Page 40 of Nights at Seaside
“I didn’t mean that—”
“I know. But I want you to know this. I’m a pretty private guy. I like my solitude, and…” He paused, trying to figure out how much he should reveal. One look in her trusting eyes and he knew he couldn’t hold anything back. “I’m not a saint, but I haven’t been the kind of guy that sleeps around for a very long time, and I think I’ve pretty well sowed any wild oats I might have had.”
She searched his eyes, and he hoped she saw the sincerity in them.
“I knew you were nervous when I first carried you upstairs, and I realize that was presumptuous of me. I’m sorry if you felt at all rushed. I was so caught up in you—”
She shook her head, and her lips curved into the sweet smile that he already couldn’t imagine living without. “I think I rushedmyself, but by the time we came together last night, everything felt perfect.”
Relief washed through him. “For me, too, and I’m sorry that I was outside when you woke up, but if I had stayed beside you, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off of you.”
“That’s about the best reason I can imagine to be left alone. Actually, it was better. You gave me a chance to breathe. We skipped the whole awkward morning-after thing, and I got to see how clean you keep your bathroom.” She arched a brow. “Impressive.”
“If a clean bathroom is impressive to you, wait until you see how spotless my gym is.” He expected her to laugh, but as her smile faltered and her eyes skipped away from his, he knew he’d struck a nerve.
“You don’t like clean gyms?” he said to lighten the mood, knowing she was still wrestling with his career. She didn’t respond, and that worried him. “Sky, talk to me. If you can’t handle what I do for a living, please tell me.”
When she looked up at him, he saw how conflicted she was and felt it like a kick to the gut. “Why did you sleep with me if you’re unsure?”
“Because Ireallylike you, Sawyer, and I guess I just pushed the whole fighting thing away. It doesn’t even feel real to me.”
“Oh, it’s real all right, Sky. It’s very real.”
“I get that, and I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve seen you play your guitar, and I’ve spent time hanging out with you. Heck, I saw you doyogaon the beach, and that’s about as passive as it gets.”
“Yoga centers me.” He hated how frustrated he sounded, but he’d opened his heart for the first timeever. Sky was intelligent and sweet. She was creative and thoughtful, and she obviously put family first, just as he did. He’d never felt this strong of a connection before. She saw the world through the same lens he did—except with regard to his career—and he didn’t want to think about losing her because of his career.
“Yoga is a way to come down from the high of my workout. Before you woke up, I did a hundred push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, a weight workout, and I went for an eight-mile run.”
“And you punched the air,” she added wistfully.
He looked at her in confusion.
“I saw you on the beach. You were punching the air.”
He pulled her in close and kissed her again, despite the string of doubt hanging between them. “You’re so stinkin’ cute, Sky. Shadowboxing. It’s a way to warm up, or in this morning’s case, to release energy.”
She pressed her forehead to his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, memorizing the feel of her. If he took her home and she decided that this was all they’d have, he wanted to remember everything about this moment. How she’d had such a big impact on him so fast, he had no idea. But he wasn’t about to pick it apart to figure it out. He soaked in her scent, the feel of her soft curves against his hard body, and he hoped—man, did he hope—that she’d come around and give him a chance.
Chapter Eleven
SKY FILLED MERLIN’S bowls with fresh food and water and crouched beside the kitchen counter to love him up. He purred as he rubbed against her. Sawyer had dropped her off a few minutes ago, and her head was still spinning from their conversation.
“Iknowthat he told me he was a boxer before we slept together, but that’s not the point,” she said to Merlin, who stared at her like she was talking to him about the virtues of cat food.
“Ha!” Jenna said as she came through the screen door. “I told you she slept with him.”
Bella and Amy followed her in, each of them wearing sundresses over their bathing suits, their go-to summer outfits.
“Did the fact that I didn’t come home last night clue you in?” Sky asked with a laugh.
Jenna bent down and petted Merlin. “Hello, baby boy. Did Mama give you all the details on her hot sex god of a boyfriend?”
Bella snagged a pretzel from the jar on the counter and pointed it at Sky. “You have that freshly bedded look, but it’s rough around the edges, like maybe he wasn’t as good as we hoped he would be?”
“I didn’t know we were hoping for good sex.” Sky flopped down on the couch with a loud sigh. “To answer your curiosity, he was a-ma-zing in bed, thank you very much.”
Bella tapped her chin. “I remember a certain someone who said that when she fell for a guy, she was going to wait to have sex.”
