Page 3 of Handling Skylar
My body came alive when I settled in the chair, and the delicious scent of him hit me with the strength of a moving brick wall. Everything in me melted, the heat of his arm and thigh so close. The woman, the one River Pearl had whispered to, came over and struck up a conversation with Anna Kate. After a few moments, Anna Kate reluctantly rose and followed the woman, and I turned to look at River. She gave me a wink and nudged me with her shoulder, then turned to Braxton and started talking to him.
My whole body was jangling and it was as if my core exploded with energy and light whenever I was near him. I couldn’t explain it. He made me illuminate. Before I could say anything, he leaned over and said, “You come to this shindig every year. You know, even with you being a transplanted Suttontowner, I think that makes you official. You’ve passed the test of time.”
That low, cultured drawl wrapped around me like silk. I could have curled up beside him and listened to him talk for a hundred years. “Your family is on the leading edge of Suttontowne politics and gossip. But I come for the profound things you have to say.”
I got my wish, and it was a curse. A smile spread across his face and his enticing blue eyes sparkled. The caramel stubble on his face was most likely a small rebellion on his part, just that hint of bad boy that made my heart beat a little faster. He chuckled and the sound rifled through me like Jake had just rummaged through my unmentionable drawer. His laughter was just as rich and compelling as his voice. “Profound? You always seem to surprise me, Skylar.”
“Do I?”
He nudged my shoulder. “Yeah. I like that.”
What was a girl to do when confronted with all that Jake had to offer? His looks aside, he was intelligent, obviously, he’d graduated from Harvard. He was resourceful if the rumors were true that he was stirring up things in their local pecan groves, the staple of their business. Couldn’t be easy to come into a well-established business and make changes, even and especially if it was a family business. Jake’s father struck me as the kind of man who didn’t manage change easily. But Jake was a full-grown man now, not the silent, waters-run-deep kid he’d been. The anger in him seemed to define him like a dark outline that made me want to fill in all the color of him, the frustration and the way he was searching for answers only added more layers. I could understand all of that.
The deep waters were still there. It was always the quiet ones that seemed to make the biggest revelations and the most penetrating marks. It was also something about him that made me want to peel away all those layers to the core of the man that intrigued me beyond belief.
“It’s a shame you don’t have a nicer place to deliver the speech. I love that it’s outside, but with the statue gone, it seems to me a bit…empty. You know what would be quaint and pretty?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
She laughed, and I was mesmerized. “You are astute. “A gazebo would be perfect and a park with benches—call it Outlaw Park and do a nice plaque for Duel Outlaw.”
“You have a fresh and satisfying way of looking at things,” he murmured. The timbre of his voice was soft and intimate. I wanted to just take his arm, run away with him to someplace comfortable and cozy, delve into him. I also wanted to give him comfort, an inexplicable message channeled from him telling me he needed that. Needed a safe haven. I also knew all about that as well.
The aroma of Samantha Wharton’s pies drifted on the warm breeze, and it was only about fifteen minutes before Chase was going to speak. “Want to get a piece of pie?” I asked.
“Pie?” he said with another smile just as compelling. “They’re about to start, and my daddy will skin me if I’m not front and center.” His eyes went a little dark and brooding again. “I don’t relish being the center of attention today of all days.”
“It’ll only take a minute.” He flashed a look toward his parents and Chase. “C’mon. It’s just pie. Pie makes everything better.”
He rose and indicated that I should go in front of him. “Pie then. It’ll wash away the bitter, huh?”
“Completely,” I said, moving past the chairs. River gave me an approving look as I passed, then exchanged a look with Verity and Aubree. The power of three indeed.
We walked across the lawn toward her stand just a few yards away from the gathering. Samantha wasn’t there, she was supporting her fiancé, Chase Sutton, but her assistant Beth was and she gave us a sunny smile. “Good afternoon, pie?” she asked. At our nods, she grabbed two plates. “We have blueberry, rhubarb, apple, of course and pecan.”
“Pecan,” we said at the same time.
He smiled and said, “Ladies first.”
She cut two pieces and set them on the plates she’d prepared and gave us each the pie and forks. Jake went for his wallet, but I stayed his hand. “This is on me. I invited you.”
He hesitated then nodded, acquiescing as I pulled out my money from the back pocket of my denim shorts and paid Beth.
We dug into the pie and I closed my eyes, a humming sound of appreciation all I was capable of as the crust and filling melted on my tongue.
When I opened my eyes, Jake was staring at me like I was the entertainment, his intoxicating eyes giving me more ideas than I had a right to have for a man who wasn’t free. I could hear a little voice that sounded distinctly like River Pearl say:All is fair in love and war.
“Good,” I said and that seemed to snap him back to reality.
“I find myself always laughing around you.”
I took another bite and grinned. “That’s a good thing, right?”
He glanced over his shoulder, the burden of responsibility weighing him down and that brooding quality back in his eyes. “Skylar…”
“My friends call me Sky.”
He toyed with his pie and then took a bite, his reaction the same as mine.
