Only Her (Haley Cove Book 1)

by Lee Wardlow

  Skylar laced her arms around his neck and kissed him back with every ounce of the fierceness that he was showing her. He was holding her against him so high that her toes were straining to find ground beneath them.

  She broke the kiss. She laid her forehead against his. “I’m going to be sick. Put me down.” Sky was breathless and desperate. He released her and she dashed through the front door. For a moment he hesitated trying to calm himself. Then he went after her.

  His mother stood in the living room watching the hallway where Skylar had just passed through. Then he heard her. She was tossing all the beer she had drank in the toilet.

  “What the hell happened to her?”

  “She was with Brett at the pond,” he told his mom.

  “Oh hell. That isn’t good.”

  “Why do you say that?” Luka asked.

  “Because the only time those two go to the pond is when one of them is upset about something and that is the end result. One of them ends up puking or crying.”

  He snorted. “Well we all know why Skylar is upset. I came home.”

  “Don’t take it personally Luka.”

  He turned towards his mother. “She doesn’t love Tag Richardson,” he declared.

  Luna’s eyes widened at Luka’s impassioned statement. “I never said she did.”

  “Does she?” This time he didn’t sound so arrogant. Not so confident in his words.

  Luna smiled at her son. “I don’t think so Luka but that doesn’t give you an open door.”

  “The hell it doesn’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I came home for her,” he told his mother. “I have a daughter with her and I’m damn well staking my claim on them both Mom.”

  “She’s not a piece of property Luka,” Luna admonished him.

  “She is mine.” With a raised eyebrow at her son’s audacity she started to head to the front door.

  “Are you coming? Skylar will be embarrassed when she comes out. I’d like to give her some dignity. Tomorrow I’m having a discussion with Brett about letting her drink so much then driving home even if it was just across the field.”

  “I’ll stay with them tonight. Just in case she or Ava needs something,” he clarified when he saw the look on his mother’s face.

  Luna shot him a skeptical look. She licked her lips. Then she took a step closer to her son. “Sleep on the sofa not with Skylar.”

  She grabbed her purse hanging off the bannister at the foot of the staircase and walked to the door. He was watching his mother. “I wouldn’t do that Mom. She’s drunk off her ass.”

  “Good. I don’t need any more grandchildren until you are married or one of your brothers is married. This has been hard Luka. I know you’re hurt we didn’t tell you but it was damn hard when Ava wanted nothing more than to know who her father is. Now you both have to think about Ava and what is best for her not yourselves and what you want.”

  “I get it Mom.”

  She put her hand on the screen door to shove it open. She saw the truck smashed into the fountain. Luna just shook her head. “Brett could have at least made sure she got home okay,” Luna told her older son.

  Then she stepped outside onto the porch. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Invite Skylar and Ava over for dinner. If Ramona doesn’t have to work, ask her too.”

  “Does Brett still have a thing for her?”

  His mother chuckled. “Oh he does and if I’m not mistaken no matter how much she pretends to dislike him Ramona has a thing for him too.”

  “Playing matchmaker Mom?”

  She had just stepped down to the first step of the porch. Luna glanced over her shoulder at Luka. “I just want my boys to be happy.”

  “I love you Mom. I know I didn’t show you that I did when I never came home but I felt like I needed to find myself first and it would have been too painful seeing Skylar.”

  She nodded. “Luka, we all make choices in life that are difficult. I know that you’ve spent the last ten years accumulating a fortune fighting in cage matches which makes not one damn bit of sense to me but you did what you set out to do. You have money.

  “You wanted to be different than your Daddy but you need to understand and respect Skylar’s wishes. She was destroyed when you left her. You made promises to that girl then you left her without even a goodbye. She is not going to let you back in so easily. So tread lightly son. Give her time and space.”

  “I’m not patient,” he informed his mother.

