Chapter 30
Thirty
SLOANE
To my everlasting relief, Mrs. Hunter seemed to agree that Callie was coping well after her father’s attack.
It was weird for her teacher, someone who was kind of a stranger to me, to know such intimate details about our family, but in order to do her job well, she needed to be aware of the situation.
She told me Callie had been quieter than usual for the first few weeks, but the past week she’d noted an improvement.
My daughter wasn’t a loud, boisterous kid, anyway, but her teacher said she was holding her hand up to answer questions again, she had more energy, she was getting more involved with their projects, and seemed overall happier and more content.
It was exactly what I needed to hear. On top of the fact that Callie’s grades were great and Mrs. Hunter called her an “exemplary student,” I was in an awesome mood when I stepped out of the classroom. It was only when my eyes met Walker’s that I remembered Haydyn.
Walker fell into step with me as we walked away from the classroom.
To my surprise, he asked in a tight voice, “Callie all good?”
If only he didn’t care about my daughter, maybe I could stay madder at him. “She’s doing really well. Grades are great, and her teacher says she’s acting more like herself again, which is what I’m seeing at home. So, all good.”
He gave me a scowling nod. “Good.”
“Yeah.”
We fell into an awkward silence as we walked to his car.
He yanked open the passenger door of his SUV, and when I looked at him, I found him glowering at me.
A shiver rippled down my spine as I hopped into the vehicle.
Then Walker shut the door, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he shut it a little harder than usual.
Not enough to be called a slam, but there was definitely anger behind the action.
I sucked in a breath as he rounded the SUV to get in.
As soon as he started the engine, he bit out, “Callie’s staying with the Galbraiths tonight, right?”
“Right.”
When he said nothing else, I eventually asked, “Why?”
He cut me a dark look.
Well, this was fun. I’d been ready to apologize for accepting Haydyn’s number, but his attitude made me swallow it. Why should I apologize? Walker hadn’t had the decency to have a mature conversation about what was between us, so why should I bother?
A minute later, I realized we were not driving back to my cottage. “Where are we going?”
“My place,” he replied gruffly.
Butterflies sprang to life in my belly. His place? For what? “Walker …”
I didn’t know what to say. Part of me was totally indignant, and the other part that was addicted to him wanted to shut up so I could have my wicked way.
When he pulled up to the house, my indignation won out. “Why are we here?”
“In the house,” he replied and jumped out of the car.
My fingers knotted together on my lap as he rounded the hood to open my door. “Why?”
He stared at me with baleful lust. That shouldn’t have excited me as much as it did.
Hands trembling with the thrill, I unhooked my seat belt, and Walker put his hands on my waist to help me out, even though I didn’t need it.
My pulse raced as my body thrummed with life at his proximity.
Everything always felt heightened around him. All my senses, my responses.
Damn him.
He released my waist to take my hand in his firm grip, and a piercing score of longing cut across my chest as he led me up to his house. Walker rarely ever took my hand. It felt so damn good, I almost wanted to cry.
Alarm bells rang in my head.
This was not just about sex.
He’d hurt me by staying away.
I had to stop this.
But as soon as the door closed, Walker leaned past me to lock it and then took the lapels of my coat in hand and shrugged it down my arms. My purse dropped to the floor, I was so shocked by his abruptness, but my coat was off by the time I opened my mouth.
Then I let out a little squeak of surprise as Walker lifted me into his arms like a bride.
I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold on as he marched down the hall.
He walked into a bedroom that was neutrally decorated but furnished with the same sparse masculinity as the rest of his home.
The bed frame was a modern take on an old-fashioned metal design and made of sturdy black metal.
At the sight of it, I tightened my arms around his neck.
“Walker, we need to talk.”
In answer, he threw me on the bed, and I’d barely had time to recover from it when he bent over and started tugging off my boots.
“Stop!”
Walker threw my boots behind him and straightened. I could see his arousal straining against the zipper of his jeans. His chest was moving up and down in shallow breaths, a flush cresting his cheeks. Those vivid blue eyes were hungry, and I shivered at the desire in them.
I wanted him so badly.
I always wanted him.
