by Addison Cole
“He wouldn’t miss Sky’s opening for the world,” Pete said, then took a swig of his beer.
Tony pointed to Amy and smiled. Each of the girls had a hand pressed to her stomach. “It doesn’t get much better than this. It’s gonna be a trip when all our babies are born. I think the girls will be sad when Sky moves up to Provincetown.”
“She’s pretty happy about the renovations almost being done, but we haven’t talked much about when she’s going to move.” Sawyer imagined she would go through a wide range of emotions when she moved, and he hoped he could help when she did. He turned to Blue. “Thanks for taking care of Sky’s renovations, Blue. I know she really appreciates all that you do for her.”
“No worries. She’s a good friend.” Blue took a swig of his beer. “And she seems happier than she’s ever been.”
“Thanks. That means a lot to me, knowing how much you two mean to each other.” Sawyer noticed Sky watching him and smiled. She blew him a kiss.
“Okay, enough sappy stuff,” Grayson interrupted. “Let’s get to the good stuff before my sister monopolizes you again.”
“Good stuff?” Sawyer asked.
“Your fighting,” Tony explained.
“We were wondering if you’d mind if we came by the club to watch you train,” Grayson said with hopeful eyes. “We’d love to check it out sometime.”
“Would I mind? I’d welcome it. Do you want to come down one day next week? My coach is bringing in a heavyweight for me to spar with to get ready for my title fight. I’ll let you know when.”
“Definitely. Whaddaya say, Blue?” Grayson asked.
“Hey, I’m there,” Blue said. “Maybe we can even get Sky to go. If we’re all there, she might be willing to give it another try.”
“Maybe, but I don’t want to push her. It’s okay if she doesn’t want to watch. I get it,” Sawyer said.
“Sky would go if Jenna and the girls went,” Pete said.
“Bella wants to see your friend’s sister fight,” Caden added. “I’m sure she can talk the girls into going.”
“I still can’t believe you’re dating my sister,” Grayson said. “She hates fighting, and here she is, dating a champ.”
“I’m one lucky guy. Lucky she’s willing to look past my career.” Sawyer watched Sky as she turned toward him again. The embers of the fire cast an orange glow on her legs as she circled the fire with a seductive look in her eyes.
“I’d also like to hear the songs you’ve written,” Kurt said.
“I’m playing at Sky’s grand opening. Will you be there?” He reached for Sky’s hand, wondering if her brother and friends could feel the emotions pouring off of her and see the look of wanting in her eyes.
“As long as Leanna’s feeling okay, we will,” Kurt said, his eyes trained on his wife.
“Is Leanna okay?” Sky asked Kurt. “She doesn’t seem like her perky self tonight.”
Kurt’s brows drew together. “She’s been feeling a little off lately. I think she’s working too hard. In fact, I’d better see if she wants to call it a night and head back to our other house. She’s working early tomorrow to fill those big orders that came in.” He rose and held a hand out to Sawyer. “We’ll see you at your sparring match.”
Sawyer shook his hand. “Absolutely.”
“Sparring match?” Sky asked.
“They want to watch me train, so I invited them to watch me spar. You’re welcome to come, but don’t feel any pressure to. I know you don’t like to watch me fight.”
“Actually, I was just telling the girls that I want to watch you train again.”
“Sky, you don’t have to do that,” he assured her.
“I want to support you. It might take me a few baby steps before your big fight, but I want to cheer you on, and I think Bella talked me into at least letting Jana show me a few self-defense moves later in the fall after Bella’s baby is born. She seems to think it’ll help me understand what you do.” She stepped in closer. “No promises, but I’m willing to try.”
His heart swelled. “Sky…” He pulled her against him and closed his eyes, unable to believe she would make such a big concession for him. “Thank you.”
“Hey, gang, I’m calling it a night,” Caden said. Pete followed him over toward the grill.
“Come on, Blue, let’s give them some privacy.” Grayson pulled Blue up to his feet. “If we leave now, we might get lucky at the Beachcomber.”
