Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

Chapter 9

Calland

I watched as Dani interacted with Luke, Emma, and Allie. I could see her relaxing as time went on, but she’d tensed up again when Kade had started fussing while she was talking to Luke about Skin Deep.

I handed Liam back to Allie and ran my hand along Dani’s arm. She glanced up at me and I blinked at the raw pain in her eyes. It was gone so quickly, though, that I was half afraid I was imaging things. I forced a smile, my eyes searching hers for any trace of the fleeting emotion I knew I’d seen, but she only smiled back, her brow raising in question.

“You okay?” she asked, quietly.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” I paused, thinking I probably shouldn’t even ask, but…did anyway. “Are you okay?”

She gave me a weird look that went along with a breathy, funny little laugh. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Her words were normal, her tone light and happy. But her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

I didn’t call her on it. Instead, I dropped my hand from her arm and told her I would go get the diaper bag for her, since neither one of us had grabbed it from the car when we got here.

When I got back inside, she handed Kaden to me and I sat back down with him while she went and fixed him a bottle. Luke plopped Everly and then Liam into the play yard they had set up on the other side of the room, where they seemed content playing with the million toys scattered around the floor in the enclosure, and he came and flopped down onto the couch where Emma had been sitting.

“What’s up? You decided to grace us with your presence two days in a row, AND I saw you at breakfast this morning? The world is coming to an end!” Luke joked, draping an arm around Emma when she sat down beside him.

“I know, right?” she said, snarling her nose up at me. “I think he wants something. He hasn’t been coming around that much. Too busy juggling those twinsies-”

I scowled at her, shaking my head, but she was already cringing, her entire face shining with an epic ‘Oh Shit!’ look.

I shot a glance toward the kitchen, hoping that Dani was still busy as I shifted a squirming Kaden in my arms. No such luck. She had already come back into the living room and was standing in front of me, amusement lighting her features.

I grimaced, reaching up to snatch the bottle from her and settling Kaden in my arms to eat. He wrapped his pudgy little hands around the sides of the bottle and latched on immediately, drinking his formula with gusto.

I heard Emma start to apologize to Dani, but Dani just waved her off, moving to sit on the end of the couch right by the chair I was in.

“Pfftt. I know he’s not a saint and I definitely know he’s been around the block a time or two. Probably the neighborhood,” she said, a sly smile painting her face.

“Hey!” I cried, giving her a dirty look. It didn’t last long, though. She looked too fucking cute smiling like that.

Allie plopped down beside her, clapping gleefully and laughing. “I like her!” she said, happily. “You’re good for him. Keep him humble. He needs it.”

I shook my head and said nothing, choosing instead to move Kade up to my shoulder and burp him with practiced ease, praising him when he let out a belch that could almost rival one of my own.

That earned a laugh from Dani, who seemed to be relaxing again.

Once the baby was done eating, I handed him off to Dani and it took about two seconds of her rocking him for him to be out like a light. Emma offered to lay him down in Everly’s crib and I could almost see that Dani wanted to decline, but she finally relented and let Emma take him.

As soon as she was back downstairs, Allie stood and stretched before rounding up her son and moving to the door.

“Well, I better get home. God knows Jacks will freak if I’m not waiting for him when he walks in the door. I thought he was bad with the last pregnancy, hovering over me. But Jesus, I feel like I can’t even go to the bathroom without having to check in with him!” Allie rolled her eyes.

“Quit getting knocked up, then,” I said, grinning at her.

“Smart ass,” she said, glaring at me for a brief second, but then she was grinning back at me in no time. “Why would I want to do that? Do you even know how babies are made, Calland? It’s so much fun, you don’t know what you’re missing!”

“Ha ha ha,” I shot back sarcastically, giving her a very sardonic look.

She only laughed and waved over her shoulder to Emma and Luke as she walked out the door. She popped her head in again briefly, eyes sparkling as she called Dani’s name.

“It was lovely meeting you. Leave your number with Emma and we’ll get together so we can tell you all the reasons you should run far, far away from the asshole over there!” She laughed gleefully, and pulled the door shut as I stepped menacingly toward her.

“Damn women,” I muttered under my breath, and then jerked my arm, hollering, “OW!” as something pinched the tender underside of it.

My sister smiled evilly at me as she walked past, then answered Luke when he asked her what they were having for dinner.

“We just ate a huge breakfast at Mom and Dad’s!”

Luke smirked. “Yeah, but that was hours ago!”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Go make a sandwich for now. Jesus! We’re not eating dinner at three in the afternoon!”

I felt Dani shift beside me and looked down to see her glancing worriedly towards the stairs. I nudged her with my shoulder. “He’s fine. Emma’s always got the baby monitor on, so if he makes a noise, we’ll hear him. Okay?”

She nodded, biting her lip worriedly.

And damned if that didn’t make me want to bite her lip. Or lick it. Or kiss it, or…I groaned silently as the mental images caused all my blood to rush south, suddenly making my jeans a little too tight.

I moved to the couch and sat down quickly, wincing when things pinched a bit until I squirmed to adjust. I caught Dani looking at me suspiciously, but then a sly twinkle lit her eyes up as the corner of her lips tilted into the tiniest little smile.

I groaned, but this time it wasn’t silent. “Don’t look at me like that!” I whispered, making her laugh softly.

Emma hollered from the kitchen just then, breaking the moment. “Dani, do you want something to drink?”

Dani responded, requesting water, so I chimed in and told her to grab me a beer.

The response I got?

“Get up off your ass and get it yourself!”

I heard Luke chuckle and then we all laughed (except for Emma who just moaned in frustration, probably at herself) when a tiny little voice piped up gleefully. “Ass!”

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