My brothers start their catcalling, and I finally have to lift my head. I flip them the bird, and she steps back from me, her cheeks all rosy and pretty. She waves at my brothers. It’s a jerky, quick move, and then she buries her face in my shirt. She’s so f**king beautiful that she steals my breath, and her blushing is absolutely adorable.
Sky grabs my shirt in her fists and jerks my gaze to hers. “Have you had lunch yet?” she asks.
I just ate, but I wouldn’t pass up a chance to sit beside her for an hour for anything. I shake my head. “Do you want to go out?”
She bites her lower lip between her teeth. “Want to go to my place?”
She avoids my gaze, and my heart does that fluttery thing again. “For lunch?”
She nods, but her cheeks go even rosier, and I have no idea what she’s thinking. I hope she’s thinking what I’m thinking, which revolves all around getting her naked and getting me inside her.
“What’s for lunch?” I ask as I shrug into my coat. I’m wondering what her plan is, or if we need to stop to pick up sandwiches or something.
She smiles. “Me,” she says quietly. Then her smile turns into a grin, and she starts for the front door. I follow like a puppy at her heels because I can’t do anything else.
Skylar
Matt trips over his own foot as we step out into the street, and I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. He’s so damn adorable that anyone who didn’t fall in love with him would be an idiot. And I am not an idiot. At least not today. Today, I’m Matt’s girlfriend. I am not the daughter of a drug-and-alcohol-abusing mother and a cheating father. I’m done with that for today. I’m just Matt’s girl. And Matt just tripped over his own foot to get close to me.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” he asks. He draws me into his arms and nuzzles my neck. Then he pushes back and looks down at me. “Why aren’t you at work?” he asks as he threads his fingers through mine. The heat of his palm seeps into my skin and warms me unlike any other touch I have ever experienced. He looks into my eyes. “Everything okay?”
I roll my neck from side to side. I didn’t realize how much my shoulders hurt I was until I saw Matt. I wish I were one of those people who could crack their neck; it always seems like it would help so much. Matt’s hands come up to knead my shoulders from the front.
“You’re so tense,” he says, his eyebrows drawing together. “What’s up?” He has only known me for a couple of weeks, and he already can sense my moods. I’m not one hundred percent sure I like it.
“I went to see my mom today,” I admit.
His eyes narrow as he walks around my car and opens my door for me. I slide inside and he runs around the front of the car to get in the passenger seat. “How did it go?” he asks after he buckles up. He turns the radio down because I left the volume a little loud when I parked.
I sigh. “Better than I expected. But now I don’t know what to do with it all, you know?”
He nods. But the words that come out of his mouth are, “No, not really.” He waits a minute and then says, “I mean, my family has its share of problems. But there’s no one who abandoned me and then I had to reach out to in rehab, no.”
“She didn’t abandon me,” I start.
“They both did, Sky,” he says softly. “Just as surely as our dad did, your parents did. Just because they have a bunch of money and paid people to do what they should have been doing all along doesn’t make them any better.”
“Can we talk about something else?” I ask. My head is starting to hurt, and I stretch my neck again.
Matt reaches over and starts to knead my shoulder. “I’ll take care of that for you when we get to the apartment,” he says quietly.
“What?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.
“That headache,” he says.
How did he know I have a headache? “It’s nothing,” I say.
We pull up at my apartment and park on the side of the street. Matt takes my hand as we walk inside. When the elevator doors close, he pulls me against his front, and I can feel the length of him pressed against my bottom. Goodness. He’s ready for whatever we’re about to do.
We walk through the door, and I throw my keys onto the kitchen table.
“Why did you bring me here?” he asks. His words whip around the room like lightning, striking me harder than he probably intended.
“I…” I can’t verbalize it. I can’t tell him.
“You what?” he asks. He walks slowly toward me and cups the side of my neck with his hand. He’s gentle and tender, and yet I can feel how much he wants me. I might even be able to feel how much he loves me, even though I’m not sure what that is yet. Is it real? I don’t know enough about it to be sure. “Why did you bring me here?”
I dip my head and push my forehead against his chest. I breathe in the scent of him and hold it deep inside me. I don’t want to exhale and let it go. It’s woodsy and manly and clean, and it’s all Matt. “I feel like I have been emotionally assaulted, Matt,” I say quietly. “And when it was all over, I needed someone who could make me feel safe.” I look up at him, and his blue eyes don’t even blink. “I needed someone who cares for me.”
Matt scoops me up in his arms, one arm beneath my knees and the other behind my back. I squeal in surprise. He laughs and carries me into my bedroom. He kicks the door shut behind us. “How long do we have before you have to pick up the girls?” he asks. He sits down on the side of my bed and takes off his boots. He’s moving quickly, and he grins.