“Yeah. I can’t sit here and lie to you. More than anything, I want us to be honest with each other, about everything. I want to be able to talk to you about things, without fear of upsetting you. Without fear that you’re not going to support me. If you take me on, you’re taking the bad with the good. I don’t want to have to hide shit from you. If I’m going through a rough time, there are going to be nights when I’ll need to be able to come home and talk to you about it. I need to know I can do that. That I don’t have to make up stories about why my face is bruised or whatever. Bottom line is I need you, Sky. I need your support, your encouragement,” he paused to smile. “Sometimes I’ll need you to tell me when I fuck up. And lastly, I’ll always need your love.”
“I don’t know if I can be that person, Shades.”
He frowned, fearing she was having second thoughts about being with him. Real honest-to-God second thoughts. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know if I can be all those things. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the kind of woman you need.”
“You’re exactly the kind of woman I need, Skylar. I’ve never found another woman that fit me better, that suited me better.”
“Shades—”
“Do you love me? Because that’s all it comes down to, Skylar.”
“You know I do.”
“That’s all I need, baby. Just give us a chance. Can you do that?”
He was right. A life with Shades had to be all or nothing and nothing wasn’t an option. She nodded. “All right. I’ll take the bad with the good, Shades. Because without you I’m lost, I’m only half alive.”
Shades pressed his lips gently to hers. He felt her arms slide around his neck and he deepened the kiss, his hand cupping the nape of her neck. The kiss turned hot and heavy until suddenly she pulled back. He looked up questioningly, and then caught her sly smile. A moment later, she was slipping off his lap to drop to her knees between his spread thighs. Her hands began working his belt buckle as a half grin pulled at his mouth.
“Baby, you gonna take my mind off my injuries?” He brushed a lock of hair back from her face, enjoying the look of desire on her face.
“I’m going to make you feel all better. I know what my man likes,” she whispered as she undid his pants and pulled his erection out.
His hands threaded into her silky hair as she wasted no time in teasing him, but instead settled her mouth over him, taking him all the way to the back of her throat.
He hissed in a breath and his hips involuntarily thrust forward as he clutched her
head. “Christ, Sky. That feels fucking good. Yeah, my baby knows what her man likes.”
His head dropped back against the chair as she made him forget every bruised part of his body.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
The next morning, Blood shuffled out of his room, shirtless, to find Ghost wailing on the toaster oven with a wooden spoon. He took a seat at the dining table with Shades and Skylar.
“What did that toaster oven ever do to you?” Blood squinted his eyes at Ghost.
“Die, toaster. Die.” Ghost growled.
“It burnt his fucking pop tart,” Shades explained, sipping his coffee.
“Jesus Christ,” Blood grumbled. “Where’s the aspirin?”
Ghost stopped banging on the toaster and pointed the wooden spoon toward the bathroom between Blood and Sandman’s bedrooms. “In the cabinet.”
Before he got up, Blood reached over and tugged on a lock of Skylar’s hair. “Sorry about last night. I can be an ass. We good, darlin’?”
Her expression softened at his apology. “We’re good.”
“No hard feelings?”
She shook her head.
Blood got up and moved to the bathroom, rummaged through the cabinet and pulled out a bottle. As he carried it back to the main room, he glanced into the partially open door of Sandman’s room. There was a woman passed out in the bed with him. Blood did a double take at the door and asked as he returned to the table, “Is that the blonde skank from last night?
Ghost grinned and turned to Shades. “Am I a matchmaker or what?”