“God, Jess! I think I may be done for the moment.”
“I’m sure you can hold up, stud,” Jessica murmured before parting those strong thighs and sucking hard on the clit that pulsed between them.
Chapter Eleven
It was well after midnight when Jessica finally left Skyler’s sleepy embrace and headed up to the house. She crept up the stairs so she wouldn’t wake Kate and Charlie, but when she opened her bedroom door, there was a small boy sleeping in a tight ball on her bed. She took a quick shower, pulled on some soft flannel pajama pants and a clean T-shirt, and crawled into the bed beside him.
Charlie snuggled into her arms. “Where were you? I’ve been looking for you.”
“I’m here now, Charlie. Did you have a bad dream or just feeling lonely?” She softly stroked the dark head.
The boy began to sniffle. “Kate said my uncle is coming to get me in the morning. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you and Kate,” he sobbed.
Poor Kate. She’d had a lot to deal with today. First Scott, then telling Charlie his uncle was coming to take him.
“Oh, Charlie. We both wish you could stay, too. But you need to give your uncle a chance. From what I hear, he really wants you to come live with him.”
Charlie tightened his grip around Jessica’s ribs as if he could stay by holding tighter. “I don’t even know him. He and Mom would talk on the phone a lot, but he never came to see us. Mom said he lived really far away. What if he takes me really far away and I never see you again?”
“Honey, your mother must have trusted him very much to leave you in his care. Tell you what. I’ll stick close to you all day, okay? If your Uncle Mark doesn’t seem like a great guy, I’ll personally tell him you are a horrible boy and cause lots of trouble so he should leave you here. How’s that?”
Jessica hoped for a smile, but got only a sniffle and a trembling “Okay” from her young friend. She rubbed his back until she felt him relax and drift off the sleep. She closed her eyes, too, and fell into a deep, restful sleep laced with dreams of a certain blond trainer.
Jessica worked to keep the breakfast conversation lively, hoping to take Charlie’s mind off his impending departure. But as they finished off huge stacks of pancakes topped with syrup and strawberries, Charlie grew quiet.
“We’re expecting your uncle a little later, sometime after lunch,” Kate said after taking a phone call. “He’s already had the stuff from your mom’s house shipped to his home in Atlanta. Do you have your clothes packed?”
“Yeah. I’m all packed,” Charlie said glumly.
Jessica brightened. “Atlanta? Hey, Charlie. Remember I told you my mom lives there? I can come see you, if you like, when I go to visit her.”
Charlie’s face brightened. “That would be great.”
“And you know what? How about we pack a picnic and take a trail ride this morning, since we have some extra time. We can ride up to Skyler’s sunbathing spot and picnic there.”
“Can Sky come with us?”
The vision of Skyler’s nude body stretched out beneath her brought a warm flush to Jessica’s cheeks. “Only if she promises to keep her clothes on,” Jessica mumbled under her breath.
Thirty minutes later, they were headed to Creek Barn with a scrumptious lunch packed in the saddlebags slung over their shoulders. Jessica wondered if Skyler would be sleeping in, since it had only been a few hours since she had left. But they found Skyler in the tack room, a small smile on her face as she worked the saddle leather. The smile broadened to a delighted grin when she saw them standing in the doorway.
“Hey, Sky,” Charlie said excitedly, “we’ve got a picnic packed and we want you to go with us on a trail ride. Kate said we could.”
Skyler’s eyes traveled to Jessica. “A picnic? Well, if Kate said we could, I don’t know how I can refuse that. You should have called me, though. I’ve already turned Trekker out. You’ll have to go down to the pasture and bring him back up to the barn.”
“Okay.” Charlie grabbed a lead rope and ran toward the pasture.
Jessica smiled. “His uncle is coming to get him this afternoon. Kate thought it would be a good idea to keep his mind occupied until then.” She paused. “Actually, I think Kate wanted some time alone, too. She’s trying to hide it, but I can tell she’s taking his leaving pretty hard.”