Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

I kept thinking of his words as I worked, shaking my head at myself, at everything that had happened in the past few days.

A knock at the door broke me out of my reverie. I finished zipping up my suitcase and went to answer it, surprised to see Emma on the other side.

“Uh, hi,” I said, cautiously. “What are you doing here?”

She grinned at me before slipping past me into the room. I closed the door behind her and turned to see her already scooping Kaden up off the floor and into her arms, talking to him happily. She kissed his cheek and turned back to me, finally answering, “Calland called me this morning. Said you’d need some help loading things up, especially since you have this handsome little fella. So, I dropped Everly off with Allie, and here I am!”

“Oh. Uhh…thanks?” It came out sounding like a question and I hurriedly backtracked, not wanting her to think I was ungrateful or…you know, an asshole. “I mean, thank you, really. That’s really nice of you, but seriously, if you have other things you need to do…”

“Nope!” she said, brightly. “I’m all yours.” She paused for a second and then tipped her head, giving me a stern look. “So you’re staying with my brother, now, huh?” She shook her head, disappointment crossing her features. “Damn. And I had such high hopes that you’d serve him his balls on a platter.”

“I, well…uh…ummm…” I stammered, not sure what to say to that, but then she laughed, lightly slapping me on the shoulder.

“I’m teasing you, chickie. I have a feeling that he’s met his match with you, so I’m pretty stoked to see how this plays out,” she said, gleefully.

“Emma,” I replied, cautiously. “I don’t know about being anyone’s match. I don’t know where this is going, and I don’t know how long I’ll be around, so…”

She waved me off, her eyes twinkling as she just smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

Loading the car was so much easier with Emma’s help; she stayed up with Kaden in the room as I took everything down, which was a breeze considering I didn’t have a baby on my hip as I made my trips back and forth. I’d gotten pretty used to it, since I’d been doing this on my own since the beginning, but yeah. It was definitely nice to have some help. The only time Emma had stopped me during the process was when I’d pulled my guitar case out of the closet area.

“Ooh, you play?” she’d asked, her eyes sparkling.

I’d shrugged. “Yeah. A little. Bass is my main love, though. Do you play?”

“Nah,” she’d answered. “But I like to sing, and I love music, especially live music, so now I get to badger you until you play for me sometime!”

I hadn’t said anything else about it, and neither had she.

By noon, I was completely checked out of the hotel, and was heading back to Calland’s house, with Emma following behind me in her car. I tried to tell her that I’d manage from there on out, but she wouldn’t hear of it. In fact, she was weirdly adamant about it, and I didn’t want to argue with her.

I found out why when we got there.

Calland’s door was open, and there was a petite brunette standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear as she waved at me.

What the hell was Allie doing there?

I’d barely gotten my car in park before the back door swung open and Emma had Kaden out, walking briskly toward the door where Allie was waiting. I followed at a more sedate pace, not even bothering to pull anything out of the car, yet. I was too curious to see what was going on.

By the time I got inside, Allie had Kaden out of his seat and in her arms, but I didn’t see Emma anywhere. I turned to see if she was in the kitchen, but heard her calling my name from down the hallway, so I went that way, instead. Allie followed me, practically bouncing on her heels as she did.

I found Emma in the guest room, and then gasped as I realized just what Allie had been doing while I was gone.

“Oh my God, you guys!” I cried, looking at both of them in disbelief. “Why…how…?”

They both only grinned at me as I looked back and forth between them and what Allie had done. The playpen had been broken down and was in its carrying case, sitting in the corner. A crib, complete with mattress and bedding, was sitting in its place.

Emma spoke up first. “We thought you might like to use this while you’re here. That way you don’t have to keep moving the playpen around if you needed it in the living room and then have to put it back in here for the night.”

I was touched by their thoughtfulness, more so than they knew. Tears welled in my eyes and I tried to blink them back, but it was in vain. They spilled over, tracking down my cheeks unchecked.

“Oh, shit…” I heard Allie whisper as Emma rushed over and wrapped me in a hug.

“I’m so sorry!” she cried. “I didn’t mean to upset you…Allie and I just wanted to do something nice for you, for the baby while you’re here. We can take it down, seriously!”

I pulled away from her hug, shaking my head vigorously. “No! That’s not it! I’m not upset at all. In fact, I can’t thank you guys enough for this…both of you, you don’t know how guilty I’ve felt about Kaden sleeping in the playpen every night rather than his crib, but with the hotels and traveling…”

Allie came over and gave me a one-armed hug, Kaden still held in her other. “You don’t have to feel guilty. Trust me, we understand traveling with little ones. The bedding is an extra set I had that I hadn’t even opened yet-”

“Yeah, because you bought a hundred other ones, too,” Emma muttered, half under her breath.

Allie scowled at her, then continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “And the crib is an extra one that my mom had at her house. She turned my old room into a nursery when I was pregnant with Liam and decided that it needed two cribs just in case I had twins.” She rolled her eyes, but I could tell that it was done affectionately.

“Thank you. Really.” I gave them a watery smile and wiped my tears away, but then my eyes narrowed as I looked at both of them in turn.

“Wait a second. Emma, you said you dropped Everly off to Allie so you could help me. Where’re the kids?”

Allie grinned. “She did drop Everly off, and I brought her and Liam over here with me. But now they’re with Jackson, because my husband is awesome and took them with him when he left here after bringing the crib over and putting it together.” She winked at me and cocked her hip, tipping her head saucily. “I am pregnant, you know. Makes it easy to order my big, brawny, sexy man around.”

Emma choked out a laugh. “Yeah, like you needed an excuse.”

Allie just shrugged one shoulder, still grinning like crazy. “What can I say? He loves me. Besides, you would have done the same thing, pregnant or not, if Luke didn’t have that appointment he couldn’t miss.”

It was Emma’s turn to shrug and then nod her agreement.

Kaden put his own two cents in by screeching loudly and flailing his hands at Allie, making us all laugh. I took him from her, patting his bottom affectionately. “I think that’s my cue to get some lunch into this one, but I need to get his high chair out of the car first.”

Emma spoke up, suggesting, “Why don’t you and I go unload the car and bring all your stuff in, get you situated? Allie can feed Kade for you. If you don’t mind, that is.”

I opened my mouth and shut it just as quick when Emma butted in sarcastically, saying, “And don’t you dare ask if we’re sure.” She took the baby from me and plopped him into Allie’s waiting arms once more.

I threw my hands up, giving in graciously with a smile. “Not gonna ask! But okay, sure. Sounds like a plan.”

So that’s what we did. I ran out and grabbed the portable high chair so Allie could go ahead and get Kaden fed, and then Emma and I started unloading the rest. Before long, the minimal groceries that I’d had at the hotel had been put away in Calland’s kitchen, our suitcases were emptied into the dresser and then stowed in the guest room closet, and the playpen had been relegated back to the living room to be used as nothing more than a playpen again.

Once that was all done, Kaden had gone down for a nap and the girls had left, leaving me alone in Calland’s house with nothing to do. I checked the kitchen, noting that I’d probably need to go to the store, and then pulled out my laptop and did some work to try and pass the time, but couldn’t concentrate on anything.

I was wasting time. I needed to figure out my next move, see if I was right.

And work up the courage to do something about it.