Waiting for December, page 4
When he walks in with our food a second later, I hold up a folded Taylor Swift poster that was on the shelf with his other things. “Taylor Swift was your high school crush, huh?”
“Taylor who?” Sky sets the plates down on his desk and pulls a blanket off the edge of the bed. He lays the blanket on the floor, then brings our food over, setting up a picnic.
Athletic, smart, and romantic. I’m guessing I’m not the only woman who’s been quick to develop feelings for him.
“I have a one-track mind, Harper. When I’m focused on someone I like, I forget everyone else. Including celebrity crushes.”
“Does this mean you’ve never cheated?” I ask, as we both take a seat on the floor. Sky is using his bed as a backrest and pats the spot beside him, but I shake my head, deciding it’s probably best if I avoid the general vicinity of his bed altogether. At least for now. I do realize we have to sleep in here together.
“Nope. Never have. Never will.” He hands me a fork. “I don’t believe in being with someone you’d be tempted to cheat on. I would end the relationship if I felt that way, or more likely not be in the relationship to begin with.”
I haven’t cheated either because I’ve always thought of it as generally wrong. I like that he’s put thought into exactly why he’d never cheat. Spoken like someone who knows himself. I feel a pang of jealousy that he’s already at that place in his life but remind myself that I’m taking the necessary steps to get to that place too.
“What’s been your longest relationship?” I ask.
Sky deflects. “How long were you with the idiot who stood you up?”
“Touché, we don’t have to talk about exes.”
“Never a fun topic,” he says, as we both dig into our lasagna. “Why don’t you tell me about your younger years instead?” he tries. “You’re getting a glimpse into mine by looking around here. It’s only fair that I get to hear about the younger you.”
I shake my head. “That’s date talk and we’re not dating.”
“It’s conversation and we’re eating.”
I sigh because he’s impossible in so many ways, and then he sighs too and sets his fork down, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to frustrate you or make your life more complicated. I don’t normally go around begging women to date me. But how I feel around you isn’t normal. When I was downstairs just now, I kept trying to chalk up my feelings to chemistry, but I liked our conversations on the plane, Harper. And the way you stood up for me in front of my mom. And how being here with you has made this town not only bearable, but actually a place I’m now going to miss. I wouldn’t be pressing this issue if it didn’t somehow feel like a mistake to walk away from something that has so much potential.”
I’m surprised there aren’t awards for the speech and debate team in here, because if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Sky could have been a captain.
As much as I wish I could argue with what he’s saying, I can’t. I feel the same. But I also can’t change my entire plan—not when it’s so important to me.
When I reiterate this, he nods as if he’s trying to accept our fate. I can tell how much he’s disappointed by it, though. I am too—so I throw out an idea.
“What if we try to figure out all our incompatibilities? Then we might realize that we’re not losing something as special as we think we are.”
Sky nods, willing to play along.
“Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?” I begin.
“Extrovert,” he says.
“I’m an introvert,” I confess.
“I once read an article that said introverts are better off with extroverts. And vice versa.”
Yep, he definitely could have been debate team captain.
“Send me the study or I’m not buying it.”
“Do you really need the study? Opposites attract, haven’t you heard?” He scoots in closer, possibly to reinforce his words with a kiss, but I jump to the next question.
“What’s your love language?” I figure that with three sisters, he’s likely taken this test.
“Physical touch. Did you really have to ask?”
He’s right. I could have guessed that.
“Mine is quality time.”
“I like that second,” he adds.
“What about religion?” I continue. “Do you believe in God?”
Sky gets a faraway look in his eyes. “When I’m flying planes and I’m up there in the clouds—especially during sunrise or sunset—there are times I get so overwhelmed by all that’s around me that I tear up. There’s so much about the universe we don’t know. So much we don’t understand. I don’t know what’s out there, but I know it’s something so much bigger than us.”
His answer is not the same as mine here either, but it’s beautiful. So beautiful it makes me want to give looking out the window a shot next time I’m in the air.
“How about you?” He goes back to forking his lasagna.
“I grew up Christian, and I go to church on the major holidays, but I realize I go more because I’d like to believe in something rather than because I’m sure I do. Maybe I’ll find more faith while I’m here.”
“Pretty sure you don’t find faith, it finds you. It’s a lot like love in that respect.”
