by Skylar Hill
Six Impossible Things
Part Two: The Four Corners
Skylar Hill
Copyright © 2017 by Skylar Hill
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Design by Charlee Hoffman
Edited by Laurel Hardy
Contents
1. Nora
2. Luke
3. Nora
4. Luke
5. Nora
6. Luke
7. Nora
Also by Skylar Hill
About the Author
One
Nora
“Are you sure your leg is supposed to bend that way?” Holly asked Nora skeptically.
Nora laughed, releasing her ankle from the yoga pose and righting herself. She, Holly and Margaux were at Margaux and Hunter’s downtown loft. The airy, open space had a lot of white furniture… and Nora had a feeling it would be getting reupholstered once the baby came.
The ladies had pushed back the sofa so they could fit all three of their yoga mats side by side on the cork floor that had deep brown streaks, almost like zebra stripes, down the planks. Nora had promised Margaux she’d show her a few modified poses for pregnancy—she’d gotten really into yoga in college and it was one of her biweekly rituals. She hadn’t had time to hunt for a good studio yet; otherwise she’d be signing Margaux up for prenatal yoga classes.
Note to self, find some studios, get Margaux a gift certificate, she thought as Holly giggled, trying to imitate Nora, and then, wobbling, fell over with a thump.
“I am so not suited for this,” she declared, leaning against Margaux, who was on the floor in lotus pose. “Give me boxing gloves and a punching bag any day.”
“I will for sure be leaving all the baby’s self-defense instruction to you,” Margaux said. “Nora can teach him or her yoga.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Nora said.
“I feel like there should be a cute name for the baby,” Holly said.
“Like what?” Margaux asked.
“Like Little Bean or Blueberry or something,” Holly said. “Or… you could tell us which names you and Hunter have picked out.”
“Absolutely not!” Margaux said, and Nora laughed as Holly pouted. As soon as Holly had found out about the baby, she’d wanted to talk names, something Margaux was firmly refusing to share.
“Everyone has an opinion on names,” she said. “I’m not letting anyone influence me! You’ll find out when the baby is born.”
Holly sighed dramatically, flopping over on her pink flowered yoga mat. Her ennui lasted a whole thirty seconds before she propped her head up and turned her attention to Nora. “So, I think it’s about time you spill about Mr. Stone.”
“Yes!” Margaux said eagerly. “How was your date with Luke?”
Nora smiled, feeling uncharacteristically shy for a moment. “It was really nice,” she said carefully.
Holly and Margaux exchanged knowing looks. “He took her to Nello’s,” Holly told Margaux, who let out an impressed murmur—she was not the kind of woman who whistled. “And he wants to see her again.”
Nora frowned. “How did you know that?” she asked. “I didn’t tell you.”
“Well, you kind of did, right now,” Holly said with a wide grin when Nora stuck her tongue out at her. “And don’t think I didn’t see that package that arrived the morning after your date.”
Nora’s cheeks heated.
“He didn’t send flowers?” Margaux asked.
Nora shook her head.
No. He had sent her a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Not a first edition, thank God, because who knew how much those were worth, but one from the early 1900s. It was in amazing condition, with John Tenniel’s classic pen-and-ink illustrations of Alice and her friends on their adventures. The cover was a dark green embossed in gold, and the pages gave off that old book smell that made her think of cozy mornings at home with her mom, sitting by the fire, reading together.
It was much better than roses or chocolate or jewelry or any of the typical presents men gave to women. It wasn’t like she didn’t love those things, too… but the book? It was different. It had been… she didn’t quite know how to describe how it had made her feel, holding that book in her hands. Once again, she had that odd sensation of being not just known, but appreciated.
Had it really been so long since she felt that way? She hated that she’d somehow fallen into this trap of making herself smaller so that Gregory could take up more space. Now that she was free, she felt like a caged bird who was stretching her wings for the first time in years, unsure how to use them after so long.
And then Luke came along and smiled at her and listened to her ramble about photography and lockets and her grandmother and Alice in Wonderland… and he didn’t dismiss her little tangents; he seemed to enjoy them.
It wasn’t that she lacked focus, as Gregory used to scold her.
No, it was because she was creative and saw connections in things and was interested in learning all sorts of weird little facts. She liked knowing quotes and random trivia, and that flash in her chest when he’d gotten her Alice in Wonderland reference had been more than attraction.
It was connection.
“Earth to Nora.” Holly waved a hand in front of Nora’s face, and when she snapped out of it, both of her friends were giggling.
“Wow,” Holly said. “You have got it bad for this guy. After just one date, too.”
“I do not!” Nora protested automatically and she sounded so unconvincing to her own ears that she couldn’t stop the embarrassed smile spreading across her face.
“Darling, you were daydreaming just now,” Margaux said, her blue eyes gleaming. “There was a whole moony expression situation going on. It was adorable.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “He just gave me a very thoughtful gift.”
“Tell!” Holly said. “What was it?”