“Ugh. Grayson,” Sky chided him. “I don’t want to hear about you trying to get lucky.”
Grayson laughed. “Then don’t listen. Besides, Hunter’s been there for hours. He’s probably already scared all the hot girls away.” He swatted Sawyer on the back. “We’ll see you at your sparring match, if not before. Take care of my sister.”
“Hey, you smack him on the back, but you don’t hug me or anything?” Sky pulled Grayson into a hug, then reached for Blue and did the same. “I miss hanging out with you. Don’t let my brother turn you into a manwhore.”
“I miss you, too, and Grayson’s not a manwhore,” Blue said with a smile. “He just believes in sharing the love.”
Grayson flashed a devilish grin. “And the lust, and the—”
Sky held her hand up and silenced him. “Don’t say another word. TMI!”
Sawyer laughed, and when her brother and Blue moved away to say good night to the others, he pulled her in close again. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“I always do.” She slid her hands into his back pockets. “But now I’m ready for a little Sawyer fun.”
Her voice was soft and sensual and sent a ripple of awareness through him.
“I should help them put all the chairs away, then…” He pressed her in tighter against him. “Then I’m going to…” He felt himself getting aroused and decided to keep his thoughts to himself.
“Going to?” She pressed her lips to his chest. “Tell me what you’re going to do to me, Sawyer.”
Powerless to stop the words from spilling from his mouth, he said in a near growl, “I’m going to start with those luscious lips of yours and kiss you agonizingly slowly to pay you back for this. I’m going to kiss your neck and every inch of you, loving you the way you like it.” He pressed his hand to her back, holding her against him, feeling her breathing go shallow. “I’m going to love you until you’re so turned on that you can’t remember your name.”
Her hands fisted in his shirt, eyes dark with desire. “And then?” Her voice was shaky, hardly audible.
“Oh, my sweet summer Sky, you are a sensual girl.”
She tightened her grip on his shirt and pressed her body unbearably closer. “Tell me,” she urged.
“And then I’m going to make love to you until it takes everything you have just to remember how to breathe.” So much for not getting aroused.
“Hurry,” she urged.
Chapter Eighteen
SKY THOUGHT SHE was dreaming, that the harsh whispers were tangled voices of her subconscious. Sawyer had kept his promises and had made love to her until they both lay on the mattress boneless and sated, and she’d fallen right to sleep…until now.
“Sky!”
“It’s time!”
Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the dark, and her brain took another moment to register that the voices coming through her open bedroom window belonged to Bella and Amy. She slid quietly off the bed and peeked behind the curtains.
“Geez! We’ve been calling you for ten minutes!” Bella snapped. She, Amy, and Jenna were each wrapped in a towel, with their hair pinned up messily with clips. Even in the dark Sky could see that Jenna’s red towel matched her hair clip, which matched her flip-flops, of course.
“Hold on. Give me one sec to wash up and grab a towel.” She dropped the curtain and tiptoed into the bathroom, where she donned a towel and a hair clip of her own.
She slid the glass doors open quietly and stepped out onto the deck.
“I forgot my flip-flops.” She reached for the
door again.
“Shh.” Bella grabbed her arm, pulled her toward the grass, and headed for the pool. “Too bad,” she whispered. “It’s already two in the morning, and Caden has to be up at four for his shift. He got a call at midnight and had to run out, and he just got back a little while ago. I want to get in the water before he wakes up and notices I’m gone.”
“Pete went out around then, too. He said Grayson’s motorcycle broke down and he had to give him a ride.” Jenna handed the pool key to Bella. “I can’t see a darn thing. Amy, why didn’t you leave the lights on by your deck?”
“I thought I did.” Amy grabbed Sky’s arm. “Sorry, Jenna. At least I remembered the eggless cookie dough from the health food store!”
“It’s the little things,” Sky teased.
The heavy metal chain clanked against the gate, and they all shushed Bella.