And here we are, on that topic again.
“I think this game sucks,” I announce.
Sky chuckles. “Me too. Luckily, I’ve got a better idea for handling this predicament than trying to convince ourselves that we don’t want what we want.”
I set my plate down and fold my hands together. “Explain.”
“What if I wait for you?”
I wrinkle my brows.
“You said you want to take these three months for you, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then take them. Three months from now is right around Christmas Eve, correct?”
It’s September 17 now. “About that, yeah.”
“I’ll be back Christmas Eve.” He sits up taller. “We could have our second date then.”
I blink. “You’d wait for me?”
He shrugs as if to say it’d be no big deal. “You’re going to be on my mind for the next three months whether we make this pact or not. It’d be nice if I knew that on the other side of missing you, I’d get to see you.”
No doubt Sky will be on my mind for a while too. And now that I think about it, trying to get him out of my mind might end up detracting from my ability to focus on my goals while I’m here. But if I did agree to this, I wouldn’t have to work to stop thinking about him. He could just stay in my head until I see him again.
“I could maybe be convinced of this. Keep talking.”
“We should keep talking.” He snaps his fingers, liking that idea, but I cut him off before he gets too excited.
“I don’t want to hear your voice during our time apart.”
“What’s wrong with my voice?”
How can I possibly express to him that his voice alone practically heats me up? “It’s . . . distracting.”
“Fine. What if we email?”
“Once a week,” I agree.
“Once a week until Christmas Eve. Then a date?”
I nod.
“I’ll take it,” he says.
“Wait.” I suddenly remember my job description on Christmas Eve. “The inn hosts an annual Christmas Eve party with sleigh rides and Santa and everything. It’s apparently the busiest day of the year, and I’ll be working late.”
“The whole town goes to that party every year,” Sky says. “Including me and my family. It’ll be perfect. We can reunite then.”
I nod, feeling a flicker of excitement in my stomach. I realize I haven’t been this excited for Christmas since I was a kid.
“All right, it’s a date,” I say.
“So you’re really in?”
“I’m in.” I reach across the blanket for Sky’s hand to shake on it. After our shake, he tugs on my hand, pulling me into his lap. I let him. It’s the kind of pact that should be sealed with a kiss.
Or maybe I just want to kiss him again.
Either way, a minute or so later, I’m flushed as I get to my feet.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“If we’re eventually going to have a second date—one where your family is going to be present, no less—I think we should rejoin the party.”
Sky gives me another one of his grins that I feel everywhere. That’s another reason I’m getting us out of his bedroom. I don’t need to resist him completely now that we have our plan, but I’m also not sure I’m ready for everything yet. And it’ll be a lot easier for me to contemplate it all if we don’t spend the rest of tonight in these close, private quarters.
four
THE ONLY POSITIVE thing I can pin down about Sky’s family so far—other than Sky, of course—is that they like their alcohol. I’m not a big drinker, but they’re the kind of people who drive you to drink, so it’s helpful that they like to keep the wine flowing.
Dinner was over by the time Sky and I rejoined the table, but we were just in time for dessert. Cal carried out a chocolate pound cake with candles from the kitchen, and Andrea trailed behind him with plates.
Once everyone was served, I found myself wondering who brought the pound cake and why, because Maryann criticized it at least nineteen times. Leave it to her to figure out how to make a dessert feel bad about itself.
You’d think by the woman’s seventieth birthday, her husband and kids would know what she likes and serve that instead. But when I whispered this to Sky, he said chocolate pound cake is her favorite dessert. “Imagine how much she’d complain if this were a dessert she didn’t like,” he replied.
It was then that I realized it had been a terrible mistake to leave Sky’s room. But we couldn’t exactly head right back upstairs.
So now we are in the living room, trying to make it through gifts. Luckily, I’m seated beside Andrea on the couch. She’s the only nice one. Sky’s other siblings scare me almost as much as Maryann and Cal. At the table, I overheard Sky’s brother, Owen, getting upset with Sky about the declining stock price of the airline Sky works for, as if Sky were in control of the ticker. And his other sisters, Olivia and Michelle, (I’ve finally gotten everyone’s names down) keep glaring at me.
