His Dakota Bride (Book 5 - Dakota Hearts) (8 page)

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Wade watched Skylar as she turned away from him. But not before he saw her bottom lip tremble with emotion. Wade wondered what was haunting Skylar the most. Was it the failed marriage, or the fact that it hadn’t been him loving her as she’d confessed she’d wanted?

Before she could leave the room, he asked, “Did you ever love him?”

Wade told him himself plenty of times he wasn’t going to ask Skylar that question. Ever. It wasn’t fair to her and she didn’t have to tell him. But the need to know the truth was so strong, he couldn’t stop himself.

“Sadly, no. That’s the worst of it.” She laughed at the look he gave her. “Don’t look so relieved.”

“I never claimed to be perfect, Skylar. But I can’t help the way I feel.”

“There was so much I wanted to say to you. I would find myself standing in that kitchen wondering about what you’d think about Alex. He’d reach a milestone and I’d ask Kate about you. All that time she never knew. At night I’d sleep on the corner of the bed and cry. I was wearing another man’s ring and yet I was crying for you.

“They say it takes two for a marriage to fall apart but it was my fault. All mine. I didn’t let Jay be a father to Alex, and he always felt it. Something in me was always holding back. I never should have married him.” She said the last part quietly. “You ruined me, too.”

The urge to touch Skylar overwhelmed him beyond what he’d imagined was possible. She was still standing across the room. But Wade could almost smell the scent of the citrus lotion she used to put on right before bed. He wanted to lean into her to see if it was still part of her nightly ritual.

But they’d already been through enough today. The fact that she was even willing to let him stay the night was a war he didn’t think he’d win just days ago.

She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “If you need another blanket, there are more in the linen closet in the bathroom. Fresh towels, too, if you want to take a shower. You used to always take a shower before bed,” she said quietly.

“That’s right.”

“Well, goodnight, Wade.”

“Sleep well.”

He dragged his gaze away from Skylar as she left the room and headed down the hallway, but only because watching her leave would have pushed the longing he felt to have her in his arms deeper into his gut. It was already so strong it threatened to level him. He waited for the sound of her bedroom door to shut before he turned back to look in the direction she’d just walked, wishing he was on the other side of that closed door with her.

He pulled himself up from the sofa that would be his bed for the night, and walked to the bathroom. Once inside, he closed and locked the door, but didn’t feel the lock connect. He played with the button again and pressed on the door to see if the mechanism wasn’t connecting with the metal plate against the doorjamb. When the lock failed again, he abandoned the door. Although he’d love it if Skylar joined him in the shower, the likelihood of her doing so with Alex sleeping just a few feet down the hall was zero.

Pulling the linen closet door open, he found the towels stacked neatly inside. He grabbed a fresh white towel from the top of the pile and closed the linen closet door, tossing the dry towel over the shower curtain rod to keep it dry while he showered. He was inside the shower and just soaping his body under the hot spray when he heard the door creak as it opened. A few seconds later he saw the shower curtain billow from the cool rush of air the came in with the opening of the bathroom door.

“Alex, sweetie, you have to wait,” Skylar whispered. “No, you can’t go in there yet.”

The toilet seat dropped with a thud and Wade immediately got the image of a little boy struggling to do right, but who was too sleepy to be coordinated.

“Alex?” The whisper was a little louder and this time Wade couldn’t help but laugh.

He turned off the water and pulled the towel from the shower curtain rod. He quickly dried what he could and wrapped the towel around his waist. Then he pushed the shower curtain open. Skylar stood in the doorway, flustered by the site of him. Alex barely turned to notice Wade standing there.

“Why don’t I give you a little privacy, Big Guy?” Wade said, walking toward the bathroom door where Skylar was standing. “You may want to grab me another towel so I don’t drip all over your hardwood floors.”

Skylar disappeared for a second into the bathroom. “There you go, sweetie,” she said before he heard the linen closet door open and then close. When she came out of the bathroom, she handed him a dry towel which he immediately put on the floor under his feet.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “The lock on the bathroom door is broken. Alex had a habit of locking himself in there a few years ago and after a few times of jimmying it open, it finally broke. I never got it fixed.”

