Under Your Skin Read online

  JUST THE THOUGHT OF YOU

  “I’m going to the store. You want me to get you anything?” Norah asked.

  “Nah. I’m good.” Kai returned her smile and the tension between them dissipated.

  “I’ll be a while since I have to go get books for your mom too. Do you know what kind of books she reads?” She didn’t know why she said it, but her mouth got away from her.

  He shook his head.

  “She reads romance. And not the longing looks from across a ballroom and maybe some hand-holding kind either.” Norah leaned a little closer and lowered her voice. “She made me read a sex scene to her last night.”

  The look on Kai’s face was priceless. Even under the golden hue of his cheeks, a blush rose. “Christ, I’m sorry.”

  Norah bent over on a peal of laughter. “If you could see your face ...” Those were the only words she could handle because laughter stole her breath. She laughed until tears streaked down her cheeks. “Sorry. I just had this image of her asking you to read to her before bed.”

  In truth, the deep, rumbly sound of his voice would be enough of a turn-on regardless of the words he read. Suddenly, she wanted the audiobook of that.

  “Sorry,” she said again and they both knew it was an empty apology.

  “It looks good on you.”

  “Huh?”

  “The uncontrolled laughter. It looks good. Even if I’m the butt of your joke. And for the record, I will not be reading porn to my mom.”

  A giggle bubbled up in Norah’s throat, so she swallowed. She couldn’t afford to think of him and porn in the same sentence.

  Books by Shannyn Schroeder

  The O’Learys

  More Than This

  A Good Time

  Something to Prove

  Catch Your Breath

  Just a Taste

  Hold Me Close

  Hot & Nerdy

  Her Best Shot

  Her Perfect Game

  Her Winning Formula

  His Work of Art

  His New Jam

  His Dream Role

  For Your Love

  Under Your Skin

  In Your Arms

  (coming in January 2017)

  Through Your Eyes

  (coming in Summer, 2017)

  under your skin

  SHANNYN SCHROEDER

  ZEBRA BOOKS

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  JUST THE THOUGHT OF YOU

  Books by Shannyn Schroeder

  Title Page

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Teaser chapter

  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With every new book I tackle, I find myself reaching out to people for more information and research for my characters and plot. In Under Your Skin, I spend a lot of time on Norah’s decision to create an adoption plan for her daughter. I knew almost nothing about adoption when I started. Lucky for me, a good friend, Ryann, adopted her son and she put me in touch with her adoption counselor, Katie Gattone at The Cradle. Katie and her boss, Dana Mullhall, were fabulous in answering many, many questions about the adoption process. I also want to give a shout-out to fellow romance writer, Averil Reisman, who answered my questions about knee replacement surgery because she had gone through the surgery and rehab. As always, thanks to my wonderful Chicago-North RWA chaptermates who critiqued the first twenty pages and let me know how big an ass Kai was being. And finally, a huge thanks to my beta readers: Pamala Knight, Melanie Bruce, and Molly Strzelecki—your help is greatly appreciated.

  Chapter One

  Norah O’Malley woke like she had every day for the past two weeks: lying in her brother’s bed, in her father’s house, rubbing her pregnant belly like it was a Magic 8 Ball that held some mystical answers for her fucked up life. Her bladder was full to bursting, another perpetual condition these days. Struggling to sit up, she shifted to get to the bathroom. This was not how she expected her life to look at twenty-two.

  After taking care of business, she studied herself in the mirror. Did she look different? Of course from the chest down her body was no longer hers and hadn’t been for some time. Her face looked the same though. Right? She pressed closer to the mirror, propping her belly on the sink. What would Avery see if they met today?

  Her older brother Jimmy had been pressuring her since she came home weeks ago to call Avery and tell him she was pregnant. She knew she had to and it had been crappy of her to keep this from him, but she knew Avery. He’d want to take care of her. He was that kind of guy. She could definitely appreciate such nobility in the hero of a book or movie, but in real life, choices like this sucked.

  She wasn’t sure she was ready to be a mom. Old stirrings of Catholic guilt hit her—years of parochial school had that effect—but she couldn’t imagine trapping them when they weren’t ready. She shuffled back to bed and sat on the edge. Every time she thought about Avery, her stomach fluttered. Her short time with him had been magical. She’d never felt so loved by any other boyfriend she’d had. Part of her wanted him to be with her through this. A huge part.

  Another part was afraid of disrupting his life. She’d dodged his calls all summer, not knowing what to say. He was looking for summer fun, but fun ended for her at the sight of two pink lines.

  And now she was afraid of her brothers’ reactions. They didn’t handle news of her pregnancy well. They would threaten to go after Avery again. If nothing else, she needed to protect him until she figured out what she wanted.

