“You’ve never been bowling before?” I forgot to hide my surprise and I saw her react to my statement. She looked a little bit sad and worried and I wanted to slap myself for making her feel bad. “No worries, it’s not hard and I can teach you.”

“You should be a teacher.” She smiled at me, happy again.

“I don’t think I would be a good teacher. You’re the only one I like teaching.”

“That’s because I’m your favorite.” She nodded happily. “And you’re mine.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“You’re my most favorite person ever.” Skylar’s eyes were wide open as she stared at me with her innocent beautiful face. “I never want you to leave.”

“I never want to leave, either.” I bit my lip and looked away, not knowing how to tell her that one day I was going to have to leave.

“Promise you will never leave me.” Her eyes were earnest as she spoke the words so simply.

“I don’t know if I can promise that.” I paused and looked down at her. “You know I love you very much, but I don’t know that I can promise that I’ll never leave.”

“If you leave, you have to take me with you.” She gulped and started breathing fast. “You have to.” Tears starting building up in her eyes and they quickly became moist. “You can’t leave me here.”

“Let’s not talk about it now, Skylar.” I pulled her towards me and hugged her hard.

“You can’t leave me, Noah. Please never leave me. Promise me.” She whispered as I held her and I felt my heart freeze over at the sound of her voice pleading with me. I wanted to tell her that I would never leave, but I knew that was one promise I couldn’t make.

“You’re up early.” Lucky walked into the kitchen as I was making coffee. “Early night?”

“Not really.” I smiled at her and turned back to the French press. I groaned as I saw Zane walk into the kitchen behind her. He looked me up and down and frowned at my half naked body. All I was wearing was a pair of boxer briefs and I knew he was not happy to see me that way in his kitchen.

“Morning, Noah. Were you hot last night?” Zane gave me a look and I shook my head.

“No, not really.”

“What did you do last night?” Lucky spoke up, obviously sensing that Zane was going to continue to go on about my appearance passive aggressively.

“Watched a movie.” I grinned, thinking about all the hot sex before and after the movie. “What about you two?”

“Zane and I went down to Santa Monica to an art show, then we had dinner at a new Italian place and talked.”

“Are you okay?” I looked at Zane searching to see if he was still upset.

“I’m surprisingly okay.” He gave me a reassuring nod. “And don’t worry, I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re not?” I looked over at him in surprise and he laughed.

“Shocker, right?” He shrugged. “I understand why you didn’t want to tell me. I don’t hold it against you. I most probably wouldn’t have told you, either.”

“So, we’re still brothers?”

“Try getting away from me.” He walked over to me and gave me a slap on the shoulder. “Now please pass me a cup of coffee.”

“Oh, sorry, I only made enough for two.”

“Right? One for me and one for you. Lucky can’t have caffeine right now.”

“Well, actually the other cup isn’t for you.”

“Huh?” He looked at me in confusion. “You’re going to drink two cups of coffee?”

“No,” I shook my head and bit my lip. “The other cup of coffee is for …”

“Me.” Robin’s voice rang out as she walked into the kitchen looking sexy as hell in just my shirt. “Good morning, everyone.” She smiled and looked at me shyly.

“Morning, gorgeous.” I walked over and gave her a big kiss. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me back, pressing her chest against mine. It was at that point that I realized that she was naked underneath the shirt. I turned around and both Zane and Lucky were staring at me with shocked expressions.

“Hey, so Robin stayed over last night.” I grinned at both of them and watched as Zane looked at Robin’s body appreciatively.

“Hey, can we have a talk, Noah?” Lucky half smiled and half frowned.

“I’m sorry for not asking if I could have a houseguest.” I made a face.

“Don’t be silly.” Lucky shook her head. “This is your home, you can have who you want over.”

“We sure don’t mind.” Zane grinned at me and Lucky hit him in the arm and glared at him. “Don’t be jealous, honey.”

“I’m not jealous, ass.” Lucky blushed, and I felt bad that I may have inadvertently set her green monster off.

“Can we talk after I’ve had a shower, Lucky?” I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Yes.” She smiled at me and shook her head before looking over at Robin. “It’s good to see you, Robin.”

“You too, Lucky.” Robin smiled back at her and walked over to me. “Is that coffee ready? I’m about to fall back asleep.”

“Well, if the coffee doesn’t wake you up. I know something that will.”

“Oh, really?” she purred.

“Really.” I leaned towards her.

“And what would that be?” She leaned towards me and I felt my body heating up.

“Well, it would consist of …”

“Guys, we are still in the kitchen.” Zane cleared his throat and grabbed Lucky’s arm. “Though I think Lucky and I will just go out for breakfast.”

“Oh, sorry. You don’t need to do that.” Robin blushed and shook her head. “Please don’t leave because of me.”

“No worries. It will give Lucky a break from cooking.” Zane rubbed Lucky’s back and she leaned into the crook of his arm. “You guys can come as well, if you want.”

“That sounds great.” Robin responded at the same time that I started shaking my head.

“Well, I guess we can go.” I said reluctantly. I didn’t want to leave the house. I just wanted to go back to bed and ravish Robin some more.

“You don’t want to just keep me in the bedroom, do you, Noah?” Robin raised an eyebrow and Lucky laughed.

“You tell him,” she giggled.

“Of course not.” I kissed Robin again. “We have plenty of time to eat and then come back to the bedroom.”

“Noah!” Both Robin and Lucky glared at me while Zane laughed.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” I put my hands up. “I was cornered into that statement.”

“Really?” Robin looked up at me with a devious smile. “I didn’t see anyone corner you.”