“A book,” Nora said, and Holly’s face fell.
“A book?” she asked, looking confused. “I was at least hoping for diamonds. I mean, the guy is loaded.”
“Holly,” Margaux admonished, tutting at her.
“It was a beautiful old copy of Alice in Wonderland,” Nora said. “We had talked about it when he was walking me to my car.”
“Okay, that is pretty impressive,” Holly admitted. “I mean, I would’ve preferred something shiny, but I know how you like your dusty old tomes.”
“It’s a very sweet gesture,” Margaux said. “Very thoughtful. I would expect nothing else from Luke. I remember last year, Hunter was out of town on business and I came down with a terrible cold. Luke came by with his famous chicken noodle soup for me just because Hunter had mentioned in passing that I was sick and he was out of town.”
“He cooks, too?!” Holly said. She turned to Nora with a teasing smile. “It’s time to marry him! Stat!”
The women dissolved into giggles, and Nora leaned into Holly’s shoulder, feeling more grateful than ever that she had stretched her wings and found some freedom.
Two
Luke
“So you had a good time with Nora?” Hunter asked Luke as they crossed the busy street toward the exclusive spa Hunter had asked him to stop by.
“I did,” Luke said. As they walked into the spa, he breathed in the scent of lavender and felt instantly out of place. Just being in the lobby made him a little itchy. He was definitely not a facial-and-massage sort of guy… unless the massage was coming from a beautiful woman he w
as seeing. Like Nora. He entertained the thought briefly, being naked with Nora and some massage oil.
You have the best ideas sometimes, he thought to himself as Hunter walked up to the front desk.
“Hi,” Hunter said, shooting a smile at the older woman seated behind the counter. “I’m wondering if you can help a guy out. My wife loves your spa, and we just found out that we’re expecting a baby.”
“Oh, congratulations!” the woman—the placard on the counter said her name was Julie—smiled. “Is this your first?”
“It is,” Hunter said. “I’m wondering if you have a prenatal package?”
“Oh, that’s so sweet of you. We do,” she replied. “It includes our pregnancy facial—hormones can go a little wild during pregnancy, and it can lead to breakouts—a prenatal massage, a special rose-infused milk bath, a session with our acupuncturist, and a session with our yoga instructor.”
“That sounds great,” Hunter said. “If you could arrange that for her, as well as a prenatal massage at least every two weeks for the next six months, I would really appreciate it.”
“Someone’s going for husband of the year,” Julie commented, and Luke laughed, because she was totally right.
He had always admired how devoted Hunter was to Margaux. They had fallen in love when they were young and married young. There had been naysayers, cynical people who were sure they wouldn’t last. But Luke had never been one of them—he knew his friends were meant to be. They gave him hope: Maybe that kind of forever really did exist.
And now they were having a baby, that devotion between them had clearly increased tenfold. Luke watched in amusement as Julie and Hunter debated the merits of a babymoon—apparently it was some sort of trip you took before you had the baby?—when he felt a buzz in his pocket.
“I’m gonna step out and take this,” he said to Hunter before hurrying out of the spa.
“This is Lucas Stone,” he said.
“And this is Nora Phillips,” was her cheeky answer, the smile in her voice lighting him up on the inside.
Nora was like sunshine after days of rain. At the sound of her voice, something in his blood grew not just hot but warm, the comforting kind of warm.
“I’m glad you called,” he said. “I was thinking about you.”
“Oh yeah?’ her voice dipped on the last word, and his fingers clenched around his phone, unable to stop the reaction as all the blood rushed downward at her flirty tone.
He’d been having dreams about her each night since their date. Naughty dreams. Dirty dreams.
Incandescently hot dreams where he tumbled her down onto his bed, and her giggles and beautiful, bouncing curves filled his head until he woke up hard as a rock and had to jerk off in his shower like he was sixteen again.
Play it cool, Stone, he ordered himself. You can’t come on too strong. Not when she’s been hurt by that asshole.
“Yeah, I was thinking we should get started on our Impossible Things quest,” he explained. “Are you busy tomorrow?”
“I’m free,” she said. “Are you going to give me a hint at what this quest will be?”
He grinned, loving that she was going to play along with this whole deal. Maybe it was a little crazy, but it filled him with an excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time. All he could do was picture the look on her face, that bright-as-the-sun smile breaking across it when she realized what he had planned.
He wanted to do everything—anything—he could to make that smile cross her face.
“We’ll be taking a little trip,” he said. “You okay with that?”
“Sure,” she said slowly, her interest definitely piqued. “Do I get any other hint?”
“Not yet,” he said. “Just wear good shoes. Sturdy ones.”
“I’m even more intrigued,” she said, laughing.
“I’ll pick you up at ten?” he asked.
“I’ll be ready,” she said.
“I’m glad you called,” he said, and then winced, realizing he’d already said that. God. This woman was already making him act ridiculous… and he could care less. He liked her. He wanted her. Out of bed and in it, and anywhere else he could get her. And he wasn’t interested in playing games or hiding how he felt.
