Your Hand in Mine (Blackbird Series Book 2)

by Lily Foster

  “It’s not really my scene,” she’d say, and I came to realize that she wasn’t bullshitting me, it just wasn’t.

  Sky likes to stay busy and she’s always on the move, but she likes simple things like cooking, reading a book by the pool and spending time with her family.

  Every once in a while she’d have a glass of wine or a beer with me after dinner, but she’d turn the offer down more times than she said yes, and she always stopped at one.

  I stopped at one, too. Having her around all the time was great, but I’m not going to lie, it was a challenge. Skylar hugging my daughter close, Skylar kissing Olivia’s head every time she snapped her into her booster seat, Skylar dancing in the kitchen when she thought no one was watching, and Skylar out by the pool alone at night just staring at the night sky—I was fighting every day against everything I wanted.

  It’s been the hottest summer on record, and while our central air conditioning keeps the house nice and comfortable, the pool house isn’t hooked up to it. There are a few ceiling fans to cool the space, but that’s it. I told her to take the guest room next to Olivia’s in the main house more times than I could count, but she refused every time.

  So along with all the other things I’ve had to contend with these past few weeks, I’ve been stuck with a visual of Skylar out in that pool house with her sweat-slicked skin, twisting and then kicking off the sheets.

  I know what she wants. Know she’s been trying her best to ignore this undeniable attraction and not act on those impulses, same as me. And in this case I’m thankful that trying your best doesn’t always guarantee success.

  The one night we did go and cross that line, it was Skylar’s doing.

  I shake myself out of that memory, same as I’ve done more times than I can count over the past few days.

  From the review mirror I see Olivia staring out her window looking unsettled. “What’s on your mind, baby girl?”

  “Sky said she’s nervous for school today.”

  “She did?”

  Olivia fixes me with that look, the one that tells me I’m being thick. “Everyone is nervous for new things.”

  “Sky has no reason to be nervous. She’s going to make a great teacher, don’t you think?”

  “Can I call her?”

  “Um…” I check the clock on the dashboard. “She doesn’t have to be in until eight-thirty, so yeah, you can give her a quick call.”

  I pull into a spot at Olivia’s school and hand her the phone after hitting Sky’s contact. I hear Sky answer a moment later with the enthusiastic greeting she always gives Libs that makes her feel special.

  It’s so damn cute when Olivia says, “Don’t be nervous, ok?” that I have to stifle a laugh. And when Skylar ends the call telling Olivia to have the best first day of kindergarten ever and that she loves her, I swallow back the emotion.

  She’s said it to her hundreds of times, and while it used to make me uneasy, now it makes me feel content, fortunate—or maybe hopeful is a better way to describe it.

  I still wrestle with whether or not getting involved with Skylar is a good idea. She can say whatever she wants, tell me I’m overthinking this and denying her something she’s choosing, but the facts don’t lie. I’m a parent, and getting involved with me is different from dating a man who’s at the same stage in life that she’s at.

  But maybe it’s because she’s put it out there, or maybe it’s because I’m selfish, but I just don’t have it in me to hold back anymore.

  I want.

  And I’m ready to take.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Skylar

  The ball is officially in Leo Hale’s court.

  The night before I left, I didn’t suggest, didn’t just put it out there. No, I left him no doubt. He knows how I feel and he knows what I want.

  The next move is his.

  He’s contacted me over the past week, simple texts that would seem routine or mundane to anyone else, but I’m reading between the lines.

  Olivia keeps making me show her next Tuesday on the calendar. She’s going to drive me nuts until you come back.

  How are Garth and Sienna and the baby doing? Tell everyone me and Libs say hello.

  It’s quiet around here without you around.

  I tell him to give Olivia hugs and kisses from me, tell him that James is getting so big and starting to babble a lot, and I remind him that Olivia’s new lunch bag should be coming in the mail this week. But to that last text I reply: I miss you, too.

  I don’t have it in me to go slow anymore. I kind of said screw it last week, so there’s no point in trying to go in reverse and be cautious now.

  I’ve been flighty all week, daydreamy and smiling to myself. And while I’m enjoying this time with my sweet little nephew, and with Sienna and Garth, the truth is I’m itching to get back.

  I want his hands on me the way they were last week. I want his kiss.

  The look on his face was priceless. I saw the light turn on in the living room when he came back down from putting Olivia to bed, and I timed it so that he’d catch me lowering myself into the pool. I packed away those prim one-piece numbers I’d bought for the summer and slipped into one of my bikinis instead. Yeah, the one that shows more than a little bit of cheek.

  “It’s so hot tonight,” I whispered when I turned to see him watching me.

  “I told you to sleep in the house. You’re always so damn stubborn.”

  “I’m fine sleeping out here.”

  “It’s not dropping below ninety tonight,” he said absently, eyes fixed on my body.

  I ducked under and then came up in the shallow end so I was standing in waist-deep water. It wasn’t fair, putting the goods on display like that, but I was looking to push him. Laying back into the water to float, I said, “It feels good in here.”

