“What?” my sister asked.
“Skye is coming over.”
Anne blinked in surprise. Wait, what was that glint in her eyes? It didn’t look like scolding anymore.
Before I could ask anything though, I heard Skye’s back door open.
She sauntered toward us with a big smile. Her hair was pulled to one side, held in place with some sort of clip. She was wearing a casual white dress with a tie under
her breasts.
“Hi, Anne. Hi, Lindsay.”
“Glad you could join us,” Anne said. “We were just about to make some coffee. How about you?”
“I never say no to coffee.”
Anne winked at Skye.
“I’ll take care of that. Anything else, my ladies?”
Skye batted her eyelashes at me. “If there are any of those delicious canapes left over, I’ll have those too.”
Anne’s eyes bulged. I realized on the spot what threw her off: the familiarity between me and Skye. It wasn’t something she was used to when it came to me. Hell, I wasn’t used to it either, but damn if I didn’t like it. I could practically see questions popping into Anne’s mind.
Lindsay insisted on pressing the button on the coffee machine. I kept looking her way, ready to jump in if she was in danger of burning herself, but she wasn’t clumsy at all.
“You’re great at this.”
“I do it for Mommy every morning,” she announced proudly. “And I make a hot chocolate for me.”
“This one doesn’t have that function.”
She jutted out her lower lip. I could imagine her downgrading this from being “the best house.”
I brought the coffee outside, Lindsay the canapes.
“Leftovers, as requested.”
Skye rubbed her stomach, doing a ridiculous little dance in her seat. “I love how your leftovers are more delicious than 99 percent of the food I eat.”
She batted her eyelashes at me, and I just couldn’t resist. I bent, kissing the side of her neck, squeezing her waist. Skye stood ramrod straight for a few seconds before relaxing into my touch.
We hadn’t discussed how public our relationship should be, but as I stood up, I was pleased with the deep blush on her cheeks, and her smile.
Anne was looking at us with an amused glance. Let her figure it out... and then explain it to me too, because this was new to me.
We all sat at the table, devouring the canapes. Just as we finished, Anne’s phone rang. I knew who it was without her saying anything, because my sister went from smiling to frowning in the span of a few seconds. Her shoulders slumped, and her hand hovered in the air for a bit before she turned to Lindsay.
“Honey, Dad is calling.”
Lindsay squealed, immediately leaping to her feet and grabbing the phone.
She pressed it to her ear tightly. “Hi, Daddy.”
That was all we heard, because she went inside the house with the phone. My eyes were trained on Anne, who was shrinking into herself with every passing second. Damn, I wanted to throttle that moron for messing with my sister.
“Anne, Rob tells me you’re the CEO of Dumont Gourmet,” Skye said. “I’ve been reading about the company. You’re doing a fabulous job. And thanks for the generous donations you make for the galas each year.”