Page 80 of Heartsick & Lipsticks
NICK
“That was delicious,”I repeated the compliment for at least the fifth time as I stood at the sink doing the dishes. Carmen was an incredible cook, but there was something different about the meals that Skye made. They felt like home.Shefelt like home.
“Thanks.” Skye smiled sweetly as she put the remaining food into containers.
I slowly rinsed off a plate, taking extra care to wipe it several more times than needed to prolong our time together in the kitchen. It had been years since I’d cleaned up after myself. Even before Bella was delivered to my doorstep, I had full-time help. But since Skye had moved in, she’d cooked and I’d helped clean up every night, and I loved it.
It wasn’t so much the actual act of cleaning I loved, as much as the time in the kitchen being the only alone time we got. The kids scattered after dinner; I assume to avoid after dinner dishes. Lola and Naomi retired back into the room to binge watch reality TV and Skye and I got thirty minutes to an hour of uninterrupted time. I found myself looking forward to these stolen, private moments from the second I woke up in the morning. And I found myself missing them after they were over until I fell asleep at night.
“It was a good podcast today. Ben’s story was really interesting. I liked him.”
Hearing her say that she liked another man, especially a man who had played professional football, had been on the cover of Esquire, GQ, and Men’s Health and was now in the business of love had me feeling something I’d never experienced pre-Skye. Namely, red hot jealousy. The green-eyed monster and I had been strangers before Skye came into my life, now the bastard was showing up on a regular basis.
Clearing my throat, I tried to make sure not to give away my cave-man reaction to her innocent comment. “Yeah, Ben’s a good guy.”
Skye stopped and looked up at me, her eyes brimming with innocence. The kind of innocence that made me want to corrupt her. “Do you not like him?”
“No, he’s great.” I doubled down.
Her eyes lowered and I followed her gaze. When I did, I realized that I was squeezing the shit out of the stainless-steel scouring pad I’d used to clean out the pot. I un-fisted my hand and shut off the water.
“Have you ever thought about using his services?” she asked. “The matchmaking services.”
Since she’d moved in, I’d intentionally kept our conversations as PG, no G. I had been as professional and friendly as I possibly could. Besides the first day on the beach, I’d managed to not even come close to the flirt line. I’d respected her warning about the conditions of her moving in, and I wanted her to feel comfortable in my house. My commitment to that effort meant that I steered away from anything personal. But since she was the one to broach the subject, I took it as a green light.
“No. I’ve never had problems getting dates.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she licked her lips. I knew that she was doing it out of nerves but that didn’t stop me from getting a semi-chub. “I know, but I was talking about, not just a date but. Never mind.”
She abruptly turned her attention to the stove and began wiping down the stove top.
“No, what were you going to say?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head.
I stepped beside her and put my hand on her forearm to stop her from scrubbing a hole in the stainless steel. She stilled and her eyes shot to mine. Even though the only place we were touching was my fingertips on her arm, I could feel her through my entire body. A current of awareness ran from her into me making the innocent touch anything but.
Knowing that if I didn’t break the force, it would pull me in, I dropped my hand and immediately missed the connection, innocent or not.
“I really want to know what you were going to ask.”
“I was just wondering if you ever thought about…you know having something more serious.”
Not until I met you. That was my honest response, but something was stopping me from saying that. It was fear. But what was I afraid of?
“I’m only asking because Bella said something earlier, when she was helping me make dinner.”
I loved that Bella helped Skye cook and bake. She’d never been interested in either before. Every once in a while, she’d decorate cookies with Carmen, but it definitely had not been a regular thing.
“What did she say?”
“It’s nothing, really.” Skye licked her lips nervously and I swallowed a groan. “She was just saying she wished you had a girlfriend. I know it’s none of my business, and I’m not one to talk since Callie signed me up for a dating app—”
“She did?!” The thought of Skye meeting random men, hell any men, did not sit well with me. The caveman DNA I hadn’t even known I’d had was activated again. “When?”
“Um, a while back. Before we moved in here.” She shook her head as if that wasn’t the point. “Anyway, I wa—”
“I thought you didn’t date.”