  She snorted. “You aren’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know but I am telling you right now that Skylar is still fragile where you are concerned. Don’t go shoving your way into her life and hurt her again.”

  He dropped his head. “I didn’t want to hurt her,” he said softly.

  Luna sighed. “But you did Luka. You have to understand that you did.”

  He nodded. It killed him that he had hurt her so badly. When he saw Ava and she called Skylar, Momma he felt his heart drop into his stomach. He just wanted to see her up close. See how old she was. Who she belonged to but he knew. Walking up those porch steps before he even touched her; Luka knew that Ava was his child. His heart had been pounding in his chest so loud it was the only sound he heard in his ears.

  Then he had cupped her face in his hands. He should have seen the recognition on her face. The light that was showing in her eyes because he was finally home.

  Her eyes so much like his. He had wanted to scoop her up and hold her in his arms but he didn’t. He didn’t hold her until he lifted her off the back of his truck.

  She was tiny for ten. He knew this without knowing much about kids. She was built like Skylar. Compact. Skinny arms and legs. Her long, dark hair with a wave to it. Something that had always driven Skylar crazy. He laid his head against the screen door and watched his mother’s taillights disappear into the dark of night.

  “Daddy, is everything okay?” He turned to find Ava sitting on the top step.

  “Everything is fine baby girl,” he whispered to her.

  “Where’s Momma?”

  She looked so innocent in her light blue pajama shorts and her tee shirt with a big rainbow heart on the front. Her hair messed from sleeping.

  “Momma’s not feeling well. I’m going to stay with you two in case you need anything.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Thanks Daddy.”

  “Want me to come up and tuck you back in?” He asked.

  She was too old to be tucked in. She had all but told him that earlier when he had gone upstairs with her but he had missed all those years when he could have put her to bed so he had gone up anyway and tucked his baby girl into bed. He would do so until she was twenty-five if he wanted to.

  After tucking Ava in Luka sat and talked with her for a while until her eyes began to close. Then he kissed her forehead and turned off her lamp on the bedside table and went downstairs to talk with his mother.

  Listening to stories about Ava for a few hours; looking at the pictures that Skylar had in a photo album then he went outside to be alone. To process everything that he had learned and saw in the pictures.

  She was alone and pregnant; only sixteen. He had left her crushing her heart. He kept wondering what if? What if he had come home for her parents’ funeral? Would she have forgiven him then?

  What if he had just waited for her to turn eighteen? That thought had crossed his mind too before he left. That was only two years but he had felt like he was suffocating. She had known some of his feelings. There wasn’t much Luka didn’t share with Skylar. Had that made the difference in her decision to not tell him about Ava?

  He kept thinking about his brother’s statement this afternoon. In his mind, he could see her arriving at his mother’s house. Looking for him. He was supposed to be at school at four. He had never shown up.

  He could almost see her crumpling to the porch in a heap. Sobbing. Her secret weighing her down. Afraid. What was she going to do? He had left her. He was pissed at himself all over again. He had
left her. He never should have done that.

  He was back now and he was going to break down her walls so she would let him back in. He didn’t care what it took. Luka watched Ava stand and turn she headed back up the few steps that she had come down.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” she told him.

  “Goodnight Ava. I love you baby girl.” And he did love her already. In a few short hours that he had known her his heart was filled with love for this child he and Skylar created.

  She giggled. “I’ve loved you longer Daddy.” Then she disappeared around the corner and he heard the soft click of her bedroom door.

  Luka hadn’t heard anything out of Skylar in a while so he walked down the hall to the bathroom where she had gone. He knocked and she didn’t respond so he shoved open the door.

  Skylar was lying face down on the tile. Her phone in her hand and her jacket thrown over the tub. Her ripped dress hanging open exposing her beautiful ass and her hot pink thong. Luka groaned. “Hey Skylar, you alive?” He nudged her bare foot with his booted toe.

  “No,” she grumbled not moving off the floor. “Just leave me be Luka.”

