Sweet Temptation (39 page)

“You look hot, darling,” Alex said.

“Thanks.”

“You sure you’ll be all right by yourself?” Alex stood and walked over to her.

“I will be.” Skylar smiled.

Giving Alex a hug, she left through the back door and made her way across the lawn. Opening his back door slowly, she walked in and could hear Nate talking to another person. “Nate,” she called. She closed the door behind her and walked further into his house. She walked in the direction of the voices.

“I can do the whole family thing, but I can’t be with you, Natalie,” she heard Nate say. She paused near the door, wondering who Natalie was.

“Please, Nate. I want to start over again. I’ve missed you, and I never stopped loving you, either.” Looking around the corner she noticed a girl with her hand on his face rubbing her thumb over his cheek.

“Natalie, after what you did, how the hell am I going to be able to trust you again?”

She stood up and sat on his lap, facing him. “I know you won’t believe me, but I’m sorry for what I did to you. Can’t you do it for your son and be a proper family with us?” she whispered.

Skylar sucked in a breath and threw her hand over her mouth.
Oh, God. He had a son.

“Why didn’t you tell me at the beginning? I told you I didn’t want any kids; we were careful,” he said.

“I know we were careful, Nate. But it happened.” She leaned up and lightly kissed him on the lips.

Skylar couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He didn’t want any children and he had a son already. Now she was pregnant with his child. How could she go through with telling him now? He just found out about a son he never knew he had, and now she was going to drop a bombshell on him as well? She tried really hard not to sob, but couldn’t contain it.

“I’ll do the DNA test. If it comes back saying I’m the father, then I’ll do it; if not, I don’t ever want to see you again.”

              “Okay. When do you want to do it?”

“As soon as possible.” he replied. How the hell was he going to explain this situation to Skylar?

Skylar slid down against the wall in his kitchen. She had a feeling he was going to break it off with her. How was she going to deal with that?

“I’ll arrange to have the test done with my doctor, and then we’ll talk when the results are in.” He stood and walked to his door.

“I’m sorry I brought this on you, but I just thought you would want to know you have a son.” Natalie walked out the door, and he closed it behind her.

“Fuck.” Nate said. Leaning against the door, he heard a noise coming from his kitchen. Frowning, he stomped over towards it. Walking around the corner, he saw Skylar sitting on the ground.

“Baby, what are you doing on the floor?” he asked, kneeling down beside her. He noticed she was crying. “What’s wrong?”

As he lifted her chin up to look at her, she sobbed, “You have a son.”

He sighed. “I might, I have to do the test to confirm it, baby.”

Skylar lifted herself up from the floor. Nate tried to help her, but she pushed his hand away.

“Baby,” he groaned.

She moved away from him, “You don’t want kids.”

God, she had to stop crying. “I never wanted any with Natalie. I was never ready for it.”

“What about now, Nate?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.”

She sobbed harder. “I need to go.” Wiping her face with her hands, she pushed his door open and took off running towards her house.

“Skylar,” Nate yelled. Nate threw open his door and took off after her.
What the hell was going on here?
Pushing her door open, he quickly came to a halt.

“What’s going on, Nate?” Alex asked him.

Getting his breathing under control, he said, “I don’t know. I found her sitting on the floor in my kitchen.”

“Well, something happened,” Alex yelled.

“My ex came over and told me I might have a son. I’m having a DNA test done to confirm it.”

“What else did Skylar say to you?” Craig asked him, joining the conversation.

“She asked if I wanted any kids,” he whispered.

“And?” Craig raised an eyebrow.

“I told her I don’t know. I never planned on having any before, Craig.”

Craig stormed off towards Skylar’s room, and slammed the door.

“Have I missed something here? I would’ve sat down with her, but she took off running.”

“You need to sort this out with your ex first, then if Skylar talks to you, sort it out with her,” Alex suggested.

“What the fuck is going on? Where is she?” Nate moved to go after her, but Alex stopped him from going anywhere.

“Like I said, sort it out with your ex, but I suggest you do it quick or you’re going to lose Skylar altogether, Nate.” Alex told him.

Something was going on here, but he couldn’t figure out what. “Okay, but can you do something for me?”

Alex nodded.

“Can you tell her I’m sorry for all of this?”

“I will,” Alex answered.

