Thorneless (Rose of Thorne Series) (6 page)

Lucas

When Sasha and Celine approach me tonight, I cringe.
 Yes, I shamefully had fucked both of them when I was trying to get over Skylar and now I realize it was about to bite me in the ass.  Tomas stood next to me and smiled as he drank his bourbon and watched me squirm.  He’s too entertained to actually intervene and help me out.
Fucking bastard!

I still hadn’t been able to get free of Sasha and Celine’s claws when CeCe returns with Skylar. CeCe looks like she is about to behead me and the two girls beside me.
 She is such a sweet girl, but you don’t want to piss her off.  Trust me
—
she’s more than brutal when you do.

Bracing for her wrath, I watch amazed as she has the two women thrown out. But nothing could’ve made me more proud than when Skylar told them off in French.
 
Sweet Jesus, that was hot as fuck to witness.
 

We stayed until CeCe and Tomas had said their farewells to all of their guests and then we all hit a hot little club down the street.
 The girls are getting along fabulously and that makes me happy as fuck. I know how worried Skylar was to meet my friends and to be honest CeCe is a hard one to predict.  

“She really cares about you, I can see it. Are you going to tell her that you’re in love with her?” Tomas asks me in my ear as we watch our girls make their way to the dance floor.

“I need to wait until she’s ready and then I’ll tell her.”

I look over and spot CeCe and Skylar laughing and grinding on the dance floor. Glancing over to Tomas, I watch his eyes zone in on his wife. CeCe turns to face him and wiggles her finger at him while performing a seductive move to get him
to join her.  One more shake of her ass is all it takes and Tomas shoves his glass into my chest.

“That woman will be the death of me.
 If she doesn’t stop, I’m going to end up fucking her on the dance floor,” he says as he makes his way to her. I laugh because he isn’t kidding
—
I’ve seen him do it before.

After w
atching my two friends wrapped into one another smiling like lovesick fools, I glance over to a smiling Skylar who’s now dancing alone.  Suddenly, she is being tugged into another guy’s arms and I see red.  I slam down the glass and make my way to her. No one will touch my angel but me. She looks relieved as I grab her arm and get her away from the guy.  I ignore his anger and lock eyes with my goddess.  As the music pounds, we dance closely to the beat.  Every move she makes against me makes me lose more and more of my control.  We dance like this until the sun comes up and we’re both exhausted. Once we reach the hotel, I see her to her room and then crash into my bed.  

Tonight
was magnificent. I’m in the city I love with the woman I adore.  My life couldn’t get any better than this.

Skylar

Nothing is more magical than this place.  Everywhere I turn I find more to appreciate about this beautiful city.  I’ve never seen Lucas smile more than he has in the past week since we’ve been here.  Tonight we’re having dinner overlooking the water.  Maybe it’s the wine or maybe it’s the romance of the city, but I can’t help but feel myself falling for him more and more.  

After another fabulous day together in the city, he takes me for dinner at one of his favorite places.

“Dance with me,” he says and I smile.  I love dancing with this man.

Lucas leads me up and onto the stone walkway.
 We dance slowly to the music and I rest my chin on his shoulder.  This is so different than the other night.  I can feel desire and curiosity awakening in me.
 Am I ready for this? Will I ever be ready for this
? I don’t know the answer, but I don’t need one. Perhaps he’s my answer to all of this.               

When the song ends, I brave a glance into his eyes.
 The night air blows my sundress against me while he cups my face.  I place my hand on his and blink up to see his emerald eyes devouring me.  Slowly he inches his lips closer and I hold my breath. He kisses my mouth gently on each side before placing his lips on mine.  It’s slow at first, but as his tongue finds mine we intensify the kiss.  When we finally break for air, he turns up the sides of his mouth and traces my bottom lip with his thumb.

And for the first time in so many months, I feel as if I’m slowly coming back to life.
 This man, this wonderful man, just breathed life back into me and I’ll forever be grateful to him for it.  I don’t know what this is I’m feeling, but for now this is what I need.