  “How much did you drink?”

  “Five beers,” she mumbled.

  “Lightweight.” He laughed at her.

  “In less than an hour,” she whined.

  “Well damn, no wonder you are sick.” He stepped over her and flushed the toilet then he started to lift her off the floor. He took her phone out of her hand and saw numerous text messages from Tag on her screen.

  Her boyfriend was pissed. He was going to be even more pissed when he realized that Luka stayed the night here. Luka gave a little chuckle at that thought. He tucked her phone into his pocket, threw her jacket over his shoulder then put his hands under her arms. She was deadweight in his hands. “Let me be Luka. Please. I feel terrible.”

  “You going to puke again?” He asked hesitating.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then I’m taking you to your room. You don’t want Ava to see you like this. Your dress is torn. Your ass is hanging out. Your hair is a mess. You, my girl are one hot mess.”

  She laughed. “Brett calls Ava, Lil mess.”

  He scooped her up into his arms and she laid her head on his chest, snuggling into him. Luka had to remind himself to breathe. She was light as a feather as he carried her down the hall and up the stairs without even getting winded. He had to get her to open her bedroom door since his hands were full of her. She snuggled right back against his chest. “I need to wash my face,” she told him when he sat her on the bed.

  He stepped out of the way as she staggered to the master bath off the bedroom. She didn’t even close the door. Skylar grabbed a cloth from the linen cabinet and washed her face. Then she brushed her teeth and gargled with mouthwash. She started to head into the bedroom when she stopped looking at her backside in the mirror. She was horrified by what she saw.

  “Jesus, you can see my ass.”

  “I’ve seen it before,” Luka informed her.

  She felt too shitty to care. She turned off the bathroom light and staggered back to the bed where he perched. She flopped on the bed face down.

  “I feel like hell,” she moaned.

  “When was the last time you had alcohol?” He asked.

  “Two years ago.”

  He laughed. “So you decided to drink five beers in an hour,” he teased. “Where’s your pajamas I’ll get them for you.”

  “Why are you still here?”

  “I’m staying,” he told her.

  She rolled over onto her back. Hell he could almost see up her dress now. Her leg was bent at the knee pushing that flouncy skirt up to mid-thigh. He leaned over her and pulled the skirt down for his sanity and her modesty. “Why are you staying?”

  “What if Ava gets sick in the night? You are in no condition to drive.”

  “That is unlikely.”

  “What if you get sick again and need someone?”

  She threw her arm over her eyes. “It wouldn’t be you I’d choose to call.”

  “Now that just hurts,” he told her. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you.” He walked across the room and began rooting through dresser drawers looking for pajamas.

  “What are you doing?” She raised her head to see him rooting through her drawers like he owned the place.

  “Looking for pajamas.”

  “Third drawer down, skinny chest in the corner.”

  Luka moved over to the tall, six-drawer skinny chest in the corner and removed her pajamas. Shorts like their daughter wore and a matching tank top; both were light blue. Skylar’s didn’t have a rainbow heart on the chest.

  He walked over to the bed and laid her clothes on the bed beside her. She peeked out from beneath her arm then grabbed the shorts. Skylar was changing before his eyes. She slid her hot pink panties out from under her dress and his eyes widened in surprise.

  Skylar pulled the shorts up beneath her dress. She sat up pulled her hair over her shoulder. “Would you unzip me?” She asked. Her head was practically laying in her lap. She could barely hold it up.

  Luka swallowed hard. “Sure,” he replied unsteadily. He unzipped her dress. She was wearing a hot pink, strapless bra that matched her panties. Skylar stood by the bed and shimmied out of the dress. Luka’s gaze traveled the length of her body. She flopped back on the bed after she put the tank top on.

  “Unhook me,” she said. He was picking up the dress off the floor when she spoke. He hesitated for a second unsure of what she meant. He was looking at her with confusion. “Could you unhook my bra?” Skylar clarified for him.