Nate turned around and walked back to his house. Pushing his door open, he went straight into his bedroom and slid onto his bed. Jesus, this day was going so well until everything hit the fan. First thing he had to do tomorrow morning was get this DNA test and then decide what he really wanted with Skylar. He knew he didn’t want to be with anyone but her.

Chapter 2
1

Skylar couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed for the past three days. She laid her hand gently over her belly. She and Nate had made a child together, but he didn’t want kids at all. How could she go through with this pregnancy if he wasn’t going to be with her? There was no point in telling him now. It was obvious that he wasn’t ready and hadn’t planned on having any.

“Craig,” she called out. She really didn’t want to do what she was thinking, but felt she had no choice.

“What’s up, darling?” he said, appearing at the door.

Sitting up slowly, she whispered, “I need to go away for a couple of days; I can’t stay here with all this going on.”

Craig sat at the end of the bed. “Where you going to go?” he asked.

“I know what I have to do.”

“Skylar, I hope you’re not doing what I think you’re going to do.”

“I don’t see any other way to deal with this, Craig. It’s obvious he’s not ready for kids.”

“Tell him, Sky. Maybe he just meant he didn’t want any with his ex.”

“If I tell him, it will just make things harder for me,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to do it. Chantal, Alex and I are here for you to help you through this.”

“I know you all are, but it’s different. Nate should be the one going through this with me, not all of you guys.”

“I don’t want you to do this and regret it later. I know you will Skylar.”

“I need to do this Craig. He has a family now. He’s moved on with that,” she said, the words sticking in her throat.

“Just think more before you do this, will you? There’s no rush.” Craig pulled her over to him and hugged her.

Maybe it was a good idea to just think the whole situation through a little more. The doctor said she had a week to decide whether she wanted to keep it or not, so that must be her deadline. She got up from the bed and walked to her kitchen to make a sandwich. She reached for the knife, ready to cut some cheese, when she heard a noise coming from outside. Looking up and out the window, she saw Nate laughing and rolling on the ground with a young boy.

At that moment, her heart broke in two.
He would really be a great father. If they had a boy, he could teach him how to play footy, and fix things just like him, and treat women better than his father did.
And if they had a girl, he would lock her up until she was thirty years old and no boy would be able to touch her. She laughed.
Jesus, he looked so happy with his son
. Skylar started slicing the cheese, not paying attention to what she was doing, and accidentally sliced her hand.

“Shit!” she yelled. Reaching over and turning the tap on, she placed her hand under the water.

“What the hell happened, Skylar?” Craig was standing beside her, holding her up. The sight of blood was making her feel dizzy.

“I was cutting up some cheese and the knife slipped,” she said with a shaky voice.

“I’m just going to have a look.”

Craig supported her with one arm, and lifted her hand with the other. “It’s pretty deep, Sky. I think you need stitches.”

Skylar looked down at her hand; there was so much blood that she couldn’t actually see where it was coming from. “Craig. I don’t feel so good.” She leaned against his chest, breathing in and out slowly.

“Hang on, Sky.
Alex
!” he yelled.

Alex came barrelling in, “What’s wrong?”

“Skylar cut her hand pretty bad. We need to take her to the hospital to get stitches,” Craig told him.

“I’ll get the car and meet you out front.” Alex darted out of the room.

“Craig, there’s a lot of blood,” she said.

“Everything will be fine. We’re going to take you to the hospital to get fixed up.” Craig turned and helped her walk towards the front door. Skylar leaned against him and started to feel lightheaded. The tea towel that was wrapped around her hand was completely covered in blood now. She lost her footing when they were close to the door.

“Skylar,” Craig turned her around to face him. She looked up at him briefly before her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp in his arms.

“
Skylar
,” he yelled. He lightly tapped her on the face to wake her.

“
Shit
.” Craig scooped her up in his arms and made a run for it towards the car.

* * *

Nate was playing footy in his backyard with his nephew, Tom. When Tom had the ball, he made a run for his first try, but Nate tackled him.

“That’s not fair, Uncle Nate.”

Nate laughed as he sat up, “You wanted to play.” He couldn’t help but laugh more at the pout Tom had on his face. Nate stood up all of a sudden at a car screeching out front.
What the fuck was going on out there
? He made his way towards the side gate and then heard someone yell out Skylar’s name. He took off running through the gate, rounding the corner, and saw Craig running down the stairs towards their car with Skylar in his arms.