Sweet Temptation

by Angel Steel

  Chapter 36

  Skylar stayed in her room for six days. After what transpired on Christmas day between her and Nate, she couldn’t bring herself to do a thing. She slept, ate, and showered; that was it. She never left her room, for anything. As she woke up, she saw Alex sitting in a chair at the corner.

  “Hello, sleepy head.” He smiled.

  Skylar rolled onto her back and placed her hand over her belly. She had a small bump; it was obvious when she laid down, but when she stood, it just looked like she had a pudgy belly. Alex stood and moved to her side. “It’s time to get out of this room, baby. We have plans tonight.”

  Skylar knew she had to; she couldn’t keep doing this to herself. She had someone else to think about now. “What are the plans?” she asked.

  He smiled down at her. “Well, Craig and I have been invited to a New Year’s Eve party tonight at a friend’s place. I have four extra tickets, so you’re one and Jack, Dom and Chantal are the other three.”

  “Sounds like fun. What time?” she asked as she sat up.

  “It starts at 7:00 p.m., so plenty of time to get ready. Dom and Jack will be here around six to start drinking.”

  “Okay, do you know what time Chantal will get here?”

  “She said she would meet us there,” Alex answered her.

  “Well, I suppose I better get up and have some breakfast, and decide what to wear.”

  Shaking his head, Alex stood and walked to her closet. Reaching in, he pulled out a dress bag and a box. Sitting down beside her again, he handed them to her as she looked at him.

  “This is from Craig and I. It was for Christmas, but we didn’t have a chance to give it to you.”

  Unzipping the bag, she pulled out the dress, and gasped. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a black satin, long, halter top dress, with a large V at the front for great cleavage. Turning it around, it was backless ending just above her ass. Laying it on the bed, she opened the box, finding five-inch black stilettos, with a zip on the side and diamonds on them. She threw her arms around his neck, “They’re both gorgeous, Alex.”

  She started to tear up, she couldn’t believe the friends she had; especially Craig and Alex. “I know. I picked the dress, and knew it would look sexy as hell on you.”

  “Well it won’t in several months. I’ll be as big as a house, Alex.”

  “Skylar, you’re only four months pregnant. Of course you’re going to get big, you’re carrying a baby. But I’ll let you in on a secret,” he said.

  “What?”

  “All pregnant women are sexy, in their own way.”

  “Well, this will definitely show the bump I have.”

  “Like I said earlier, you’ll look sexy, babe. Stop stressing about it. You’ll knock their socks off tonight.”

  She pushed him away, laughing. “Okay, okay. I think that’s all the compliments I can take right now.”

  “Also just letting you know, Jack is your date tonight,” he said, as he walked to the door.

  “Alex,” she groaned.

  “I’m not setting you up. It’s just a date. He knows what’s going on. And he’s fine with that. Dom wanted to be your date, but I told him Chantal was coming, too.”

  “It’s just for fun,” she told him.

  “I know, nothing else. I wouldn’t push you.”

  “I know you wouldn’t, that’s why I love you both.”

  “We love you, too,” he yelled back, as he walked out of the door.

  Chapter 37

  Craig and Alex left to go to the liquor store, leaving Skylar to get ready. They told her that Dom and Jack would be there in twenty minutes. Once her hair was done, she pulled on the stockings, and a thong. She had to admit, she scrubbed up pretty well.

  When her makeup was done, she moved into her room and pulled on her dress. She couldn’t wear a bra with it being backless, so she went without. After making sure her hair sat the way she wanted, she started to look for the bag she wanted to take with her. Once she had found it, she slipped on her shoes and opened her door. She could hear voices out in the kitchen, knowing it was Dom and Jack; she smiled. As she walked down the hallway, she heard them talking. Although she couldn’t hear what they were saying, it didn’t sound good; it actually sounded like someone was angry.

  As she walked around the corner, she ran straight into a hard chest. She braced herself so she wouldn’t fall over.

  “Hey.”

  Looking up, she said, “Hey, Jack.”

  “I didn’t know you were here.”

  She laughed. “Where else would I be? This is my house, Jack.”

  “I know, I just thought you went with the boys.”

  Moving to go around him, he grabbed her arm to stop her. Spinning around, she frowned. “What?” She could still hear voices in the kitchen and it was getting louder. “If Alex and Craig aren’t back, who else is here?” Skylar asked.

  “Dom,” he said.

  “Someone else is in there, too. Who’s he talking to?”

  He shook his head. “No one.”

  Skylar pushed past him, “I’m not deaf, Jack.” She pushed his hand away from her again, but he stood in her way.

  “Skylar, you don’t need to go in there,” he replied.

  Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at him. “Jack, I really don’t want to hurt you.”

  Huffing out a breath, he raised his hands in defeat. “Fine, but I warned you.” Jack moved and followed her into the kitchen.