Leaving this place is much harder than I thought it would be.
 Lucas gently grabs my hand and leans in to kiss my lips. “We’ll be back soon, I promise. Next time, we’ll stay for as long as you want,” he promises.

“Be careful with those words
, mister.  I kind of fell in love with this place and might not want to leave,” I smile, but his look is very serious.

“Nothing would make me happier,” he replies and I try to ignore the tugging in my chest.
 

I want to love him. I want to be happy.
Somehow, I just don’t think I’ll ever be able to let go of the man who still owns my heart.

Lucas

“Mr. Drake
, sir, the pilot told me to notify you that we’ll be landing within the hour in New York,” Lucy, my flight attendant informs me and I nod in her direction.

“Thank you, Lucy,” I reply and close my laptop in front of me. I stand and stretch my arms above my head and glance over at my sleeping angel.
 She’s curled up in a blanket on the leather seat with her sketchpad on her lap.  I walk over and gently move back the long curls that have fallen in front of her face.  I don’t know what I had done to deserve her in my life.  I know we aren’t officially together, but she owns me in every way.  

I reach down and pi
ck up her sketchbook and admire her artwork.
She’s so unbelievably talented at this.
I can’t even draw a stick figure without it looking like shit. Skylar has been working so hard lately on the new company design for Kingston Gilbert’s London office, that I know she’s exhausted. The two older men are quite smitten with her and have been charmed with her every proposal.  Even if I’m being biased, it’s true that her design is phenomenal. I can’t wait for it to be revealed at their posh London party next month.  Kingston Gilbert is also a client of mine and their parties are legendary.

By the looks of the invitation that had been sent out, this party will be their biggest bash yet.
 Themed a Mystery Masquerade Ball, each guest is to remain masked for the entire event.  I’ve been to a few of these kinds of things before and it’s always fun to guess who’s behind the mask.  More than anything, I can’t wait to see her in the dress that I bought for her.  
Actually, I had it personally designed for her, but she doesn’t have to know that part.
 Skylar looks great in anything she wears, but there is something about seeing her face light up when she’s all dressed up.  The poor girl didn’t even get to go to her own prom, so I take extra effort with things like this to pamper her.  I know she can’t afford to buy all the fancy attire these kinds of things demand and it makes her mad as hell when I always insist on paying for them. Every time I buy her anything expensive, she’ll pout and cross her arms at me.   I secretly love seeing her pout.  I think it’s about the second hottest damn thing in the world, actually.  
The first hottest thing is seeing this girl in a bikini.  SWEET JESUS! (And she wondered why I made damn certain we spent as long as possible in Fiji!)

I lay her book on the seat beside her and place the blanket up ove
r her bare shoulders.  My hands linger on her skin for as long as I possible.  She moves her head a bit to the side and then settles back into her deep sleep.

We would be in New York for the week and I have a huge surprise for her when we arrive.
 I can’t wait for her to see what’s waiting for her in her suite.  I would happily give her the world if only she would allow me to, but this will be one gift she will definitely not pout about.

Skylar

When I wake up from my nap on the plane, I’m grumpy.  I hate naps for this very reason, but here lately I haven’t been sleeping well at all.  Sure, I’ve been busy helping Lucas and making last approvals of my design for Kingston Gilbert, but lately Sebastian has been invading my dreams.  

Every dream is so real . . . so captivating that I don’t want to wake up.
 If I stay asleep, then his touch is still real.  His kiss, it’s still real.  Our time together is still real.  I love him in my sleep, but I hate him when I wake. I think I hate myself more for loving him at all.  I have someone else who loves me and wants me.  Lucas has never hurt me and he’s seen me through these dark times.  
Why can’t I get Sebastian out of my heart
!  I want to love Lucas, but I can’t.  My heart won’t let me.

Rubbing my neck, I try to work loose the catch that is now there.
 Lucas’ hand slips over my skin and gently begins working on my muscles.  
Holy Shit! That feels so damn good right now.  

“I wish you had taken the bed in the back instead of insisting on keeping me company all night.
 Now you’ve hurt your neck,” he says and I smile at him as I slide into the backseat of the waiting town car.