“That’s okay.”

“It’s a really big deal he’s not wetting the bed anymore like he did after Jay left. We’ve been working on that for a long time.”

She looked down at the towel wrapped around his waist. Her eyes slowly made a trail from the towel, up his broad chest and to his face. The smoldering light he’d seen in her eyes earlier ignited to a full flame.

“My clothes are still in the bathroom,” he said.

“I’m so sorry, Wade. Half the time I think he’s still asleep when he does this.” The flustered look on Skylar’s face was truly adorable and he couldn’t help but smile.

“I did the same thing when I was a kid.”

“I know. Kate told me. She said you didn’t grow out of it until you were in junior high school. The sleep walking part.”

His cheeks flamed. “How much did she tell you about me?”

“A lot. Probably every embarrassing thing imaginable. You know your mother. Let me get him back to bed before he really wakes up. He’ll be up all night if he does.”

Still wrapped in the towel, Wade watched Skylar take Alex by the hand and lead him to the bedroom. He took those few moments to return to the bathroom, finished drying off, and getting dressed.

The shirt he’d worn on the camping trip was covered with blood stains. Logan had been the one to pack up all their gear while he’d been at the clinic with Skylar getting Alex’s head stitched. He decided not to wear the shirt to bed and walked into the living room wearing just his jeans. He was surprised to find Skylar waiting for him.

“You might be more comfortable sleeping in these,” she said. In her hands, she held a pair of gray sweatpants.

He stared at the clothes and tried to relax his tightened jaw. “I’m fine.”

Skylar cocked her head to one side. “These are yours.”

“Mine?”

“Well, the sweatpants are anyway. When I left Samoa, I took one of your T-shirts and a pair of your sweatpants so I could sleep with them. For the longest time they had your scent. It was comforting. Especially after we got word of the tsunami. Don’t worry, I’ve washed them a few times since I stole them from you.”

He shook his head as he took the sweats in his hand and unfolded them to see. “I thought…”

“You thought they were Jay’s. Shame on you. Do you really think I would do something like that to you?”

He shrugged. “It’s been a long time.”

“The T-shirt is long gone. I wore it out until it was pulling apart everywhere and I eventually threw it away. I got this shirt from a fundraiser Regis did for the Wounded Veterans Center your cousin Ian is working on with Ethan. It should fit you.”

“This will be fine.”

She walked to the hallway leading to the bedrooms and then turned back.

“Just for the record, I didn’t keep any of Jay’s clothes.” She looked directly at him when she spoke. They were simple words, but they filled an empty spot that had been aching inside Wade since he’d arrived back in Rudolph.

He’d seen that look on her face before. Five years ago it had been an invitation. She wasn’t wearing a bra under the over-sized T-shirt she wore now. She’d managed to put on a pair of fleece shorts that were barely visible beneath the hem of her shirt.

Everything in him was alive, on fire and wanting nothing but to be gloriously naked with Skylar. But he didn’t want to misstep or misread the signs after how far he’d come.

Then she lifted her hand to him and his heart slammed against his chest.

“There was a time I didn’t have to do this,” she said with a coy grin.

“If that time is now, just say the word. You’ll never have to do it again.”

The smile that played on her lips faltered. “He usually sleeps through the night after getting up like this. But we should still…be quiet.”

She turned and walked to the bedroom slowly. Wade followed her as if he were in a dream. If he was, he never wanted to wake up from it.

Shutting the door behind him, he turned just in time to watch Skylar slip out of her T-shirt. She looked around the room. At the bed. At him. And then she covered her bare breasts by crossing an arm over her chest.

He walked over to her slowly, looking into her eyes and then slowly letting his gaze make a trail down her body as he ran his fingers gently down her arm. He pulled her arm away from her chest and basked in the beauty before him.

