Page 17

17

JACOB

Stuck in meetings all day, only managing to speak to Skye once via email, I’m glad to be kicking back, having drinks at Lincoln and Violet’s house tonight.

I sent Skye a quick text earlier to let her know I will call her when I get home. It’s still unread, which is most unlike her.

Flicking through the television menu, I scroll aimlessly, not paying an ounce of attention.

“Did you speak to Owen today?” Lincoln swaggers into his living room, passing me a beer. I shake my head. “You need to do that ASAP.” He raises his eyebrows in an or get punched in the nuts l ook.

“I know.”

He pulls the remote out of my hand. “You’re on Violet’s profile. Look at all the romantic comedy she gets recommended.” He uses the controller to point at the screen.

“You love that shit.”

He grins. “I really fucking do.” He turns the television off and flops down onto his sofa. “Man, what a day.”

“Busy?”

“Paperwork and police.”

“Police?”

“Yeah.” He leans forward, placing his beer on the table, and rests his elbows on his bowed legs. “A woman died on the dance floor on Saturday night.”

“No shit?” I splutter out.

“Yes shit. Utterly shit,” he sighs. “Some fucking wedding that turned out to be for the bride. It was her great-aunt.”

“She died at a wedding?” I exclaim.

“Awful. That poor bride will be traumatized forever. Happy wedding anniversary, oh, and while we’re at it, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Fuck. That’s horrible. How did she die?”

“She had a massive heart attack while she was dancing.”

“And the family witnessed it all?”

“Yeah. They watched on as her son gave CPR. But she was already gone.”

“What was she dancing to?” I don’t even know why the fuck I’m asking that.

“Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’”

Trying to stifle how funny I find that, I snort. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” I cover my face in shame. “I didn’t mean to laugh.”

“What a way to go.” Lincoln tucks his lips into his mouth. He thinks it’s funny too.

He raises his beer bottle, gesturing for me to lift mine. We clink them together and he says, “To Shania.”

I repeat, “To Shania.” I take a swig of the ice-cold liquid.

Laughter from the front door alerts us to Violet’s arrival home.

I know who that other giggle belongs to.

Skye.

“Hello, you two.” Violet bounces into the living room.

“How was pole-dancing class?” Lincoln asks as Violet smacks a kiss on his cheek.

Skye steps into the living room and my heart almost stops. Silver hair piled high, she’s wearing a pale pink crop top and matching yoga leggings, leaving nothing to my imagination.

Although, I no longer have to imagine anymore. I’ve seen her, every inch of her, naked.

“Pole-dancing classes are shit. I’m terrible.” Violet rolls her eyes. “And Skye landed on her head tonight. Funny as hell, though.”

Skye looks across at me shyly.

Well, this is new. How do we behave around our friends now? After what we did together? In secret.

Concerned, I ask Skye, “Did you hurt yourself?”

She reaches up to touch her head. “Yeah. I have a bump.”

“Do you have an ice pack?” I ask Lincoln.

Lincoln shakes his head, mumbling, “You’ve got it so fucking bad.” He pushes himself to his feet.

“Please don’t fuss, I’m okay. Honestly.” She rests her hand on Lincoln’s forearm when he passes.

“Alcohol will help.” He exits and heads to the kitchen to get the girls a drink.

“Just a little one. Prosecco, if you have it.” Skye bounces her shoulders up to her ears. “I’m working tomorrow.” She walks around and slides gracefully onto the seat next to me.

“Aren’t we all? You can get a taxi home,” Violet suggests as she chases after Lincoln.

Shoulder to shoulder, an awkward silence dances between us.

Keeping my voice low, I say, “I sent you a text.”

“I was just heading into dance classes when you sent it. I haven’t had a chance to reply,” she whispers back.

Turning her body round to face me, she says, “Hi.” I love her soft voice.

“Hey, Butterfly.” I lift my hand to her cheek, but I stop myself and rest it back on my lap.

“I missed you today.” She looks at me, then looks away. “And thank you for my new stylus pen. You didn’t need to get me one.” She fiddles with her shoelaces on her sneaker like she’s nervous.

“You are more than welcome. You’re right, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.”

I had bought a new one and left it on her office desk.

Changing position to face her, I swivel around in my seat. “This is so hard,” I confess. “What I wouldn’t give to bite the curve of your neck.” I move my mouth to the shell of her ear, then blow softly against her neck.

“That feels nice,” she says breathlessly, tilting her head to the side.

“You like that?”

“I do.” She almost moans.

So close now, but not touching, I let out a long gasp of hot breath on the spot she wants me to, causing her to shudder.

“Oh, yes, I love that.” She sounds contented.

“I’ll remember that for the future.”

“If only we could now.”

“Soon.” I’m praying it’s soon. I’m praying for all the yesterdays I missed and the tomorrows I want to be a part of. “Soon, Butterfly.” I can’t make any promises, but I want to. “Then I will do so many sinful things to this beautiful body of yours,” I whisper into her ear.

“I can’t wait another minute.”

“You’ll have to.”

She pulls in a breath. “I just… just so much… I want…”

“To touch?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Yeah.” She lets out a frustrated sigh.

Where the fuck is Owen?

A tendril of hair escapes her updo and she pushes it behind her ear. “You don’t have to call me tonight anymore. You’ve seen me now.”

“I’d like to see more of you,” I admit.

“I need to record a tutorial for my video channel, you naughty boy. You’re a bad distraction.”

“You’re a fucking nice distraction.” She catches me staring at the hard outline of her nipples.

“Behave.”

The faint sound of Violet and Lincoln messing about in the kitchen drifts into the room.

