CHAPTER 52
Tally
My stomach flutters in anticipation the moment Walker swings open the door to the cottage. Home.
“Where do you want to christen first?” he asks with a roguish grin as he holds me in the entryway.
I roll my teeth over my bottom lip, completely famished, and yet still I can’t help but tease him. “Doubt there’s an inch of this place we haven’t already touched.”
Walker smirks. “That a challenge? Because I promise, Tally, there are ways I haven’t had you in this house.” A kaleidoscope of positions flip through my mind, and he chuckles like he can see the Rolodex of ideas. “Dirty girl, you were fucking made for me.”
I won’t argue that. “We’ve got a lifetime to test out all those positions, but right now I just need you, inside me. No games, no teasing. Make love to me, Walker.”
His eyes light up like that’s the best thing he’s ever heard, and without hesitating, he carries me toward the bedroom.
There’s a pale yellow comforter on the bed and more pillows than I can count.
It looks beyond cozy and not at all the same as yesterday.
“Where’d you—” I shake my head. I don’t know why I’m continually surprised by this man’s thoughtfulness.
Walker ignores my question as he tosses me onto the bed.
And then, with one hand, he reaches behind him and pulls his shirt over his head, exposing an expanse of skin and muscles for my eyes to feast on.
Walker’s own eyes smolder, holding mine as he slips off his shoes and unbuttons his jeans before pushing them down with his boxers.
His cock springs up, and my mouth waters. God, I love this man.
And because we’re no longer afraid to tell each other that, I say those three words out loud.
His fiery gaze softens, and those brown eyes caramelize. My chest grows hot under his loving stare. “I love you, Tally girl.” Then that wolfish grin returns as he grips his cock and gives it a firm stroke. “Now strip.”
Hungry for a taste, I sit up and reach for him but he pulls back. “Tits, Tally, I need to see your tits. Then you can swallow me down or do whatever you fucking want. But please, baby, let me see you first.”
I smile and tug the spandex over my head, and he hisses the second my breasts spill into view.
Reaching out, he tweaks one and my head falls back. There’s nothing like the feeling of his skin against mine. Not a thing compares to his hands on me. “These are my fucking favorite,” he rasps. “Want to lick them and bite them and fuck them and come all over them.”
“You telling me your list of things again? Getting forgetful in your old age. I already told you that we have forever to try it all out.”
He chuckles and pinches my nipple, making me whimper. “Brat. Think I’m going to drag out that orgasm now. Make you really work for it.”
My eyes light up. Sounds like a reward to me.
As if he can read my mind, Walker shakes his head and laughs. “Get over here, Wildflower. I want to eat that pussy while I fuck your mouth.”
I shake my head and curl my finger, ordering him closer.
Walker drops a knee on the bed and wraps his fist around his cock again. “What? You can’t wait that long?”
I shake my head. “Not today. Right now I need you inside me. Need to feel you pulsing as I come all over your cock.”
“Fuck, Wildflower, you’re—” He shakes his head, wonder in his gaze. “I fucking love you.”
“Show me,” I beg.
Walker settles between my open thighs and drags a finger through my sex. “You’re more than ready for me.”
I nod, aware that I’m soaked, before I reach up and wrap a hand around his neck, tugging him down until his lips are pressed against mine. Then, with a shared breath, we hold each other’s gazes as he presses inside me.
Between one heartbeat and the next, I’m complete.
As Walker’s hips hit mine, and he sinks fully inside me, my mouth opens and his tongue tangles with mine.
What starts as a slow, sensual kiss becomes more desperate as the seconds bleed together.
I wrap a leg around Walker’s waist and hold him to me while he fucks me with a raw intensity I haven’t experienced before.
“More,” I whimper desperately, not sure what I’m even asking for anymore.
Walker kisses down my jaw and then sucks on my neck, and I arch into him. When he bites my nipple, I feel the slow build low in my belly.
Five fingers wrap around my throat and squeeze gently. “Don’t ever leave me again,” he warns as he holds me in place and fucks me slowly. It’s decadent, being devoured by this man. I’m molten as liquid rushes through my limbs, forcing my toes to curl.
“Never,” I promise him.
Walker’s mouth returns to my own, and he kisses me as I go over the edge, ecstasy blinding me the moment he pulses inside me, coming with my name on his lips.
