NICK
I pulledinto the garage and turned off the engine. I stared at the garage door and told myself not to go inside. I’d scheduled the late meeting because I didn’t trust myself to be home with Skye without the buffers of Callie and Bella. So, I was going to avoid her the next few days while the girls were gone at camp. Tonight, I figured I’d arrive after ten, and she’d have turned in for the night. The problem with that plan was, now that I was home, I knew that once I walked inside that house, I was going to go straight to her room.
All week, the conversation we’d had in the kitchen had haunted me. I’d snapped at her, and she hadn’t deserved it. I knew the right thing to do would be to leave it alone. If she thought I was an asshole, which I was, all the better. If she hated me, or even just disliked me, it would ensure nothing more would happen between us.
I’d given our situation a lot of thought over the past few days that we’d barely spoken. Even if, by some miracle, she did change her mind about being with someone, she deserved better than me.
Growing up, I’d never had any examples of healthy relationships. All the couples I’d been exposed to fought, cheated, lied, got physical with each other. In a nutshell they were toxic as fuck.
Alex and his first wife Ashley were the healthiest couple I knew, but honestly, I’d thought they were a fluke. They’d been with each other since they were teenagers and had always been madly in love. When he lost her tragically, I assumed that was game over for his love life. He’d already beaten the odds and found his soulmate. His love karma was used up.
Now I knew he and Ash weren’t a lightning in a bottle situation. He and Sadie were perfect for each other. She was the yin to his yang. The peanut butter to his jelly. The sunlight to his moonlight.
And he wasn’t the only one who’d found his person. Maddox had also found his perfect match and had liked it so much he put a ring on it. My brothers had shown me that true love existed. But that didn’t mean I was capable of being that sort of partner who deserved it.
I’d never had a real relationship in my life. After a decade plus in therapy, I still couldn’t speak to my mother who I’d taken into my home two months ago and was dying. I’d been accused, by more than one woman in my life, of being selfish. In my defense, I’d had to be. No one had given me anything.
Being a single father had shown me the love I was capable of, but that was for my daughter. It was different. I wasn’t sure I was capable of being the man that Skye deserved.
Which meant I should get out of the car and go straight to my room. I should not stop by her room to apologize and clear the air. Because if I did, there was a chance I would say something stupid like one of the following statements.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met.
I’ve never felt like this before.
I want to be with you.
Every time I saw her, I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from revealing one or all of those things. It had been a little easier knowing that little ears could be right around the corner. But those ears were at cheer camp. I was afraid if I went to apologize for my behavior, I’d end up waxing poetic about my feelings.
I got out of my car and had every intention of going straight up to my room and not pass go. With that intention firmly imbedded in the front of my mind, I still found myself standing at her door. The problem with me was, I didn’t give a shit about following rules. If someone told me not to do something, I actually wanted to do it more.
Lifting my arm, I fisted my hand and knocked quietly. There was no answer. I checked the time and saw that it was a quarter to eleven. Which meant I’d sat in the car for a half an hour. She was probably already asleep.
I was turning to leave when the door opened, and Skye stood with her hair pulled up in a messy bun on the top of her head wearing a white robe. My mind automatically wondered what was beneath that robe.
“Hi,” I said lamely.
She smiled up at me. “Hi.”
That smile made all the anxiety I’d been carrying around since I’d snapped at her in the kitchen the other night dissolve. She had that effect on me. She melted my stress away.
“Are you…busy?” I asked.
“No. I was just about to take a bath,” she explained as she tightened the robe. “I was going to take one earlier, but then I sort of went down a rabbit hole of homecoming videos.”
Fuck.So she was naked beneath the robe. That piece of information had my cock swelling in my pants.
“Homecoming videos?”
“Yeah, sometimes when I’m…When I’ve had a bad…When I’m alone, I watch videos of troops coming home and reuniting with their loved ones and pets. The dog ones really get me. They don’t understand where their people have been.”
Fuck. Could this woman get any more adorable. How could one person be so perfect? She was kind, caring, nurturing, strong, independent, hard-working, and loving. She was an angel on earth. And my halo was held up by horns.
She licked her lips, and I noticed a red smudge on the corner of her mouth. Acting purely on instinct I cupped her cheek with my hand and brushed my thumb along the spot, wiping the smear away.
She took in a shaky breath.
