Page 109 of Choosing Skyler

Her grin vanishes and she gets on her knees in the driver’s seat to reach over and take my face in both hands. “Brady, youdotake care of me. You were there for me after my attack. You pull me out of every panic attack that attempts to grab me. You pay for things I should be paying for myself. You jumped in front of abulletto save me. Don’t ever think that a lack of sex means you’re not taking care of me. Do you hear me?!” Her voice shakes with emotion and her breaths are too fast.

I wrap one hand around the back of her neck and place the other on her chest. “Breathe with me, Beautiful. I’m right here. You’re right. I’ve got you. We’ve got each other. Breathe with me.”

She takes a deep breath and leans forward to kiss me. I pull her further, urging her to climb into my lap.

“Brady, I can’t sit in your lap. No lifting, remember?” she says, trying to pull back.

“Just don’t put weight on my stomach. You can sit on my legs. I just need to hold you.Please?” I pull her again and this time she climbs over and carefully straddles my lap, keeping her weight on my thighs.

I pull her face to mine and devour her mouth. We spend the next half hour making out in the front seat of my mom’s car like a couple of teenagers. It’s perfect.

The flight back to Thorngrove is uneventful. Flying in a private jet sure beats flying commercial. I offer to pay Timothy for the fuel or the crew, but of course he refuses. We touch down just after noon and climb into Timothy’s SUV that he left in long-term parking when he and Devon flew to Virginia. Julie offers me the front seat and climbs in the back with Skyler before I can refuse.

Skyler is a little giddy as we ride the elevator to our floor. It’s odd that she’s so excited to be here when she was sad to leave the house this morning. She was already making plans to come back for fall break and have Thanksgiving dinner there.

“You excited to be home?” I ask, brushing a loose piece of hair back off her face that’s fallen from her ponytail.

She starts to shake her head, then stops and nods. “I miss Devon… and Tracey… and Chelsea,” she says nervously, then shrugs.

As soon as we enter the apartment, I see exactly what had her so giddy. I’m met with the same enthusiastic crowd that met her when she came home from the hospital several weeks ago.

“Welcome home!” they cheer when we step through the door.

I chuckle and glance at Skyler who’s looking up at me and biting her bottom lip to hold back her grin.

“You did this?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “It was my idea, but Devon and Tracey did all the work.”

I grip the back of her neck and pull her into a steamy kiss in front of everyone, before pulling back and running my thumb along her bottom lip. “I love you, Beautiful.”

“I love you, too,” she says before she’s snatched from me and hauled into Devon’s arms.

“I love you tooooo!” he croons, wrapping Skyler in a tight bear hug. Looking up at me over her head, he says, “I missed you guys. I’d hug you too, Bro, but I don’t want to hurt you,” he says, almost seriously.

I laugh and pull him into a gentle hug. “Just be easy, man,” I say, slapping him on the back before pulling back to greet everyone else.

We spend the next few hours talking and drinking and playing games with our group of friends. I’m going to miss this bunch when we move next year, but we can always come back to visit. Hell, maybe I’ll buy us a little place here—or a big place. Then, we can all stay there together when we visit…

“Whatcha thinkin’ about so hard, Hot Stuff?” Skyler says, pulling me from my rambling thoughts as she slides up next to me on the balcony.

“The future,” I tell her with a grin.

“Well, as long as that future includes me… it can be whatever you choose,” she smiles.

I grip the back of her neck and kiss her hard. “That future will always include you, Beautiful. I’ll spend the rest of my life choosing you.”

Epilogue

ThreeMonthsLater

Skyler

“Seriously, Brady?! It’s freezing out here!” I whine as Brady drags me onto the beach, clutching my new surfboard under his other arm.

“Come on, Beautiful. You’ve got a thermal wet suit on. You won’t even feel the water. I just want to see you rideonewave. You’ve been practicing for three days. I know you can do it,” he pleads.

“Yeah, that was before the temperature decided to take a nosedive overnight. I won’t be able to help cook Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow if I have pneumonia!” I say, throwing my hands up dramatically—and now I’m acting like Devon.

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