“I know it’s a lot to walk into,” Andrea says as she bounces her two-year-old daughter, Emily, on her lap. We’re all having side conversations as we watch Sky’s mom unwrap a sweater. “You seem really good for Sky, though. I’m glad he met you.”
“How did you and Edward meet?” I shoot a glance at her husband, sitting over near Sky and Maryann in chairs near the fire.
“We met on a plane too. I’ve only flown three times in my life, and Edward was on one of the flights. We’ve been going strong six years now. So I’m a big believer in romances that start in the air.”
“Romances that start in the air,” I repeat. “That has a nice ring to it.”
She smiles and sets Emily down on the floor, then twists her blonde hair back into a low bun. “You’re the first girl Sky’s brought home since Julie, so he must really like you.”
Julie. That must be the name of the woman Sky was about to move in with. The one he regrets dumping.
“Well, I really like Sky too,” I say. Sky catches my gaze and gives me a flirtatious smile even though he couldn’t have heard what I said amid all the commotion. Maybe he read my lips. Or maybe, like me, he’s had a little too much wine.
I have no idea what glass I’m on. Every time I set my glass down it seems like someone fills it right back up. I better slow down. I imagine everyone will leave soon, and then it will be just Sky and me again, upstairs.
Too much wine coupled with what his smile does to me, and I might end up leaping into something I usually approach much more slowly.
“This next gift is from Sky and Harper,” Maryann announces. Oh, boy. I have no idea what it is, but that was sweet and smart of Sky to add my name to the package.
As she begins to unwrap it, Sky walks over to join me on the couch. I cuddle up next to him, hoping for his sake that Maryann is nice no matter what he picked out.
After she gets the big package unwrapped, there’s a smaller one inside it. In the smaller package is an even smaller box. And inside that, an even smaller one. The kids are having fun with all the packages and suspense, and I must admit, so am I.
Once she finally opens the last box, she’s left with a black velvet one.
“Oh my gosh,” she gasps, spinning it around after she’s popped it open to show us a pair of diamond earrings.
For the first time, Maryann appears to be without words. It makes me wonder if Sky chose this gift because he knew it would leave her speechless, and a speechless person can’t complain. Her hand is covering her mouth as she stares at the earrings.
I’m a bit speechless myself. I know Sky’s love language is physical touch and his second is quality time, but now I’ve just learned he’s also a good gift giver.
He kisses the top of my head as Maryann continues to shake hers.
Yep, I should definitely slow down on the wine before we go back upstairs.
—
It’s ten o’clock by the time the dishes are done, Sky’s siblings and their kids have all headed home, and Maryann and Cal have retired for the evening into their room on the main level. Ten o’clock is late, but not late enough that Sky and I are going to pass out once we get back into his room, so I contemplate my game plan as we climb the stairs.
I know I need some kind of strategy before we walk back in there because while I did slow down on the wine, ever since Sky joined me on the couch, we haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other. I can only imagine how handsy we’re going to get once it’s just us. So I block the doorway with my back before Sky can grab the handle.
“We need another code word,” I say.
“For what?”
“So I don’t have sex with you.”
He nods, processing this. “You don’t want to have sex with me?”
His question, his voice, and his proximity are making it really hard for me to remember that “no” is supposed to be my answer to that question.
“I do want to. But I generally don’t have sex with men I’ve just met. I like sex. But it needs to be combined with a connection and familiarity for me. I like being comfortable with someone.”
Sky nods again and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I like having sex that way too,” he says. He strikes me as the kind of guy that likes having sex every way. Then again, just because he exudes sex appeal doesn’t mean he sleeps around every chance he gets.
“The thing is,” he goes on, “I do feel comfortable with you, Harper. And you do feel familiar to me. But if you don’t feel the same way, I totally understand.”
I do feel the same way. I’m just not used to experiencing those feelings with someone I just met, and I don’t know what to do with that. Sky is blurring the lines of all my categories. And I need a minute to figure it out.
“It’s not that I don’t. It’s just that I haven’t completely made up my mind about what I want to do here.”
“Okay, then code word it is,” he says this with a smile, and I know he’s honestly respecting what I’ve said. Ironically, this makes me even more comfortable with him and in less need of a code word, but I don’t say that.
“Halt?” he suggests.
I smile. “Perfect.”
I open the door and walk in, Sky trailing in behind me.
“So I take it you’ve never had a one-night stand?”
