Only Her (Haley Cove Book 1)

by Lee Wardlow

  Luka had comforted her when her tears wouldn’t stop. They were going on another trip leaving her home with her three sisters to care for. She was only sixteen. Ramona only fourteen. Roxy twelve and Chloe seven. They left them money and told them they would be home in a week. They were going to another horse show.

  Luka let her know that she was wanted by him. His family let all four girls know they were loved when her own parents were disinterested. His father was a bastard to everyone but these four girls. Luka shook his head clearing it of the memories that were clouding his mind. “Daddy, are you listening to me?” Ava asked.

  They were sitting together at the breakfast table in the kitchen eating the food they had prepared together. Pancakes and bacon, Ava’s favorites. She was stuffing a piece of bacon in her mouth when he glanced down at her. He saw so much of himself in her. He wanted to turn back time and be there for both Skylar and Ava from the beginning. He wanted to hold his newborn baby in his arms.

  It wasn’t possible though so leaned over on the chair where he was sitting and kissed her cheek. “I missed it sweetheart,” he told her. “What were you saying?”

  “I have a soccer game tomorrow afternoon. Will you come watch me play?” She asked.

  “Of course I will,” he promised.

  “What do you do?” She asked him. She had been asking him questions all morning.

  “Do you mean for work?”

  She nodded as she downed several bites of pancakes. One eyebrow raised he gazed at his daughter with something akin to disgust. Her mouth was so full she looked like a chipmunk. Then he started telling her about what he had been doing with his life for the last ten years.

  “Cage fighting? MMA?” She sounded skeptical as she repeated the words he was telling her about his job. “Did you get hurt?”

  “Sometimes,” he told her. “Usually I won though.”

  “So have you retired?” She asked uncertainly. “I don’t think we have MMA fighting in Haley Cove.”

  He chuckled at her innocence. “No, we don’t. Yes, I have retired.”

  “So what are you going to do now?”

  “Get to know my daughter and drive her mother crazy,” he teased.

  He didn’t know that Skylar was standing behind him. She cleared her throat both he and Ava both glanced over their shoulders at her.

  “Momma, where’d you go in your pj’s?”

  “I went to see Aunt Ramona.”

  “In your pj’s? Why?”

  “Because I needed to talk to her about something,” Skylar took a seat. “Did you two save me any food?” Luka handed her a piece of bacon. “Thanks,” she replied sarcastically.

  Skylar munched on the bacon. The three of them were quiet; running out of things to say to each other. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence though. Maybe a little awkward but not uncomfortable. Finally, Ava piped up. “Momma, Daddy is coming to my soccer game tomorrow.”

  “That is wonderful Ava. All four of your uncles are coming too and Grammy.”

  “Is Ramona coming too?”

  “She said she would.”

  “Good I haven’t seen her in a few weeks.”

  Skylar glanced across the table at Ava. She realized what her daughter said was true but she also knew that Ramona was working very hard right now. She had lost two servers and was trying to replace them.

  “I’ll call Ramona later and make sure she’s still coming.” It would give her an excuse to ask about Brett.

  “Can we have a picnic at the park after my game?”

  “Sure sweetheart,” Skylar told her.

  Luka was looking between Ava and Skylar. He wanted to talk with Skylar to understand why she had run. Did it have to do with Tag? He didn’t really think so but he was sure that something had upset her and he wanted to know what.

  Skylar cleaned up the kitchen while Ava and Luka went to the other room. Ava was engrossed in her Saturday shows. “Ava, I’m going to talk to Momma for a minute.”

  “Sure Daddy,” she said barely giving him a look before her gaze was tuned to the television screen once again. Nickelodeon was something Luka needed to become educated about now that he had a kid. He walked down the hall to the kitchen. She had her back to the doorway wiping down cabinets.

  “Skylar, can we talk?”

  She about jumped out of her shorts and let out a little squeal of fright. Luka couldn’t help but laugh which only irritated her that much more. Skylar went back to scrubbing down her cabinets.

