Cal Sinclair did not have the heart to interrupt Sky Lambert, the woman he was going to marry in two week’s time. He halted near the cedar stairs to their master bedroom on the second floor of his Virginia home he’d built himself over a seven-year period. There, in the alcove where the bay windows looked out over the pristine meadow below, he watched Sky drawing with her pastel chalk set on her easel.
Weeks ago, she’d discovered all his drafting tools and accessories he used to build his two-story cedar home. It sat on a hill surrounded by Douglas fir and oak trees. Cal smiled a little, wrapping his arms across his chest, watching her intently. The morning sunlight was pouring through the cathedral windows that stretched skyward on the eastern side of their bedroom. His body still glowed in memory of them waking up at dawn, Sky’s favorite time. She’d been naked against him, sleeping deeply, when he’d aroused from his slumber. He hungrily loved this woman who had stolen his heart and fed his soul like the sunlight drifting silently through the bedroom. They had both lost so much in the past, and Cal felt incredibly grateful as he stood there watching Sky use the pastel colors on the paper attached to the easel as she tried to capture the meadow and stream beyond the bay windows.
His mouth twitched as he remembered looking for Sky and found her rooting around with eager curiosity through every drawer and shelf in the basement. Along one wall, he’d placed all his sketched drawings, some in ink, some in pencil and others in pastel chalks, that he’d imagined his dream home would someday look like. It had been a seven year vision when he was in the SEALs, and later, two years with Shield Security in Alexandria, Virginia. Any time off was spent building it. Sky had discovered the colorful box of chalk and and had been transformed into an excited child, finding sixty of them in a box, touching them as if they were precious jewels. She dragged his easel, the paper and chalks up to her favorite place, the bay windows that overlooked the meadow and stream north of where the house sat.
Cal’s heart opened powerfully as he saw Sky working intently, her blond brows drawn down in concentration, trying to capture the meadow where elk and deer crossed it daily at dawn and dusk. Sky had a special connection with the dark green velvet settee that sat facing those windows. After he’d brought her home from Cusco, Peru, from that hellish challenge to get her out of there alive, Sky had settled in with him on Valentine’s Day. And over the past months, he’d watched her make his home her home. It was something Cal had wanted desperately for Sky because her childhood had been a nightmare existence. Now she was at peace. He could see it in her oval face, the way her incredible turquoise eyes shined with happiness. Sky WAS happy. Hell, so was he. He loved her. And for whatever reason unknown to him, she loved him just as fiercely in return.
Rousing himself, Cal deliberately made enough noise to catch Sky’s attention. He’d been a Navy SEAL and could walk silently with the best of them. Only, it scared the hell out of Sky to be walked up behind and she didn’t hear him approaching her. Cal knew it was her past when Vladimir Alexandrov, the other foster child in the Zimmerman family where she lived, had hunted her like the sadistic sexual predator he was. At seventeen, Vlad had trapped Sky in her bedroom and nearly raped her. He’d stalked her for a year previous and it had made her a frightened shadow in the family. Frowning, Cal tucked her terrifying past away. He saw Sky turn, surprise in her expression.
“Cal! I thought you were going into the hardware store?” She halted, pink chalk between her fingers.
“I am,” he murmured, allowing his arms to fall to his side as he moved from the stair landing toward her. “Got breakfast going. Interested?” and he grinned as he saw the colorful chalk dust all over her hands, some sprinkled down her bright yellow tee that lovingly outlined her body. A body he never would tire of making love too.
Groaning, Sky looked at her watch. “Oh, crap,” she muttered, “I’m sorry, I lost track of time.” And then she gave him a childlike grin. “I got carried away,” and she pointed to her large chalk drawing on the easel.
Cal wandered over. “Hmmm,” he said, lifting his index finger and gently removing a purple smudge on the tip of her nose, “you’ve really attacked this project,” and he held up his finger that now was purple with the chalk dust. He heard Sky’s husky laugh, going straight to his lower body. Cal thought about scooping her up into his arms and carrying her over to their king-sized bed, unmade, and taking her slowly, deliciously, once again.
“Well,” Sky said wryly, taking the cloth sitting on her easel and wiping off his finger “I get lost in the drawing.” Giving him an apologetic look, she quickly wiped off her fingers, the colors smeared across them. “Is breakfast ready?” she asked, setting the chalk in the tray.
“Almost,” Cal murmured. Looking across her shoulder, he studied her efforts. “Nice. You’ve captured the morning shadows across the meadow.”
Groaning, Sky said, “You’re just saying that, Cal.” She launched herself against him, curling her arms around his broad, thick shoulders. “Because you say nicest things about my struggling amateur efforts,” she whispered against his mouth. “And you have nothing but praise for my poor attempts.”
Her whole body went from simmer to boil as his arms swept around her, his mouth opening, curving, and hungrily taking hers. A soft moan of satisfaction caught in her slender throat as she felt his large hands move sinuously from her shoulders, down across her long spine and cup her cheeks, embracing her hard against him. Sky smiled as she broke the kiss, feeling his erection pressing strongly against his Levi’s. “I thought you got enough earlier?” she teased. They had left Cusco, Peru months earlier and Sky had found herself nearly insatiable for him, unable to get enough of Cal in every way. She saw the glint in his narrowing gold-brown eyes. She knew that look. The more gold she saw in his eyes, the more turned on, the more he desired her.
Grunting, Cal reluctantly released her. “I will NEVER get enough of you, Sweetheart,” and he placed a swift kiss across her wet, smiling lips that he could drown in forever. And that was exactly what was going to happen: he was going to marry Sky in two weeks, on June 16th, in Coronado, the SEAL training center, with San Diego right across the bay from it. She would be his forever.
Sky eased away, slipping her fingers into his large, calloused hand. “I’m hungry, too, but I do need some physical fuel to run on.” She gave Cal a wicked, teasing look. “Fuel? You know? For us mere mortals who aren’t godlike SEALs, Supermen in disguise? You must have pity upon me,” and Sky pulled him along toward the stairs that would lead to the the kitchen and living room below.
Cal preened silently beneath her praise. Yeah, he used to be a SEAL and yeah, they all thought of themselves as impervious to normal human complaints and weakness. He liked that Sky saw him in that way. It made him feel good about himself. “Okay,” he offered grudgingly, releasing her hand and allowing her to go down the stairs first, “I’ll bow to your need for food.”