Page 115 of Down & Dirty

“Yeah, they suit each other well.”

I’d seen my father take to Micah like he was one of his own. After my mother’s accident, Jacob had gone down a dark hole. It wasn’t something I could blame him for anymore. But back then I did. Seeing him now with Micah soothed a little of that ache. He’d missed out on our childhoods as much as we did. I understood that now.

I also understood what had driven him to fall apart, even when his kids needed him. My gaze drifted over Skylar’s gorgeous face, the sparkle in her eye, the lushness of her smile. I’dnever needed anyone the way I needed her. She was my air. I’d suffocate if I ever lost her. So, I got it now. My father had done the best he could without my mom. It took Skylar to help me see that.

“He really likes it here,” she said, her eyes on the fire as she wrapped her hands around her mug.

“Maine is a fun place to grow up. Cold, though. Sort of sleepy.”

She slanted her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it in summer yet, but something tells me having four seasons is pretty amazing.” She leveled me with a warm grin. “And what you call sleepy, I call charming. Safe. Friendly.”

“We should plan a week or two here in the summer. Micah would love the lake.”

“Iwould love the lake,” she said, swatting my arm playfully.

I snatched her hand and brought it to my lips. “I would love you in abikini.”

She rolled her eyes, but then she bit her lip and I knew exactly what she was picturing. Me tugging that bikini off and fucking her good and hard. Crickets and motorboats, and her moaning my name.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she warned, as if she hadn’t started it.

“Impossible, gorgeous. This is just my face.”

She leaned closer, cupping my jaw and stroking her thumb over my lips. “And what a face it is.” She kissed me, sweet and soft, pulling back with a sigh as she looked into my eyes. “Thank you for bringing us here.”

“Merry Christmas, baby.”

After the mayhem of the morning, it was finally quiet. Mack and Jacob were in front of the fire talking about the football tripleheader, and Micah had crashed early, a sack of potatoes in my arms when I’d carried him up to the home-gym-turned-back-into-guest room just for him.

I was sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed, waiting for Skylar to come back from tucking him in. She quirked an eyebrow my way, but was quick to join me.

“What’s up, handsome?”

I swallowed. “I’ve got one more gift for you.” Part of me expected another stern glare; her argument that I’d gone overboard already ringing in my ears. But that wasn’t the look she gave me.

“I have one more for you, too,” she said, scurrying over to her bag.

My breath caught at the sweetness in her eyes.

“You first,” I said in a rush, holding out her present.

She took it gingerly, turning it over in her hands. It was just a slim thing, nothing particularly special. But as she ripped the paper my heart started to hammer in my chest, a percussive beat I’d gotten used to around her. It never beat like that for anything or anyone else.

“Oh, wow,” her eyes darted up to me. “Cory.”

“You probably already know all of them by heart,” I laughed, looking down at the small book of Mary Oliver poetry in her hands. “But just in case.”

She flipped through the pages, her fingers stroking reverently across the pages. “I don’t. I don’t know any of them.” She swallowed thickly, her eyes finding mine again. “Thank you.”

“You have that quote in your bedroom, back in Sacramento, the one wild life or something,” I went on, explaining as if she didn’t know. “But I didn’t see any of her books on your shelf, so I thought you might like this.”

She put her hand on my arm, her eyes watery. “I do. It’s perfect.” She thumbed through it for another minute, seemingly lost in the words, before she sniffed and shook out her shoulders.

“Your turn.”

She set a flat square box in my palm, a simple red ribbon tied aroundit. I could feel her eyes on me as I tugged the ribbon off the first corner, and then the second, setting it on my lap. I glanced quickly up at her, distracted by the dent her teeth were leaving in her bottom lip.

“Open it,” she pressed, shifting closer.

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