  “You’re going to scrub the paint right off those cabinets,” he told her.

  She glared at him over her shoulder. “Why are you pissed at me?”

  She sighed. “I’m not. I’m frustrated.”

  “I can take care of that too. I remember how I used to make you not so frustrated.”

  She turned and threw her wet sponge at him. He was caught off guard so it slapped him in the chest. “Hey, play nicely,” he told her bending down to pick up the sponge. He walked across the room and laid it on the back of the sink. Luka had a wet spot on his shirt now where she had hit him.

  “Now why don’t you tell me why you ran away this morning in your pajamas no less?”

  “I’m not telling you shit,” she informed him.

  She started to walk around him and he grabbed her around the waist hauling her backwards. “You aren’t leaving here until you do.”

  “I broke up with Tag this morning. Are you happy?” She scowled at him.

  “You were that upset that you needed to run to Ramona?”

  “It was the reason that I broke up with him that made me want to run to Ramona. She’s my sister. I do that.”

  “You weren’t gone very long,” he told her.

  She crossed her arms. “She was with somebody. It was rather embarrassing walking in on them. He was putting his pants on actually when I got to the top of the stairs.”

  His eyebrow raised. “Brett will be disappointed to hear that.”

  Skylar frowned. “How did you know Brett liked her and I didn’t. He and I are like this.” She crossed her fingers and waved them in his face.

  He grabbed them and shoved them down to her side. “The same way he didn’t know that you and I were an item. You’re too close to each other. You can’t always see what is right in front of you where the other one is concerned.”

  “That makes no sense,” she snapped.

  “Did he know that you and I had been sneaking around for six weeks before we finally came clean that we were seeing each other?”

  “No,” she agreed. “So same reason applies to you not seeing that he likes Ramona.”

  “So how did you know? You haven’t lived here in ten years.”

  “I did talk to him on the phone,” Luka advised. “I also asked about you every time I spoke to him.”

  “He never told me,” Skylar said more than a little upset by that fact. Maybe if she had known he still thought about her after all these years she would have told him about Ava? Maybe not. Now she would never know.

  “So Luka, do you think that Ramona likes Brett?” She asked knowing the answer made her cocky.

  “Hell no. She hates his guts unless she’s changed her mind in the last ten years.” Skylar laughed. “What’s so funny?”

  “It was your brother, Brett putting on his pants this morning in my sister’s apartment.”

  He blinked his eyes a couple times. Then he rubbed his ear. “Did I hear you correctly?”

  “Oh yes, you did.” Skylar was shaking her head yes along with her response. She had been just as surprised as Luka was now.

  “Well I’ll be damned.”

  “You can say that again.”

  She started to step around him. Then she stopped. “Don’t you think it’s time for you to go home or were you planning on just moving in?”

  “Is that an offer because I would really like to spend as much time with Ava as I can.”

  “Hell no that was not an offer,” Skylar snapped. “I have chores t
o do. Go home.” She continued past him and down the hall before she realized that he was following her. She started around the corner of the entry and up the steps. He had better be going into the living room with Ava. She glanced quickly over her shoulder. Oh hell, he’s not.

  Skylar continued up the stairs until the wall blocked her from Ava’s line of sight. She turned on Luka. “Where the hell do you think you are going? I need to get dressed and do my chores.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  “I don’t need help getting dressed Luka. Don’t you want to go home and shower or something?”

  He chuckled. “I will have to go home eventually and get clean clothes; I wasn’t offering to help you get dressed but I can if you really need it.” His blue-green eyes were dancing as he teased her. “I was offering to do chores.”

  “Then why are you following me upstairs.”

  “My boots are in Ava’s room.”

  “Oh.” She felt her face flame with embarrassment. “I don’t need help Luka. You are here to see Ava. Not me. Spend time with her.”