But I was sick of the whiplash I suffered every time he decided he was over what was between us.
“I can’t do this if you’re going to ignore me for another four weeks before you decide you need to get laid again.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I wasn’t ignoring you.”
“It sure felt like it.”
Walker’s lips pressed together tightly as he glared down at me. Then, “I’m sorry.”
I wanted to ask him why he’d been so distant, but I had a feeling I already knew, and those kinds of questions were asked between two people in a relationship. “If we do this again, no more blowing me off for weeks on end like I’m some stranger you picked up in a bar.”
He swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
“Well, you did. So, what is it? Are you in or are you out?”
Walker’s gaze seemed to touch on every inch of me. His hands fisted at his sides. His voice was gruff when he replied, “I’m in.”
The sense of relief that came over me was another warning sign.
And I stupidly ignored it.
Anticipation filled me. “Okay.”
I’d barely said the word when Walker pulled me back up off the bed and turned me around to unzip my dress.
His calloused palms coasted down my waist and hips as he slowly pushed the dress toward the floor.
Cool air prickled my skin as I stepped out of it, and my belly flipped with excitement as Walker deftly unclipped my bra.
“Turn around.”
I did as he asked, and he watched me as he peeled off the bra. My breasts seemed to plump for his attention, my nipples tightening into buds desperate for his touch.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?”
My eyes flew to his in surprise. He’d shown me in actions that he was attracted to me, but he’d never complimented me outright.
He observed my reaction, and as if he knew my thoughts, he frowned.
At me or himself, I didn’t know. Walker hooked his fingers into my panties and lowered to his knees to press kisses to my stomach as he drew the silk down my legs.
After I stepped out of them, he nuzzled his face between my thighs, and I sighed pleasurably into his playful touch.
But he merely gave me a teasing lick before standing up.
I wanted to protest, yet his look was so fierce and promising that the words caught in my throat.
Walker unceremoniously lifted me up and threw me down on the bed again. I bounced, letting out a little cry, and Walker’s eyes flared with satisfaction as my breasts trembled with the movement.
He was a little more hurried as he undressed before me.
Just as he peeled his boxer briefs down over his impressive erection, I commented dryly, “You know this all feels a little like you’re peeing around your territory.”
Walker’s eyes narrowed as he understood my comment was in reference to Haydyn asking me out. He strode over to his dresser and pulled open a drawer. “And if I am?”
My gaze took in the black ties he pulled out of the drawer, and my pulse leaped. “Well, that would make you kind of an asshole,” I replied distractedly.
Walker returned to the bed, his erection as proud and fierce as him. He braced his hands on either side of my head, his delicious scent tickling my senses as he brought our faces an inch apart and murmured against my mouth, “Then I’m an arsehole.”
He kissed any response I might have had off my lips, and I kissed him back, stupidly thrilled that he was jealous of Haydyn. That he wanted to prove I belonged to him.
What dangerous, dangerous ground we were on.
But neither of us could stop ourselves.
Walker’s kiss was deep and possessive, and I clung to him, trying to pull his body over mine, to feel his hard chest against my breasts.
Instead, he gently unhooked my hands from around his neck and broke the kiss.
He observed my expression as he took my left wrist and stretched out my arm toward the bed frame.
My belly clenched and wet heat slickened between my thighs as he knotted the silk tie around my wrist and stretched my arm taut toward the frame.
Seeing my quickened breathing, Walker murmured, “All right?”
The man had been pretty dominant in the bedroom so far, and I’d loved every second, but it hadn’t involved tying me to his bed. He did it with a proficiency that suggested he’d done it before. I couldn’t think about that. About other women. That was the past. This was now.
And I seriously enjoyed it when Walker held me down while we had sex.
I nodded, wetting my lips a little nervously.
He noted it. “Say the word and I untie you, all right?”
“Is this … Are you … like … Do you have the whole Fifty Shades of Grey thing going on?” Because I was into him tying me to a bed, but I wasn’t sure I was up for a sub/dom situation.
“That’s a movie, right?” he asked as he affixed the tie in a complex knot to the bed frame.
“Book first, actually,” I muttered inanely, watching him as he tied my other arm to the bed.