“I got close once in college,” I say as I take a seat on his bed. Sky sits down beside me but leaves a respectful amount of space between us so that we’re close, but not touching.
I find myself wishing we were touching.
“Freshman year I left a party with a guy I’d just met who seemed nice and whom I found attractive. We got as far as naked in his bed before I realized I didn’t want to sleep with him. So I put a hand to his chest and told him I wanted to go home. He didn’t seem bummed out about my decision at all, which was nice. But I think that’s also why I wasn’t into it. I could tell it didn’t matter to him one way or the other whether we hooked up or not, or whether it was me in his room or some other random girl from the party, which made the whole thing feel meaningless. And that wasn’t what I wanted.”
I look from my hands up to him. “How about you? Any one-night stands?”
Sky doesn’t respond. He looks as if he’s still thinking about my story.
“I hate that someone made you feel interchangeable with any other girl, Harper. You aren’t, and you shouldn’t ever be made to feel like you are. I know when I look back on this crazy fake date we’ve had, it will be meaningful. One of those nights that sticks in my head and plays on a constant loop when I’m daydreaming or pops up randomly months later and puts a smile on my face.”
If I were to repeat everything Sky has said to me tonight to Zoe and Grace, I bet they would think some of his lines are cheesy. But they don’t sound cheesy when Sky says them. They sound sincere. Maybe it’s because I’m seeing the sincerity in his eyes when he delivers them.
I like how sincere Sky seems. I like how he’s making me feel.
I just like Sky.
I follow that thought with a kiss. Sky willingly receives it, and when I launch into another, something shifts, and he takes control then, smoothing down my hair and pulling me closer before lying me down and positioning himself over me. I hum my approval against his lips.
We keep kissing like this for a while. It’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed a kiss, so I don’t feel the need to rush it. Sky doesn’t rush it either, but I’m pretty sure that’s because in his mind there’s nothing to rush to. I told him no sex. And he seems set to honor that. Although I can feel how much of a challenge this is for him by the way his jeans are pushing against me.
“Sky?” I breathe.
“Yeah?” His lips are on my neck now, leaving a trail of kisses.
“What’s the opposite of halt?”
He pulls back a bit, looking at me. “Full speed?”
“Taylor who?” Sky sets the plates down on his desk and pulls a blanket off the edge of the bed. He lays the blanket on the floor, then brings our food over, setting up a picnic.
Athletic, smart, and romantic. I’m guessing I’m not the only woman who’s been quick to develop feelings for him.
“I have a one-track mind, Harper. When I’m focused on someone I like, I forget everyone else. Including celebrity crushes.”
“Does this mean you’ve never cheated?” I ask, as we both take a seat on the floor. Sky is using his bed as a backrest and pats the spot beside him, but I shake my head, deciding it’s probably best if I avoid the general vicinity of his bed altogether. At least for now. I do realize we have to sleep in here together.
“Nope. Never have. Never will.” He hands me a fork. “I don’t believe in being with someone you’d be tempted to cheat on. I would end the relationship if I felt that way, or more likely not be in the relationship to begin with.”
I haven’t cheated either because I’ve always thought of it as generally wrong. I like that he’s put thought into exactly why he’d never cheat. Spoken like someone who knows himself. I feel a pang of jealousy that he’s already at that place in his life but remind myself that I’m taking the necessary steps to get to that place too.
“What’s been your longest relationship?” I ask.
Sky deflects. “How long were you with the idiot who stood you up?”
“Touché, we don’t have to talk about exes.”
“Never a fun topic,” he says, as we both dig into our lasagna. “Why don’t you tell me about your younger years instead?” he tries. “You’re getting a glimpse into mine by looking around here. It’s only fair that I get to hear about the younger you.”
I shake my head. “That’s date talk and we’re not dating.”
“It’s conversation and we’re eating.”
I sigh because he’s impossible in so many ways, and then he sighs too and sets his fork down, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to frustrate you or make your life more complicated. I don’t normally go around begging women to date me. But how I feel around you isn’t normal. When I was downstairs just now, I kept trying to chalk up my feelings to chemistry, but I liked our conversations on the plane, Harper. And the way you stood up for me in front of my mom. And how being here with you has made this town not only bearable, but actually a place I’m now going to miss. I wouldn’t be pressing this issue if it didn’t somehow feel like a mistake to walk away from something that has so much potential.”