  He stood there saying nothing for a minute, just watching as I floated and stared right back up at him. And just when I was starting to fear that he was going to turn around and go back inside, to reject me, Leo pushed his shorts down over his hips and let them drop to the deck.

  I stood back up, chest-deep in the water now, and looked over every inch of him. Is it me, do I make him hard like that? I knew the answer to that question and it made me feel powerful.

  “Come in,” I said, and he obeyed.

  When he got close, I slipped my arms around his neck and pressed into him, eager to feel him against me.

  “Skylar.”

  This time he didn’t speak my name like a warning. No, he wasn’t fighting his conscience anymore. This time my name was whispered in reverence and laced with desire.

  Leo lifted me and wrapped my legs around his waist before lowering his head. “You sure?”

  I kissed him, licked the seam of his lips until he opened up for me and took over. A low moan rose from chest as he crossed the pool to the steps, kissing me uninterrupted as he walked us up and out of the water and then laid me down on my bed in the pool house. Leo broke the kiss and stood back up, never taking his eyes off me as he pushed the snug, wet fabric of his boxers down his hips and thighs. I sat up, wanted to make sure his eyes stayed fixed on me as I undressed for him too. I watched his face as I undid the front tie of my bikini top, heard him drag in a breath as I revealed myself to him. He didn’t let me get to my bottoms. He pinned my hands above my head and laid me back as he continued to stare.

  “Leo,” I pleaded, but I didn’t say anything more. He knew I wanted him, knew I wanted him to ease everything in me that ached.

  “You’re so beautiful, Sky. Everything about you is beautiful.”

  He lowered his head then, took one breast in his mouth, taking his time as he sucked and licked. I’m not sure what sounds I was making in the lust drunk haze I was in, I just know that when I was on the verge of begging him to touch me, it’s like he heard my silent plea. One hand moved from my other breast, across my stomach and down, slipping past the fabric of my bottoms and sinking right into me. It felt so good I cou
ld hardly catch my breath. And with the heavy weight of his dick pressing into my thigh and his mouth still teasing my breasts, it was sensory overload. With one hand fisted in his hair, I was a writhing, needy mess, calling out his name and begging for him to give me what I wanted.

  “That’s it…Fuck my fingers and come on my hand.”

  I read somewhere that the French word translates to the little death, and now I get it. My breaths came in shallow, my heartbeat raced, and the muscles pulsed where his hand still pressed against me. I’ve gotten there by myself before, but nothing compared to the way I felt when it was Leo’s doing, live and in the flesh as opposed to my fantasies.

  I nudged my bottoms down and then slid my hand between us. He was hard as stone but went back to kissing me gently, always in control and looking to put the brakes on us. “I’m not on anything,” I whispered, and he answered back, “It’s ok, I figured that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  I said it more to myself than to him. Why the hell had I gone off the pill?

  “Don’t say that. I’m not sorry about anything.”

  “Do you have something?”

  He kept laying kisses on my neck and shifting his sweat slicked body against mine. “I don’t need that tonight. Just keep touching me, your hand feels good.”

  But I still remembered how it used to be, how to get creative if you wanted it but weren’t ready to go all the way.

  I moved out from underneath his body and gestured for him to get on his back so I could straddle him. Right here, Leo. I willed him to keep his eyes locked on mine as I rocked my hips back and forth along his length without taking him in. I’m about to blow your mind.

  He moaned when he gripped my hips with both hands, pulling me down to press against him as I kept up that slow agonizing pace. Back and forth, back and forth I moved, as Leo’s eyes roamed from my face to my breasts, to where our bodies met and then back up again.

  I could tell he was getting close when his fingers dug in and he took over, upping the pace. Head thrown back, he whispered my name like I was killing him when he came. And a minute later, when his breathing evened out and his heavy eyes opened back up to look at me, he pulled me down, wrapped me in his arms and said, “I can’t wait to fuck you someday.”

  I promised him, “Someday soon.”

  “Sky?” I’m confused for a second before I realize that, no, I’m not in the pool house, and that the voice calling my name belongs to Garth, not Leo. “I said the burgers will be ready soon. American or cheddar?”

  When it comes to food lately, I could care less. It’s like I’ve got a twenty-four-seven case of butterflies in my stomach and nourishment of the food and beverage variety is the last thing on my mind.

  I’m picking at the seeds on the top of my bun when Garth asks, “Are you nervous about Monday or something?”

  It takes me a moment to process what he means. “About school?”

  He joins me at the picnic table. “Yeah…New job and all that.”

  “It’s still only student teaching but I do want to make a great impression on the administration. I’d love to get offered a job in that school district next year.”

  Sienna looks up from nursing James. “So you’re set on staying up near Pittsburgh?”

  “Um…Nothing is decided. It’s a long way off and who knows where I’ll get hired.”

  Garth speaks around a mouthful of food. “You’d get hired here. Mr. Gibbons is still the principal at the elementary school.”

  I shrug and then look over to see Sienna watching me with a smile on her face. “What?” I ask her.

  “Is it Leo who’s got you this way?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Sitting there with a dreamy smile on your face and making plans for the future to be wherever he is.”