“Well, you know.” I laughed. “I’m a guy, it happens to us all the time.”

“Sure.” Robin laughed and backed away from me. “I’m going to go and shower. I’d love to go to breakfast. I have to get to work by noon.”

“Oh, no.” I groaned. “I wanted to spend the day with you.”

“Sorry,” she smiled sweetly. “I have to make money, and I took off yesterday after Zane came into the restaurant last week saying he really needed me to come and see you.”

“I was wondering how Zane set that up yesterday.” I laughed. “I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t too complicated.”

“I think I’m going to go shower as well.” Lucky smiled. “Shall we go up, Robin?”

“Let’s do it.” Robin leaned up and gave me a long deep kiss before walking out of the kitchen. I watched her walk out and then turned to Zane who was giving me a bemused look.

“What’s so funny?” I rolled my eyes at him.

“You look like you’re sprung.”

“Sprung? Who says that?” I laughed and sipped some of my coffee as my heart pounded.

“I say that.” He laughed. “And trust me, I recognize sprung when I see it.”

“Zane, every guy looks sprung after a night of good sex.”

“You dirty dog.” He winked at me. “I guess you have been in drought, huh?”

“I had sex in Palm Bonita.” I laughed and shook my head. “Though this is not a conversation I want to have.”

“Well, we both know we’re Beaumonts.” He laughed. “We can both get laid anywhere.”

“It’s not about the sex.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. “And if Lucky heard you right now she would kill you and then leave you.”

“What’s the point of leaving me if I’m dead?” He laughed, but then his eyes grew dark and more serious. “Seriously, though, I hope you know what you’re doing. Sex is great, but Robin looks like she’s not the sort of girl to just have casual sex.”

“I’m not using her, Zane.”

“I know you’re not that type of guy, but you know, just be careful. I know things are complicated with you.”

“Nothing’s complicated.” I lied.

“Does she know about the other girl?”

“What other girl?” I feigned ignorance.

“The one you dated in Palm Bonita?”

“We broke up, Zane.”

“But there’s still unresolved stuff there. I can tell.”

“I don’t want to talk about this right now.” I shook my head. “I’ve got it handled.”

“Sure you do.” He sighed. “You may have the Beaumont sex appeal, but you also have the Beaumont knack of messing it up with girls.”

“You got Lucky.”

“Only because the gods were with me.” He laughed. “I swear I must have done something right in my life.”

“You’re a good guy, bro.” I said seriously. “She’s lucky to have you as well.”

“Sometimes I don’t know if I’m good enough for her.” All of a sudden he looked unsure of himself. “I love her so much, Noah. I never knew love could be like this. I still get overwhelmed sometimes. She’s everything to me. She’s my life. I’m so happy. You can thank her for me not killing you yesterday or today by the way. She’s grounded me and made me feel whole in a way I never knew was possible.”

“I don’t know what to say.” I stared at him. “I’m so happy for you. You’ve found a happiness that eludes many of us.”

“You’ll find it as well.” Zane paused and was about to talk again when my phone started ringing.

“One moment.” I reached for my phone and my heart stopped when I saw Skylar’s number on the caller id. “Hello.” I spoke into the phone softly. There was silence on the other side. “Hello. Skylar are you there?” I held my breath as I waited for her to reply.

“Hello,” a voice whispered and I felt sweat break out in my face.

“Skylar?”

“Yes,” she mumbled.

“Oh, my God, Skylar, are you okay?” I spoke into the phone quickly worried she was going to hang up on me again. I saw a movement from the corner of my eye and I realized that I was still in the kitchen with Zane. He was staring at me with a worried expression in his eyes and I turned around. I couldn’t deal with him right now. I needed to concentrate on Skylar.

“Noah?”

“Yes, angel. It’s me.” I let out a deep breath. “Are you okay?”

There was silence on the other side of the phone and that I heard what sounded like sobs and I froze as my hand gripped the phone tightly.

“What’s wrong?” My voice rose slightly. “Tell me what’s wrong, Skylar.”

“You left me.” She sobbed, this time not hiding her tears.

“I didn’t …”

“You didn’t say goodbye,” she sobbed into the phone. “I miss you, Noah.”

“I didn’t want to make it harder.” I said slowly, not sure what to say. I had taken the coward’s way out. Everything had gotten so bad and I had no recourse, and I knew that I just had to walk away.

“I love you.” She cried harder. “You told me when people love each other, they are always there for each other.”

“I am always here for you.” I whispered into the phone. “I am always here for you, Skylar.”

“My arm hurts.” She stopped sobbing and her voice grew softer. “I have to go lie down because my arm hurts.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It got broke.” She sighed. “It got broke when I bumped into the chair.”

“Oh, my God,” I closed my eyes. “You didn’t bump into the chair, did you?”

“I bumped into the chair hard and it broke because I am clumsy.” She said the words that she had been commanded to say.

“Skylar, tell me the truth, please. What happened to your arm?”

“You don’t care,” she whispered. “You left me.”

“Skylar, please.” My heart ached for her.

“I have to go and lie down now.” She yawned. “I’m tired.”

“Didn’t you sleep last night? It’s morning, Sky.”

“I had to stay up last night and keep guard.” She yawned again. “I’m sleepy and my arm hurts.”

“Skylar, put Monica on the phone.” I spoke quickly.

“No.” she sounded scared.

“Please put Monica on the phone.” I begged, praying she would do as I asked. But then I heard a click and realized that she had hung up. I stood there with the phone next to my ear for at least a minute before trying to call it back again. This time the phone went straight to voicemail and I knew she had turned it off. I stood there for a moment in a complete panic, not sure what to do, when Zane spoke.