Skin to Skin

by J. M. Stone

“Yeah, moving on,” Emma said, laughing. Allie laughed with her and nudged her shoulder. “Since we pretty much live on the same property, our yards combine to be a pretty huge party platform, right?” she asked Allie.

  Allie nodded again, clearly wondering where Emma was going with this.

  “What if we did an old-fashioned picnic party with games and things?” she said, excitedly.

  Leah looked perplexed. “What do you mean, old-fashioned?”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “You know, long table-cloth covered tables, pot-luck, tug-of-war, three-legged races…like they used to do back in the old days like you see on TV!”

  “Uh…” Luke broke in, shifting Everly down against his chest from where he’d just had her lifted up in front of his face, kissing her chubby little cheeks. “You aren’t planning on inviting the whole damn town like the old days, are you?” he asked cautiously.

  Emma opened her mouth to answer but Allie cut her off. “You’ve been watching too many reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and you are now banned from watching To Wong Foo, too. Seriously, woman.” Emma scowled but Allie continued, “We can play the games and everything, we can do the potluck, obviously, because what cookout party isn’t a potluck? On a side note, I’ll be asking Emma’s mom to bring her homemade mac & cheese because I’ve been craving that shit-”

  Jackson jumped at this, swinging around, his eyes getting huge. “Craving? Did you say craving?” He glanced worriedly down at the content baby in his arms, but we could clearly see that he would be completely fine with knocking Allie up again. He loved being a dad. It was so cute!

  Allie snorted. “Hell, Jacks, don’t panic, babe. I’m not pregnant again…yet,” she finished with a wink and a slightly evil grin.

  He winked back at her.

  A little voice broke into the conversation. “Mommy can bring Daddy’s baby juice!”

  Total silence with the exception of Hayden’s giggles. We all looked over at Jenna who had dropped her head in her hands again, shaking it, muttering, “Why me?”

  Jackson cleared his throat and asked Hayden if she wanted to take the dogs outside with him. She jumped up and raced out the door, Jacks looking back at Jenna once and shaking his head, his shoulders jumping with silent laughter.

  As soon as they cleared the door, Emma rounded on her sister. “Daddy’s baby juice? What the hell have you been teaching my niece, Jenna?” She was trying hard not to laugh.

  Jenna threw her hands up in the air. “She overheard us playing around one night when she was supposed to be in bed. It was after midnight, she’d been asleep but had apparently woken up. Noah and I were…well, that’s not important. We just were playing around and I teased him about giving me his…Jesus…baby juice. She knocked on the door but we didn’t think she heard anything until the next morning when she asked for some baby juice.”

  “Oh, my God,” Leah breathed. “What the hell did you tell her?”

  She shrugged helplessly. “Nothing. We just ignored it. She hasn’t mentioned it since then but trust my daughter to open her mouth to embarrass me,” she groaned.

  Jackson and Hayden came back inside with the dogs at which time Jenna decreed it was time to go. She packed up Hayden, gave everyone hugs and was out the door, asking Hayden exasperatedly, “Child, what am I gonna do with you?”

  Our little get together wound down then, but we did finalize our plans for the party. The guys were gonna take off the next day after work to get the fireworks and everything else was set. I was a little excited about it, but hey, I’m a sucker for parties.

  Brandon and I left about half an hour later, right after Leah jetted out the door, which was point two seconds after Ian called her to see where she was. We barely got in the door when my phone rang.

  “Hey, Jacks,” I answered.

  “Hey. Got a question for you. Do you remember a little lullaby that mom would sing to us when we were young?”

  Immediately my thoughts turned dark, knowing exactly which lullaby he was talking about, the memories flooding my mind with all the times I sang that to myself to float away from what was really happening.

  I was silent for a long time, lost in my thoughts.

  “Chloe?” Jackson asked softly.

  I blinked, trying to push everything away. “Yea-uh, yes?”

  “Are you okay?”

  I glanced around the living room, shocked to see that I was barely inside the door. Brandon was standing in front of me, a worried look creasing his brow. I gave him a small smile and shook my head to let him know I was good as I answered Jackson.

