Sky of Dreams BN

by Jenna Jacob

  “That was nice of you.” Katie smiled. “I’d like it hauled out of here myself.”

  “That’s understandable,” Cade replied grimly. “I got the key.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the fob. “I just didn’t want you all to think I was stealing it.”

  Katie chuckled. “I wouldn’t have thought that in the first place, Cade. Go on and take it. And thank you again for the food.”

  He gave her a bashful nod and turned.

  “Do you need any help?” Sky offered.

  “No, man. I got it,” Cade assured as he stepped off the porch.

  Katie shut the door and glanced up at Sky. A look of relief swept over her eyes.

  “You’re glad that you won’t have to look at that reminder anymore, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she sighed softly.

  “Me, too.” He reached out and took the dish from Katie’s hands. “I’ll put this in the refrigerator and get us some ice tea.” Sky bent in close to her ear. “You made me work up a thirst in the bathroom.” She shot him a saucy grin as her stomach let out a loud growl. “Sounds like you worked up an appetite,” he teased.

  “I’m starving, and it’s all your fault,” she countered, pressing a hand to her stomach.

  “Let’s see what news Reed has for you, then we’ll get you fed.”

  Katie scowled and quirked a brow. “You’re not trying to tell me what to do, are you, chief?”

  He grinned. “Damn right I am, woman. If you want to fight about it, that’s fine by me. It means making up will be more fun.”

  The threat sent a whirl of images of rough, biting sex to spool through his brain. Damn, would he ever get enough of her? He sure hoped not.

  Back in the family room, Reed pulled out a stack of notes.

  “Before we start talking about business, there’s something I’d like for you to do, Reed,” Katie began. “I want you to find the best traveling nurses’ association you can and hire a full-time, live-in nurse, or nurses, for Lettie and Silas Buford.”

  “Oh, Katie-Beth,” Gran cooed as her eyes grew wet. “He won’t take charity. The women from the Ladies’ Auxiliary have tried to come in and help him.”

  Sky watched Katie as she pondered a way a to circumvent Silas’s pride. “A nomination. That’s it. An anonymous citizen nominated Silas for a Caretaker of the Year Award,” she preened. “Grand prize is lifetime, round-the-clock in-home care for both him and Lettie, including any hospice care needed.”

  Reed chuckled as he scribbled notes. “You’re a sly and conniving woman. Be careful Sky…be very careful around this one.”

  “I’m not afraid. I have my own secret weapon.” Sky smirked.

  “All right. I’ll get the staffing of the nurses taken care of right away. But now, I need you to take a look at this.” Reed handed her a piece of paper.

  As Katie studied it, her lips pursed, then her brows arched, and she blinked twice. Reed noted that not two but three potential buyers were interested in bidding for the ad agency. Evidently he’d been a busy man while they were gone, because he also had two Realtors vying for contracts to put Katie’s house on the market.

  When he mentioned the amount of money she could potentially make from the sale of the business and house alone…not including automobiles, Sky nearly swallowed his tongue. Gran actually choked and Joe let out a long, low whistle. What surprised Sky most was Katie’s unfazed mien. He realized you could take the girl out of Connor, but you couldn’t take the Connor out of the girl.

  Hope and relief twinkled in her eyes…glowed on her face. Sky was reminded of the conversation he’d had with Joe earlier. The man thought he and Katie might be a lot alike, but to Sky, she and Gran were more alike. Katie didn’t need shiny trinkets or a fancy house. She’d already had all those things and more. What she needed was love…pure and simple, love. Sky aimed to give her an endless supply of it, too.

  “I want to make things as easy on you as I can,” Reed began with a philanthropic tone. “When the FBI releases Doug’s body from the morgue, I’d like for you to let me arrange to have it flown back to Chicago.”

  “Thank you. I was dreading that,” Katie confessed. “I’ll have his secretary make the funeral arrangements and inform the employees of his death. I don’t have a desire to handle either of those duties, and I doubt highly there’ll be any tears shed over the news.”

