Holding Out For Skye (12 page)

“Yeah.” It would just put Cian even more in Skye’s bad books if he dismantled her bedroom door. Best thing to do was to leave now, and fight another day. Like tomorrow. “Bye, darling. Miss me.”

“Not happening,” came the loud answer.

Nick and Cian grinned at each other even as Thea giggled, then they finally left.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sunday dawned bright and clear.
Why couldn’t it have been overcast and dreary?
Skye wondered as she nervously waited for Cian to show up. Why couldn’t there have been a thunderstorm or a cyclone or a freak snow blizzard just for today? Not to harm anyone of course, just so everyone would stay the hell home. That would be a plausible excuse not to attend this lunch, right?

Her stomach in knots, Skye fretted over what could go wrong today. What if they hated her outfit? A beautiful autumn colored dress, it fell just past her knees. The silky fabric of the dress was in different shades of golden browns and reds and swirled around her body. It had a small round neckline and small sleeves. The fabric itself was the eye-catcher, with its shades of autumn colors.

Skye had accessorized it with a red crystal tear-drop necklace and matching earrings. A beautiful red star-shaped-glass-beaded bracelet was strapped at her right wrist. Cute red sandals completed her outfit.

Sitting on one of the stools at the breakfast counter, she admired her dangling feet. The sandals were the cutest thing ever. The straps were star-shaped and criss-crossed over her feet and around her ankle. Ooh, they were just so cute!

She and Kiera were complete shoe addicts. What girl didn’t love shoes? Skye had to be careful of her budget but whenever she could, she splurged on books and shoes. What a wonder it was that shoes could make your feet look so amazing!

And she knew she was trying her best not to think about the lunch itself. Her thoughts shifted to Kiera, who had called her last night. After the traitors and the Neanderthal left, she’d spent the rest of the day catching up on her reading. Kiera had finally gotten her to read the
Charley Davidson
series by Darynda Jones. She’d been right that Skye would find the books totally awesome. She was definitely trying out Darynda Jones’ young adult series next.

By the way, she reminded herself, she needed to charge her Kindle. She’d gone to bed early in the evening, the excitement of the past few days taking their toll on her.

So she’d been jolted awake when Kiera had called her around one a.m. to gush on about her date with Ash. Skye had added her name as well on her list of people to off. Kiera had only laughed at that. Skye smiled at the memory. Kiera’d been all bubbly with happiness. And she’d been darn wide awake.

From what she remembered of their conversation, Ash had called Kiera after he got her number from Skye and asked her out that night itself. Kiera had been surprised at herself when she had immediately said yes. She then proceeded to tell Skye how she’d had the perfect first date ever. Ash had been perfect, he’d looked absolutely gorgeous in a dark blue suit and white shirt. He’d brought her red roses and taken her to the cutest little bistro ever in North End. He was partial to the food there and he’d wanted to share it with her.

Kiera had been over the moon over how she and Ash had just clicked. Their first kiss had been perfect!
Everything
had been perfect. By then, Skye had decided that ‘
perfect
’ was Kiera’s new favorite word.

What she found most revealing though was the fact that not once had Kiera mentioned Ash’s resemblance to Ian Somerhalder. It was as if she didn’t even
see
it. To her, Ash was just Ash.

There was a sudden bang on the door, scattering her thoughts. Skye jumped in her seat, startled. It had to be Cian. He’d taken to banging on her door now, probably since she’d never hear him knock.

She nervously smoothed down her dress and stood up. Her pulse sped up with each step she took to the door. Uncertainty held her rooted in front of the door. She was going to meet Cian’s family. What if they hated her? Taking a deep breath, she finally opened the door.

The sight of him sent her pulse into overdrive. He was dressed in a dark red shirt and black jeans. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Her heart did a jumpy melty thing in her chest.

Cian took one look at her and his heart flopped out of his chest to land at her feet. If he hadn’t already been in love with her, this would have cinched it. And he’d thought he’d dated beautiful woman before. Any other women before her paled in comparison. She looked… . exquisite. Made for him.

