Love Hard (Anything But Mine Book 2)

by Barbara Justice

  “In here,” she said, calling from the living room.

  Sky followed the sound of her voice. “What are you doing?”

  Meg looked up from the mail she was sorting. “Just going through the mail, and separating out my bills.”

  “Well, that’s a real mood-killer.”

  So was finding out that Mallory is pregnant, she thought, but didn’t say. She felt her emotions beginning to shut down again, and tried to fight off the feeling of numbness. There will be enough time for being numb later this week. She put the mail aside and stood up. “Do you want something to eat or drink?”

  Sky’s look was intense as he closed the gap between them. “Just you,” he said, as he scooped her up into his arms. He turned and carried her down the hallway, where he placed her on her bed. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, inside and out,” he said, before kicking off his shoes and lying down next to her.

  Meg could feel his heart beating through his t-shirt as he pulled her towards him. The tightness in her muscles began to release as she felt his warm breath against her neck.

  Sky eased her onto her back and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “I want you,” he whispered.

  “I want you too,” she said.

  “No matter what happens?”

  She closed her eyes and nodded her head. “No matter what happens.”

  “That means everything to me.”

  “I know.” I’m going to be asking you the same question, and hope you give me the same answer, if you ever find out the truth about me.

  He began to undress her, before he removed his own t-shirt and jeans. After he removed her underwear, he kneeled over her so he could take in the sight of her naked body. “You’re stunning, baby. There are days I can’t believe you’re mine.” He lay on his side next to her, and ran a hand up between her legs.

  She parted her legs just enough to allow him access to her private space. Her body quivered as Sky’s fingers found their way to her slick insides.

  “Someone’s ready,” he said, as he took a nipple in his mouth and sucked until it was pebble hard. He turned his attention to her other nipple. “Gotta give equal time to both,” he said as he began to devour her other breast.

  “Sky,” Meg gasped as she reached for his crotch. “Please.”

  “Just lay back and enjoy, baby. Relax. Tonight is all about you.”

  “But…”

  “Shh…” Sky’s mouth covered hers in a deep kiss. His lips blazed a trail down her body, pausing at her breasts before making their way between her legs. When he placed a light kiss at her opening, her hips reached towards him for more. “Not yet, baby.”

  His mouth worked its way down the inside of one leg and down to her foot, before switching to the other foot and working its way back up. His fingers parted her most private area as he brought his mouth to her pleasure center. As his tongue flicked over her most sensitive part, he thrust his fingers into her slick opening.

  Meg’s body convulsed as heat and pleasure shot through her core. “Oh my God, Sky,” she called out as she reached her climax. Her voice was breathless as she reached out to him and begged, “Please, I need you.”

  His eyes bored into her as peeled off his underwear and massaged her juices onto his engorged manhood. “Is this what you want?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she said, as she reached for him.

  He had the condom in place in record time, and was on top of her in a flash. “I need you, baby,” he said as he plunged himself deep inside her. “I want you to come all around me.” He thrust deeper inside her, desperate in his attempt to make her feel his need for her.

  She felt his urgency, and wrapped her legs around his back in response as the pressure began to build between her legs. When her breath became shallow and her back arched up, she called his name again.

  He could feel her urging him on as he rode her hard. He felt her nails dig into his back as she contracted in waves of pleasure around him, bringing him to his release. “Oh, God, baby,” he grunted, he collapsed on top of her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The next morning, Sky stretched as he opened his eyes. He reached for Meg, but the space beside him in bed was empty. “Meg?”

  When she didn’t answer, he pulled on his jeans and wandered into the kitchen. The smell of freshly brewed coffee got his attention, and he poured himself a cup. “Damn, she makes the best coffee,” he said under his breath after he sat down and took his first sip.

  The mail on the small kitchen table caught his attention. A letter was open next to a mug of coffee and an empty yogurt container. He picked it up, and his eyebrows shot up as he began reading it.

  “What are you doing?”

  Sky was startled and his cheeks turned a deep red. “Umm…”

  “Why are you reading my mail?”

  He waved the letter at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re getting evicted?”

  Meg snatched the letter out of his hands. “I’m not getting evicted. My landlord is selling the house, and I have to move at the end of next month. You make it sound like I didn’t pay my rent.” She sat down at the table and stared at him. “And you didn’t answer my question. Why are you reading my mail?”

  “You always answer my questions with questions,” he countered. “Guess you don’t like a taste of your own medicine.”

  “You’re violating my privacy.”

  Sky shook his head. “Privacy? What privacy? We’ve been practically living together for a couple of months now. You’ve traveled with me, crammed into a bus with a dozen other people.” He paused to take a sip of coffee, before continuing, “And stop changing the subject. You do that all the time. When were you going to tell me that you’re getting evicted?”

  She sighed and sat down. “I don’t know. Probably when I found a new place to live.”

  “How long have you known about this?”

  “A while now. The house went on the market about a month ago.”