“No, I wanted to work on some sketches and it’s my fault for falling asleep in an awkward position. I think I’ll call it a night once we get to the hotel.”

“I’m afraid not, my pet. We have lots of work to do and I need you to work on getting ready for my meeting Thursday.”

“Lucas! We just got here and I already told you I had everything together,” I grumble at him and slouch further into the seat of the town car.
 Crossing my arms I look out my tinted window at the airport traffic and silently curse him all the way to our hotel.

Once we check
in, I reluctantly follow Lucas up to our suites.  All I want is a hot bath and to crash. Surely he can wait until tomorrow before needing my help.  Lucas stops in front of my suite and hands me my card and smiles.  That smile of his truly is lethal. Every bit of my anger evaporates the moment I see his eyes begin to sparkle.

“How can you be so chipper after such a long flight and no sleep?” I ask him grumpily as I snatch my card from his hand.

He tucks my hair behind my ear and kisses me on the lips.

“Because who wouldn’t be chipper to see such a beautiful grumpy girl?” he replies and presses me against his strong chest. I inhale his delicious scent and smack him on the
shoulder.

“I wouldn’t be grumpy if you’d give me the night off,” I reply.

“No can do, my sweets.  I’m afraid it can’t wait,” he says and I swipe my card and roll my eyes at him.  

“What’s so damn important that it can’t wa . . . ” I say before losing my breath and coming face to face with my sister.

“SOPHIE!” I scream as I run to my smiling sister.  I haven’t seen her in so long and we didn’t even get to see each other over the holidays because her soccer team had gone to a huge camp over in London. I hug her so tightly that Lucas has to intervene.  

“You’re going to squeeze the life out of her Skylar,” he chuckles as he rubs my back.

“I don’t want to let go of her. I’m afraid she isn’t real!” I exclaim with tears in my eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her as I loosen my grip around her.
 

“Lucas arranged it all.
 I have a short break from soccer this weekend and he fixed it to where we could have a couple of days together.”

T
urning to face him and for the first time, he shyly looks away from me.  I let go of my sister and make my way over to where he’s standing near the door.  

“I’ll just leave you two alone. I h
ave some business to finish up,“ he says and reaches for the door.

“Don’t you dare step a foot out of that door, Lucas Drake!” I say sternly and he looks over his shoulder in shock before turning to face me.

I walk forward and throw my arms around his neck and lift up and wrap my legs around his body.  

“Thank you so much Lucas.
 This is exactly what I needed,” I say looking him into his deep gaze.  I lean in and kiss him gently on the lips and he smiles back at me as I slide back down.

“It is my pleas
ure, gorgeous,” Lucas whispers and then turns to leave.

It makes me sad to see him
go.  Even though I am so excited to have my sister with me, part of me silently misses him.

“Well sis, we have all night.
 I’m calling room service and you’re going to catch me up on everything,” Sophie demands as she reaches for the phone beside her.

I smile and nod.
I still cannot believe she’s really here
. For the rest of the night we sit and talk—we laugh and we cry.  I tell her about my struggles with everything and she finally admits to me that she and Rylan have broken up.  What I hadn’t expected is that she’d been the one to break it off with him.  She smiles like I had never seen her smile before as she talks about someone she met in London. Even as happy as she seemed with Rylan, it isn’t like this. Their short London romance had done a number on her and now she’s trying to put her life back together so it doesn’t affect her soccer.  Her new Spring Training was about to start next week and she tries to reassure me that it’s for the best since she didn’t want any distractions right now.

Sophie and I spent the next day and a half exploring the city and shopping.
 When I went to buy her some new clothes for school, the storeowner shakes her head and informs me that it had already been taken care of.  Lucas Drake can be quite the sneak when he wants to be.  

Quickly our time together comes to an end and I sadly put my sister on Lucas’ jet bound back for Boston.
 I want to go back with her, but with our meeting only a day away I know it isn’t possible.  Before she leaves she hugs me and whispers, “Listen to your heart, Sky.  Please let yourself love again. Love looks so good on you, sis!”

She’ll never know how much I needed to hear those words.
 Now if I can just get my heart to understand who to love.