by Jess Bryant
After spending a long time lying in bed, thinking and hurting and crying some more, Skylar finally pulled herself up and went to take a shower. It wasn’t just her emotions that were a mess. Her entire body ached in the sweetest way. She was sticky and the memory of just how she’d gotten that way sent an all new flood of heat through her body.
She’d let him take her without a condom. More than once. Damn. She’d clearly lost her mind the moment he touched her. She didn’t think clearly when it came to Colt. He’d asked her for something and since she was so sick and tired of all the other barriers he put between them she’d agreed to it. Probably not her best decision but she couldn’t bring herself to regret it.
She’d never had sex without a condom. She’d never trusted anyone else with that kind of intimacy. She supposed if she was going to share it with someone that she’d always known it would be with the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with. And even if she and Colt were nowhere near the point where she could openly admit to something like that, he was that man.
He was one of her best friends. She loved him. And after last night, she was more convinced than ever that he loved her too.
Knowing him as well as she did, she was actually shocked that she hadn’t put it together before now. How had she not seen all the signs? If there was one word to describe Colt Bomar it was protector.
He protected the people he loved. Cash, always. Jemma more recently. And her. She hadn’t known that’s what he was doing but after what he’d said last night it suddenly made sense. He was protecting her… from him. Pushing her away, keeping her at arm’s length, pulling her close and then shutting her out, it was all some sort of twisted attempt to protect her.
If she was any other girl, she supposed that would have made her weak in the knees. The big Bomar boy wanted to protect her from his bad self. He looked at her and saw a damsel in distress that needed him to save her from her own perilous heart.
Well it was just too damn bad for him that she wasn’t a princess in need of rescue.
She’d spent her entire life being coddled and protected. Her parents always hovering over her, waiting for her to fall. Her friends constantly watching her, waiting to see if she faltered. She knew it was because they loved her but enough was enough. She wasn’t about to lose the man of her dreams because he was worried about breaking her heart.
For God’s sake, she’d survived a literal broken heart. Let him do his worst. She could take it.
She knew what she wanted. Colt. And she wasn’t about to settle for anything less than the happily ever after they deserved together.
When she got out of the shower, she checked the time and grinned. She was going to be early to work for once. Her body must have woken her when it sensed Colt had left because there was no other explanation for why she would have been awake so early.
She was not a morning person and on top of that it was a long standing joke among her friends that she thought clocks were mere suggestions and not hard facts. She was almost always running late. But really, after spending her entire childhood on a strict timetable that had included doctor visits and daily medications, nobody could really blame her for being a little lax about her schedule.
Well, let them all take note today. She intended to call each and every one of her friends to point out how early she was up. Getting to wake them up for a change was going to be hella fun actually so she looked around for her phone and then grimaced.
Shit. Another long standing joke was that she would lose her head if it wasn’t attached and as she stood in the living room, searching for her cell phone, she knew that it was true. Stupid phone. She lost it at least once a week. Well, not lost, she liked to call it misplaced because she did always find it. Or if not always, then usually. There had been two or five occasions when it had never turned up and she’d been forced to replace it but today wasn’t going to be one of those days.
She was running ahead of schedule. She had plenty of time to find it. She’d still be early to work… probably.
The phone was in the apartment. She knew that much. She’d been talking to Jemma on it last night before Colt showed up and thoroughly scrambled her brain and her life.
She’d gone through all of her evening rituals with the thing lodged between her shoulder and ear as her best friend gabbed on and on about her magical trip with her fiancé. She loved Jemma. She did. But calling a trip to Kansas to visit her dad at his rig site and let him know she had gotten knocked up and engaged, in that order, were not Skylar’s idea of magical.
Then again, anything involving Cash was magic as far as Jemma was concerned. The man was sweet and kind and doting. He was head over heels in love with his girl and he had no problem admitting it or showing it. So yeah, the impromptu vacation probably had been pretty great because alone on the road and in hotels was still alone which was more privacy than they ever got when they were home.
The reminder of their living arrangements soured Skylar’s mood all over again as she continued her search for the phone. She loved having Jemma as a roommate. There was always someone around to talk to, hang with and complain to. She liked her independence and all but she was really going to miss Jemma when she returned from her trip and finished moving her things next door.
She seriously needed to run that whole roommate swap idea past Cash. It wasn’t a terrible idea, she reassured herself. It was logical really.
Cash and Jemma needed their privacy. They were starting their life together. Their adult, grown-up family life. They were going to get married soon and not long after that baby Bomar would grace the world with his screaming, crying, up all night presence.
Colt didn’t need that in his life. He shouldn’t be a part of that. He needed to move out, even if he and Cash would neither one admit it to themselves. They were both too hard headed to admit that they weren’t in fact conjoined twins and it was time to separate. Jemma was too sweet to tell Colt to take a hike and give them space. That was where she came in.
