Page 116 of Luck of the Draw

“I will.” She turned her face to press a kiss between his pectoral muscles. “I promise.”

28

FRENCH QUARTER, NEW ORLEANS

The day before Skye was to accompany Brennan for a visit with his parents, she realized she needed to prepare herself. Based on a few things he’d told her and other things she’d overheard from him talking to Connor and/or Liza about over the past few weeks, it was clear the visit had a real potential to get ugly, and Skye needed to be able to serve as Brennan’s backup if the need arose.

And to do this, she needed Liza’s help.

Reading a book she’d pulled off one of the large, well-stocked shelves in the study, Skye paused and glanced at Brennan where he sat on the opposite end of the couch in the den. He was focused with laser-like intensity on whatever was on the screen of his slim, sleek silver laptop. Ever since she told him everything a couple of days ago, he’d been spending nearly every waking moment with the laptop while he stared at the screen below a furrowed brow, scrolling and clicking and making notes in a black leather-bound notebook. She assumed it was just that he was catching up with work stuff. After all, she’d been occupying the majority of his time for months, and he’d probably gotten behind.

Skye slipped a small scrap of paper between the pages to mark her place and closed the book. “Brennan.”

He immediately looked at her with a sweet expression that warmed her heart and her cheeks. “Yes, honey.”

She nibbled her bottom lip. “Would it be weird or intrusive if I called Liza?”

A small smile slowly pulled across his lips. “It would be neither of those things. She’d be tickled to hear from you, and I would venture to guess she might try to invite you for some kind of lady-bonding activity.”

She mirrored his smile. Liza was so freaking sweet, and he was probably right about that. Lady-bonding activities sounded fun, but Skye was on a mission today. “Would you mind if I borrowed your phone?”

“Not at all.” Brennan picked up the laptop, notebook, and pen and set them on the coffee table. He inched sideways so he could sit all snuggled up next to her and draped his arm around her shoulders, then pulled the phone out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Want me to call and then pass her off to you?”

She nodded. “That would be very polite of you.” Her smile persisted as she looked at him for a second, and then she couldn’t help leaning to press a long kiss to his mouth. “You’re so polite, you know.”

“Well, my mama would skin me alive if I were anything less, so…” He chuckled lightly and then kissed her temple as he pressed his thumb to the screen of his phone and lifted it to his ear. “Hey, L. No, I’m fine. No, she’s fine, too. Everything’s fine. Skye wanted to talk to you.”

The faint sound of Liza saying something in an upbeat tone drifted through the small space that separated them.

“We could maybe do that later if she’s up to it,” he went on. “Here she is.”

He held out the phone to Skye, and she took it. “Thank you.” She paused and then started to push off the couch, but he held her wrist to stop her.

“If it’s a private lady topic, I can go to the other room,” he said quickly. “No need to get up.”

Skye was still smiling. She’d smiled more in the past couple of days than she had in her whole life. This was one-hundred-percent the calm before the storm, and she was relishing every moment of simple happiness and the feeling of safety that came from being with Brennan. Because the end was still approaching, and God only knew what everything was going to be like on the other side.

“I love how you refer to women and women-related stuff asladythis andladythat andladies.” She giggled under her breath, and she hadn’t laughed this much in her life either. “You really are cute.”

“He is cute!” came Liza’s tiny voice over the small speaker along with a mischievous snicker. “You’re so cute, B.!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Brennan chuckled again, handing the phone to Skye and kissing her head as he stood. “Enjoy your lady time, and holler if you need—”

“B., lady time refers to periods, so just keep that in mind,” Liza’s small voice interjected again.

He stilled as his brow pulled low. “Duly noted,” he said, offering a gentlemanly nod. “Holler if you need anything, darlin’.”

“I will.” Skye watched him leave, still smiling, and then placed the phone to her ear. The screen was the same wonderful warm temperature as his whole body, it smelled like him—andLord Jesusdid he smell good—and she couldn’t help basically snuggling the phone against her face. “Hi, Liza.”

“Hey, hon,” she said. “How are you? I’m so glad you’re still there, and I’m so glad you wanted to call me. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. We um…” She swallowed replaying the emotionally exhausting day in her mind. “We sorted everything out, so—”

“Oh, does that mean you’re staying?” Liza chirped with barely restrained excitement. She sucked in a gasp. “Are you guys officially official now?”

Skye suppressed a sad sigh. “No, I…I mean, we talked and…I guess we just…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. There wasn’t time for her to figure out an explanation of why it was all still impossible. “I need your help with something important.”

“Whatever you need. I’m here for you, girly.”

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