging and pulling, seeming as desperate for him as he was for her.
His lips moved down her cheek, then her neck. When he reached her chest, he tugged one cup down to see a pretty pink nipple. He took it between his lips.
She cried out, her body arching into him, nipple thrusting farther into his mouth.
He swirled around the bud with his tongue before flicking it back and forth. When he sucked it like a candy, she groaned, and the sound wove itself inside him.
Everything about this woman called to him. Her body. The way she fit so perfectly against him.
Her hips rocked, her core pressing into his stomach, and he moved his hand from her waist to her other breast, finding the peak of her nipple through the material of her bra and rolling it between his thumb and forefinger.
“Becket,” she moaned.
Fuck, his name had never sounded so good.
He ran his hand down her belly, his fingertips whispering against her skin. He was almost touching the V between her thighs when the ringing of a phone cut through the room. It was loud in the silence, and Sky’s body immediately tensed, her softness turning hard.
“Becket.” Two deep breaths from her. “Oh God, what are we doing?”
He could have laughed. “I think that’s pretty obvious.”
“We need to stop.” She pushed at his chest, a request to put her down.
He closed his eyes, taking a second to breathe, before lifting his head. The phone was still ringing, and the apex of her thighs was still pressed against him. “Is that really what you want?”
Her eyes flared. It took three entire seconds before she finally whispered, “Yes.”
He gently lifted the cup of her bra and lowered her to her feet. Immediately, she grabbed her dress from the floor. He reached for her purse on the table and handed it to her.
She fished out her phone. “It’s my mom.”
He nodded. “I should go then.”
He wanted her to say no, and not just so he could taste her again. He wanted to stay. To be close, even if it was just on the couch.
But she nodded back.
Before walking out, he stepped closer and cupped her face. “Thank you for joining me tonight. It felt good to have you there.” He swiped his thumb over her cheek. “Lock the door after me.”
Another flaring of her eyes before she gave another small jerky nod.
He turned and stepped outside. The cold air slapped him in the face. He waited until he heard the click of her door locking before heading to his house. The second he stepped inside, the silence felt too fucking loud.
He ran his fingers through his hair. What the hell was going on with him? He liked living alone. He thrived on it. But now he was so aware of Sky next door that his house felt too empty.
He headed upstairs. What he needed was a cold damn shower.