Two birds, one stone. Colt needed out of that apartment. She wanted a new roommate. More importantly, she wanted him with her and thought if she had him close it would be a lot easier to convince him he wanted her too. It was win-win-win really.
Katy Perry belting about fireworks jolted Skylar up from where she’d been digging in the sofa cushions and she listened intently, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Bedroom. She headed down the hallway and the ringing stopped. It didn’t matter though, because as soon as she’d identified that it was in the bedroom she knew where she was going to find it.
She grinned as she rounded her bed and saw that the phone was sitting on the nightstand as if it had been there all along. It had. It just wasn’t where she’d left it. She might be forgetful but she knew for a fact that she hadn’t brought the phone in here and plugged it in so that it would be fully charged for her to go to work today.
No. She hadn’t done that but she knew who had. Colt. Her heart thumped too hard in her chest and she bit her lip to stifle a smile even though she was alone. It was such a sweet, thoughtful gesture. Completely at odds with the man that claimed he was no good and couldn’t give her what she needed, what she deserved.
Okay, so maybe she went a little weak-kneed when he did sweet things like this but that was different. These were the kinds of things boyfriends were supposed to do. It was the kind of caretaking that normal people did. Not the yo-yo, push-pull, over the top stuff where he was mean to her in order to save her. That was crap. This, this was so sweet she wanted to hug him.
Skylar pulled the phone from the charger and checked her messages. There were two texts from Billie from the night before and she winced as she remembered they’d been discussing getting together before Colt knocked on her door. She would have to text her friend back and apologize for the distraction. Maybe they could get drinks and girl talk tonight since Jemma was still out of town. God knew she could use some female advice about what to do with Colt after th
e events of last night.
While Jemma had maintained her title of best friend throughout the five years she’d been away at college and then living in Texas, Billie ran a close second place. The three of them had forged a friendship back in school that stuck. As different as night and day maybe, but childhood friendships didn’t care about money or neighborhoods or upbringings. They were an unlikely trio but they’d seen each other through hard times.
With Jemma out of town, and so closely related to Colt now, Billie was her obvious go to for advice.
She punched out a quick message to her friend, knowing it was unlikely the bartender was up at this hour, and then switched to her voicemail. One glance at the missed call told her that she should have checked it first. Her assistant, Rachel, only ever called in case of emergency and as she listened to the message she groaned because it was exactly that.
“Sk-Sk-Skylar? It’s Rachel.” The younger girl’s voice came through the line so softly she had to turn the volume on the speaker up and she winced when she heard the nervous stutter, “Um, there’s a pr-pr-problem at the salon. I just got here and… well… the front window is busted. There’s glass everywhere. It looks like so-so-somebody threw a brick through the windows of the entire building. I don’t know what to do. Can you… uh, call me or get down here? P-p-please. Ok, thank you. Bye.”
Skylar rubbed her eyes as she listened to the message a second time. Somebody threw something through her windows? What the hell was that all about? Why would anyone do that? It was probably kids having a little fun, going a little wild, but destruction of property was not cool and she was going to have their asses in a sling when she figured out who it was.
First she had to deal with the mess though and that meant her shop would need to be closed until she could get it fixed. If she phoned her brother she might be able to get him and his friends to board it up for the time being at least. There was no telling from that message if there was more damage inside the shop though and she was already trying to figure up the costs to replace the giant windows that framed the entire storefront when the phone began to ring in her hand again.
The number that pulled up was from the salon this time and she picked up even as she hurriedly grabbed clothes from her closet, “Hey Rach, sorry I missed…”
“Sky, it’s me.”
She stopped short. The shirt in her hand frozen in mid-air. The phone tucked between her shoulder and ear. Everything stopped except for the pounding of her heart when she heard that all too familiar, deep, baritone voice and for a split second she thought she was hallucinating again.
“Skylar?” Colt repeated, “You there?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” She cleared her throat and prayed her voice sounded steadier than she felt, “I was expecting Rachel.”
“I figured.” He cleared his throat too and she wondered if he was as nervous as she was.
This wasn’t supposed to be their first conversation after last night. He’d slept with her and left before sunrise. He’d made love to her and then walked away. They’d had their one night together and now… well now she didn’t know what he expected them to do or say to each other but she had a feeling whatever it was, it wasn’t this.
“Are you at the salon?” She finally asked when he remained quiet.
It was a stupid question. Of course he was at the salon. He’d called her from the salon number.
“Uh, yeah. I showed up for work a little while ago and saw the damage. It looks like somebody threw bricks through my window, got a little zealous and decided to include yours while they were at it. Remy and I are helping to clean up but you should get down here and take a look. I’ll get you the number for my insurance company too so you can give them your information.”
Her mind whirled as he spoke. Insurance information. Their first conversation post life-altering sex was about insurance information? She very nearly laughed at the absurdity of it. If this was the universe’s way of telling her that they were both grown adults that could handle this maturely, then bravo.