I change the subject because I might just push her against the sofa and devour her if we keep up this level of teasing. “Tell me about your video channel. Do you take your clothes off? ’Cause if you do, I might just go a wee bit crazy.” I put her off the scent that I already watch her channel and know every fucking thing about it.

For the next couple of minutes, she tells me everything there is to know. “And the best thing ever happened. I am going to be speaking at a local arts group.” She grabs her phone to show me their website and social media presence and chatters away excitedly. “I’m meeting the group leader tomorrow for coffee to discuss my tutorial for them.”

Thank Christ she’s meeting them in a public place.

“Her name is Jules, and she’s very excited to meet me.”

Congratulations, Mr. Baxter, it’s a girl!

Thank fuck for that.

She rests her elbow on the back of the sofa and looks at me with mischief in her eyes. “I have something to show you later.”

“Oh, do you now?”

She bunny-twitches her nose. “Yeah.”

“Here we go. Prosecco.” Violet appears with her dog, Pom-pom, hot on her heels. “Oh, sorry, I’m not disturbing anything, am I?”

“Nope. We were discussing a project timeframe. Boring stuff,” she lies. “Hey, boy, come sit on my knee.” She picks up the tiny dog and rests him on her lap.

For the next hour we chat shit about everything and nothing and then we get onto the subject of our childhood in Castleview Cove.

“I love Castleview. Not at first, but it didn’t take me long to fall in love with our little town.” Skye rubs her hands down her thighs. “I was so nervous when I started my first day at school. Jacob made it better, though.”

“Did you hang about with the guys at school, Skye?” Violet snuggles into Lincoln’s shoulder.

“Yeah, from the first day. Jacob invited me for lunch.” She lifts one shoulder to her ear. “And that was our friendship sealed.”

“I bet you three boys all fought over her.” Violet eyes me, smiling against her champagne flute.

“Nope. Owen and Skye started dating about six months after she arrived here.” Lincoln stops, his brows pinching together. “Am I right?”

Skye nods in agreement.

“I bet you are kicking yourself now, Lincoln. Skye is quite a catch.” Violet is fucking playing with me.

“We’ve kissed,” Skye laughs.

“No, we haven’t.” Lincoln rubs his hand across the dark scruff on his jaw. “Have we?”

“Lewis Mitchel’s party. A few months after I moved here. We played truth or dare.”

Deep in thought, Lincoln looks up to the left.

“Your dare was to kiss me,” Skye informs him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

As if remembering, his whole face lights up, then he smiles. “Yeah, no, eh, that wasn’t me that kissed you.”

Shut up, Lincoln.

“Yes, it was, silly,” Skye giggles. “I was given a blindfold, made to go into the hall closet and wait in the dark for you, and then you came in and kissed me. With tongues and everything.” She plays with her fingers. “My first kiss.”

I subtly draw a line across my neck, trying to get him to stop saying the words I think he’s going to say.

“It was most definitely not me.”

Bastard.

“Huh?” Her mouth twists in confusion.

“It was Jay.” He points at me.

She whips around to look at me. “You were my first kiss?” she almost yells.

I force a smile, annoyed at myself that I never told her. “You were my first kiss, too,” I confess.

“No way,” she exclaims, her lips parting in shock.

“Sounds like a memorable first kiss.” Violet smirks, hiding behind her glass again.

Tomorrow, I’m going to put an advert out looking for new friends. Violet and Lincoln are a pair of schemers.

“Jacob kind of had a thing for you in high school. So, I let him take my place.” Lincoln takes another long mouthful of his beer.

“Will you shut the hell up, Lincoln?” I’m suddenly aware of how hot I am all over.

Skye pushes for more information. “So, you kissed me before Owen did?”

“I did,” I say so low I’m surprised she heard me.

“And that would have overruled your silly no exes agreement?”

Lincoln jumps in. “Technically, no. You weren’t dating Owen or Jay. It was just a game.”

“It was more than a game and a kiss .” Her voice is laced with annoyance as she shoots up to her feet and stomps out of the room.

I place my beer on the coffee table to go after her. “Nice one, douche canoe.”

“I thought she would find it funny.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I totally misjudged that.”

“Oh, Lincoln.” Violet slaps him playfully across the back of his head.

As I step out of the living room into the hall, Lincoln’s front door swings wide open.

Oh, fuck off, Owen. Not now.

“Hey, man.” He slams the thick wooden door closed behind him. “Thought I would just fly in to see you before I head out to Barcelona on business for a couple of weeks. I’m off to that stupid digital factories expo we go to every year.”

“Skye’s here,” I blurt.

And she’s just found out I kissed her before you did.

“Good. I need to speak to her.”

“And I need to speak to you. I’ve been trying to contact you for days.”

“Can it wait until I’m back? I’m only staying for one drink and then heading home to pack. I’m on the red-eye flight.” He pushes his fingers through his blond floppy hair. “Sorry, Jay. I’ve been so busy with one thing and another.”

“Sure,” I say, defeated. What will another few weeks matter? I’ve been waiting my whole life for her.

Maybe it’s an omen and someone in the heavens doesn’t want Skye and me to be together.

“Hey, buddy,” Lincoln shouts through the living-room doorway.

Owen throws him a wave. “Hey, guys.”

I must admit, he’s looking better than he did when he was at my house. Shaven, haircut, and his clothes are freshly pressed again.

His mother has probably seen to it that he gets back on the straight and narrow. Because whatever will the Muircrofts think of him?

Owen spots Skye hunched over the kitchen island. He points in her direction.

“I’m just heading to the bathroom,” I lie and hop onto the first step of the stairs. I don’t want to hear what he has to say to her.