Page 108 of One Unexpected Gift

CHAPTER TWENTY

The past few days were so busy Skylar didn’t have time to be nervous or to think about what the future held for her and Nick. She’d spent every waking minute with the girls or with Nick. On her final night in Maine, the four couples, Gabby, and Olivia spent the evening playing card games at Brooke and Drew’s.

There were lots of laughs, some tears, and a million hugs. She and Nick got an early start on Thursday and stayed at a hotel outside Philadelphia. They’d made a few stops along the way to stretch their legs, to feed Gabby, and to grab lunch.

The hotel wasn’t anything fancy. Just a big bed and room to set up Gabby’s playpen. Nick had been overly talkative while he drove–bless him for taking the wheel. Sky wasn’t a fan of driving anymore now that she rarely had any need to. They kept their topics to family, their predictions for Gabby’s college and career choices, and there were lots of sexual innuendos.

They hit traffic in D.C. and arrived at base just before three o’clock on Friday. Later than she wanted, but there was still time left for her to meet Jill at the daycare center.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Nick asked after bringing in the last load to her small house.

“If you want.”

“Of course I want.” He rubbed her shoulders and gave her a slow kiss. “I want to be able to picture where Gabby is during the day. Just like I want to be able to picture where you are every night.”

He slung Sky over his shoulder and carried her to her bedroom. She shrieked then giggled when he plopped her down in the middle of her bed. Nick crawled across her and hovered over her body.

“I’m going to miss you, Skylar.” He didn’t kiss her and kept his blue gaze locked on hers.

She reached up and caressed his cheek. “I’m going to miss you too. And the sex,” she added, keeping the moment light.

“I’m a two-hour flight away. You say the word and I’ll hop on a plane and be your naked sex slave any time you want.”

He’d given her so many opportunities to say the words. To ask him to stay. To tell him she loved him. Instead, she took the easy way out.

“While I’d love to take this body for a ride,” she skimmed her leg down the back of this thigh, “I’m going to have to take a rain check.”

Nick lowered himself so he rested on top of her and sipped on her earlobe. “It’s gonna be raining tonight, darlin’. Pouring, in fact.” He nipped her then shot up and off the bed. Offering his hand, he gave her a little tug to her feet.

“Pouring?” She straightened her shirt.

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Soaking. Wet.”

Gabby cried from the other room. Nick went to get her while Sky fanned herself off. Why couldn’t she come out with it and tell him she loved him? Why did it have to be so hard? Loving him was easy, but she’d never spoken those words to anyone but Brooke, Charlie, and Gina, and even then, she’d struggled to say them at first.

Love wasn’t something she grew up with. Even with how close she and Derek were, they didn’t use that word. Speaking of, she hadn’t heard from him in a few weeks. Taking her cell out of her pocket, she sent him a quick text updating him on her safe arrival.

He’d said he and Karen would stop by on their way home from Florida. That could be in a month, a week, two months. They loved living with no timetable. For now, time was all Sky thought about, and it was not in her favor.

She’d be back at work Monday morning, and Nick would be on a plane heading back to Maine. They hadn’t talked about when they’d see each other again, or really, when he’d see Gabby again. Time wasn’t in her hands as long as she lived, breathed, and worked for the military.

It was too much to think about right now. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then made sure she looked semi-presentable. Virginia was much warmer than Maine, but it wasn’t exactly shorts weather.

Deeming herself good enough in jeans and a sweatshirt for a daycare visit, she padded down the short hall to her living room-dining-kitchen area. Housing wasn’t elaborate, but it wasn’t bad either. Her one-bedroom place was enough for the time being. Last month she’d filed the online request for a two-bedroom house.

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