“I’m trying,” Bella snapped. “The lock is being fussy. Hold the chain so it doesn’t wake up Theresa. She’s got supersonic hearing.” The pool was closed after eight o’clock, and Theresa took her job as the property manager seriously. She was a stickler for rules.
“How long did it take strummer boy to fall asleep?” Jenna whispered to Sky.
“I don’t know! I was too nervous to pay attention. I kept thinking that you guys were going to show up at the window right in the middle of…you know. And then I got too into it to care.”
The lock clicked open and they scrambled through the gate.
“I didn’t think Caden was ever going to fall asleep,” Bella said, closing the gate quietly behind them.
Jenna dropped her towel and ran naked across the pool deck toward the steps at the far end.
“I swear I’m going to tie your towel around your body so you stop doing that,” Amy said. “You need to either tweak your OCD so you can keep your towel on until you get to the steps, or climb in at the far side. You’re like a rebellious, naked, pregnant teenager, and I’m always worried you’re going to fall.”
“I’ll never change!” Jenna giggled as she stepped into the water. “Brr. Hurry up and get in. It’s freezing.”
“I still don’t understand why you run across the deck naked,” Sky said as she draped her towel over a chair and walked into the chilly water.
“Because!” Jenna rolled her eyes like it was the stupidest question on earth and sank down so her shoulders were beneath the surface. “I did that the very first time we ever went chunky-dunking. I can’t change it now.”
“That would drive me crazy,” Sky said to Jenna. Bella and Amy walked hand in hand down the steps and sank under the water. “Your bellies really do make you even more beautiful.”
“Hey, what about me?” Jenna splashed Sky.
“You, too, of course. But your belly is still little. Look at them. Pregnant nudity really is attractive.” Sky swam to the side of the pool, grabbed four foam noodles, and gave one to each of the girls.
“All I know is that being pregnant is awesome,” Bella said. “I can eat as much as I want and not worry that it’ll show.” She hung her arms over the noodle, and they all came together in a tight circle, kicking their feet to stay afloat.
“I can’t believe we’re going to have babies. We’ll have to ask our hubbies to be on baby duty so we can chunky-dunk,” Amy said as she reached for Jenna’s hand. “Do you think it’ll take the fun out of it?”
“No,” Bella answered. “As long as they don’t tell Theresa, we’ll still have fun.”
“I’m around to babysit,” Sky offered.
“Babysit? You’ll be chunky-dunking with us,” Amy reminded her.
“Not after I move,” she said sadly. She’d miss being so close to her friends when she moved, having breakfast with them and spur-of-the-moment barbecues.
“We’ll text you to come down and give you enough warning that you can join us.” Jenna shook Sky’s noodle.
“Yeah, like the sound of a car won’t wake Theresa? You can park on the road and walk into the complex.” Bella kicked away from the group. “I’m hungry.”
“We just got down here,” Jenna said.
“Well, the baby has to eat when the baby has to eat.” Bella swam to the stairs and climbed out of the pool, shivering. She grabbed the cookie dough and hurried back into the water, holding it above her head.
“That baby is going to weigh ten pounds,” Amy teased.
“So what?” Bella tore open the cookie dough, and each of the girls held her hand out. “See? You guys wanted it just as badly as I did.” She bit off a hunk and handed the package to Amy. “Sky, is this the weekend you’re going out on Pete’s boat with Sawyer?”
Sky smiled. “Yup. My brother came through for us. He’s letting us take the boat out overnight, and Sawyer said he can take two days off of training, which surprised me.”
“I told you love makes people do all sorts of things.” Amy floated onto her back with her big belly protruding out of the water.
“Love,” Sky said dreamily. She shifted onto her back and floated, gazing up at the starry sky.
“Love?” Amy swam over to Sky. “Love?”
“Sky’s in love!” Jenna threw her noodle in the air.
Bella caught Jenna’s noodle and shushed her.