  Sky sensed the hurt of betrayal lacing her words. He feared avoiding the funeral might leave her needing closure one day, but then he remembered how the fire of duplicity burned. Knowing how Badra had used him had been closure enough. Maybe it would be the same for Katie.

  Once Reed assured her that he’d handle as much for Katie as possible, she turned and beamed Sky’s way. The relief and love exploding from inside her was like a punch to his gut. Excitement rolled off her in waves, so much so that she couldn’t sit still. Like a lightning bug, Katie flittered from one side of the room to the next, never taking her eyes off him.

  “I want us to buy some land. Right now. Today,” she exclaimed as her brows slashed in thought. “But it has to be close to Gran and Brooke. I want to build a big house, but nothing too ostentatious. This is Connor, after all. But I want a swimming pool and horses… We’ll buy some from Cade.”

  Sky glanced at his daughter. The mention of a swimming pool and horses snagged every ounce of the little girl’s attention. “Can I swim and ride horsies at your house, too, Miss Katie?” she asked, anxiously nibbling her bottom lip.

  Katie swooped down next to Nina and grinned. “Of course you will. You and Daddy will be living in the new house if you want to.”

  Sky held his breath. The only home Nina had ever known was with his mom. Would his daughter agree to share him with Katie in a new home…a new routine…without day-to-day interaction with Brooke?

  Nina pondered Katie’s offer, turning to look between Sky, Katie, and Brooke several times. A quizzical expression wrinkled her little features before she turned and looked up at Katie.

  “Does that mean I’ll have a mommy now?”

  Katie’s chin quivered as she scooped Nina into her arms and settled her on her lap. Thankfully she didn’t glance his way or Katie would have seen the tears welling in his eyes. Stupidly, Sky looked over at his mom. Tears shimmered down her cheeks.

  “It’s a really big job being a mommy. Do you think I can do it?” Katie asked. Nina nodded, seriousness written all over her face. “Because I sure would like to try.”

  “Will you take me t’lunch and paint my finnernails and brush my hair like we did when Gramma was at the doctor’s?”

  “You bet.” Katie smiled. “We’ll bake cookies, go shopping, paint pictures, and read stories.”

  A frown curled on Nina’s mouth. “No. Gramma reads me stories after bath,” she corrected before turning to look at Brooke. “You’ll tuck me in bed, right, Gramma?”

  Sky remained silent. Cutting the apron strings between his mom and daughter would take time and patience. Change was inevitable, and sometimes those changes hurt. He couldn’t shield Nina from life’s lessons, nor did he want to. All he could do was reassure her with constant and unconditional love.

  His mom sent Nina a soft smile and then held out her arms. Sky watched as his daughter scampered from Katie’s lap onto his mom’s and hugged her fiercely.

  “I’ll be there whenever you need me, my love,” Brooke softly cooed as she stroked Nina’s long dark hair.

  Katie wore a look of uncertainty, an unspoken fear that she wouldn’t be able to fill his mother’s shoes. He sent her a reassuring smile and a nod before moving in close to smooth a hand down her back.

  “We have time to ease her into this,” he whispered in Katie’s ear. “You’re going to be a phenomenal mother. Wait and see.”

  She gave him a timid nod. “You’re all right with all of this, aren’t you? I mean, I didn’t even ask, I just started blabbing.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Darlin’, as long as we’re
together, I’m fine with anything.”

  Sky kissed her hard, drinking in the sweetness of her lips. His head spun as he drank in the intoxicating scent of her skin. Nothing in his life had felt so right, and nothing short of global annihilation was going to keep him and Katie apart ever again. Her stomach growled once more, and Sky ended the kiss with a chuckle. Wearing a goofy grin of happiness, he turned to the others.

  “I need to feed my soon-to-be wife before she shrivels up and blows away on the wind.”

  Brooke sucked in a gasp. Her eyes grew wide. “When? When’s the wedding?” She laughed.

  “As soon as she says yes,” he preened.

  Looking down at Katie, he dropped the smile from his face. She was glaring at him. Sky was utterly confused. Tossing her nose in the air, she huffed and turned her head.

  “As soon as he asks me, we’ll give you an answer, Brooke,” Katie informed.

  “You mean I have to ask?” he taunted.