The dress molded her figure and flared around her hips dramatically. She had done something to her eyes to make them look alluring. Instead of her usual ponytail, her hair was loose.

The tone of her skin looked even paler. His fingers itched to touch her. His eyes traced her from head to toe and stopped at her feet.
The shoes!
His eyes widened at the sexiest pair of shoes he’d ever seen gracing her delicate ankles. He wondered if she could see where his heart had landed. Anxiety and resolve shimmered in her eyes, causing tenderness to well up in him. His Amazon.

Skye could feel a blush rise up her cheeks. Why didn’t he say anything? Why was he staring at her like that? Like she was his favorite cake and ice cream all wrapped up in one giant dessert. Her face turned redder. What was she
thinking
?

“Aren’t we going to be late?” she blurted out, not knowing how to break this pregnant silence between them.

A slow, enigmatic smile on his face, Cian stepped forward and closed the door with one foot. He advanced slowly towards her, like a stalking panther.

Skye backed away warily. What was the matter with him? He was acting weird.

“Cian?”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to kiss you.” His voice had deepened, become huskier.

What?
“You don’t have to do that,” Skye told him a bit desperately, still backing away.

“Oh, but I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

Then there was nowhere to go as her back hit the breakfast counter. Her hands shot out to clutch at it, confirming she was indeed trapped. Panic flared inside her as he moved in, his hands behind his back and lowered his head.
No,
no, no, no… . . .

Skye’s thoughts scattered as his mouth covered hers. A sigh slipped past her as he simply took her away. She felt as if her heart soared and sang the melody to some unnamed song that filled her entire being with light. A light that blasted past her shields and left her defenseless to this assault on her senses, on her soul.

Cian moved closer to her, his entire body battered with a maelstrom of emotions that rose in him more powerful than before. The taste of her was intoxicating, and he wanted to plunder, demand she give him everything. Longing and desire flooded his senses, tempting him to just
take
. He reigned in his emotions with an iron control, pulling himself back from the brink.

The heart was such a strange thing. How could anyone feel so much for one person and not have their heart burst from the intensity of those feelings?

Her eyes were still closed. Cian was tempted to kiss her again when she opened them and gazed at him. Heartbreaking brown eyes that held fathomless depths, secrets, so many emotions that she hid with a tough expression. The soft heart that she kept guarded with her prickly attitude. Was it any wonder he loved her? The words sprang on the tip of his tongue, threatening to spill over.

Skye stared at him in awe. How did he do that to her? How did one kiss from him turn her insides to mush? How did he bring about all these feelings inside of her? How could she feel
so much
for him so
fast
? It scared her.

Yet, she couldn’t help herself from reaching up and touching his face with light fingers. Skye felt like she was petting a wild creature. His mercury eyes deepened, darkened at her touch. This was the first time she’d reached out to him on her own.

Cian turned his face in her hand and pressed a kiss in her palm. A gasp escaped her lips when her hand tingled.

Cian dropped a kiss on her nose and stepped back. “You look good enough to eat,” he managed in a husky voice.

Shyness bloomed pink on her skin. She needed to be irked at him. Why wasn’t she? Why did she feel all warm and mushy inside? “Thank you… I think.”

Cian smiled and pulled his hand from behind his back. Skye stared at the bouquet of blue flowers, absolutely stunned.

“You brought me flowers.” The shock she was feeling reverberated in her voice.

His lips curved at the shell-shocked look on her face. “Well, of course I brought you flowers. It’s our first formal date. They’re blue irises. I figured, with your absurd love of the color, you’d prefer these to roses.”

He’d been right. She preferred the irises to roses. How had he known that about her? Skye took them with hands that shook at the emotion overpowering her. No one had given her flowers before.
She
had never realized she’d want them. They were beautiful, perfect, such a deep blue they were almost purple. Unable to help herself, she touched the soft petals reverently then pressed her face against the flowers.

“No one’s given me flowers before.” A poignant look in her eyes, she gave him a perfect, full-of-wonder smile.