“Sky, did you hear me?”
She forced her attention back to the phone and nodded even though he couldn’t see her, “Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’ll cover whatever was damaged.”
She hesitated, “Um… why would you do that?”
“Because they were aiming for me. Trust me. This is my problem. Not yours.”
“Since both of our shops are damaged, I’d say it’s both of us that have the problem.”
“Sky…”
“Don’t do anything until I get there.” She hung up before he could argue any more.
This was not how she’d thought her morning was going to go. Not at all. She hadn’t even been sure she would see Colt today, let alone talk to him. But broken windows be damned, they were not reverting to him trying to protect her from shit that she didn’t need protection from.
She was an adult. She was a grown woman. She could deal with the damage at the shop and she could deal with Colt Bomar. She would deal with him. She just had to get dressed, get down there, and judge his mood so she could figure out her next move.
She should know soon enough if he needed a good hard shove in the right direction or some time and space to work it out for himself. Who knows, she might even have to thank the little punks that busted their windows out. Despite the horrible news that she would have to shut down the salon for the day, she walked out the door with a smile on her face.
Chapter Eleven
Fuck, she’d been crying.
That was his first thought when Skylar walked through the busted front door of her salon. She’d been crying. She’d tried to cover it up and she’d done a good job but he knew her too well not to recognize the signs. Her eyelids were puffy and the blue of her eyes was stark against the slight redness. She’d been crying and he was the cause.
He was a bastard. He knew that. He’d known it all his life. But he’d never felt quite so much like the worthless piece of shit everyone in this town thought he was until right at that moment.
Colt had tried to keep himself busy after that awkward phone call with Skylar and it hadn’t been hard. Her shop, like his, was a mess. The guys that had thrown bricks through the storefronts hadn’t stopped there. His side looked like a disaster area and the only thing keeping him remotely calm was the fact that Skylar’s place was undisturbed minus the windows, which meant they hadn’t intended to include her in their destructive raid.
He’d been attempting to catalog all of the damage in his shop when Remy showed up and said there was a girl standing on the street shivering like a leaf and staring at Split Ends busted front door. From the description alone he’d known that it wasn’t Skylar but he’d still sent his brother back out to deal with the girl in case Skylar was inside. He’d hoped to avoid her but of course, when Remy had come back to tell him that the only person over there was a shy little thing that seemed nervous being alone with him, he’d forced himself to man up and go over to the salon.
He would have had to deal with Skylar eventually. That’s what he’d told himself. Best to rip the Band-Aid off now and see what kind of permanent and lasting damage he had done. If it turned out that he’d inflicted a deep gash in their friendship then he would just have to deal with that and he’d sworn, repeatedly, that if Skylar said she wanted a complete amputation, him out of her life for good, then he would find a way to live with that too.
He thought he had prepared himself. He’d thought he knew what to expect. But when Skylar walked through those doors looking every bit like the same sexy, beautiful woman that he had spent the night holding and then forced himself to leave just before dawn, looking as if she’d cried when she woke up alone, and then smiled at him, his entire world blew apart.
“Hey! You’re still here. Thanks for coming over to help clean up.”
A smile? He blinked as she swept into the room, carefully avoiding as much glass as possible, tossing her purse down on a counter and then
continuing towards him with that dazzling smile firmly in place. She was smiling at him, talking to him, thanking him and he had no idea how he was supposed to respond so he didn’t.
He stared at her and tried to figure out how much trouble he was in. There was no anger in her eyes or her voice. She wasn’t preparing to yell at him from the look of it. She was talking to him, looking at him, not shutting him out or avoiding him like she’d done for the past few weeks when she was mad at him. He would have at least known how to proceed if she’d reacted to him with either of those extremes but this… the smile and the welcome completely threw him for a loop.
And it made something in his chest hurt. Pain ripped through him. His guts twisted and he felt sick to his stomach. Dread and something else, something he thought was disappointment, ricocheted through him.
She was acting as if nothing had happened between them. Like nothing had changed. Like they were still just two good friends that hadn’t spent the past twelve hours wrapped around each other’s naked bodies. Like the single best night of his life had never even happened.
“Colt?” Skylar stopped in front of him, her hands on her hips, her head tilted slightly and he realized she’d said something to him that he had completely missed.
“Uh, sorry, what?”
“I asked what I need to be doing.” She looked around and sighed heavily, “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well, the cops are on their way. Rachel called them before I got here.” He scowled at the idea of dealing with the police, “They said not to clean up until they get here to take some photos I think.”
Skylar glanced around the empty salon, “Speaking of, where is Rachel?”
“Oh, she cut her hand trying to pick up some glass. Remy is bandaging it up for her. They’re in the back looking for disinfect…”
“Rachel’s with Remy?” Skylar’s eyes went wide as she cut him off and grabbed his arm.