  He took another step up so that he was closer. “I came home for you though. I told you that. I didn’t know about Ava.” His tone was husky and full of need. Promises that she wasn’t ready to hear. “Ava is a bonus.”

  She was tongue tied. She didn’t really know how to respond to his declaration. She bit down on her lower lip contemplating her options. “Do I have to remind you that I was seeing someone until this morning?”

  “All it took to break you up was a simple kiss from me. Reminding you what we shared. What you were missing,” he informed her, his voice dropping low and sexy.

  She stepped up a step to get away from him. He followed. Skylar knew this was ridiculous. She just needed to turn and run. That is exactly what she wanted to do but her feet weren’t moving.

  He thought he had her cornered. He leaned in closer. Their faces were inches apart in the dark stairwell leading up her stairs. He inched closer. All he had to do was lean a little more and put his lips on hers. He was going to do it. He leaned closer; she covered his mouth with her hand.

  “Not happening Luka.”

  She shocked him so he didn’t react at first giving her the time to remove her hand and jog up the steps. He watched that cute little ass of hers in her shorty pajamas as she bounded up the stairs. Then he remembered himself and ran after her.

  She had already slipped into her bedroom and shut the door. He stood outside of her room and contemplated what to do. He wanted that kiss that Skylar had denied him. Luka wanted to keep reminding her what they had together and could have again. He didn’t think for one moment that Skylar Bradford had forgotten him. Luka just needed to convince her that it was safe to love him again. He wasn’t leaving her this time. No way in hell.

  He took a deep breath and opened the door. He stopped dead in his track. Skylar was naked. Yes, he should have knocked. He knew she wouldn’t have let him come in. Skylar wanted to avoid him but he was damn glad he hadn’t knocked now. She was on her way to the shower. She didn’t know what body part to cover first. Her arms went to her breasts to cover them and an eyebrow rose over his beautiful eyes. “What the hell are you doing?” She asked grabbing a shirt off the end of the bed and holding it up in front of her.

  He moved across the room towards her. She stepped backwards. She felt like prey that he was stalking.

  She held up her hand like that would stop him. He proceeded to advance on Skylar as she continued to back up until she had nowhere to go. Her back was against the wall. The cold making her gasp.

  Luka was so close that his body was almost touching hers. Only a small distance separated them. She was holding her breathe and Luka could see it. He tugged the shirt away from her clenched hands.

  “I just want to see you again.” He could see the terror on her face. “Still as beautiful as ever,” he whispered.

  “Look closer, you’ll see the stretchmarks on my hips from being pregnant which are wider and so is my ass.”

  He chuckled softly. “I’ll be happy to look closer love,” he replied.

  “I didn’t mean that,” she told him choking on every word.

  He lifted her in his arms and pinned her to the wall. The heat in his eyes was intense. He could see the uncertainty in hers. She didn’t know what he was going to do and it made her uncomfortable. Maybe she needed to be uncomfortable for a second before the lust kicked in and he could remind her how much they loved each other once.

  He dipped his head and touched his tongue to her pink nipple. She gasped out loud. Her hands gripped his hands harder where they held her against the wall.

  He trailed his tongue up the column of her throat. He nipped her jaw and Skylar groaned. He moved closer between her legs letting her feel his hardness. What she was doing to him. What she had always done to him.

  Luka kissed her below her ear. “You want me too Skylar. Admit it.”

  “No,” she told him. “I won’t.”

  His tongue traced the shell of her ear and she whimpered. He knew if he touched her now she would be soaking wet for him but he didn’t want to scare her off so quickly; he kept torturing her with soft kisses and his tongue along her sensitive areas. Her neck. Her shoulder. Near her ear. His breathe warm on her skin as his breathing increased like hers. She was gasping for every intake of air into her lungs.

  “Momma, what are you and Daddy doing? I thought you had chores to do.” Luckily for them she hadn’t just walked in on them.

  “Put me down,” Skylar pleaded.