  He leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because it didn’t concern you,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s not your problem.”

  Sky exploded with anger, and banged his fist on the table. “What the hell?” He stood up and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m your boyfriend. Don’t you think that what happens to you concerns me?” When she stared at him but didn’t answer him, he shook his head. “Jesus Christ, Meg, I just realized that I don’t know anything about you.”

  Maybe because I don’t volunteer any more information than necessary. She sat back and crossed her arms against her chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You know a lot about me – where I work, where I’m from, where I went to school. You know that I’m a decent cook, I can drive a tractor, I like classic rock as well as country music, and green is my favorite color.”

  “Yeah,” he said in disgust as he shimmied up onto the kitchen counter. “Look…I didn’t bring this up the other day in Vegas because too much else was going on, but when I heard the gunshot and saw you on the ground, I realized that I didn’t know who to contact if something had happened to you. I don’t know anything about your family.”

  Meg felt her blood run cold as she began to panic. “You know who my cousin Jennifer is. You could always reach out to her.”

  “How? And by the time I was able to figure out how to get in touch with her it could be too late.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. He’s got me boxed into a corner now. How am I going to get out of this without telling him the truth? Think, Meg, think. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and gave him her best smile. “Okay, you’re right. Give me your phone.”

  Sky jumped off the counter. He pulled the phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, unlocked it, and handed it to her. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to enter the phone numbers and addresses for my father and for my cousin Jennifer. Just promise me you won’t ever gi
ve out Jen’s info to anyone else, because she’d be furious if it ever became public knowledge.”

  “Your father...” He was interrupted by the sound of Meg’s cell phone ringing.

  Saved by the bell, literally. “Hello?” She listened for a moment. “Sure, I can be there. Just text me the address. Thanks.”

  “What was that?”

  “A real estate agent. She’s taking me to look at a couple of condos for sublet in The Gulch this afternoon.”

  After spending the afternoon looking at apartments, Meg was discouraged. “These rents are way above the budget I gave you,” she said to the real estate agent as they walked through the lobby of a luxury building. “Don’t you have anything else you can show me?”

  “Not in this neighborhood,” she said. “But…you’re Sky Johnson’s girlfriend, right? He’s a superstar. I’m sure he can help you with the rent.”

  Meg stopped in her tracks. “What did you say?”

  “Can’t your boyfriend help you with the rent?”

  “No. This is for me, not for him.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and walked towards the door of the apartment building. “Call me if you have anything within my budget. Otherwise, I’ll find another real estate agent who will.”

  The real estate agent called out after her. “Meg…”

  Meg didn’t answer her, and climbed into the driver’s seat of her Jeep. She slammed the door and pounded the steering wheel. “God damn it! Why does everything have to be so hard?”

  She drove home in silence, trying to figure out how she could make ends meet so she could afford a decent apartment. “Guess I just have to expand my search to other neighborhoods, even if they aren’t as nice,” she said under her breath. “Or maybe I’ll look for a second job.”

  When she got home, she opened up the monthly budget spreadsheet she kept on her computer. “Maybe if I get rid of a home phone and just use my cell phone,” she said aloud. “And those condos all had gyms, so if I cut out my gym membership, it might work…” She was punching numbers into the calculator app on her phone when she heard the sound of a car in the driveway. Before she had the chance to look outside, she heard pounding on her front door.

  She looked out the window and saw Sky’s black Tahoe parked in the driveway. Of course. He’s the only one who bangs on my front door like that.

  When she swung the door open, she was greeted by Sky holding a huge bouquet of flowers. “What are these for?”

  “For no reason at all. I just wanted to stop by and see how apartment hunting went today.” He walked past her and kicked off his shoes.

  Meg followed him into the kitchen, where she found him searching through the cabinets. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for something to put these flowers in.”

  She retrieved a vase and filled it with water. “Thanks for the flowers, but that wasn’t what I was really asking.”

  “Meg, baby, I just wanted to see you. Is that a crime?”

  “No, of course not.” She was unable to suppress a smile, or the butterflies in her stomach. “It’s just that I thought we agreed to a little space for a couple of days.”

  “I want to talk to you about something. It’s important.” He took her by the hand and led her to the living room. “What’s all this?” He pointed to the computer and papers spread out on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

  “Just trying to figure out how to afford a rent increase.”

  He sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. “How did it go this afternoon?”

  She sat down next to him and sighed. “Not well. Everything the real estate agent showed me was way out of my price range. I’m trying to figure out what I can cut from my monthly expenses to afford a decent place to live.”

  “Well…I might be able to help.”

  “No! That’s what the real estate agent said, and I walked out on her.”

  Sky was confused. “Wait…hold on. What did she say?”

  “That my celebrity boyfriend could help me with the rent. I walked out on her.”

  “Yeah…well, that wasn’t what I was going to say.”

  It was Meg’s turn to be confused. “Oh. Good.”

