CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SONYA
A smile is on my face when I wake up. I can’t help it. The lingering hint of mint hangs around the room, overwhelming me as I turn onto my back, expecting to find Walker in the spot next to me, but instead, I find the bed empty and the door to his room slightly ajar.
Running my fingertips along my collarbone, I pause at the spot he marked. His touch, his lips, his teeth branding me in the memory of him. It’s a freeing feeling to give myself over to someone, letting them in enough to see me in my most vulnerable state. It’s like I opened all the doors and windows and just hoped he wouldn’t leave me to let the wind blow in.
Instead, he came in like the sun. He painted my walls with light, shined the floor, and filled the echo with noise. The best kind of noise that fills me to the brim with a tempting joy. Something I can’t just shake off and forget about. He’s stuck to me like honey.
When my phone buzzes on the nightstand, I turn onto my side to grab it off the nightstand. Reid’s picture fills the screen, his cheek pressed tightly to mine with a wide grin on his face. His blue eyes squeezed shut, his nose scrunched up, and I can’t stop myself from grinning back at it as I slide my thumb along the bottom of the screen.
“Good morning,” I hum happily, stretching my arm out above me. My fingers curl into one of the pillows, and my eyes move to the ceiling fan as it spins. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Just checking in,” he says, the sputter of the coffee machine filtering the background and I can just imagine him standing in our teal kitchen. The small of his back pressed to the edge of the countertop, one arm crossed over his chest while the other holds the phone to his ear. Concern painting every corner of his face. “You never came home last night.”
“Yeah, that’s my bad, but no need to worry. I’m with Walker.”
“I figured. Dylan said Fitz dropped you off,” he shares, his voice a little more tired than usual. “He also mentioned something happened with your project. Is everything okay?”
Topher’s snide comments fill my chest again, pressing down on my sternum. “Yeah, everything’s going to be fine. You know how it is with Topher and his stupid need to put others down to lift himself up. Nothing I’m not used to.”
“You shouldn’t have to be used to it.”
“Preaching to the choir, Reid.” A laugh falls from my lips as I untangle my fingers from the pillow and run my fingers into my hair. “Thank you for checking in. I’m assuming I’ll be home later, but I’ll let you know if that changes. You’re okay?”
“I’m okay. I’ll see you later, Sunny.”
“Bye,” I hum softly, turning on my side again. “Love you.”
“Love you,” he says quickly before the line goes dead.
With a small sigh, I sit up and crawl toward the end of the bed. The floor is bare of my clothes, now sitting neatly on the corner of Walker’s dresser like they hadn't haphazardly been thrown on the floor in our haste to get each other out of our clothes.
Or maybe it was my haste. In my complete and utter addiction to him—in clothes and out of them.
My bare feet hit the carpeted floor and carry me towards his dresser. I want nothing more than not to have to put my jeans back on, but for Flynn’s sake, I reach for them before thinking better of it and reaching for Walker’s closet. I eye the top shelf for a pair of his sweats, stopping short when my gaze lands on a felt cowboy hat. A giddiness fills my chest as I grab it, rocking back on the soles of my feet when it’s in my hand.
Strands of my hair stand up in every direction when I turn towards the mirror hanging on the back of his door and bring the hat up to rest over them. The brown color is almost an exact match to my hair, blending in as an extension of my body. My smile widens, and I push onto my toes, taking a step forward to pull the door open. Being half-naked except for one of Walker’s shirts is suddenly not a problem as I step into the hall and head for his living room and kitchen.
“Walker Bodie, you have been holding out on me,” I say, walking into the kitchen where he’s sitting at the table, one leg crossed over the other. The sound of my voice causes him and the cat draped across his lap to turn their heads in my direction.
When his eyes land on the hat on top of my head, a smile curls up on his lips. Growing wider when I extend my arms out, doing a little spin before pinching the brim of the hat and tipping it forward. “This, Cowboy, is in fact a cowboy hat. What happened to not being a cowboy?”
“Owning a cowboy hat does not make me a cowboy.”
My lips curl up as I walk towards him, lifting the hat from the top of my head to put it on top of his sleep-swept hair. He leans his head back, letting me remove his glasses and rest them on the kitchen table next to his laptop. “You look like a cowboy to me.”
He smiles. “That so?”
I nod my head and lean down, kissing him. “Good morning,” I say, running my hand down his chest until my fingers are in the cat's fur. She twists until she can nudge my hand with my head, purring before she gets up and jumps down. “That lasted all of five seconds.”
“Don’t take it too harshly. She doesn’t like a lot of people.”
“She likes you,” I say, moving to sit on his lap. His hand drops to my leg, moving up my thigh to the hem of my shirt and trailing under it while his other moves to take his hat off. “No, you have to let me bask in your cowboyness a little while longer.”
“Can’t do it,” he says, setting it back on my head. “You were in my closet.”
“I was looking for sweatpants, for Flynn’s sake.”
A rich laugh falls from his mouth, wrapping around me like a security blanket. “How thoughtful of you, but she never came home. I’m guessing she spent the night with Devon.”