—
“You ready yet?” Walker calls into the bathroom, where I’m just straightening out my dress. After our mind-blowing sex, we both fell asleep and I woke up with Walker still inside me. A shower was necessary after that.
I smile at my reflection as my heart pounds in my chest, wondering what the hell else this man has up his sleeve for today.
“Breathe, Tally,” my dad reminds me.
That’s a lot easier to do now that I’ve admitted what I really want in life. I can’t wait to meet with Rayna this week to discuss the lease on the bakery. I’ve got dozens of emails with requests for cakes, too. At this rate, I’ll be booked through the year.
When I leave the bathroom, Walker is there, wearing a pair of Wranglers, a white T-shirt, and his cowboy hat.
“Aw, you didn’t have to play dress-up for me.”
He chuckles and smacks my ass as I pass him. “Brat.”
I stick out my tongue and take off at a jog toward his truck.
I’m standing at the driver’s-side door when Walker finally catches up to me. “Not a chance,” he says with a grunt.
I put out my hand.
“Tally, I love you, but no.”
“Please.” I pout.
“No, woman. And stop distracting me. We have somewhere to be.” I stomp a stubborn foot in the ground, and dirt blooms up around us.
“You done before you make more of a mess?” Walker chuckles as he follows me to the passenger side, making sure to open the door and help me up. “I promise it’s better this way.”
The moment Walker gets in, he settles his palm on my bare thigh and squeezes. “Remember when you first got here and kept questioning why I had the tulips covered?”
I nod. “How could anyone forget the great deflowering?”
He snorts. “Anyway, like I was saying,” he points to the fields as we pass them.
As far as the eye can see is a mass of color: magentas and purples, yellows and baby pinks.
“One of the reasons I had them covered is because science tells us that the dark, cold winter will bring the most beautiful flowers. And I think it’s kind of beautiful in a way that the flowers are Mother Nature’s promise that even when things get dark, on the other side of that there’s beauty waiting for us.
” He glances over at me and his eyes soften.
“That’s what you are to me, Tally. My life was so dark before I met you.
But I think I needed to weather all of that so I could come out on the other side to this beautiful life you’ve helped me create. ”
My heart pinches, and I lean across to kiss Walker’s cheek.
“But want to know a secret?”
My brows raise.
“Wildflowers don’t need that. They don’t need darkness or sun; they don’t need extra rain or more seeds to bloom; they don’t need anything but the stalks themselves, and they somehow figure out a way to multiply across fields, season after season.”
I bite my lip. “You got a point here?”
“You, Tally Darling, don’t need another day of training in a kitchen, or schooling unless you want it. You’ve got this, all on your own.”
I shake my head as tears prick my eyes. Sucking in a steadying breath, I stare out at the crystalline harbor that winks at me as the sun hits the water’s surface. As we turn onto Maple Street, it’s clear that the whole town is out and ready to enjoy the beautiful day.
I laugh as I spot the group of men sitting on the corner, drinking their coffees and gossiping.
About what, one only knows. Probably something Rayna said.
As we continue down the street, I smile as we pass every store, each decked out with more flowers than ever before.
Hope Harbor is certainly ready for the Spring Fling and the start of summer.
Right as we pass my sister’s store, Rayna steps out into the street.
“Stop, you’re going to hit Rayna!” I shout.
Walker chuckles as he pulls into the spot right in front of her. “Don’t you know? Cars stop in this town.”
I glare at him. “You’re acting weird. And what are all those people doing over there?
” I ask, pointing to the human wall tightly packed in front of the bakery.
I don’t take my eyes off the group of people, who I can now make out one by one.
Rosie, Eli, Fletcher, the Liberty Ladies, Penny, my mother.
“Wait, what are my mom and Penny doing here? What’s going on, Walker?”
Somehow between the time we stopped and all my questions, I didn’t even realize Walker had gotten out of the truck, but now he’s at my side, door open and staring at me. “Do you really want to stay in Hope Harbor?”
I press my hand to his forehead. “Did you hit your head or something?”
“Just answer the question, Tally.”
I sigh. “Yes.”
“Well, we really wanted you to stay, too. We wanted you to feel like you had a place in this town, and turns out, so did your dad.”
“What?”
“The loan, Tally. Your mother finally told us what it was for.”
“I’m so confused.”
Walker motions for my mother and Penny to join us, and the four of us stand in a circle.