Page 93 of Must Have Been Love

“And if I message Autumn and tell her about it, don’t you think she’s going to wonder how I know it’s there?” I ask, looking at her carefully.

Skyler frowns. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” I lift my brow.

“I guess we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, huh?” She smooths down the overalls she’s wearing. She won’t quite catch my eye. I check my watch, we’re going to be late and I hate being late.

But still I reach for her chin, tipping it up so her eyes meet mine.

“I think the cat is already out of the bag, sweetheart. You love me.”

She exhales softly.

“And I love you. So it’s a matter of controlling the cat. Making sure it doesn’t go feral.”

She narrows her eyes. “We’re not talking about a real life cat here, are we?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “No. But I’m tired of hiding this. I want to be able to come to your place and see you without sneaking around like a damn teenager. I want you in my arms and in my bed.”

Skyler pulls her lip between her teeth. I flick it with my thumb. “But if we go public, we need to do it right,” I say softly. “On a small island like Liberty, people talk. And I have Ayda to think about.” That’s my biggest concern. I just need to make sure we do this right.

“Of course you do. We don’t have to do this. We can go back to bedless sex.”

“No we fucking can’t.” My phone vibrates and I know that’s the driver. We still haven’t checked out.

This is what happens when you spend the whole night having sex at my age. Everything the next morning goes to shit. And yet I wouldn’t change a minute of it. Being inside this woman, holding her all night. It was the best damn night of my life.

“Listen,” I tell her. “I just need to talk this through with Dr. Methi, okay?”

“Dr. Methi?” She frowns.

“Ayda’s trauma doctor. Mine, too. I need to discuss the best way to deal with it for Ayda’s sake.”

“Do you think she’ll be upset about us? I don’t want her to be upset. I’d rather just keep things the way they are.”

“I think she’ll be ecstatic,” I murmur. “I just want to manage her expectations. Explain that this is…” I trail off.

“That this is new,” Skyler murmurs. “That we’re friends but we feel a lot for each other. But I’m not her mom or a mom replacement and never will be.”

I blink. “I guess. And I don’t want that to have any detrimental affect on her progress.” Because she still isn’t talking and it’s killing me.

“I think talking to her doctor is a good idea,” Skyler agrees.

My phone buzzes again. “Okay, we need to go.” I’m dropping her off at my lawyer’s on the way to my office. I have one meeting this morning before my driver picks us up to take us to the helipad.

And then we’ll be back on Liberty by tonight. She’ll be back in her place and I’ll be at home with Ayda.

I’m looking forward to seeing my daughter, but I hate the thought of not holding this woman in my arms while I sleep.

“I’ll talk to Dr. Methi soon,” I say, grabbing our luggage. “The quicker we make a plan, the better.”

Her eyes meet mine. There’s a warm amusement in them. She slides her fingers over the tie she’s knotted around her neck.

“Whatever you say, Dracula.”

* * *

SKYLER

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