Page 54 of Desert Sky (RB MC #4)

SKYE

A soundtrack of laughter, clinking glasses, and distant guitar strums played over the breeze.

JD hadn’t left my line of sight since the moment I said “yes.” But I told him that he needed to mingle…

no he stood across the yard in his tux jacket, tie long gone, top buttons undone, looking like sin and salvation.

But before I could make my way to him, a sharp voice cut through the music.

“Look at my man again, and I’ll rip out every last one of your extensions,” Regan hissed. “He’s taken but that one over by the bar isn’t..”

I turned my head and blinked. Of course. Evie who was slinking up to a familiar pair of broad shoulders wearing a charcoal-gray linen shirt rolled up to the elbows, smiling like he just landed a sucker punch to the universe?

Malik.

“Regan—” I started, but she held up a hand, eyes glued to the two of then.

“Her date barely had a pulse,” Regan said with a shrug. “ So I got her a new one. Don’t say I never do charity work. As long as she stay the fuck away from my man.”

“How did she get on the guest list? At my wedding? No-just no.”

Regan shrugged. “That girl is a slippery one for sure. She got in as some old man’s plus one. A senile business partner of the club who pops more Viagra than pain pills.”

I looked again. Evie was cozying it up—laughing too loud, twirling a piece of hair, leaning just a little too close. Malik didn’t seem to mind one bit.

“Well,” I muttered. “That’s not… weird at all.”

“He can handle her,” Regan winked, then vanished into the crowd like a champagne-soaked goddess of chaos.

Before I could even process that twist, a strong hand wrapped around mine.

“Dance with the bride,” River said, grinning like a pirate as he tugged me toward the dance floor. “It’s tradition.”

He spun me once, then dipped me so low my hair brushed the grass.

“River!” I squealed, laughing.

“What?” he grinned. “Just reminding JD what he’s got.”

When he twirled me back up, I caught JD watching—jaw tight, eyes hot. The kind of look that burned through silk and memory, that said mine without a single word.

And God… I felt it.

It’d been three months. Three. Since that night by the bonfire, when we ripped each other apart and came undone in each other’s arms.

Three months of rebuilding. Of becoming something better than what we were. Real. Stable. Quiet. Focused on Jackson. No chaos, no surprises, no distractions.

But now, with the music wrapping around us, firelight flickering over the patio stones, and JD looking at me like he hadn’t had water in days—I felt the storm coming back.

My breasts felt full. Heavy. Aching. Like they remembered his touch before my mind could catch up.

My body screamed to be touched again. To be claimed.

And deep down, I knew it.

I was late.

Again.

Another baby, maybe.

Another chapter.

But first—I needed JD. Tonight. Before this secret bloomed and changed everything again.

His gaze promised heat and home all in one, and when I walked toward him, I knew exactly where this night would end.

Under desert stars. In our bed.

Where every vow whispered that day would be sealed skin to skin. But first I had my wedding reception to enjoy.