With a Grain of Salt (Lindell Book 3)

Chapter 29

Walker

”We have three hours until Maddison will expect us for dinner,” I say, wrapping my arms around her waist.

”You knew she was going to invite us to dinner?”

”I knew I was invited to dinner,” I clarify. ”You being there with me is just a bonus. Have you ever tried her chicken pot pie? It”s phenomenal. It almost tastes like Thanksgiving dinner. So good.”

”I actually love chicken pot pie,” she says, angling her head back so she can look up at me. ”I haven”t had it in a very long time.”

I lower my mouth to hers, but she pulls away and takes a step back before I can make contact with her mouth. I do my best not to let the disappointment sink inside of me. I can”t help but want this woman in my arms all the damn time.

”We can”t start that right now. We”ll never get anything done.”

Right now. As in maybe later. The possibilities thrill the hell out of me.

”I can get a lot done in a couple of hours,” I tease. ”Start a timer.”

She swerves out of the way for a second time, and as much as I want to play cat and mouse with her right now, I know when to pull it back. I don”t want to overwhelm her and have her running for the hills. I can do just as much with the long goals as I can with the shorter ones. Plus, the victory will be that much sweeter when she finally gives in.

”One kiss and I”ll leave you alone,” I barter.

”I don”t believe you,” she says, eyes narrowing as they drop to my mouth.

”I promise. I have a ton of stuff I planned to get done today.”

”Really?”

I shake my head, making her laugh. ”I pictured doing a lot of things, and the top thing on that list was ignoring my mile-long to-do list while spending time with you. I guess I can knock a few things out while I”m here. One kiss.”

I curl the fingers on both hands in a come-hither way, and I swear my heart kicks up a few notches when she takes a step closer instead of me having to go to her. It isn”t exactly her making the first move, but I”ll count my victories where I can.

I curl a finger under her chin when she”s within reach, and, as I promised, I press a soft simple kiss to her lips before pulling back. It kills me to be this close to her and have to take a step back. I know I”m not the only one struggling when she pulls in a deep breath as if she”s fighting the same urges I am.

”I”ll let you get back to work,” I say, my voice low and soft.

She nods, looking a little dazed as I back out of the small office, my eyes still locked on her lips.

”Let me know if you change your mind about ignoring the to-do list,” I tell her with a quick wink.

Her laughter follows me all the way down the hallway and into the kitchen.

I spend the next two hours replacing the HVAC filters and making sure everything that is exposed on the outside of the building is ready for the winter months. Texas is colder after January and February, more often than not, but it isn’t completely unheard of to get a freak cold storm every once in a while. Putting off tasks such as the ones I’m working on today has ended up costing me a lot of money in years past, so I always make a point to take care of it before Christmas.

She’s still head down sorting through the mess I”ve made in the office, and I already feel a little guilty for how quickly it”s going to get cluttered again. I”m the least organized person when it comes to paperwork. Combine that with my inability to put things back where I got them, I know the second I have to go search for something in here, it”s going to look like a tornado ran through this small room.

”Making a little headway,” I say, gripping the top doorframe and leaning into the room.

Her eyes drop to the skin exposed below the hem of my t-shirt and I feel the attention a couple of inches lower.

”Ready to go?” I ask, a hint of teasing in my voice. ”You look hungry.”

She”s slow to lift her eyes to mine, and I see the desire there, but unlike me, she”s able to blink it away, containing it just as quickly as she let it show. I swear the woman is a damned magician.

”I”ve made some progress in here, but you”re going to need a better filing system if you have any hope of keeping it in order,” she says as she stands, reaching for her jacket on the back of the office chair.

”Tell me what to get and I”ll have it here next time you want to come in.”

She lets her eyes roam around the room before looking back at me. ”I”ll get you a list.”

I stay in the doorway when she approaches, using the opportunity to press my lips to hers once again as she flips the office light off.

”I”m going to head over to Madison”s. I”d appreciate it if you hold back for a while so we don”t look like we”re arriving together.”

”So I guess that”s a no to the question I was going to ask about you riding over there with me.”

”I”ll take my own car,” she says.

”I don”t want to hide us,” I tell her, my hand locked on her hip because I know this topic of conversation isn”t something she”ll easily entertain. ”Is it asking too much for you not to do it either?”

Her eyes lock on my chest, and I hate that she can”t look me in the eyes sometimes when she speaks.

”We aren”t dating, Walker.”

The muscles in my jaw flex when I clench my teeth together. I know she”s like a wounded animal. She”s been doing everything all by herself for so long that she doesn”t even know how to accept other people in her life. Had I known the things I know now, a few years ago, shortly after she got to town, this would be an entirely different situation. We would”ve already moved past all this posturing.

