Page 12 of One Unexpected Gift

“I’ve heard you do the same in Vermont and Aspen. You look for the most dangerous and reckless slopes to ski.”

She was right. He does. Or did. Nick was still coming to terms with the fact that he couldn’t, or rather shouldn’t, do all the things that gave him a thrill. He wasn’t a serious guy. He didn’t get angry or sentimental. Life was fun. Life was meant to be lived. And being given a near death sentence crushing all he believed in, made it pretty damn difficult to keep up his happy go-lucky facade, as his mother called it.

“There’s more to me than that.” He spoke the words his mother and father had said to him for years, even though he didn’t believe them.

“Is there?” Skylar asking the same question he’d been asking himself was like a punch to the gut. Third one in ten minutes.

No. There really wasn’t.

***

Skylar sensed the sudden shift in Nick’s body. Tense and serious before he turned his charming grin on her.

“You’ve seen it. You tell me.”

He’d flirted with her the other night, and a little during their conversation, but this was different. Forced. Almost dirty and not in a way that made her weak in the knees. It was like he was trying to be crude, but he wasn’t a crude guy.

Part of her wanted to keep prying, to ask how a man with what sounded to be a loving and close family could cheapen himself in that matter. But if she asked, he’d interpret it as her caring, and she couldn’t afford to care.

As he clearly stated, he wasn’t boyfriend, husband, or father material. Better to keep him at a distance than to get too close and risk liking him. Or rather, liking him too much since she already liked him... a little.

Fine. A lot. She liked him a lot even though she tried hard not to.

“If you’re telling me the only thing you’ve got going for you is your reckless behavior and what’s hanging between your legs, well, then I feel sorry for you.”

It sounded so much worse coming out of her mouth than how it sounded in her head. She started to apologize but Nick cut her off with a loud laugh.

“Damn, I really wish you were sticking around Angel Springs. You’re a breath of fresh air, Skylar Hayes.”

“Not the response I was expecting after insulting your manhood.”

“You have no idea.” The myriad of blues in his eyes twinkled—literally sparkled—at her.

Little shivers of lust ran through her body, and Charlie’s words came haunting back to her. No. I don’t need to hook up with a man to be happy. Ten months ago, sure. In fact, she loved dating men. She was a sexual woman and enjoyed sex probably more than the normal woman but having a baby and raising her alone changed her perspective on, well, everything.

Now she wasn’t only second guessing her choices, she was reevaluating her choices with Gabriella in mind.

For the past two hours, cleaning the grounds with Nick, she hadn’t thought about her daughter once. What did that say about her? She was horny? How could she not be, working so closely to Nick?

She absently put her hand to her chest and pressed on her engorged breasts. Her milk was coming in, preparing for Gabby’s mid-morning snack. Olivia had been more than happy to get out of the grounds cleanup to watch Gabby. It would only take a few minutes to walk through the trail to Brooke and Drew’s house where she’d have privacy to nurse.

“I, um, I have to go.” She dropped her rake and speed walked through the woods hoping she got to her daughter before she leaked through her bra. It wouldn’t be the first time, but it was the first time she’d thought about something other than her daughter for so long.

Nick Pierce was a distraction. A distraction Skylar wasn’t sure she could afford.

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