Then the noises started.
Soft at first. Then a little louder. Heat crawled up the back of my neck before my brain caught up to what I was hearing. A man can’t catch a sound like that coming from behind the steam and just stand there.
Then she moaned my name, long and drawn out, a sound I hadn’t heard aimed at me in seven years. Every rule I had about giving her space walked right out of my head. I was across that terrace before I finished the thought.
She was standing there under the water with her head back, laughing before I even got words out.
“Really?”
“What?” She wiped water from her face, still laughing. “My shoulders were tight.”
“Skye...” I shook my head. “You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“And you came running, didn’t you?” She pointed at me. “Some things never change.”
“You are so childish, bruh. Why you playing?” I laughed, rubbing my neck.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She reached for her towel without a hint of shame. “Hand me that robe.”
I handed it to her because that’s just how easy things were between us now. We’d slipped back into our rhythm without either of us trying. I wasn’t mad about it. She came out onto the terrace with her hair up and sat across from me at the breakfast table.
She scooted closer and made her plate. I sat back down and did the same. She grinned at me, showing all her teeth.
“Are you willing to beg?” she asked, sliding her French-tipped toes in my lap. I grabbed her foot.
“Nah, no begging, Mrs. Simmons,” I said, locking eyes with her. She held my gaze and grinned, wide-eyed, caught. I placed a soft kiss on the heel of her foot, then another. “So, what’s it going to be, Spot?”
“What’s in it for me, Ducane? I can afford my own trips. I can treat myself to nice clothes.”
Her eyes rolled, but she kept it cute. She didn’t need my free trip to the island or my money. We both knew it. I’d made her promises before. Talk came easy to a man who did it for a living. It was standing behind the words after, day after day, that I’d been praying I was ready for.
“Everything I should’ve given you the first time,” I said. “I’m not going to tell you I got it all figured out. But I’m not running, and I’m not letting them pick for me again. That’s what’s in it for you. Me, all the way, this time.”
She searched my face, trying to read me.
“Fine, I’ll stay.”
MB: Shops open.
“Skye, I gotta step out for a second. Eat breakfast, get dressed, and give me an hour or two. Cool?”
“Yeah, are we exploring?”
“Is that what you want to do?”
She nodded.
“Let me hear you say it, Skye.”
“Yes. It’s what I want, Ducane,” she said, biting the corner of her lip. “You aren’t playing fair, and I’m going to remember that.”
I laughed low before kissing her forehead and heading out to meet my boy, Myheir Blackwell. She had no idea I was about to spend every day left of this trip winning her back. She was going to feel every one of them.
Myheir was already on the terrace of his suite when I got there, feet up. He stood when he saw me coming, and we dapped up.
“Simmons.” He handed me a Cuban without being asked and sat back down. “Congrats on the Mudd case. If I ever need you, nigga, you better pull up for me. Same way.”
“Preciate that. That shit changed everything. And the way you pull up for business, I’ll do that shit for free.”