“They changed when I was pregnant. And then I nursed for a while.” She drew in a heavy sigh and looked up at him.

“They’ve always been beautiful. You are so beautiful.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. But then as she looked at the bed, she bit her bottom lip.

“There are no ghosts in here with us, Sky.” He tipped her chin up with his fingers until she looked at him. “But if it makes you feel better, we can keep the lights on and make love on a blanket on the floor.”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind looking at you.”

Slowly he lowered his head until his mouth connected with hers. Wade thought that nothing could ever be better than the kiss they’d shared on the porch the other night. But he was wrong. With Skylar in his arms, feeling her moist mouth pressed against his, he was about to self-combust.

As he ran his hand slowly across her bare back, Wade felt Skylar’s sharp intake of breath against his mouth. Her skin was warm and smooth, the way he remembered it to be.

He made a trail of kisses from her face, down her neck and then to her chest. His hand grazed her breast and he felt her nipple harden beneath his touch. His mouth came down over her other nipple and he gently sucked it, teasing it with his tongue and reveling in the taste of her until he heard her soft moan.

Her body stiffened and he stopped abruptly to see what had caused her reaction.

* * *

Skylar had forgotten the kind of passion Wade McKinnon could bring out in her. It wasn’t until she was hearing her own moan of pleasure that she realized if she could hear it, so could Alex.

“I need to be quiet,” she whispered, chuckling softly. “Let’s get the comforter on the floor.”

They made a soft spot on the floor out of the blankets and pillows from the bed. After ridding themselves of their clothes, they quickly crawled on top of the blankets. Skylar loved the feel of Wade’s hard body pressing against the softness of her skin. It had been too long.

She wanted to feel every touch, every kiss and know that it was really Wade loving her. Her hands roamed his body as if they had a mind of their own. Each touch, each taste ignited a flame so strong she wanted to scream. She kept herself mindful that they weren’t alone in the house.

And when Wade finally entered her and she felt the completeness of a long journey that had been off course for far too long, she cried. This was the way it should always have been. Just her and Wade. No ghosts or pretense or lies.

His hands cupped her bottom and pulled her closer to him, making him go deeper with every thrust of his hips. She felt the building of tension inside her, rising higher to a point she could no longer control until her orgasm ripped through her in waves of ecstasy.

Wade stifled her cries with a kiss so passionate she barely felt herself floating back to reality. And then his body became stiff and his thrusts became more pronounced. He closed his eyes as his orgasm took hold. She watched the joy play on his face and couldn’t help but reach up and touch his face. When he opened his eyes, she saw they were filled with tears. And her heart burst with love for the first time in years.

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“You can’t stay in here,” she whispered against his cheek. She wanted Wade to stay. She didn’t want to let go of him. Ever. But tonight wasn’t like those long nights of lovemaking they’d shared in Samoa.

His eyes were closed as he lay half next to her, half on top of her. “Are you already sick of me?”

“Alex can’t find you here.”

“I’ll stay on the floor. You can get into the bed in the morning.”

“No. He always comes into my room in the morning and crawls into my bed if he gets up before me. He’ll see you. What am I supposed to say if he sees a naked man next to me in bed?”

“But we’re not in bed.”

“Wade, I’m serious.”

“So let him come in here. My brothers used to pig pile onto my parents bed when we were his age.”

She sighed softly. “Wade, he won’t understand. It’s too soon.”

Wade opened one eye and looked down at her. “You really want me to leave?”

“I’m not talking want here. There’s a big difference.”

He groaned his displeasure, but then gave her a half grin that told her he understood.

“Our first night together and I’m already in the dog house?”

“I don’t have a dog.”

“Would you like one?”

She chuckled. “Don’t ever mention the word dog to Alex or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“A boy needs a dog.”

“Forget it. I’m busy enough as it is. Help me get these blankets back on the bed.”

Together they quickly made the bed. Skylar pulled on her T-shirt and shorts and watched as Wade pulled on the sweatpants she’d stolen from him over five years ago before she’d headed to the airport to come back to the United States.