  The baby kicked her now-empty bladder and elbowed her ribs. Must be breakfast time. She crept downstairs hoping to avoid running into her brothers, especially Tommy. Tommy was nearest in age to her and they’d always been close growing up, even after Jimmy had shipped her off to live with Aunt Bridget in Boston. Tommy had come to visit her often and called her a few times each week. They had always been more friends than siblings.

  She’d expected Jimmy, Kevin, and Sean to blow up when they found out she was pregnant. Telling them over the phone probably would’ve been better than just showing up on their doorstep six months pregnant. But Tommy was supposed to be on her side. He’d raged the night she came home and the anger had been at a slow burn since.

  He barely spoke to her. His first and only question was always: Who is he?

  Avery didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of that wrath. The guy had done nothing wrong.

  In the kitchen, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and grabbed the last yogurt. As she sat to eat, the basement door opened and Tommy strode in.

  “Good morning.” She tried for a cheerful tone.

  “You offering a name yet?”

  “Are you promising not to go after him?”

  Tommy snorted.

  “Then you have your answer.”

  He turned from the refrigerator and slammed the orange juice carton on the table in front of her. “Why are you protecting him?”

  “Because he did nothing wrong. We did this together, and he doesn’t even know I’m pregnant.” Maybe an explana
tion would help. She owed him that, and Jimmy had handled it pretty well. She kicked a chair out next to her.

  He gripped the back of the chair but didn’t sit.

  “He wasn’t a one-night stand, Tommy. We met over Christmas break and had a great couple of weeks. Then he went back to school. We tried the long-distance thing. He visited a few weekends, but it didn’t work. When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what to do. He came back to Boston for spring break, and I planned to tell him then. But it felt so good to have him back. I felt good with him and I didn’t want to lose that.”

  Tommy shoved off the chair and rubbed his head. “He’s not even a real boyfriend.”

  She shrugged. “It felt real.”

  Pushing away from the table, she stood close to Tommy. “When I came home, all I wanted from you was to have you in my corner. I know I fucked up. In so many ways. I miss you.”

  Tommy’s shoulders sagged. Finally she saw the opening she’d been looking for for weeks. He stared at her with worry in his eyes. A welcome change from the anger she’d been seeing.

  “I’ve missed you too, squirt.”

  She laughed and the motion caused the baby to kick and jump again. “I’m far from being a squirt now.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted but he didn’t fully smile. “See you later.”

  Then he walked out the back door without even drinking the juice he’d taken from the fridge. Norah sighed. At least she’d made some progress with one of her siblings.

  She knew if she could win Tommy over, he’d help with the others. As she finished her breakfast, she developed a plan. Tommy shouldn’t be too difficult to crack now that she’d slipped past his defenses.

  * * *

  Norah spent her morning cleaning the house and making sure her dad took his medication. The stubborn old man never wanted to do what he was supposed to. It was no wonder Jimmy had felt the need to move back home to take care of their dad. Someone had to keep an eye on him or his diabetes would get out of control. Sean and Tommy were pretty useless in that area. They couldn’t even remember to put away their hockey gear. How would they remember to make sure Dad regulated his insulin?

  Once that was done, she went online to look for a job. She couldn’t possibly sit around the house all day with nothing to do. She couldn’t enroll in school because she’d have to take time off after having the baby. There had to be someone who’d be willing to hire her at least temporarily. The outlook was pretty dismal, so she closed the laptop and moved on to the next phase in her plan to make Tommy happy. Rice Krispies Treats had always been his favorite, but for whatever reason, he had a mental block when it came to making them himself.

  She ran to the store for ingredients and whipped up a batch to take to him at work. Since he was a tattoo artist, he worked strange hours. Sometimes he’d work in the afternoon, other times, he’d be there half the night. She’d overheard him telling Sean he had some touch-ups to do on a tattoo this morning and then he had a long session this afternoon.

  She hoped the dessert would be a peace offering.

  On the way to the tattoo parlor, she stopped at a drive-through and grabbed some burgers for them. She rubbed her belly and wondered how bad it was to feed the baby fries. The baby really wanted fries. She hadn’t craved fries this much since she was fifteen. The only thing she wanted more than fries was lime yogurt. Luckily, the baby didn’t require them together. That would just be gross.

  She was out of breath from the short walk from the car to the shop because the baby decided to tumble around pressing on who knew what. She walked through the door of Ink Envy gripping the bag of food and plate of treats. On the wall hung frames showing various drawings and photos of tattoos. Looking around, she saw stations, like in a beauty salon, separated by short partitions. Different styles of chairs, none appeared too comfortable.

  “Hi, can I help you?” a short, pudgy guy with sleeve tats asked.

  “I’m here to see Tommy.”

  Just then, Tommy came from a back room and caught her eye. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came bearing gifts.” She set the food on the glass-topped counter.

  “What do you want?”

  She sighed. Maybe it was too soon. “I want you to not be mad at me anymore. I brought Rice Krispies Treats.”

