Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

Two hours later, we were lying in bed together, my fingers sweeping lightly up and down her arm and side, soothing her as she sobbed out her emotional exhaustion into the pillows.

“I’m s-s-sor-r-ry,” she hiccupped, for the thousandth time.

I kissed her forehead. “Dani, I’ve told you, you do not have to apologize. You’ve had to be so strong for so long, and today put you through the wringer. It’s been long overdue, so let it out. I’m here, love.”

She buried her face in my neck, squeezing me tightly as she tried in vain to stop crying. Eventually, she fell asleep, but it took me a while because my mind wouldn’t shut off, replaying the events of the day over and over again.

But as I finally drifted off to sleep, the last thing that crossed my mind made me smile.

The thought that Dani loves me…and everything would be okay.

***

“Calland!”

Dani’s panicked cry woke me out of a dead sleep. I jumped up out of bed, looking around everywhere for the threat, blinking wildly as I tried to focus enough to figure out what the hell was happening.

I finally looked back towards the bed to see Dani sitting up, the covers clutched to her chest. “It’s almost seven, you overslept!” she said, earnestly, pointing to the clock.

“Fucking hell…” I groaned, falling face first back into bed, tugging the covers back over me.

I felt a finger poke my shoulder.

“Did you hear me, Calland? You’re gonna be late for work!”

I turned my head, removing my face from the pillow to look at her. “No, I’m not.”

She blinked at me, more of a I’m-trying-not-to-lose-my-shit-but-you’re-being-a-dumbass kind of thing before she said, slowly as if I was not comprehending, “Yes. You. Are.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m. Not,” I repeated, mocking her. “I called Ian last night, took the rest of the week off. Don’t go back til Tuesday, since it’s Memorial Day weekend. Now, for the love of everything holy, woman, can I go back to sleep?”

“Well, that would have been nice information to have last night, don’t you think?” she mumbled, lying back down and flipping over to face away from me.

I slid my arm around her waist and dragged her back against me, sighing as I closed my eyes, slipping back to sleep immediately.

I woke up a while later, but Dani wasn’t in bed with me any longer.

I found her in the bathroom, giving Kade a bath.

“Good morning,” I mumbled, leaning back against the door to watch.

“Morning,” she said, brightly, laughing as Kade splashed her as usual.

“Let’s go out for breakfast. Sound good?”

“Sure. Where do you want to go?” she asked me.

I thought for a minute. “Bob Evan’s or Hardee’s.”

She laughed. “Well, that’s not two totally different ends of the breakfast spectrum or anything.”

“What? Hardee’s biscuits are the fucking best and who doesn’t love Bob’s?”

She only shook her head and finished washing Kade. “I don’t care where we go. You pick.”

We ended up at Hardee’s. And yeah, so what? I ate two bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. And a Monster biscuit. And hash rounds.

And it was goooood.

The rest of the week went pretty much the same, but T.J. was at my place, or we were at his just about every night, because they wanted to ease T.J. into Kaden’s life, rather than just have him abruptly taken away from the one constant in his life since birth.

I could tell that Dani was struggling with it a bit, knowing that the day would come when she would have to let him go. I knew it hurt her to think about, but I reminded her that he’d be right around the corner, or just a phone call away, and I figured T.J. would probably have her keep Kaden while he worked, as well.

They just hadn’t discussed the particulars just yet.

But for now, we were looking forward to the party at Allie and Jacks’ house. The weather had been steadily warming up, which was a good thing, especially as Dani’s jeans had given way to shorts. And while her ass was delectable in jeans, it was spectacular in cut off jean shorts. She’d only brought a couple pairs with her, so I had been more than happy to go with her to shop for more, thinking I’d at least get her to model for me. We went to the mall…and it just so happened to be a store that you don’t have to have open a dressing room for you. And she did so much more than model for me.

Hell. Yeah.

Saturday morning started out innocuously enough, until it hit eleven. We were supposed to be headed to the party by twelve-thirty, one-ish, so we had plenty of time. Until Dani realized that she’d forgotten to make something for the party.

Cue the mad dash to the grocery store, and then us being a little late to show, but I wasn’t complaining because I got to sneak a bunch of the things she made (until she yelled at me and carried them with her everywhere she went until we left…and even then she kept them on her lap in the car) that were fucking delicious.

I could hear splashing as we walked through the house towards the back patio where everyone was, Kaden on my hip and Dani following behind, still holding the container of whatever the hell it was she made.

I stepped outside, calling greetings back to my family and friends who were all sitting outside as they all yelled out their hellos.