”We can always stay here and make out until you”re more comfortable with me touching you.”

I bite my lower lip when I see a spark of interest in her eyes, because as much as that idea might appeal to her, the woman has other responsibilities, and I”d never try and convince her that being a mother isn”t important.

”I have to get to Larkin,” she says.

”I know you do. Get out of here. I”ll see you at Madison and Chase”s house.”

I keep my back to her as she walks away. After the front door of the bar closes behind her, I stand inside and wait for that godawful whine of her car, feeling a little disappointed that it started to begin with. Had she had the same trouble she had a few weeks ago, I could have gotten her back in my truck and could have spent the ride over to Chase”s with my hand on her thigh.

Staying back at the bar seems to take forever, and eventually, I give up on waiting. Arriving at two different times doesn”t even matter. Madison knows we were both at the bar together. She spoke to Claire on my damn phone.

As if my ass is on fire, I lock up the bar and jump into my truck.

I fully expect her to already be at the Graves Estate, but I somehow end up right behind her, not long after the four-way stop in the middle of town.

Instead of driving directly to the house, I watch as she pulls over on the side of the road. She”s out of her car, her face a mask of anger, as she walks over to my driver”s side window.

”Walker,” she growls, and I can”t help but smile.

I completely understand her irritation.

”I can get you off in seconds,” I promise. ”Come get in the truck.”

I pat the seat beside me but there isn”t even a flash of desire in her eyes.

”Come on. You”re sexually frustrated, and I don”t want you looking at the hockey star in some sort of way. I”ve been friends with the man since elementary school, and I”d hate to have to whip his ass in front of his wife and kids.”

”Is that what you think of me? That I”d do that with a married man? I don”t look at married men like that.”

”You better not be looking at any men like that,” I say, wondering how the warning in my voice will be received.

She frowns at me.

Jesus, this is going down the drain fast.

”I didn”t mean… it was a joke. A bad one apparently.”

”You aren”t respecting my wishes,” she says. ”I asked you to stay behind.”

”I did stay. Not the thirty minutes like you asked, but I don”t want to be late for dinner.”

”My car stalled at the stop sign,” she mutters. ”It took a few minutes to get it started again.”

As if the car heard the irritation in her voice, it dies again, the air around us growing quiet with the whine of the engine gone.

”Damn it,” she mutters, walking back toward her car. ”Can”t catch a freaking break, like ever. What did I do in a past life to deserve this shit?”

She”s muttering to herself as she walks back to her car, and I climb out of my truck and follow her in that direction.

”Pop the hood,” I say, hating when she turns back to face me as if this whole situation is all my fault, as if I hexed her car so she”d be forced to be near me.

She takes a seat in the driver”s seat and reaches for the hood release.

The roar of another vehicle draws both our attention.

She mutters a curse under her breath, but I”m a little grateful that Chase noticed us out here on the road and is coming to help. I feel like the least manly man not knowing how to fix this issue so she”s not stranded on the side of the road. God forbid it”s on one of the super cold nights and she has Larkin in the car with her.

The idea of it makes my skin crawl. I know I have to do something to prevent that from happening even if it means pissing her off by reminding her of every scenario of what could happen in order for her to accept some help.

”Stay in the car,” I tell her, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead.

I close the car door before rounding the hood and lifting the damn thing.

By the time I get it open, Chase is pulling up.

When I lean forward, I jolt as the horn blares.

I can”t help but smile when I look around the hood and see Claire trying not to laugh. I”ll take getting startled a hundred times a day if it makes her happy.

”You just going to leave her in the car?” Chase asks as he approaches. ”It”s cold as hell out here.”

Feeling like a complete asshole, I go back to the driver”s side door and pull it open.

”Why don”t you go ahead and go up to the house,” I tell her, holding out my keys.

I know she doesn”t want to appear like we”re together, but Chase is already here, so her argument doesn”t really hold any weight right now. She looks down at the keys in my proffered hand before reaching into her passenger seat and grabbing her purse.

”Thank you,” she says, and I know the annoyance in her tone is about the situation and not about me directly. At least I hope that”s the case.

I stay and watch her climb into my truck and adjust the seat before pulling away. She drives the damn thing like it”s going to break, but I imagine that it”s because it”s a newer truck and she”s afraid of messing it up somehow.

”You really should buy your woman a better car,” Chase mutters as he stares down at the greasy engine.

”I”d do it in a heartbeat if I thought she”d take it. Any idea what”s wrong with this damn thing?”