I’m surprised there aren’t awards for the speech and debate team in here, because if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Sky could have been a captain.
As much as I wish I could argue with what he’s saying, I can’t. I feel the same. But I also can’t change my entire plan—not when it’s so important to me.
When I reiterate this, he nods as if he’s trying to accept our fate. I can tell how much he’s disappointed by it, though. I am too—so I throw out an idea.
“What if we try to figure out all our incompatibilities? Then we might realize that we’re not losing something as special as we think we are.”
Sky nods, willing to play along.
“Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?” I begin.
“Extrovert,” he says.
“I’m an introvert,” I confess.
“I once read an article that said introverts are better off with extroverts. And vice versa.”
Yep, he definitely could have been debate team captain.
“Send me the study or I’m not buying it.”
“Do you really need the study? Opposites attract, haven’t you heard?” He scoots in closer, possibly to reinforce his words with a kiss, but I jump to the next question.
“What’s your love language?” I figure that with three sisters, he’s likely taken this test.
“Physical touch. Did you really have to ask?”
He’s right. I could have guessed that.
“Mine is quality time.”
“I like that second,” he adds.
“What about religion?” I continue. “Do you believe in God?”
Sky gets a faraway look in his eyes. “When I’m flying planes and I’m up there in the clouds—especially during sunrise or sunset—there are times I get so overwhelmed by all that’s around me that I tear up. There’s so much about the universe we don’t know. So much we don’t understand. I don’t know what’s out there, but I know it’s something so much bigger than us.”
His answer is not the same as mine here either, but it’s beautiful. So beautiful it makes me want to give looking out the window a shot next time I’m in the air.
“How about you?” He goes back to forking his lasagna.
“I grew up Christian, and I go to church on the major holidays, but I realize I go more because I’d like to believe in something rather than because I’m sure I do. Maybe I’ll find more faith while I’m here.”
“Pretty sure you don’t find faith, it finds you. It’s a lot like love in that respect.”
And here we are, on that topic again.
“I think this game sucks,” I announce.
Sky chuckles. “Me too. Luckily, I’ve got a better idea for handling this predicament than trying to convince ourselves that we don’t want what we want.”
I set my plate down and fold my hands together. “Explain.”
“What if I wait for you?”
I wrinkle my brows.
“You said you want to take these three months for you, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then take them. Three months from now is right around Christmas Eve, correct?”
It’s September 17 now. “About that, yeah.”
“I’ll be back Christmas Eve.” He sits up taller. “We could have our second date then.”
I blink. “You’d wait for me?”
He shrugs as if to say it’d be no big deal. “You’re going to be on my mind for the next three months whether we make this pact or not. It’d be nice if I knew that on the other side of missing you, I’d get to see you.”
No doubt Sky will be on my mind for a while too. And now that I think about it, trying to get him out of my mind might end up detracting from my ability to focus on my goals while I’m here. But if I did agree to this, I wouldn’t have to work to stop thinking about him. He could just stay in my head until I see him again.
“I could maybe be convinced of this. Keep talking.”
“We should keep talking.” He snaps his fingers, liking that idea, but I cut him off before he gets too excited.
“I don’t want to hear your voice during our time apart.”
“What’s wrong with my voice?”
How can I possibly express to him that his voice alone practically heats me up? “It’s . . . distracting.”
“Fine. What if we email?”
“Once a week,” I agree.
“Once a week until Christmas Eve. Then a date?”
I nod.
“I’ll take it,” he says.
“Wait.” I suddenly remember my job description on Christmas Eve. “The inn hosts an annual Christmas Eve party with sleigh rides and Santa and everything. It’s apparently the busiest day of the year, and I’ll be working late.”
“The whole town goes to that party every year,” Sky says. “Including me and my family. It’ll be perfect. We can reunite then.”
I nod, feeling a flicker of excitement in my stomach. I realize I haven’t been this excited for Christmas since I was a kid.
“All right, it’s a date,” I say.
“So you’re really in?”
“I’m in.” I reach across the blanket for Sky’s hand to shake on it. After our shake, he tugs on my hand, pulling me into his lap. I let him. It’s the kind of pact that should be sealed with a kiss.
