Page 41 of Reckless Skye

TJ cleared his throat and stood up. He dusted off his spotless shirt, said, ‘Sorry about that. I tripped.’

Skye snorted, and then immediately raised a hand to cover her mouth.

The couple stepped inside. The man pressed the button for the rooftop, where the bar was located, and then pointedly stood between his wife and TJ.

The elevator continued on its way, the heavy, awkward silence prevailing.

Don’t laugh.

Don’t laugh.

Don’t laugh.

Opposite her, TJ focused on her face, but Skye refused to meet his eyes, knowing that he was trying to get her to cave.

When they exited at their floor, he tipped his hat, said, ‘Have a good night.’

The second the doors closed, they both descended into giggles.

The moment was light and fun in a way that Skye had rarely experienced. Even with Andrea and Stevie, so many of Skye’s interactions had been governed by heaviness, by their need to check in and deal with the latest abuse. On the rare occasions when they had done something silly and foolish, it had been to pointedly escape whatever else Skye had been dealing with. But in these five seconds with TJ, it was just her being. Experiencing. Living.

‘You and Matthew actually have something in common,’ TJ observed.

Skye frowned. ‘Oh?’

‘Hunt Ranch. He worked there back when it was still a ranch. That’s actually how he got his start in bronc riding. The owners, James and Ava Hunt, sponsored him in the beginning. By the time they passed in a car accident and their son, Maverick, converted the cattle operation to a resort, Matthew was well on his way.’

‘Really? You’ve known him that long?’ Skye was surprised. The two men hadn’t seemed friendly. Or even familiar, really.

‘Nobody knows Matthew Savage,’ TJ commented. ‘He keeps to himself – and whichever woman he’s pursuing that day.’

The moment they came to their room, all thought of Matthew Savage vanished. TJ didn’t open the door. He passed Skye the keycard, leaned against the nearby wall, and watched her from beneath inky lashes.

She understood that he was letting her take that next step – and she didn’t hesitate. She pressed the keycard to the pad, opened the door with one clammy hand, and stepped inside.

The room was gorgeous. And it wasn’t a room, she realized as she walked through a genuine foyer, but a suite: a home away from home, with a full lounge area, a kitchen, and a bedroom behind sliding ornate doors.

Skye wasn’t sure how she felt about it. ‘Do you usually fork out several thousand dollars a night for a quick hook-up?’

TJ’s green eyes darkened. ‘Not typically,’ he replied, his tone carefully controlled. ‘But it’s not a quick hook-up either.’

While she stood frozen in the middle of the foyer, he walked to a beautiful display table that held an ice bucket and an ornate flower arrangement. He pulled a bottle of champagne out of the silver bucket, his movements quick and impatient.

Skye noted the rigid lines of his body, and tried to explain, to soothe. ‘I don’t want you to treat me differently.’

‘Tough shit.’ He very carefully put the chilled bottle on the table and turned to face her. ‘You are different. You matter,’ he reminded her. ‘Jesus, Skye, just the fact that you’ve never done this before has me in a full fucking sweat.’ He took off his hat and wiped his hairline with his sleeve, as if he needed to prove his point. ‘I’m terrified I’m going to scare you or do something wrong, or worse – hurt you. Fuck.’ He hung his head. ‘I couldn’t stand it if I hurt you.’

The nerves in her stomach twisted tighter at that. But there was one thing she was absolutely sure of: ‘You don’t scare me, Jesse Jones.’

It took all the courage she possessed to take those last few steps towards him, to close that distance and leave girlhood behind. But Skye did it because she absolutely knew, wherever their paths took them, there’d be no one quite like him again.

She rose up, placed her lips on his. The kiss was deep and slow, a gentle exploration of each other. But the soft pressure of his lips and tongue did nothing to calm the fire within her. Skye was consumed with it, by it. It rose within her like some destructive, inextinguishable flame that licked at the most intimate parts of her, igniting sensation everywhere.

She reached for his belt buckle, but TJ caught her hands in his. ‘Slow down.’

When she just frowned, he reached down and swept her off her feet. He carried her through to the bedroom, with its giant bed, and gently tossed her onto the middle of the mattress.

He reached for her boots, tugging first one and then the other off.