  “Yeah, I’m good. What made you ask about that?”

  “Allie was singing some lullabies to Liam and I remembered that Mom used to sing one that she made up. I know it was your favorite, but I can’t remember the song. Figured you would have, but…I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking that it might be something you would’ve sang…that…” he cleared his throat again, stumbling over his words.

  “Jackson, it’s not that. It’s just…it doesn’t bring back very good memories because I used to sing it to myself in my head when Greg would…” I broke off, not willing to go there. “But I would love to teach it to Allie so she can sing it to Liam. It would be my honor.”

  I could hear the emotion clogging his throat when he answered. “Good. That’s great.” Then he added, “Chloe, I may not tell you very often, but I love you very much. And I’m so sorry that I left you there and wasn’t there to protect you. I know I’ve told you that before, but…I just…I’m so glad you’re here with us.”

  “Thanks, Jacks,” I whispered into the phone. “I love you, too.”

  I hung up the phone and wiped the tears that had welled from my eyes. Brandon was immediately in front of me, enfolding me in his arms. I hugged him tightly, completely content and loving the strength he was giving me, even without asking for it.

  “I love you, too, you know. Just for the record.”

  I grinned up at him. “Yes, I do know that. And I love you, too.”

  He kissed the tip of my nose, pushed me back, and took off running toward the bedroom, yelling, “Last one in bed has to give the other a full body massage with hot oil!”

  I gasped and shouted, “You cheating little ass!” as I took off after him.

  He made it to the bed before me.

  But I got the massage…and then some.

  Chapter 24

  The day of the party was picture perfect. The weather was absolutely beautiful, everyone was in a great mood, and it all fell into place. The night before, we’d gone a couple of towns over to hang out at the little festival they had and to watch the fireworks. Tonight, the guys had promised us a show to rival the one from last night.

  They hadn’t let any of us girls know what they had gotten from the fireworks store; in fact, Calland had taken everything to his apartment so we couldn’t peek. So since we had no idea what they’d gotten, I’d run to the store and picked up a few boxes of sparklers, some smoke bombs, and some poppers for the kids. Well, and for us girls, because we loved sparklers, too.

  And we didn’t care if that was pansy-assed or not.

  I got up early and made a big batch of my Italian-ranch, bacon, cheddar pasta salad and a double batch of mini cherry cheesecakes. I also made some double dipped strawberries, which I hadn’t made in a very long time. I dipped them in white chocolate and then dipped them in dark chocolate, but before I did that, I injected them with 100 proof vodka. Well, half of them, anyway. I left the other half virgin for Allie, Emma, and Jenna.

  Brandon walked into the kitchen as I was putting the finishing touches on the cheesecakes and looked around at the counters.

  “Holy shit, woman! We feeding the whole town?”

  I cut my eyes up at him as I spooned a dab of cherry pie filling onto a cheesecake. “Well, feeding you guys is like feeding a town, so we have to be prepared.” He narrowed his eyes at me playfully and I kept going. “You should have seen Allie at the grocery store. She had to buy thir
ty packs of hot dogs just to make sure we had enough,’ I said, tongue in cheek.

  “Oh, now that’s just not right, exaggerating like that. You know we only need twenty-five,” Brandon said with a grin.

  I slapped at him with my free hand and replied, “Get out of my kitchen and go get ready!”

  He went, stealing a cheesecake as he did, peeling it from the wrapper and popping it in his mouth before dropping a kiss on my shoulder and strolling out of the kitchen. I laughed as he started singing Yankee Doodle as he left the room.

  An hour and a half later we were on our way to Allie’s house, a bag with our bathing suits and beach towels on the back seat, surrounded by platters and bowls of goodies. We pulled up to see that Allie’s grandparents were there already, holding court on the front porch. I could see Luke walking across the yard from their house carrying a huge crockpot. Emma followed, Everly strapped to her chest in a baby sling, her hands full of bags of chips and what looked like plates and all that good stuff.

  I got out and raced to help her, taking the bags from her hands so she could pull the baby out of the sling and set her in Nanny’s lap, who was waiting on the porch in the rocking chair, arms outstretched.