Or maybe I just want to kiss him again.
Either way, a minute or so later, I’m flushed as I get to my feet.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“If we’re eventually going to have a second date—one where your family is going to be present, no less—I think we should rejoin the party.”
Sky gives me another one of his grins that I feel everywhere. That’s another reason I’m getting us out of his bedroom. I don’t need to resist him completely now that we have our plan, but I’m also not sure I’m ready for everything yet. And it’ll be a lot easier for me to contemplate it all if we don’t spend the rest of tonight in these close, private quarters.
four
THE ONLY POSITIVE thing I can pin down about Sky’s family so far—other than Sky, of course—is that they like their alcohol. I’m not a big drinker, but they’re the kind of people who drive you to drink, so it’s helpful that they like to keep the wine flowing.
Dinner was over by the time Sky and I rejoined the table, but we were just in time for dessert. Cal carried out a chocolate pound cake with candles from the kitchen, and Andrea trailed behind him with plates.
Once everyone was served, I found myself wondering who brought the pound cake and why, because Maryann criticized it at least nineteen times. Leave it to her to figure out how to make a dessert feel bad about itself.
You’d think by the woman’s seventieth birthday, her husband and kids would know what she likes and serve that instead. But when I whispered this to Sky, he said chocolate pound cake is her favorite dessert. “Imagine how much she’d complain if this were a dessert she didn’t like,” he replied.
It was then that I realized it had been a terrible mistake to leave Sky’s room. But we couldn’t exactly head right back upstairs.
So now we are in the living room, trying to make it through gifts. Luckily, I’m seated beside Andrea on the couch. She’s the only nice one. Sky’s other siblings scare me almost as much as Maryann and Cal. At the table, I overheard Sky’s brother, Owen, getting upset with Sky about the declining stock price of the airline Sky works for, as if Sky were in control of the ticker. And his other sisters, Olivia and Michelle, (I’ve finally gotten everyone’s names down) keep glaring at me.
“I know it’s a lot to walk into,” Andrea says as she bounces her two-year-old daughter, Emily, on her lap. We’re all having side conversations as we watch Sky’s mom unwrap a sweater. “You seem really good for Sky, though. I’m glad he met you.”
“How did you and Edward meet?” I shoot a glance at her husband, sitting over near Sky and Maryann in chairs near the fire.
“We met on a plane too. I’ve only flown three times in my life, and Edward was on one of the flights. We’ve been going strong six years now. So I’m a big believer in romances that start in the air.”
“Romances that start in the air,” I repeat. “That has a nice ring to it.”
She smiles and sets Emily down on the floor, then twists her blonde hair back into a low bun. “You’re the first girl Sky’s brought home since Julie, so he must really like you.”
Julie. That must be the name of the woman Sky was about to move in with. The one he regrets dumping.
“Well, I really like Sky too,” I say. Sky catches my gaze and gives me a flirtatious smile even though he couldn’t have heard what I said amid all the commotion. Maybe he read my lips. Or maybe, like me, he’s had a little too much wine.
I have no idea what glass I’m on. Every time I set my glass down it seems like someone fills it right back up. I better slow down. I imagine everyone will leave soon, and then it will be just Sky and me again, upstairs.
Too much wine coupled with what his smile does to me, and I might end up leaping into something I usually approach much more slowly.
“This next gift is from Sky and Harper,” Maryann announces. Oh, boy. I have no idea what it is, but that was sweet and smart of Sky to add my name to the package.
As she begins to unwrap it, Sky walks over to join me on the couch. I cuddle up next to him, hoping for his sake that Maryann is nice no matter what he picked out.
After she gets the big package unwrapped, there’s a smaller one inside it. In the smaller package is an even smaller box. And inside that, an even smaller one. The kids are having fun with all the packages and suspense, and I must admit, so am I.
Once she finally opens the last box, she’s left with a black velvet one.
“Oh my gosh,” she gasps, spinning it around after she’s popped it open to show us a pair of diamond earrings.
For the first time, Maryann appears to be without words. It makes me wonder if Sky chose this gift because he knew it would leave her speechless, and a speechless person can’t complain. Her hand is covering her mouth as she stares at the earrings.
I’m a bit speechless myself. I know Sky’s love language is physical touch and his second is quality time, but now I’ve just learned he’s also a good gift giver.
