Page 2 of Handling Skylar
Her nose wrinkled as if she was worried my cowgirl bohemian would rub off on her. “Bless your heart,” she said with a fake smile. Almost everyone knows Southern women repeat this phrase all the time. It doesn’t mean she’s wishing me well. In reality, the phrase has little to do with religion and more to do with a passive-aggressive way to call me an idiot. It’s supposed to sting more than any insult.
With an indignant sniff, her expression now fierce, she added, “Don’t tell me you don’t fantasize about him. Who wouldn’t?”
I was not going there. Uh-uh. No freaking way. I turned to walk away. I wasn’t going to verbally spar with Anna Kate. She had Jake and I…well, I wasn’t going to set my sights that high. But she was right. He was beautiful.Forceful and dirty—crimeny times two.
Anna Kate caught my arm. “He’s mine.”
I jerked my arm free. “Is he really? Do you feel the need to make that clear to me because you feel insecure?” I faced her gaze straight on. “I think unequivocally that you’re wrong.” I looked over at Jake. “He’s his own man. I suspect he’ll prove that in the not too distant future.” I felt it like a pressure in my chest. He might have lost his way or never really had a chance to make his own desires known, a frustration in him that was building. Yeah, the next healthy dose of drama would come from the Suttons…thisSutton.
Her mouth tightened and she made a very un-Belle-like growl under her breath, her fists clenched. Then she flounced away and snuggled up to Jake, giving me a venomous look.
I had to wonder. Would I dislike Anna Kate as much as I did if she didn’t have Jake? Hands on my hips, I tamped down my temper, sighing slowly to release some of the steam, feeling drained from sparring with that Southern shrew.
“What was that all about?” River Pearl asked coming up alongside me, Verity next to her. River tipped her sunglasses down and arched a brow.
“Nothing,” I said, not about to blurt out to Jake’s sister that I had the hots for him. River was a fireball and would stand up for me in an instant.
“You sure about that? I thought I saw steam coming out of your ears, her ears, too, and I don’t think she grabbed you in a friendly manner.” I said nothing, and River sighed. Oh stuff was about to get real. River’s sighing was normally a prelude to something insightful. “She’s just nervous around you.”
“Why in tarnation would she be worried about me?”
“Because Jake has a thing for you. Amajorthing.”
My whole body suffused with heat, and I almost broke my neck when my head whipped in her direction. “What?”
“Oh, puh-lease,” River said. “He thinks he wants respectability and that Anna Kate can give it to him, to us, our family. But he’s so dead wrong, and I hope he learns that lesson soon. He doesn’t need her family name or her high society snootiness. He can change everything with just being who he is. Who he really is. I was lucky and married an Outlaw, but I am positive that I don’t want that woman for a sister-in-law. She’d make him completely miserable, and he doesn’t love her. I don’t want to see my brother make the biggest mistake of his life.” She cast me a knowing look. “He’s always staring at you when he thinks no one is looking. There is no denying my brother likes what he sees. So spill. You have the hots for him, too. That’s what got into little miss “Bless Her Heart.”
I laughed at the bland inflection in River’s tone and the way she pegged Anna Kate. “Is there ever a kept secret in this small town?”
Verity said solemnly as she bracketed my other side, “Oh, sugar, haven’t you lived here long enough to get that? The answer is a big no. Even the deepest and darkest ones are known by someone.” She met River’s eyes, and they shared a silent moment. “So what is your secret, Skylar Bransom?”
“Yes, our dear and wonderful friend,” Aubree said as she materialized out of the crowd and faced me, smiling at her two friends. “What are you hiding behind those sultry eyes and that devil may care attitude?”
“I’ve heard about being double-teamed, but this is crazy,” I groused. But deep inside, I was thrilled to have this sisterly affinity with the Outlaw women. I’d known them for so long and our friendship had only grown. It was River Pearl who had helped to build my business and I was so thankful for her connections and respect in this town. Even after her tumultuous time wooing her Brax, the town would forgive this dynamic and outspoken woman just about anything short of murder…maybe even that, if it was a certain blond harpy.
“Don’t you know there is astonishing power in threes and we’re all a little bit crazy,” Aubree said in a hushed tone of conspiracy, wicked mischief flashing in her blue eyes. “This is the South, darlin’.”
I was convinced the Outlaw brothers’ influence had rubbed onto their wives. Those boys always had something going on and it was never, ever good. I smiled. “Okay, I have a secret. Nothing gets past you ladies.”
“Nothing gets past River Pearl,” Verity said in a reverent tone, hip checking me into the blond juggernaut, who, even after three babies, looked fresh, slender and beautiful.
River hip checked me back as people started to take their seats for the speech. “All right,” I breathed. “I have a thing for Jake. Are y’all happy?”
“Ah, she’s trying to butter me up with the y’all.” She gave me an indulgent look, wrinkling her nose. “Cute.” She took my arm and drew me toward the chairs, and when I tried to backpedal, she just clamped on harder. She wasn’t as easy to shake as Anna Kate. She whispered in my ear. “Admitting you have a crush is the first step to making that crush a reality. Believe me. I know.” She looked across the lawn as the Outlaws walked down the street, three shaggy, dark-haired, identical men that made you have to take an uneven breath because they were so gorgeous. They walked with purpose, one calm and unpredictable, his eyes only for Aubree, one wisecracking and reckless, his eyes only for Verity, and one cocky and charming, with eyes only for River—all of them heartbreakers. “I’m married to mine.”
I laughed softly and realized she was pulling me right toward Jake. She paused for a moment and whispered something into the ear of a woman in her early forties, who gave River a smiling laugh and nodded.
Then, I was completely distracted. It was as if the world slowed on its axis, as if time hushed out a soft breath and slowed down. My body softened and all resistance drained out of me like liquid quicksilver. Our eyes met and heat shimmered through me in a wave of power, pushing me toward wildness. I wanted to see the same kind of hunger in him that I felt every time I saw him, every time I thought of him. I wanted to see the same raw longing burning in his eyes.
I was caught in the beam of his intense, dark gaze, held captive by it, mesmerized, his eyes locked on me as I moved across the lawn. The experience was seductive, breathlessly intimate. Wholly unsettling. It wouldn’t be smart to get involved with Jake Sutton. Possibly it was mostly physical. Right. I’d had a great connection with Seth, but that hadn’t lasted. Maybe romantic love didn’t actually exist or I was immune to it.
Without giving anything away, he managed to broadcast loud and clear in an elemental, rough, sexy, almost frightening way there was something deep at his core he thought I would understand. My whole being leapt in response to his wordless, primal message, sending shivers over my skin.
“Miss Skylar,” he drawled in greeting. “Fine day to you.” His voice was low, rich and smooth. Slow and comforting, it had the power to lull, woo and reassure all at once.
“Why don’t you sit with us?” River asked as she shooed Jake over to a seat, displacing Anna Kate, who shot daggers at me sharp enough to draw blood. I wasn’t sure this was the best course of action as I wasn’t a home wrecker, but something pinched tight in me when River said that Jake would be miserable. I thought he had enough of that in his life and I wanted more for him, so much more.
Did she? I didn’t think so and there was something inherently wrong in that. Something…lacking on her part.
