NICK
I staredat the waves as they crashed behind the girls giggling as they made sandcastles. The sun was slowly creeping down as the afternoon turned to evening. We’d been at the beach for the past four hours. After feasting on the picnic that Skye threw together, everyone had paired off. Callie and Bella played in the water for a bit before Callie suggested they look up sandcastle building videos on YouTube and try to replicate them. Lola and Naomi had been huddled together all day in the cabana beside the rocks. Gary was lounging in the hammock beside the cabana. He was a big boy and I was hoping there would be no injuries when he dismounted from it.
About thirty minutes ago, I’d excused myself because I had to call in to a meeting which I’d almost forgotten I had. My schedule was always in the back of my mind running like a ticker tape but that shut off every time I was with Skye. Thankfully, Jada had called and reminded me.
“The girls seem to be getting along well,” I observed as I lowered down beside Skye on the sand.
“I know, and so do our moms.” Skye smiled up at me as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
“Are you cold?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
I knew that she’d left the house with three sweatshirts. She’d had one tied around her waist and I’d heard her making sure that Callie and Bella both grabbed one and then she carried them. The girls were both wearing theirs, but I wasn’t sure where the one around her waist had gone. I glanced over to where Lola was sitting with Naomi and saw that she was wearing the sweatshirt Sky’d had. From the little I’d observed today, it seemed that the roles were reversed in their relationship. Which backed up the theory I had since the first night I’d heard Skye on the phone telling her mother that the man she had over had to leave.
Reaching down I unzipped my hoodie and slid it off my arms.
“No, you don’t have to. I’m fine.”
Ignoring her protest, I slid the hoodie around her shoulders. As she put her arms through the sleeves, I gathered her hair to pull it out from under the hood. When I did, my fingertips brushed the nape of her neck, and I felt a shiver run through her body.
Just that tiny reaction had my jeans growing tighter. It was strange to feel so in tune with another person’s body. It was as if I could feel what she felt. I’d never shared that with anyone else before.
“Thanks,” she said as she scooted an inch away from me.
I didn’t take her retreat personally. If anything, it just reinforced what I was feeling and thinking. That the energy between us was potent. It was powerful. So powerful it took every ounce of self-control I had not to pull her into me and kiss her.
Kissing had never been more than a means to an end with me. I know that might sound shallow, but I’d never wanted to just make out with someone. But that’s exactly what I wanted to do right now.
Did I want to have sex with Skye? Absofuckinglutely. But more than that, I just wanted to kiss her.
Trying to distract myself from the magnetic pull Skye had over me that was stronger than the tractor beam on the Death Star, I forced myself to turn my attention back Skye and Bella. The girls were both laughing after one of the towers they’d built had crumbled.
Watching the two of them today had me rethinking my plan for her being an only child. I’d always thought that we were fine, just the two of us. But, if I was being honest with myself, ever since Parker sent me the picture of Bella and Skye in the kitchen, I wondered if I was wrong.
“Have you ever thought about having another one?” I asked.
She turned her head toward me. “What?”
“Did you ever think about having another child?”
She grinned. “It’s funny that you asked that.”
“Why?”
“Because I was just thinking about that this morning on the way over here and then again in the kitchen.”
Hearing her say that made another part of my anatomy swell. The thought of her having another baby—my baby—made my heart expand in my chest. “You were thinking that you wanted to have another baby on the way to my house and in my kitchen?”
“No!” Her eyes widened as she shook her head. “I mean, yes, but no…I was thinking about the fact that Ididn’thave another one.”
“Oh.” I tried to ignore the disappointment I felt.
“I just…when Jada took them on the tour and the girls were holding hands it just made me think… From the time Callie was old enough to hold a doll she begged me to have another baby. She’s always wanted a little brother or sister.”
“But you didn’t want to have any more?”
She took in a deep breath and exhaled. “No.”