“And you didn’t think to seize the moment with dirty morning sex?” I gasp, bringing my hand up to rest over my heart. “You could have gone down on me. I would have gone down on you. We could have fucked in your bed, in the shower…” I say, my eyes roaming over the kitchen table and smoothing my hand over the wooden surface. “On the kitchen table.”
“On the kitchen table, huh? And how exactly would that go?”
“Well, it would probably start a little like this.” Biting my bottom lip, I tip the cowboy hat back and lean down to press my lips to the dip in his chin. I feel his lips tug up, and when my hand slides over his shoulders, my chest pressing to his, he tightens his hold on my hip and pulls me towards him. His fingertips leave a trail over my skin on their path further up my shirt and over my ribcage, curling his fingers into my skin.
“What next?”
“You’d help me with this,” I say, picking at the hem of my shirt. He follows my cue and pinches it between his fingers, moving the fabric up my body. I grab the cowboy hat off my head and let him take it off, grinning when he tosses the shirt behind him and places the hat back on my head with a lustful gaze. “I think you might like this hat more than you think, Cowboy.”
“It might be growing on me when you’re wearing it and nothing else,” he confirms before lifting me up onto the edge of the kitchen table. His hands slide up my thighs, and with it, goosebumps lift on my skin as he leans forward and presses his lips to the center of my chest. “It suits you, Sunny girl. I might ask you to wear it more.”
My lips pull up in the corners, sliding my hands over his shoulders as I slide off the table and back into his lap. This time with my legs on either side of his body. “Happily,” I say, pressing my lips to his jaw. Squeezing my waist, his hand slides down to my ass, a moan falling from my lips when I feel his rock-hard erection between my legs. “Walker,” I cry out, rolling my hips forward. “I need you.”
He slides his hands under my thigh, lifting me up when he stands from his chair and sets me back down on the table. I reach for the waistband of his sweats when he steps back from me, his hands moving to my knees. “I have to go grab a condom.”
“No.” I reach for his hand before realizing just how abrupt that must sound when his brows pull together tightly. “Sorry, that was, I just mean,” I pause, swallowing the lump in my throat with a shake of my head. “I’m clean, and I have an IUD if, you know, you wanted…”
His smile grows as his hands fall to the table on either side of my hips. “If I wanted to what, Sunny girl?” he asks, his nose brushing along my jaw before meeting my gaze. “Fuck you raw?”
My stomach tightens at the idea, my hand falling to his on the table. “Yes,” I exhale, leaning into him. “I want to feel you. All of you.”
“You’re sure?” His voice is gentle and soft, wrapping around me tightly, and I’ve never been more certain of my trust in another person.
Walker is so much more than my friend. I feel him in my soul, woven in like he was always meant to be there, which should scare me. All of this should because we were only supposed to be friends, but this doesn’t feel like friends. Not anymore. I’m not sure it ever did.
“Yes.” I slide forward on the table. “I trust you, Cowboy. More than anyone.”
“I trust you, too,” he says, leaning forward until his lips are on mine and clarity of the world, and who we are seeps into the corners of my vision. He slides into every corner, slotting himself into every empty space until they all click into place.
And when he slides into me bare, thrusting his hips forward, the pressure in my chest grows and bubbles over. It pulls my chest into tight knots, and I know I should pause what we’re doing, get the jagged pieces out so we can piece them back together into a new shape. Something that fits who we are now, but instead, I shove it down and inhale this moment.
“Sunny,” he mumbles against my skin, printing me in his voice. “You feel so good.”
Moaning, I grab onto his shoulder for a better grip when his hand grips my thigh and hooks my leg over his hip. “Cowboy,” I cry out, digging my fingers into his skin. “Harder.”
He drives his hips forward, and we unravel, our moans tangling together in the air between us, and my arms slip over his shoulder until we’re completely pressed together. Walker still seated inside me, and I let myself sit with him and the pressure that fades ever so slightly when he presses his lips to the hollow of my throat. “Thank you,” he mumbles against my skin.
I grin. “Did you just thank me for letting you come inside me?”
He hums. “Shut up.”
I giggle when he pulls out.
“Stay there,” he says, kissing my shoulder before heading down the hall to the bathroom. He returns with a warm cloth to help me clean up before grabbing my shirt from the floor. My toes touch the hardwood first before I stand, taking the cowboy hat off my head and setting it softly on the table next to his open laptop, the screen brightens from me knocking into it.
“What were you looking at when I came out here?” I ask, turning back towards him when he opens the shirt for me and nudges me to put it back on.
“Just some emails,” he shares, grabbing his glasses off the table when I adjust the length of his shirt on my body. “My advisor worked out an interview for me with one of the top firms in Michigan. Which is fantastic, but it just settles me deeper into this thing I have yet to fill my mom in on.”
“Maybe this is exactly why you need to tell her.” I reach for his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I know we had this conversation yesterday, but I meant what I said. You don’t have to be scared to be honest with her, and you don’t need to do it alone. I’m always going to be here to hold your hand through whatever it is if you need it. It’s never going anywhere.”
“You’re too good to me, Sunny.”
“You deserve good things,” I whisper, smiling when he leans down to kiss me. My hand moves from his hair, settling me deeper into the fact that Walker and I were never just friends.