  He reluctantly set her on the hardwood floor. She ducked into the closet to grab her robe.

  “Ava,” he called. “I’ll be down in a minute.” He was trying to calm his breathing, the lust storming through his blood.

  “Okay Daddy,” she replied.

  He had seen Skylar’s beautiful ass. Yes, it was shapelier and fuller than it had been when he saw her last but ten years had passed. She had given birth to a child. His child.

  Her stretchmarks were not that noticeable until she had pointed them out. They marred her skin because she had carried Ava, his daughter inside her body.

  He wanted to see her pregnant again. Feel their child move within her. She had taken that from him. He kept reminding himself that he was to blame for leaving her in the first place but she should have told him. Luka watched her slip in the robe and tie it at the waist. She walked out of the closet without looking at him. His gaze followed her every movement.

  Skylar started to pass him; he grabbed her arm. “I was a coward,” he told her. “I knew I would never leave you if I tried to say goodbye so I came here that night to see you, one last time.” She gazed up at him. Skylar sighed heavily.

  “I know that I hurt you. I know I should have come home to see you or called at least but I couldn’t. I had to make it on my own Skylar. I was afraid of ending up like my dad. Old and bitter.”

  She snorted. “So you made me bitter by your actions. Don’t you see that Luka? I’ll never give my heart away again. As I told Tag this morning. Never.” She walked passed him to the bathroom off her master suite and shut the door behind her.

  Skylar let the robe hit the floor and stepped into the bathtub. She turned on the water and let the spray flow over her while she sat on the floor of the tub and cried. She was determined when she left this bathroom that she would not shed another tear for Luka Shaw and she sure as hell would not let him touch her so intimately as he had just done. She would start locking her damn bedroom door to keep him out.

  She laid her arms on her bent knees and gripped her arms. Her heart was hurting. Her head was spinning with thoughts of him and his kisses. She had forgotten how just a soft kiss on her neck from him could make her loose her mind. Everything about him was sexier and better than before. Skylar just needed to reinforce her resolve to resist him.

  She wiped the water from her face. She was more determined now especially after her reaction to him in the bedroom just moments ago. She sto
od and soaped her body and her hair. Then she let the water rinse away the bubbles.

  Skylar turned the handle on the faucet to off and dried herself. She dressed in her worn jeans, low on her hips and comfortable. She slipped a tank over her head and took a band off the dresser to pull her wet hair up into a bun for today.

  She slipped down the stairs and yelled, “Heading out to the barn,” before either of them in the living room could respond.

  Good hard work is what she needed to get her mind off of Luka Shaw. She mucked stalls. Fed the animals. She raised pygmy goats that she kept in a covered pen to the side of the barn besides training the horses.

  Skylar was sitting on the ground caressing their soft hair when she heard a truck coming up the drive. Sounded like Brett’s truck, she thought. She rose from the ground and the little goats followed her to the edge of the pen. She peered over the edge and saw Brett’s black Ford parking behind Luka’s expensive vehicle.

  Skylar shooed the goats back and walked out into the yard. She covered her eyes with her hand while her other hand was on her hip. “Luka?” He asked her pointing to the expensive Escalade when he was close to her.

  “I think he’s moving in,” she said resignedly.

  “Serious?”

  “I can’t get him to leave.” He laughed at her. Skylar didn’t think it was too funny. “How’s my sister?” She folded her arms across her chest and waited for his response knowing before he answered it wasn’t going to be good. She could see it on his face.

  “She threw me out.” He wasn’t any happier than Skylar was today but for different reasons.

  “Do I need to ask why?” He shook his head no. She turned and headed towards the tractor.

  “Where are you going?” Brett asked.

  “I have fences to fix. Ride along with me. We’ll talk.”

  He climbed up behind her on the tractor. A wagon with supplies was trailered behind them. They were quiet until they reached the first part of the fence that needed repairs. Brett slipped down and took his shirt off. He tossed it over the seat where she had just been sitting.