  She was trying to torture him; he was sure of it now. This was some sort of devious plan on her part to punish him for leaving her. Luka leaned over her with her dress in his hands. He laid it beside her and slid his fingers down the back of her tank top. One-handed he unhooked the bra. He hadn’t lost it. He would have patted himself on the back had his hand not been slowly sliding up the softness of the skin across her spine. He wanted her so damn bad he could taste her.

  He could feel her focus on him. Luka glanced down at Skylar. “What are you doing?” She whispered.

  He jerked his hand back. “What do you want me to do with your dress?”

  “Throw it out. I ripped it to the waist.” She turned on her hands and knees and crawled up the bed. Her curvaceous ass was sticking up in the air; practically in his face. Skylar dropped her head against the pillows and slowly slid to the mattress. She sighed. He groaned.

  He tossed her panties and bra into a basket in the closet. Nothing had changed about her habits. The basket only had a few things in it showing him she still did laundry every few days.

  Then he walked across the room to the bed and scooted the covers out from beneath her. Luka covered her and sat down holding her dress in his hands. He would throw it away when he went downstairs.

  Skylar clutched a pillow in her arms. Her cheek resting against the coolness of the pillowcase. Luka ran a finger across her shoulder. Then he touched the soft, strands of her hair laying near him. Wrapping a silky piece around his finger he remembered how he loved to play with it when they were making love.

  “Luka, I can’t take another broken heart.” He realized then that she was crying softly into the pillow.

  “I won’t break your heart again baby. I promise.”

  She didn’t look at him. She didn’t say anything for the briefest of moments then she whispered. “I know you won’t, because I won’t let you in again Luka.”

  We’ll see about that. “Good night,” he said to her. “I’ll be on the sofa downstairs if you need anything.”

  “I won’t need anything Luka,” she reassured him.

  “Well you’ll know where I am if you do need me.”

  Chapter 5

  In the morning, Skylar rotated to her back and groaned. She felt like a hot poker was stabbing her in the eye. She clutched her head in agony. Her mouth felt like cotton and he
r stomach rolled with the thought of food. She sat up and slid her legs over the edge of the bed.

  Skylar stood on shaky legs and went to the hallway. She could hear voices downstairs. Her daughter and Luka. She was going to have to get used to sharing Ava with him because she didn’t think he was going away.

  Slowly Skylar made her way down the stairs. As she got closer to the first floor she heard them talking so she sat on the bottom step and eavesdropped on what they were saying.

  Ava was telling Luka about her likes and dislikes. She definitely didn’t like Tag. Skylar smiled as she listened to her daughter describe the man. “He’s only nice to me because of Momma.”

  The sad part was that Skylar would have to agree which is why she kept Tag away from her daughter. Since it wasn’t serious, Skylar thought she could have two separate lives. Single mother and single woman but listening to Ava, she realized it didn’t quite work that way.

  Luka offered very little in the way of come back for which Skylar was grateful. He just listened to their daughter talk. She didn’t know what she was doing with Tag other than enjoying the sex and that was suddenly feeling empty to her especially when Ava seemed so affected by her relationship with Tag. She sighed heavily.

  Skylar stood. “I dreamed of you,” Ava was saying to Luka as she started down another step. “I dreamed of you coming home for me. Going to my soccer games like the other kids’ dads did. Going to my school programs.” Skylar sat back on the step.

  She heard the sadness in her daughter’s voice. A sadness she had hidden from her. Finally, she rose from the steps and walked around the landing at the bottom of the stairs then she stood in the doorway listening to Luka. He was holding her in his arms. Ava’s head rested against his chest. He cupped her head and kissed the top.

  “I’m sorry Ava. I would have been here had I known.”

  Skylar heard the sadness in his tone of voice too. She had caused them both pain. She was responsible for keeping them apart. She wiped away a tear rolling down her cheek.