Chase huffs a laugh. ”Not a freaking clue. You?”

”She said before that it was a battery harness thing, but it stalled out on her at the four-way. I wiggled some shit a few weeks ago and it started back up, but who knows? The thing is obviously on its last leg.”

”We can call Boone,” Chase suggests. Although I know that”s the best damn plan, Claire will lose her shit.

I pull out my phone because as upset as the woman might be about getting the local mechanic involved, she”s going to be even less impressed with this thing sitting on the side of the road.

I place the call and Boone answers, being his gruff, ornery self as always.

”Says ten minutes,” I say after hanging up. ”That guy is always mad.”

”Just his personality,” Chase replies.

”Personality?” I say with a huff. ”I don”t know that I”ve ever seen the guy smile.”

”Some people don”t have happiness in their lives. Think the Rangers have a shot at winning another World Series this year?”

”Maybe. I honestly didn”t think they”d win this past year.”

We shoot the shit and talk about sports. Unlike every other person in town, Chase isn”t going to grill me about Claire. He”s been the topic of gossip around here for years, and even more so recently with his departure from the Detroit Ice Crusaders and his divorce from his twins” biological mother earlier in the year.

Boone shows up in the tow truck, and rather than bending down under the hood, he simply asks us to move out of the way and then proceeds to hook the car up. I hand him the keys I pulled from the ignition.

”I”ll give you a call in a few days with an estimate,” he says before climbing back into his truck and driving off.

”Full of fucking sunshine, that one,” I mutter, making Chase laugh as we walk back to his truck.

Claire meets me in the foyer of the massive house when we step inside with her hand out.

I slap it like a low high-five and she just glares at me.

”My car keys?”

”They went with Boone.”

”Boone?”

”He towed your car. He”ll have to have the keys to figure out what”s wrong with it.”

”I”m going to find Madison,” Chase says before stepping around me and disappearing into the house.

Claire remains silent until he”s gone, watching as he leaves the room before turning her angry glare back at me.

”My house key was also there, Walker.” She holds her hand up when I start to speak. ”I swear if you say one word about me staying with you, I”ll kick you in the shin right now.”

A slow smile curls up the corners of my mouth. She is so fuckable when she”s angry. I can imagine her fingernails digging into my skin as I press inside of her.

I clear my throat. This is not the time nor the place for those kinds of thoughts.

I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out the keychain that has all but her car key on it, dangling it right in front of her face.

”You said you didn”t have my keys.”

”I said I sent your car key with Boone,” I clarify. ”Is dinner ready? I”m starving.”

I step around her, making sure to press a sweet little kiss to her lips before walking away.

She repays me by ignoring me all during dinner and asking Chase for a ride home when the meal is over.

Madison, always a champion of love, tells her that Chase is on bath duty with the boys tonight, mentioning that I”m heading in that direction.

Claire doesn”t argue, but she also doesn”t hide the fact that she isn”t even close to thrilled to be in the truck with me.

She stops short at the front door when it”s time to leave.

”The car seat,” she growls, making Larkin, who is standing right beside her, look up at me with the same scowl her mother has.

I can just imagine the two of them teaming up against me years from now, and it thrills me, the idea of battling with this stubborn woman and her equally as stubborn daughter.

I smile at Larkin who grins back at me, but her mother isn”t as easily swayed.

”I pulled the car seat from your car before Boone towed it away, and I grabbed the diaper bag too.”

“It’s not a diaper bag,” she argues, as if there”s more to the story, but she doesn”t elaborate. ”Thank you for getting the seat.”

Claire makes sure the car seat is buckled correctly, quick to praise me for getting it right, and it thrills me so much that I don”t even mention that Chase, having experience with that sort of thing, was the one to do it.

The truck is already warm inside before we climb in. Although I thought of gripping her thigh if she rode here with me, I know better than to do it with Larkin in the truck.

I glance at the girl in the rearview mirror more than once on the drive to their house, and I can”t help but grin as I watch her eyes droop several times before she falls asleep.

After parking in front of her duplex, I lean over to kiss Claire, but my lips meet her hand instead.

”She”s asleep,” I whisper against her fingertips, smiling when she pulls her hand away and looks over the seat to make sure. ”Kiss me.”

She only wavers for a few seconds before leaning in and brushing her lips against mine.

I climb out of the truck when she does, annoyed a little that she opened her door before I could get around to her.

”Leave the car seat. I”ll pick you up in the morning for work.”

She doesn”t argue with me this time, and I know it has more to do with her limited options than her wanting me here in the morning. I guess I”ll just have to take what I can get.