“Well, learn to expect them from now on,” Cian told her gruffly, his throat choked with emotion at the look she was giving him. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to buy her truckloads of flowers. She deserved them every day. He vowed to himself then and there to always bring her some. Just to see that perfect unguarded smile on her face again. “So where did you get that awesome dress?” he asked her in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Skye tried not to blush again. She could still feel the lingering effects of his reaction over the dress. She strived to sound normal. “It was a birthday present from Kiera. She said I wear too much blue. Can you believe it?” she said in an insulted voice. “You can never wear too much blue.” In fact, much to Kiera’s chagrin, she had worn the dress only once.

“With you, no, you can never wear too much blue,” Cian agreed in an amused voice. “And on that note…” He quickly took her picture with his cell phone.

“Hey! Why’d do that? I hate having my photo taken!”

“Who knows when you’ll wear that dress ever again?”

“With you taking my pictures, never again,” she vowed crossly. Skye knew there was no way she could get her hands on his phone to delete the photo. For one thing, he was taller, faster, a helluva lot stronger. For another, he fought dirty. She had a feeling if she ventured into close proximity with him, she’d only be asking for trouble.

She strode into the kitchen and took a dark blue vase from one of the cupboards lining the wall above the sink. Filling it with water, she arranged the irises into it. There was no way she was letting those flowers die on her.

Cian leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed, a smile playing at his lips as he watched her puttering around. When she turned and saw him standing there, smiling, she scowled. “What?

“Nothing. I just like watching you.”

Skye felt heat rush in her cheeks again. Damn it, she
had
to stop blushing around him. This was getting old real fast. Maybe there was a serum or something she could take to stop herself from blushing. Or she could just cover her face ninja style so only her eyes would show. He’d probably object to that.

She took out a large sealed container from the fridge and handed it to him. Curiosity flickered in his eyes.

“What’s this?”

“Brownies.”

“You baked brownies?” Cian said incredulously.

“Yes.”

“You
know
how to bake brownies?” That got him a bland stare. “Seriously. I think I should taste one to see if they’re any good.”

Skye slapped at his hand as he started to open the sealed container.

“Hey!”

“No touching. No eating.”

“Man, you’re so strict. Why did you make brownies?”

“Duh. To bring for your family lunch.”

Cian’s eyes softened to cloud-gray. She’d made brownies for his family? It told him she was trying, that she was making an effort to accept their relationship. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Skye sent him an are-you-crazy? look. “Yes, I did. When you’re invited to a family thing, you need to bring along something. Even
I
know that.”

His family was going to love her. Cian grinned as he envisioned her reaction at that. She was going to lament on the number of people that kept cropping up in her life in association to him, Nick and Thea.

“Why are you grinning like that?”

Cian replaced the grin with an innocent look. “I’m just smiling.”

“No, you’re not. You’re planning something.”

Oh, she knew him so well. “When did you get on the paranoia wagon? Man, I feel so left-out. I could have hopped on too.”

Skye gave him a disgruntled look. “Wait here, I’ll grab my bag. No eating the brownies.” She headed for her bedroom, then did an about-turn, a hopeful look on her face. “Or is there any way I can just stay home? I’m sure your family would be very happy with just you showing up.”

Cian gave her a pitying glance. “Oh please. My mom would have my head on a platter. Come hell or high water, my darling girlfriend, you are
definitely
going.”

She gave a dejected sigh and trudged to her room. Cian chuckled softly at her tactics.

In her room, Skye took a moment to just breathe. She grabbed her small red cloth purse with the long strap from her nightstand and checked it for all the necessary items she needed.

Tissues. Check. Cell phone. Check. Lip gloss. Check. What else did you need when meeting your boyfriend’s family? Body armor came to mind.

She turned to go when her reflection caught her attention. Her face looked different. She moved closer to the mirror. The look in her eyes… There was a wildness in them, an awareness that had never been there before. An awareness of Cian. Her lips were slightly swollen. She flushed and quickly fixed the pale pink gloss she wore.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Okay, she’d digressed long enough. If she didn’t go out there, he’d probably barge in and carry her out himself.

Skye opened the door and at the question in his eyes, took a deep breath and said, “I’m ready.”