He kisses the top of my head as Maryann continues to shake hers.
Yep, I should definitely slow down on the wine before we go back upstairs.
—
It’s ten o’clock by the time the dishes are done, Sky’s siblings and their kids have all headed home, and Maryann and Cal have retired for the evening into their room on the main level. Ten o’clock is late, but not late enough that Sky and I are going to pass out once we get back into his room, so I contemplate my game plan as we climb the stairs.
I know I need some kind of strategy before we walk back in there because while I did slow down on the wine, ever since Sky joined me on the couch, we haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other. I can only imagine how handsy we’re going to get once it’s just us. So I block the doorway with my back before Sky can grab the handle.
“We need another code word,” I say.
“For what?”
“So I don’t have sex with you.”
He nods, processing this. “You don’t want to have sex with me?”
His question, his voice, and his proximity are making it really hard for me to remember that “no” is supposed to be my answer to that question.
“I do want to. But I generally don’t have sex with men I’ve just met. I like sex. But it needs to be combined with a connection and familiarity for me. I like being comfortable with someone.”
Sky nods again and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I like having sex that way too,” he says. He strikes me as the kind of guy that likes having sex every way. Then again, just because he exudes sex appeal doesn’t mean he sleeps around every chance he gets.
“The thing is,” he goes on, “I do feel comfortable with you, Harper. And you do feel familiar to me. But if you don’t feel the same way, I totally understand.”
I do feel the same way. I’m just not used to experiencing those feelings with someone I just met, and I don’t know what to do with that. Sky is blurring the lines of all my categories. And I need a minute to figure it out.
“It’s not that I don’t. It’s just that I haven’t completely made up my mind about what I want to do here.”
“Okay, then code word it is,” he says this with a smile, and I know he’s honestly respecting what I’ve said. Ironically, this makes me even more comfortable with him and in less need of a code word, but I don’t say that.
“Halt?” he suggests.
I smile. “Perfect.”
I open the door and walk in, Sky trailing in behind me.
“So I take it you’ve never had a one-night stand?”
“I got close once in college,” I say as I take a seat on his bed. Sky sits down beside me but leaves a respectful amount of space between us so that we’re close, but not touching.
I find myself wishing we were touching.
“Freshman year I left a party with a guy I’d just met who seemed nice and whom I found attractive. We got as far as naked in his bed before I realized I didn’t want to sleep with him. So I put a hand to his chest and told him I wanted to go home. He didn’t seem bummed out about my decision at all, which was nice. But I think that’s also why I wasn’t into it. I could tell it didn’t matter to him one way or the other whether we hooked up or not, or whether it was me in his room or some other random girl from the party, which made the whole thing feel meaningless. And that wasn’t what I wanted.”
I look from my hands up to him. “How about you? Any one-night stands?”
Sky doesn’t respond. He looks as if he’s still thinking about my story.
“I hate that someone made you feel interchangeable with any other girl, Harper. You aren’t, and you shouldn’t ever be made to feel like you are. I know when I look back on this crazy fake date we’ve had, it will be meaningful. One of those nights that sticks in my head and plays on a constant loop when I’m daydreaming or pops up randomly months later and puts a smile on my face.”
If I were to repeat everything Sky has said to me tonight to Zoe and Grace, I bet they would think some of his lines are cheesy. But they don’t sound cheesy when Sky says them. They sound sincere. Maybe it’s because I’m seeing the sincerity in his eyes when he delivers them.
I like how sincere Sky seems. I like how he’s making me feel.
I just like Sky.
I follow that thought with a kiss. Sky willingly receives it, and when I launch into another, something shifts, and he takes control then, smoothing down my hair and pulling me closer before lying me down and positioning himself over me. I hum my approval against his lips.
We keep kissing like this for a while. It’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed a kiss, so I don’t feel the need to rush it. Sky doesn’t rush it either, but I’m pretty sure that’s because in his mind there’s nothing to rush to. I told him no sex. And he seems set to honor that. Although I can feel how much of a challenge this is for him by the way his jeans are pushing against me.
“Sky?” I breathe.
“Yeah?” His lips are on my neck now, leaving a trail of kisses.
“What’s the opposite of halt?”
He pulls back a bit, looking at me. “Full speed?”