  “Hey Dom. When are we leaving for this party?” she asked as she rounded the corner, and then froze in place. She felt all the blood drain from her face. Dom spun around, surprised. Nate was standing there talking to him, at her kitchen door. “Nate,” she whispered. She swayed and Jack wrapped his arm around her to steady her, pulling her closer to his chest. Nate stared at where his arm was, but he didn’t move it.

  Dom walked up to her with a soft smile. “Hey Skylar, you look really hot.”

  Skylar didn’t look at him; she couldn’t take her eyes off Nate. Dom moved to her side. “What’s he doing here, Dom?” she asked him.

  “I sent him a message, telling him to come over and grab his stuff. I thought you went with the boys.”

  Skylar moved to grab what she had placed on the couch for him and walked back into the kitchen towards Nate, Dom reached for her arm. “I’m fine.” She stopped in front of him and handed the gym bag over.

  Nate looked down at the bag, and with a confused look on his face he asked, “What’s that?”

  “They’re your presents that I didn’t get to give you,” she whispered. She turned to walk away, but he reached out and touched her hand. She pulled away from him.

  “You could have given them to someone else.”

  “No, I couldn’t. I picked them for you.”

  She heard Dom and Jack walk out of the room, leaving her there. “Skylar, can we talk?” He reached in and pulled out one of the presents.

  “Why, Nate? You said what you wanted last week.”

  “How did you expect me to react to the news, Skylar?” he asked, wiping his hand over his face. He looked over at her again, the sight of her in that dress was mouth-watering; if he didn’t close his mouth, he would have drooled all over his shirt. The V at the front showed a lot more skin and cleavage than he liked. Her hair was down and curled around her face, falling down her back. He couldn’t make out the shoes she was wearing since the dress was long and touching the floor.

  “I thought you would have been excited to hear you were going to be a father, but I guess I was wrong,” she said, turning around to walk away.

  Jesus, the dress had no bloody back to it. Her whole back was bare to him, right down to her ass. How the hell was anyone supposed to concentrate around her looking like that? He wanted to touch her, but thought twice about it. Shaking his head, he tried to hear exactly what she said, but couldn’t. The only word he heard was father. Following her, he asked her, “Why did you think I would have been happy abou
t the news?”

  Spinning around, she faced him and whispered, “Because it takes two to make a baby, Nate.”

  She walked into her bathroom, grabbing her lipstick and a small brush and walked out. Nate was standing in the doorway, blocking her way out. Grabbing her purse off her nightstand, she pulled out some cash, and placed it in her bag. She walked up to him and looked into his eyes. “If I find anything else of yours, I’ll get Dom to drop it off to you.” She tried to walk around him to leave, but he moved in front of her again. “Nate, you need to move so I can wait out there for the boys to arrive.”

  Shaking his head, he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. Skylar placed her hands on his chest, and tried to push him away. As he ran his nose from her neck to her ear, he whispered, “You are so fucking sexy in this dress.” He pushed his pelvis into her stomach, so she could feel how hard she made him. Skylar gasped as he stroked his fingers up and down her bare back, giving her goose bumps.

  Skylar pushed at his chest again, but he didn’t budge. Nate walked her backwards, towards her bed. But before she hit the bed, she pulled away from him. “Nate, you need to leave.”

  “How can I when you look like that?” She was getting angry at him for not listening to her.

  “You can try all you want, nothing is going to happen between us,” she growled.

  Laughing, he blocked the exit with his body. “I could persuade you.”

  “Not this time you won’t, or any other time. You don’t want me or this baby, Nate.”.

  “I want you Skylar, just not the baby. I’m not ready.”

  Skylar pushed at him, hard. She was getting really frustrated with him. “Get away from me, Nate,” she shouted at him.

  “Why won’t you just get rid of it, so we can be together?”

  “You want me to get rid of the baby, so we can be together? What the hell is wrong with you, Nate? I’m not doing it or that, so if you can’t accept this baby, I don’t want to be with you.”

  She pushed past him and made her way down the hall, but was pulled up short and pushed up against the wall. “Let go of me,” she snarled. She struggled under his strength, but he didn’t move.

  “How can you tell me to get rid of your baby, Nate?” she whispered.

  “I’m not ready to have a family, Sky. I can’t have any part of it.”

  Skylar paled. “Please let me go.”

  Skylar started to kick, punching him as hard as she could, for him to let her go. “Dom,” she screamed. Nate wrapped his hand over her mouth.

  “Let go of her,” Dom growled. Jack ripped him off her and pushed him away. Skylar ran into Dom’s arms, crying. He passed her to Jack, and faced Nate, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m talking to her.”

  “Well, it bloody didn’t look like that to me.”

  Jack turned and walked away with her. Nate tried to follow, but Dom stopped him. “Haven’t you done enough damage to her?”