He wanted to woo the hell out of her.
“I’m glad you called, too,” she said. “I wanted to thank you for the book.”
“It came, then?” he asked, pleased. He’d called up a few rare book dealers to find a copy that he judged to his liking. The green leather copy had reminded him of her eyes, which was probably corny, but he didn’t care.
“I’ve never been given something so special,” she said. “The history… the people who might have touched this book? Read it to their own children? It’s a lovely gift. I’ll treasure it.”
I want to give you everything you ever wanted to treasure, he thought. I want to treasure you.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said. “At first I thought maybe flowers, but…”
“This is so much better, you don’t even know,” she said, her voice bubbling with a happiness he wanted to keep there forever. “Anyway, I should get going. I’ve got a class to plan.”
“Bye, Nora.”
“Goodbye, Luke.”
“Was that Nora?” Hunter asked from behind him. Luke looked over his shoulder, smiling at his friend.
“Yeah,” he said.
“You two going out again?” Hunter asked, an all-too-innocent expression on his face.
“We are,” Luke said. “Tomorrow.”
“You know, if you hurt her, I’m going to have to kill you,” Hunter said, and even though he was still smiling, there was a seriousness in the air that would make any man who had seen Hunter break up a bar brawl nervous. And Luke had seen him break up quite a few. Hell, he’d been at the center of most of them.
“If I hurt her, I’ll kill me,” Luke said.
“Oh, so it’s like that already, huh?” Hunter raised an eyebrow. “After one date? You don’t normally fall hard fast.”
“Hunter, I’ve never met a woman like her before,” Luke said honestly. “With Margaux… was it like that? Just… really fast and you just feel really damn sure and happy and kind of relieved?”
“Wow,” Hunter took a step back, really looking at him. “You’re very serious.”
“I don’t know,” Luke confessed. “There was this moment… not at dinner, but after, when I was walking her home. She kept looking in antique shops, like maybe they held an answer to this question she’d always asked. And when she told me why…”
When she had told him why…the bittersweet story of her grandmother’s locket… it had done something to him.
Maybe it was because there was a box of his mother’s jewelry, pieces that had history he’d never know because she wasn’t here to tell him, sitting in a safety deposit box in a bank. It had been there for years, since Luke had put it there, not know what else to do with the pieces. He’d thought about selling it off, donating the proceeds to charity, but couldn’t bring himself to do it without Devlin’s blessing. And his brother certainly wasn’t going to give him anything—an apology, an explanation, or a blessing.
He shook his head a little, trying to banish thoughts about his brother—and the fight that had torn everything apart—from his mind. He’d worked hard on focusing on the positive… and Nora? She was a big positive.
“When she told you why…” Hunter prompted, looking at Luke expectantly.
“Never mind,” Luke said. “I just… I really, really like her.”
“Well, I’m glad, then,” Hunter said, smiling. “You know, it’s kind of amazing you two have never met before. If you hadn’t missed our wedding, you would’ve met her then. God, you might’ve saved her from that asshole Gregory’s clutches.”
Gregory. That must be the ex-fiancé’s name. Luke tried not to look too eager as they crossed the street to his car and got inside it. “That was her ex?” he asked, opting for casual and likely failing miser
ably, by the looks of Hunter’s grin.
“That guy was a piece of fucking work,” Hunter said disgustedly. “He was slick. There was always something I didn’t quite like about him, but I could never pinpoint it, you know? He was always keeping her within reach, but not in a protective or sweet way. It was more like he needed to surveil her. When I found out he was cheating on her, the whole watching-her-like-a-hawk-thing made sense. He was probably projecting.”
“Do you think she’s over him?” Luke asked, pulling into the flow of traffic and heading towards Hunter’s loft downtown to drop him off.
“Definitely,” Hunter said, with such conviction Luke felt relieved. “This is the thing you’ve got to understand about Nora: She hates cheating. Her Dad is a cheating bastard, too. I think that, more than anything, was what was so hard for her to deal with. That she had been taken in by this guy—hell, we all kind of were. If I had had any inkling he was cheating on her, I would’ve hired a fucking PI to get proof. But he snowed everyone, but especially her.”
“God, that’s so sick,” Luke said, anger building in his chest. Disrespecting any woman enough to cheat on her disgusted him. If a man didn’t want to be in a relationship anymore, then he needed to be a damn man and tell his partner that before he pursued another woman. “I’m so glad she got out of that situation.”
“It’s been what—I think almost six months since he told her. At least the bastard had the grace to do it before the wedding. I have the feeling his mistress was about the spill the beans, and that’s why he told her.”
“Scumbag,” Luke growled. He switched lanes, the traffic clearing a little as he headed north.
“Took everything in me not to go over there and teach him a lesson,” Hunter said. “But Nora specifically asked me not to. I had to respect that.”
“Definitely,” Luke said.