Page 30 of Finding Emotion

Skylar held up her hands in surrender. “Shit, I’m kidding. Mostly, anyway.” She tilted her head, liking the way they looked together as a couple.

“I should let you two continue to catch up,” Malcolm said, starting to rise.

Skylar waved him back down. “Nah, it’s getting late. I’m going to fuck off for tonight.”

“We have a guest room,” Jami offered, a light in her eyes.

It was a tempting offer. Avoidance was kind of Skylar’s thing, and Damon seemed like the type that would want to talk. She eyed her sister. Of course, Jami had been pressing her too. “Rain check,” Skylar decided. Hell, maybe Damon would be asleep back at the suite.

Jami rose to walk her to the door. Skylar let herself enjoy the tightness of another hug.

“Don’t make me track you down,” Jami murmured, lifting away from her.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Skylar laughed, not making any promises. “I like to be pursued.” She strode out to the waiting limo, not sure why, but feeling a bit like she had escaped.

Chapter 14

The hotel suite was dark when Damon returned. He hesitated as he passed the bedroom Skylar had claimed. Not wanting to overthink things, he knocked. The lack of response didn’t necessarily mean anything, but he didn’t sense anyone else was in there.

He wasn’t sure if he felt relieved or not. It wasn’t like he’d spent all evening thinking about her. Hanging out with Trenton had been relaxing, even with the new baby. Trenton had asked him how he was doing, but hadn’t pushed him after Damon’s typical ‘just fine’ response. He was wrapped around his daughter’s finger already. Trenton and Celia had spent most of that first month after the baby was born in the hospital due to it coming so early. Damon didn’t understand all of it, but he’d had Jimmy send plenty of care packages and had called to check in as often as he could.

He’d felt kind of silly singing to the baby that evening, but it had made Trenton happy, and his daughter really had stopped crying. It had reminded him that he needed to practice the new song a little more. He’d agreed to a local performance, one on a much smaller scale than he was used to. Erin had roped him into the charity event linked to one of her husband’s new companies.

The suite was enticingly quiet. It increased his sense of calm. Damon still wasn’t sure what had possessed him to give in to Skylar before, but his doubt over it had finally faded to the back burner. He couldn’t regret something that had rocked his world that much. He wanted to check in with her, mainly because he had a niggling need to comfort her that their time together hadn’t resolved, but it would have to wait until she returned.

Music didn’t have to. The evening sky beyond the bank of glass beckoned to him. He sat on the floor in front of it. The mostly full moon shined down on him, where he stretched out, leaning back on his hands. The song he’d made for Erin rose in his mind, and he began to sing it softly.

One stanza didn’t feel quite right. He sang it again, stressing a different word instead, and it clicked into place. He rehearsed it one more time, still in that soft voice since it was so late. A new song stirred inside him, and he switched into an unrelated hum.

The squeak of a footstep broke his rhythm, and he looked up to see Skylar staring down at him.

“Well, aren’t you just sexy like that,” she murmured, her hazel eyes too dark where she stood with her back to the glass. From the shadows, he couldn’t tell which color was most present in her eyes, but the moonlight made her pale hair almost glow.

“Thanks,” Damon said. “Sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I took off my big-ass boots since you were singing your own little lullaby.”

“It probably did sound that way. I wasn’t sure how soundproof we were up here.” He watched her lean her back against the glass, her face still in shadow.

“The local college has a good setup if you need a space,” she said. “I went there last night.”

“Oh.” He felt dumb with just that syllable. “I’ll check into it, thanks.”

She sighed, resting her head back. The moonlight found her face but made it look pale. “Enough. Just get on with it.”

“With what?” Damon sat up straighter. His palms tingled, and the imprint of the carpet’s weave clung to him from where he’d been pressing down on it.

“You’ve had that look every time I’ve seen you since.” Skylar stared up at the ceiling. “Like you want to ask me something.”

Damon bit his cheek, but couldn’t deny it. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Her chin dropped as she straightened away from the glass. She stared down at him, her face shadowed again. “That’s what you wanted to ask? For fuck’s sake.”

Damon buffed his hands on his jeans, wishing the tingling would go away. “Earlier was some type of panic attack, wasn’t it? I’ve been worried.”

“Worried, huh?” Skylar crouched down in front of him. She leaned toward him, her hands perching on either side of his legs. “Shit, be honest. You want all the sordid details, don’t you?” She crawled higher up his body, drawing her face within inches of his. The moon made it appear pale again. At least there wasn’t a sneer on it like he’d feared. Skylar almost looked blank, like a doll. “I mean, letting me fuck you fixed it, so a smart guy like you has probably figured it out.”

Damon didn’t draw back but instead searched her eyes. “I didn’t think we would take it that far. You passed out before I could make sure that what we did was, I don’t know, okay?” He shrugged. “I mean, it was for me, but as I said, I was worried.”

---