  She snapped her head back at him so fast he was sure she’d given herself whiplash. He so wanted to laugh.

  “Damn right you do, mister.”

  Katie slapped on her bitch wings and Sky laughed. “Then I guess that’s what I’ll do.”

  A look of victory flashed over her features, and for a minute, he wondered if she thought he was going to ask her then and there. If that’s what she was thinking, he was sorry to disappoint her, but he had plans of his own.

  “Who is ready for dinner?” Sky called out, watching as the look of anticipation clinging to her face morphed into something that promised retribution.

  Bring it, baby. I’ve so missed this side of you, he thought to himself with an inward cheer.

  “I doubt highly that Sharp’s is open for dinner tonight,” Brooke began. “But there’s a ton of food down at our house we can certainly bring up here.”

  “Nina, would you like to help me set the table?” Gran asked as Joe helped her from the couch.

  His daughter nodded and then climbed off his mom’s lap.

  “Sky and I will bring up the food,” Greg chimed in.

  “Why don’t we call Grace and see if she’d like to join us?” Gran suggested with a little smirk.

  “Oh, so now that you’ve got me almost married off”—Katie pinned Sky with a droll look—“you’re going to start playing matchmaker for Grace?”

  “I doubt Tuck would mind,” Sky called out as he and Greg headed toward the door.

  Once they were past the house, Sky chuckled. “Thanks for getting me out of Katie’s crosshairs back there.”

  “Are you two going to spend the rest of your lives poking at each other?” Greg chuckled.

  He shrugged. “I like it when she gets all fired up…always have. Taming her…taking her from lioness to kitten, well, I can’t lie. That’s some heady stuff, I tell you.”

  “Speaking of heady stuff.” Greg stopped in the middle of the road, suddenly nervous. “I’d like to ask…I mean, if it’s all right with you… Fuck,” he stammered and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

  A huge grin spread over Sky’s face. “Yes. Hell yes! You have my blessing, man. Ask her. She’s waited long enough for a fine man like you.”

  Greg’s face went slack and paled. Sky blinked.

  “Oh, shit. You weren’t asking me about marrying her?” He felt like an idiot.

  The other man mutely nodded. After several long seconds, he audibly swallowed. “I didn’t think you’d be so…accepting, is all.”

  Sky slapped Greg on the shoulder. “Just make her happy and don’t ever hurt her, or stripper lessons will seem like a walk in the park.”

  Greg let out a loud laugh. “You heard about that, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Sky snorted. “Women sure have some devious damn minds.”

  “They don’t know it yet, but we men have that figured out already. We let them do shit like that to keep us on our toes.”

  “For sure. But what does that say about us? We’re the damn masochists who let them so we can get them beneath us and…”

  Whoa. Don’t go there. You’re talking about your own mom, fool. Sky quickly understood Katie’s aversion to discussing Gran and Joe’s love life. Looking down, he kicked a piece of gravel with his shoe as the conversation stalled and an awkward pall settled in the air.

  “We best go get that food,” Greg suggested sheepishly.

  When they arrived back at Gran’s, Sky wasn’t quite sure what kind of reception he was going to receive from Katie. But when he entered the kitchen, she hurried toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.

  “I do love you. You know that, right?” she asked.

  “Yes. And I love you. I’m going to love locking horns with you for the rest of my life, too.”

  “I know, because it means making up will be that much more fun, right?”

  “Oh, yeah,” he drawled and kissed her hard.

  “Are you gonna kiss all the time now?” Nina asked, wrinkling her nose.

  “We sure are.” Sky laughed. “You might as well start getting used to it, muffin.”

  “One day you’re going to find a boy who you want to kiss all the time, too,” Katie assured her with a grin.

  “But not until you’re thirty,” Sky added with a scowl.

  Grace arrived for dinner with a couple bottles of wine in hand. They sat around Gran’s huge dining room table enjoying their meal as they talked and laughed. Midway through dinner, Tuck returned, looking stressed and harried. But one look at Grace and the tension drained from his frame.