  “I haven’t done anything to her,” Nate hissed.

  Dom pushed Nate towards the back door away from Skylar’s direction. Skylar grabbed the bag she gave him earlier and threw it at him. “Take that with you; I don’t want anything of yours here to remember you by,” she sobbed.

  Nate ripped the bag off the ground and slammed the door on the way out. Dom turned and walked back to where Jack and Skylar were. Sitting beside her, he asked her, “Are you all right?”

  She wiped her face. “Yeah. I can’t deal with him anymore,” she whispered.

  “Alex sent me a text before, saying they’ll be five minutes, and to meet them out front.”

  She nodded. “I’ll just grab my bag, then we can wait outside for them,” she said, walking away to grab it. She never thought that she could have children. She had tried with Lucas, but once everything happened, she took every precaution she could to prevent it. And now that she was having a baby, it wasn’t going to have its father around at all. Locking up, she walked down the stairs to meet Dom and Jack out front and wait for their ride to the party.

  * * *

  The party was in full swing when they arrived. There were at least a hundred people, she guessed. Following Craig and Alex, they walked up to a couple. “Hey, Jeff. Great party,” Craig said.

  They shook his hand. “Thanks for coming; it’s going to be a blast.”

  Craig wrapped his arm around her shoulder, “Jeff, Chris, this is my best girl, Skylar.”

  Jeff reached for her hand, lifting it to his mouth and kissed it. Chris shook her hand gently. “Nice to meet you both,” she said.

  “Same to you, darling,” Chris smiled.

  They walked around meeting people before deciding to find a table. “I’m going to find Lex and Sherry. I really want you to meet them, Sky,” Alex said, kissing her lightly on her head as he walked off. Skylar sat there looking around at all the guests. Couples were dancing, mingling over near the bar, or chatting in groups. A lot of them were males; about 80 percent of them anyway.

  Tapping Craig on the shoulder, she whispered, “Is everyone here gay?”

  Craig let out a loud laugh, attracting people’s attention. “Darling, does it matter?” He hugged her.

  “No, it was just a question, you know that doesn’t bother me,” she replied.

  “The majority of them are, but some are straight.” Pointing to a guy to her left, he said, “See that guy over there?” She nodded. “Well, he was my first boyfriend.”

  Skylar gasped as she looked at the guy he pointed at; that guy needed to be on the front cover of GQ. He was dressed in black slacks a white button down shirt, and cowboy boots. “He’s really hot, Craig,” she whispered to him, smiling.

  “I know, but I remember he was stuck up.”

  “Skylar.” She turned around when she heard her name being called out. Chantal was rushing towards her. Jumping up, Skylar ran to her, and threw her arms around her.

  “Took you long enough to get here,” Skylar said.

  “Sorry, but this doesn’t just happen in five minutes,” she said, flashing her hand down her body.

  “Sorry I couldn’t make it on Christmas Day. I ran into Joel, and spent the last several days with him.” She blushed.

  “We’ll need to catch up soon; I want to know all the juicy details and I’m so glad you’re here now.” Looping their arms together, they walked back towards the table.

  “You made it.” Craig hugged her as she sat down.

  “Like I would miss a party like this.” She giggled. “So, who’s my date for tonight,” she asked Craig.

  “I am.” Chantal spun around to the voice that spoke. Dom was standing right behind her, smiling down at her.

  “Well, lucky me,” she replied.

  Dom sat down between her and Skylar. Jack sat to Skylar’s right, and Alex and Craig across from them. The waiters came and announced that the appetisers would be served shortly.

  * * *

  The main meal was finished and plates were removed from the tables, when someone tapped on a microphone in the centre of the dance floor. “Ladies and gentlemen, the first dance of the night will be for singles only. If anyone at your table is single, grab them quick and head up here.”

  She noticed it was one of Craig’s friends, Jeff. She watched as Dom stood, reached for Chantal’s hand, and walked off. Jack stood beside her, and offered his hand to her. “Will you dance with me?” he asked.

  Nodding, she stood and went to the dance floor. The band began playing a slow song. As she placed her hand on his shoulder, he pulled her tightly against his chest. They moved around like they were the only ones on the floor. They glided from one side to the other, as he spun her around, then dipped her. She laughed; she hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.

  “You’re good,” she said.

  “Well, thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.”

  Skylar wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her cheek against his chest, slowly moving to the music. She didn’t know how long
she had been dancing there, but she could feel someone watching her. As she opened her eyes, she scanned the room, until her eyes landed on Nate, staring at her from across the room. She thought this was an invite only party. How did he get one? Did he know Jeff and Chris or someone else at the party? She didn’t care how he got it; she just didn’t want to be anywhere near him. Jack turned her around, and then she noticed a blond girl attached to Nate’s arm. She shook her head. “I need to sit down,” she told Jack.