  “I’ve already gotten to hold Liam and he needed his butt changed. That’s his momma’s duty. I put my time in all them damn years ago, so now I just get to do the spoilin’. You go on in there. I’ll holler if she needs something,” she cackled.

  Poppy, sitting in the other rocker beside her, nodded his head, but I couldn’t tell if he was really nodding or just couldn’t keep his head still while he rocked.

  I took the bags inside, following Luke and the crockpot. I peeked inside it to see it was full of Emma’s chili con queso, a delicious blend of cheese, green chilies, salsa, hamburger, sausage, and other yummy things that you dip Doritos in. Sure, you could use regular tortilla chips, but I definitely recommend the Doritos. The cheese kind, not that yucky ranch stuff.

  “Chloe, don’t touch the con queso!” I heard Emma yell from the porch.

  I jumped back, even though I was no where near…okay, so I was near it, but I had no intention of popping open the bag of chips and digging in at that exact moment. Not really, anyway.

  Okay, maybe a little one.

  “Chloe!” she yelled again.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I grumbled, making my way back outside to start getting stuff out of Brandon’s truck.

  He passed me coming in the door. “No, you’re not, sunshine. You’re barely breathing hard.”

  I rolled my eyes and moved past him out the door, choosing not to engage in that particular conversation.

  We made short work of getting everything in the kitchen and put away where it needed to be until it was time to eat. We’d all decided to eat around four, which gave us an hour beforehand to just hang out, swim, and whatever.

  I grabbed my bag with my swimsuit in it and went to go change. Brandon, seeing me grab the bag, followed me into the bathroom.

  “Brandon, no funny business,” I scolded him, laughing as I dodged his questing fingers.

  He pouted playfully, kissed me, and then grabbed his trunks and left me alone in the bathroom. By the time I got done changing, wrapped a towel around me, and headed out to the pool area, he was already wet from being in the pool and was currently on the diving board, challenging Jarrod to a cannon ball competition.

  He surfaced after a mega splash that got him yelled at by Jan, Emma’s mom, because she happened to be walking by the edge of the pool at that moment. He gave her a sheepish grin, but it didn’t matter that he had done it about two seconds later because Calland nonchalantly walked by and shoved his mom in.

  Clothes and all.

  “Damnit, Calland!” she hollered, wiping water from her eyes as she surfaced and waded towards the steps.

  “Son, if I were you, I’d be moving pretty quickly,” Ben, Emma’s dad said.

  Calland shot a look to his mom, who was now out of the pool and sidling up to him on the sly, and then shouted, “Oh, shit!” before he took off running to the other side of the pool.

  Jenna came out then and hollered at the kids to come in and get dried off for some reason, even though they’d only been in it for about half an hour at that point. They pouted but complied, then giggled as they watched their uncle run from their grandma like his ass was on fire.

  I laughed along with them, then dropped my towel, preparing to get in the water myself. I stepped up to the side of the deep end and jumped in, splashing Brandon, who was still treading water. I smiled at him when I came up, flipping my hair out of my eyes. He didn’t smile back.

  My smile faded. “What’s wrong?” I asked him quietly.

  “What are you wearing, sunshine?” he asked, his voice low, tone rough.

  I clutched the edge of the pool and crossed my other arm across my chest self-consciously. I swallowed hard, beating myself up for wearing a two piece bikini that showed my scars. Without a word, I moved to swim toward the steps to get out, but stopped when a heavy arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against a muscular, tattooed chest.

  “Chloe,” he said, “where are you going?”

  “I’m getting out to change,” I replied, very softly.

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” He arched his hips into my ass below the water, deliberately brushing the hardened length of his erection against me. “You look fucking amazing in the suit, baby. How am I ever supposed to get out of the water?”

  I inclined my head, indicating that maybe I had jumped to a conclusion in haste. Unable to help myself, I pushed back into him, rubbing my ass against his hardness. He groaned low in my ear, his fingers biting into my hips. His lips brushed against the outer shell of my ear as he leaned close and whispered, “You do that again and I’m jerking your ass out of the pool, tossing you in the car, taking you home, and fucking the shit out of you all night long.”