  He took an empty place next to the blushing waitress, and as he loaded up his plate, Tuck filled them in about Thomas’s arrest and explained that Simon was staying behind in Des Moines. Keenly aware of Nina sitting at the table, he chose his words carefully, which Sky greatly appreciated.

  It had been determined that Thomas’s first crime had been committed at Veronica’s apartment. Tuck explained that Thomas would first be extradited to Chicago and serve out any sentence handed down before coming back to the federal courthouse in Des Moines. He apprised them that it could be a lengthy process spanning years.

  Just knowing the crazy bastard was safely behind bars was enough for Sky. He hoped the man would spend the rest of his life in a cell. As long as the prick couldn’t get to Katie, Sky didn’t give a shit.

  “I know I bugged you about the texts between Doug and Veronica,” Katie began. “Don’t bother.”

  “Are you sure?” Tuck asked, his brows furrowing in suspicion.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “After what Thomas told me today, I have no desire to read them. I don’t need to know what they say. It won’t change a thing. Besides, I’m moving on with my life. I don’t want to look back.”

  Reaching out, Sky cupped his hand over hers and flashed her a proud smile. Yes, she was ready to move forward, and so was he. He aimed to show her soon how far he planned to go.

  “So, does that mean you’ll be heading back to Des Moines soon?” Grace asked.

  Sky could see the disappointment in her eyes.

  “Normally, yes. But we’ve still been unable to find Madeline Christopher or her lawyer.” Though Tuck tried to keep his voice placid and calm, Sky’s inner solider snapped to high alert. “Until we’re able to locate her, I’ll be staying here a bit longer, just to keep an eye on things…strictly precautionary, I assure you.”

  Sky studied the man and almost started to laugh as the inner voice told him: Stand down. Madeline Christopher is no threat to Katie. Tuck’s only using it as an excuse to stick around in hopes of tapping Grace’s ass. As frazzled as Tuck had appeared when he’d first arrived, Sky figured the man deserved all the R and R he could get…however he wanted to achieve it.

  When dinner was done, Sky took Katie’s hand and led her out the door.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Oh, just for a little walk to enjoy some fresh air,” he replied nonchalantly as they meandered down the road hand in hand.


  The setting sun painted the cloudless sky in hues of peach, purple, pink, and blue. It was the perfect backdrop for what he had planned. Circling from the road and through the west field, Sky led Katie to the round brick-and-mortar silo behind the hay barn far beyond Gran’s house.

  A knowing smile tugged the corners of her lips. “You brought me here to kiss me again, didn’t you?”

  “It’s where I kissed you the first time. I figured I might get lucky enough to do it again.”

  “So, you’re saying you only want a kiss?” she taunted with a sinfully sexy grin.

  “No. I want a hell of a lot more than a kiss,” he replied, his voice sounding husky and low.

  He turned and pressed her back against the red, weathered bricks—just as he’d done so many years ago—and slanted his lips over hers. A rush of excitement and arousal filled him as a man, like it had when he was a boy.

  Pulling back, he stared into her hypnotic green eyes and delighted in the familiar primal pull of her soft, luscious body.

  “So much has changed, yet so much remains the same,” he softly whispered as he stroked a finger down her cheek. “You’re my destiny, Katie. You’ve always been, and you’ll always be.”

  When she opened her mouth to speak, he slid his finger to her lips, shushing her with a shake of his head.

  “Let me finish.” He smiled. “I thought my life was over…that the only happiness I would find was through my mom and daughter. I tried not to think about the future and ignored the fact that one day they’d both be gone. I didn’t want to envision myself sitting on the porch each night wishing for you in my empty bed.”

  A single tear slid down Katie’s cheek. Sky bent and kissed it away. “Then you came back, and I wished on every fucking star that I’d somehow find a way to keep you here. After that first kiss in the road, I knew I couldn’t lose you again.”

  Sky slid a hand into his pocket and plucked out the ring, squeezing it into the palm of his hand. “I can’t give you a nice, flashy car or a mansion on a hill, but I can give you all the love in my heart…in this life and the next. Though we’ll tangle and fight, I promise to love you, respect you, to honor and protect you. Those are the only riches I can give.”