  It’s too new to hope for a future with him, even though it’s all I do. “I just don’t know.”

  “Yeah,” she smiled back, “you do.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Leo

  It’s Friday and I still haven’t told Olivia that I’m taking Skylar out for dinner tonight. I’m wrestling with whether or not I even should.

  “Libs, there’s something I want to run by you.”

  She looks up from her waffles and gives me her full attention. “What’s up?”

  “Maureen is coming over for a little while to watch you tonight.”

  “You going to play cards with Max?”

  “Nope…I’m going out on a date tonight…With Skylar.”

  “Like Tracy and Link?”

  She’s into Hairspray now. Thanks to Skylar, I now have to listen to Good Morning, Baltimore, morning, noon and night.

  But Olivia is smiling like a happy little loon right now, so I’ll go with it. “Yep, I guess so.”

  “Are you gonna be Skylar’s boyfriend?”

  I’d like to say, Yes, yes I am, but I don’t really know how this is going to play out.

  “Libs, it’s a little complicated. Real life isn’t like the movies. I don’t know if I’ll be her boyfriend, but no matter what, she’ll always be my friend and yours, too.”

  “But you like her?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Like she’s a special person?”

  I nod. “I think she’s really special.”

  “Are you gonna hold her hand tonight?”

  Jeez. “Hold her hand?”

  “Yes! And you should give her a kiss goodnight, too. Then she’ll be your girlfriend.”

  I should have kept my trap shut. “Olivia, don’t—”

  I’m about to tell her not to get her hopes up when she cuts me off. “It’s ok, Daddy. She likes you too.”

  “And how do you know that?” I ask it as a joke even though I’m more than a little curious.

  “She looks at you like Belle looks at the beast.”

  “That’s a good thing?”

  She nods as she takes another bite of her waffle. “Yep.”

  Skylar opens the door with wide eyes. “I thought you’d text me and I’d meet you downstairs.”

  “Is this ok?”

  She laughs as she leads me into her room. “It’s fine with me. I just know how you operate, so I figured you’d be having a minor panic attack picking your date up at her college dorm.”

  I scratch the back of my neck. “I was having a moment on the ride over, but I just kept telling myself that I’m not your professor and I don’t work here. I’m an adult and you’re an adult—”

  “Deep breath, Leo.”

  “What I’m trying to say is that I’m over the age difference thing if you are.”

  “It was never an issue for me.”

  But I can’t let it go that easily, so I press the issue over dinner.

  We’re at a brick oven place in Oakland that’s close to campus where she meets Grace for dinner once or twice a month. She’s been raving about their clam oreganata pie, which sounds awful, but she’s convinced me that I need to try it.

  The clientele is a mix of students, professors from Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, and young professionals.

  My eyes keep drifting over to the corner where there’s a table of six people who are obviously students, three guys and three girls.

  “Remember when you asked me if I thought people were difficult to read?” I look back to her and watch as she takes a sip of her wine. “You specifically asked me if I thought it was hard to read men.”

  “Hmm?”

  “You, Leo Hale, are very easy to read at the moment.”

  I swirl my wine around my glass, stalling before I take a sip. “How’s that?”

  “You keep looking at that group over there. They’re around my age, give or take a year, and you’re telling yourself that I should be with one of those guys instead of you. Am I right?”

  “None of the guys on campus turn your head?”

  “I’ve been asked out on a few dates—”

  “I’m sure it’s been more than a
few.”

  She brushes my comment off and says, “It’s hard to explain, but the things that seem important to most people my age just aren’t important to me. I don’t want to deal with drunk guys at frat socials and I don’t want to drink my face off before football games at the tailgate parties. Maybe if I came here at eighteen as a naïve freshman things would be different, but that’s not how my life has played out.”

  I think on that as the server comes over with our pie and Skylar slides a slice onto a plate for me and then does the same for herself.

  She blows on the piping hot slice and then looks up to me. “You’re awful quiet over there, so I’ll answer that question you’re not asking me. I won’t look back on this time in my life and regret it.”

  “You can’t guarantee that.”

  “You’re right, there are no guarantees.” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe I’m about to use a gambling term here, but Leo, I’d bet the farm on this…On us.”

  And now I’m smiling because I can’t help it. “And what’s the over-under on me liking this pizza? It smells like garlic and ass.”

  She leans in and lowers her voice. “You smell like ass, you fool. And if you don’t like this pizza then there’s simply no hope for you.” Biting into her slice, she lets out an orgasmic moan, drawing the attention of two guys sitting at a nearby table.

  “Oh, you’re gonna get it, Skylar.”

  She tips her head to the side, teasing me. “Promises, promises.”

  I take a bite of my pizza, and while I may not feel quite the same way about it that Skylar does, I have to admit that it’s better than decent.

  I nod. “It’s better than I expected.”

  “Right?” She takes another bite and then says, “It’s like the best of both worlds…Garlic bread and yummy baked clams.”

  “There’s a place in New York that has the best baked clams. Not that I’m an aficionado like you are,” I tease, “but it’s been years and I still remember them.”