  “A bribe? Really?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “And burgers. Whatever works.”

  He dragged a couple of stools to the counter and pointed for her to sit down. The counter was tall enough that when she sat, her stomach was mostly concealed. Knowing Tommy would start with dessert, she slid the plate of treats over.

  He peeled back the foil and pulled a square from the pile. “This doesn’t change things.”

  “It changes them a little. You’re at least talking to me.”

  He chewed and swallowed before asking, “What are you gonna do?”

  “I don’t know. I think about it all the time. I know I need to tell the father. And I will. Soon. Until then, I want to settle in and restart my life. I spent the morning looking for a job. I don’t suppose you know of anything?” She munched on her fries while they talked.

  “No one’s gonna hire you. You’re a liability.”

  Norah rolled her eyes. Tommy wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know.

  “Maybe you should take it easy for a while.”

  “That’ll make me crazy. I can’t sit at home with Dad all day.”

  “Come on, you know you like pricking him with a needle.”

  She laughed louder than she’d intended, but he was right. She did enjoy it a little. But laughing with Tommy was the best feeling she’d had in a long time.

  * * *

  Kai Ellis came from the back room to the musical sound of female laughter. The girl sitting across from Tommy at the front counter had an awesome rack spilling out of her tank top and her tits jiggled as she laughed.

  “Hey,” he called, “I told you no girls while you’re on the clock. Get busy on your own time.”

  Tommy dropped the food in his hand. “Gross, man. This is my sister.”

  She wiggled her fingers. Then she pointed. To Tommy, she said, “Let’s ask your friend here, I’m sure he’s made mistakes in his life.”

  “Boss.” Kai crossed his arms. He had no intention of answering questions about his mistakes, but it annoyed him that she jumped to the conclusion that he’d made them. Part of the reason for opening his own business was so he would never have to answer to anyone about his past again.

  “Huh?”

  “I’m his boss.”

  She continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “It’s normal for people to make mistakes, right? Even if they’re huge mistakes, you still learn from them. Life lessons and shit.”

  He knew all about making life-altering mistakes, but he still wasn’t about to discuss them. Addressing Tommy, he said, “Girlfriend or not, she needs to go.”

  Her eyes popped wide and she slid from the stool. Tommy laid a hand on her arm. “It’s fine.” He twisted on the stool. “Kai, this is my sister, Norah. She just moved back to town.”

  Norah stepped around Tommy with her hand extended. Her belly stuck out full with a baby. He’d forgotten about Tommy bitching about his pregnant sister.

  When he didn’t move, she dropped her hand. “Sorry. I thought I’d catch Tommy before his client came in. I brought him lunch and dessert.” She turned and picked up a plate from the counter. “Want a Rice Krispies Treat?”

  Her smile was friendly as she spoke, but her light blue eyes filled with mischief. Like she was offering up more than marshmallows and cereal. It was a good thing that belly was between them. He stayed rooted to his spot. Then his phone rang. Again. He’d ignored Jaleesa all morning, but if he planned to get any work done, he’d have to deal with her.

  With his phone in hand, he spun and walked back out the way he came. “Yeah.”

  “It’s about time. I’ve been calling you all morning.”

&
nbsp; “I’m aware.”

  “Mom’s surgery went fine. She came through with flying colors.”

  He’d figured as much. It was just her knee. “Good to know.”

  “Are you coming to the hospital today?”

  He walked until he hit the back door of the shop and stood in the alley. “I don’t know. Depends on how busy I get.”

  “Kai, it’s not like this was some surprise. We scheduled it. You could make sure you’re free. You’re choosing not to.”

  “And?”

  His sister’s sigh whistled in his ear. “We need to talk about where Mom will go when she’s released from the hospital. She’ll only be here a few days.”

  “I thought you were looking into a rehab facility.”

  “I tried, but it made her upset. She thinks we’re going to dump her off and leave her for good.”

  “So explain to her that’s not the case. She knows she won’t be able to get around your house. It’s not like she lost her mind.”

  “She’s feeling vulnerable and she’s worried about being alone.”

  “I don’t know what you want from me, Jaleesa.”

  “Maybe she could stay with you.”

  “I have stairs in my house.”

  “Five, Kai. Five measly steps to get up to your door. Everything else is on one floor. You have the space.”

  What she really meant was that he could make the space for his mom to move in. He didn’t want to. His house was set up exactly as he wanted. He would have to move all of his workout equipment somewhere, probably to the basement or the garage. He had no furniture for her. No bed or anything. He didn’t have guests and he liked it that way.

  “I can’t take care of Mom. I don’t know what to do with her.”

  “And I do? You figure it out, Kai. That’s what you do for family.”

  “I have a business to run and I keep long hours.”

  “At least think about it. We can probably hire someone to fill in when you’re not around so she’s not alone, but she’ll feel secure in your house.”

  “Why can’t we hire someone to help at your house?”