  Sky’s palms became sweaty. “I had a different idea.” His heart pounded in his chest. “Remember this morning, when I said we were practically living together anyway?”

  Meg’s heart stood still. Her eyes grew wide, and her answer was a just above a whisper. “Yes.”

  “Why don’t you move in with me?”

  A gasp escaped her lips. “I don’t know, Sky, I just…I don’t need your help or charity.”

  He placed his hands on either side of her face. “Meg, baby, this isn’t charity. This is me asking you to move in with me.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I’m not gonna drag you off to bed to tease and torture you until you say yes, like I did about the Vegas trip,” he said with a grin. “And I understand if you need some time to think about it but, please, think about it.”

  She nodded her head. “Okay. I promise.”

  “Good girl.” He kissed her again. “So, what are we doing about dinner tonight?”

  “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I was going to make a small salad and call it an early night.”

  “Meg…”

  “Sky, I told you that I needed some space.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ve been through so much the past few days. I have a lot to think about, including your sweet offer to move in with you. I want to be able to do that with a clear head.” She leaned in to kiss him, and thought, and because you can’t come with me where I’m going.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The following morning, Meg buckled her seatbelt and stowed her tote bag under the seat in front of her as she prepared for the flight to LaGuardia Airport in New York. She retrieved her cell phone from the seat back pocket in front of her, and composed a text message to Sky:

  I’m taking a quick trip home for a few days. See you when I get back. xoxo

  She hit the “send” button. When she saw that the text message was delivered, she put her phone in airplane mode, plugged in her headphones, and closed her eyes. Sorry, Sky, but this is one thing I have to do alone.

  When the plane touched down two hours later in New York, Meg picked up the rental car she had reserved, and drove east on the Long Island Expressway. “It’s funny how it all comes back to you,” she said aloud, as she took Exit 70 and turned south towards the entrance to Route 27.

  Chills ran down her spine as she rounded the sharp left curve, remembering the photos she saw of the crash that took the life of her cousin’s first husband. He was a bad guy, but no one deserves to die that violently.

  She continued driving east, and felt her body tense as she crossed over the Shinnecock Canal onto Long Island’s east end. It was as though she was passing through a black hole and time-traveling to another world. The changes to the town landscape, such as a new townhouse community on the highway, caught her attention. “I guess Jen can’t single-handedly stop all development,” she said to herself. “But at least it wasn’t farm land.”

  Meg turned off the highway and followed the back roads she knew so well from her childhood. She pulled the rental car into the driveway of a modest gray clapboard home, and cut the ignition. It looks the same as always, she thought as she exited the car and stretched her long legs. Nothing ever seems to change here.

  After climbing the three steps up to the covered porch, she dug into her tote bag for the old key. She slipped the key into the lock, and entered the house. “Dad?”

  “In here, honey.”

  Meg followed the voice to the kitchen, where she found her father seated at the table with a sandwich and an open bag of potato chips in front of him. “Hi,” she said.

  Victor Novak stood and took his daughter into his arms. “It’s been too long, Meg.”

  Meg shrugged out of his arms. “You know I always come back this time of
year.”

  He closed his eyes to block out the pain. “I hate to see you torture yourself. This isn’t what your mother would want you to do.”

  She winced at the reference to her mother. “I know it’s hard for you to see me, so I arranged to stay in the guest house at the farm. Aunt Grace said…”

  Victor cut her off. “Meg, it’s not hard for me to see you. You’re my daughter, and I love you. You know you’re always welcome to stay here at home.”

  She shook her head. “Nashville has been my home for nearly ten years now.”

  “I wish you hadn’t run away. Southampton is your home. We all miss you, and we all love you.” His eyes became watery, and he swallowed hard. “You’re my baby girl, Meg, and always will be. You’re all I’ve got. When are you going to let this go?”

  She saw the sadness in her father’s face, and the tears welling up in his eyes. She shook her head, and replied, “Never.”

  Her father sighed. “Would you at least join me for lunch? I can make you a sandwich, if you’d like.”

  Meg started to answer, but was interrupted by the sound of “When I Met You” coming from her cell phone, announcing that Sky was calling her. She declined the call, silenced her phone, and tossed it back into her bag.

  “Aren’t you going to answer it?”

  “No…it was just my boyfriend. I’ll call him back later.”

  Her father took the cold cuts out of the refrigerator and placed them on the table, along with bread and mayonnaise. “I watched the ACM awards show. You looked beautiful, but I was worried about you.”

  “I texted you and the family to let you know that I was okay.”

  Victor sat at the table, and gestured to a chair. “It would have been better if you had called.”

  Meg bit her lip. “I’m sorry, dad, that you were worried. But I was fine, and there was a lot going on.”

  He nodded his head. “The gossip rags are reporting that the shooter might be pregnant with his child. Is that true?”

  “Yes and no. She is pregnant.” She sighed and shook her head, before continuing, “The tabloids couldn’t wait to print that story. The paternity test should be back in the next week or so.”