Sky held on to the noodle and dropped her feet back under the water. “I didn’t say I was in love. Although Sawyer is everything I could want in a man. Seriously, he’s a great listener, and he really gets me. And he loves his family, and he’s hands down the best lover I’ve ever had, and—”
“Oh my goodness. You are in love. Our little Sky is in love!” Bella said so loudly that all the other girls shushed her.
“Stop it.” Sky laughed. “I’ve never been in love. I’m trying it on for size.”
“Okay, so you’re not in love yet,” Jenna said with an emphasis on yet. “Would you be if he wasn’t a fighter?”
She shrugged. “It’s not his fighting. This is his last fight, and he’s fighting for his dad, so I have to be okay with it, right? I’ve just never been in love before, and it’s such a big feeling. Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest, or I want to huddle away with him for hours. Isn’t that weird?”
The girls exchanged a look that told her they knew everything there was to know about love and she was the only one left in the dark.
“Honey,” Amy said softly, “can you imagine a future without him?”
Could she? Would she want to? She was already used to falling asleep next to him and waking up in his arms, even though it had been only a few days. She looked forward to his flirty and poetic texts, and every single time she saw him, her heart went crazy and she wanted him to stay right there with her.
“Not willingly,” she finally admitted.
Jenna and Amy smiled, and Bella said, “You’re definitely falling. Ten bucks says you marry the guy.”
“I’m not betting on my future.” Sky laughed, but inside she was shivering with delight just thinking about a lifetime with Sawyer. “Lizzie says life is that easy and that complicated. I think I’m sitting in the center of easy and complicated and I don’t know where I’ll end up—but it sure feels like I’m in the right place regardless of if it’s easy or complicated.”
“That’s because you’re falling in love. That’s how it happens, so you’ll tip over right in the middle where easy and complicated intersect,” Amy said.
“And Sawyer will catch you,” Jenna added.
“With a poem at the ready.” Bella reached for Sky’s hand. “Take it from the girl who never thought she’d find the right guy. The only man who is right for you is the one you don’t want to live without.”
All this talk about forever and Sawyer was getting Sky excited all over again. She dunked under the water to cool off. When she broke the surface, she said, “Wow, my heart is going a mile a minute. You guys…I love love! And I think I love Sawyer, too!”
The girls squealed and immediately shushed one another and laughed.
Sky snagged the cookie dough from Bella and bit a hunk off. “Did I tell you that he is the P-town poet? He just had no idea that there was a real P-town poet.”
“That’s because there’s not. You made him up, remember?” Amy pointed out.
Sky looked up at the stars and exhaled loudly. “What a night. I feel so much for Sawyer that I swear I almost told him that I loved him the other night, and I didn’t. Thanks for making me feel like I’m not moving too fast. That it’s normal to fall this hard this fast.” She floated on her back again and rested the tube of cookie dough on her stomach as she gazed up at the stars, feeling like she’d cleared the fog from her head.
Jenna floated on her back, too, and Amy said, “I can’t lie on my back again. My baby will squash me.”
They all laughed.
“I was looking forward to our boat trip before, but now? I feel even more excited now, like it’s okay to feel so much after such a short period of time—and I’m going to enjoy it.”
“Two days alone with Sawyer? You’ll be so deeply in love when you return you’ll be in the ring fighting for him.” Jenna reached for the cookie dough.
Bella turned her head from side to side. “Shh. Do you hear that? What is that noise?”
“What?” Amy lifted her chin, listening.
“Shh!” Bella snapped. “It sounds like…cicadas?”
“I hear it,” Jenna said, whipping her head from right to left.
“It doesn’t sound like cicadas to me,” Sky said, tipping her ear toward the sound. “It’s coming from all around us. And it sounds different, not like bugs at all.”
Bella shushed them again, and they all swam toward the edge of the pool.
“I can’t see a thing—can you guys?” Bella asked.
“No.” Amy walked between Bella and Jenna, holding on to them both.
Bella motioned for Sky to hurry up. Sky swam to Bella and linked arms with her.
“What is it?”
“It sounds familiar.” Jenna gasped, pointed at the fence, and shouted, “There’s something moving against the fence.”