  I snorted quietly, my eyes gleaming as I turned my head to meet his gaze. “You call that a threat?”

  He growled and his fingers tightened once more, preparing to pick me up, I would presume, but stopped when a throat cleared at the edge where we were standing.

  Allie stood there, tapping her toes, waiting on us to look at her. As soon as we did, she said, brightly, “Excuse me, you two hornballs, but would you mind not humping in my pool? K, thanks, bye,” before she spun on her heel and headed back inside.

  Jackson, who had just come outside, cracked up, laughing until tears formed in his eyes.

  I got out of the pool, leaving Brandon to cool himself off until he could exit the water without giving everyone an eyeful, muttering to my brother, “It wasn’t that funny, dick.”

  “Oh, yes, yes it was,” he chuckled, then grabbed my shoulders and turned so that I could see Nanny sitting in the shade of the umbrella on the other side, craning her neck to get a peek at Brandon’s you-know-what in its upright position. Noticing that we were watching her, she waved and winked before yelling at Brandon, “Hey, hotstuff! Come give granny a kiss! Is that a hot dog in your pocket or you just happy to see me? She cackled uncontrollably while Brandon just shook his head and grinned.

  “Oh, Lord. Nanny’s a perv,” I mumbled to Jacks, grabbing my towel and walking inside.

  As I walked away, Jackson called out, “You hadn’t figured that out yet?”

  I just laughed and kept walking.

  After I changed, I headed into the kitchen to help set things up while Jackson and Luke got the grill going. Calland, after apologizing to his mom, finally, motioned Brandon out of the pool and they took off in Calland’s car, going to get the fireworks.

  When Emma asked him why he didn’t just bring them when he came, Calland just sniffed, put his nose in the air, and said, haughtily, “Cause you nosy bitches would have peeked.”

  She glared at him and punched him in the arm, making him laugh and pretend he got stung by a bee.

  They were back in half an hour. By then the tables we
re laden with food, the grill was in full force firing up hot dogs, burgers, and brats, and they smelled delicious. There was probably way too much food, but it was a party, so that’s kind of a prerequisite, right?

  We had my goodies, Emma’s con queso, Allie had the grilling items, Jan had brought her homemade mac & cheese, of course, and Jenna and Noah brought a veggie and dip tray, as well as cheeses, crackers, and snack meats. Calland, God love him, brought four gigantic bags of different flavored potato chips because he, and I quote, “don’t fucking cook. You want ramen? I’ll cook. Grilled cheese? We’re good. Burgers or steak on the grill? Yup. But I’m not cooking a goddamned thing, so here’s some chips.”

  Lord help the woman who ever settles him down. She’s gonna need it.

  Leah finally showed up with a fruit tray and cream cheese fruit dip, and Nanny had brought her famous pineapple upside down cake, so the way I saw it, all of our bases were covered. We had appetizers, main courses, snacks, and dessert; add in the fireworks (that they were still hiding from us), and we got dinner and a show! (Oh, yeah…Allie’s mom Daisy showed up with some brownies, but told us they were for her and her alone. Allie said we should just listen to her and leave them alone. We figured out why later.)

  We all piled our plates high and stuffed ourselves while we all sat around the pool, or at random tables the guys had set out for everyone. I popped the last bite of cheesecake in my mouth and stood, throwing my plate away and making my way to Allie, who was trying to hold a squirming Liam while she finished eating.

  I wiggled my fingers at her. “Here, let me see my nephew.”

  She didn’t hesitate, just handed him over and dug in to the huge mound of mac & cheese she had on her plate. I just shook my head at her, laughing in remembrance of the mini-scuffle she and Emma had gotten in about who was going to get to the mac & cheese first. Allie won, practically shoving Emma under the table to do so, but Emma retaliated by hiding the pan from everyone so no one else could get any.

  Thankfully, that only lasted until Jan gave her that “mom” look that said put-it-back-or-you’re-gonna-get-it. Miraculously, it ended up back on the table within seconds. In her defense, though, Jan’s homemade mac & cheese was the freakin’ bomb!