Chapter 7
SEVEN
Walker
“Ican’t believe you don’t watch movies.” While the TV in the living room played what she claimed to be one of her favorites, Sky put her hand on top of my head and pushed down until I looked at her. “Or any shows.”
“I can’t believe you do.”
She laughed, the sound so delicate, like her. “I like true crime docs. Anything suspenseful or thriller-ish. Heavy on the drama, light on the romance.”
“Light on the romance? I’m surprised to hear you say that. Even my sister—who’s not into dating or romance—reads romance books.”
She folded her legs in front of her, cuddling one of the couch pillows. “I can’t stand it, if I’m being truthful.”
“You need to explain yourself. I’m too intrigued to move on from this.”
“When romance is portrayed, I don’t like the expectations it sets.
I don’t like seeing something and believing that’s normal and then the pressure of having it someday and the disappointment if I don’t.
I want to go into a relationship without an opinion, with no clear path, just seeing where it takes me.
” Her hand dropped to my shoulder. “Not now. I’m saying when the timing is right.
” She paused, and the ball she was tucked into seemed to get even smaller.
“I don’t know how you grew up, Whiskey, but in the last twenty-three years of my life, I haven’t exactly had the perfect role models of love and marriage and healthy communication.
All I know is, if it does happen, I don’t want it to look like that.
” Her voice had changed as she got more personal, her tone quieter and full of breath.
Something told me this was one, if not the sole source, of her darkness.
Her reasoning made sense. I could understand how fiction created a false sense of reality, but at her age, didn’t she have any experience with men?
“You’ve dated, haven’t you?”
“A little.” Her shoulders shrugged forward. “Not a ton.”
“I’m shocked to hear this. I would think the dudes would be all over you, given how beautiful you are.”
“We moved around. A lot. Not just within LA, although that too. I’m talking all over the country. I’ve only lived in LA for the last couple of years.” She let out a long breath. “When you’re never really settled for too long, it’s hard to date.”
“I can imagine.” My hands couldn’t stop touching her, and whenever I pulled back, I found myself reaching for her again. This time, it was the side of her neck. But the angle gave me the perfect view of her eyes, and as I studied them, I sensed this topic wasn’t the easiest for her to talk about.
So, I returned to something she’d really seemed to enjoy and said, “I’m still baffled you watch true crime before bed. I can’t say that would put me in the mood to sleep.”
“You should see me, huddled under my blanket, in a pitch-dark room, watching it on my phone.” She smiled.
Now, that was a sight I wouldn’t mind seeing.
Jesus fucking Christ, Walker, don’t let those thoughts enter your goddamn head.
“I’m just impressed that’s what you watch to unwind and not some shitty reality TV show where everyone’s screaming at each other.”
“I don’t do screaming.” Her voice was low but stern. “But, yeah, when you put it that way, my choice does sound strange. The thing is, I get so involved in what I’m watching that my brain shuts off. It’s all about my brain, I need it on pause. If not, I won’t sleep at all.”
My nod was overexaggerated. “I hear that.”
“Do you sleep?”
My fingers lifted to her earlobe. There was a small hole in the center, but there wasn’t an earring in it. I then ran my hand across the bottom of her jaw. “Maybe a couple of hours, max.”
“Doesn’t that effect you?”
“You mean, does it make me more insufferable? Who the fuck knows? I’m sure it doesn’t help.”
“What do you do when you don’t sleep?”
I looked straight ahead at a movie probably many people had watched, my siblings included since time was something they certainly had on their hands, but I hadn’t even heard of the name.
“I follow my brain as it runs. Sometimes, it’s laps around a track.
Sometimes, it hits the road and strives for marathons.
Ultimately, it’s a spiral, and I can’t stop it. ”
“You need some true crime.”
When I looked at her, she was smiling, and the longer I stared, the more her grin grew.
How could a sight be so achingly pretty?
I needed to taste that smile. I needed to know what it felt like on my lips.
I needed to thank her for making my brain slow down to a crawl.
I surrounded her face with both hands, my nose aligning with hers, and when that didn’t feel like she was close enough, I slid her over my lap, positioning her legs around me. My hands returned to her face, and I took in that blue gaze as it stared back at me.
Right before my lips went to hers, I whispered, “What I need right now is you.”
“We don’t have to stay in if you don’t want to.” Sky was on her side, next to me in bed, her hand rubbing my chest.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
“No. Not at all. I’m just saying, if there’s somewhere you want to go, we can.
I don’t mean a place that’s going to cost money.
I mean, if you want to go for a walk or a hike in Runyon Canyon—something like that—I’m game.
” Her fingers stilled. “I just don’t want you to think you’re stuck inside because of me. I’ll do whatever.”
“I don’t feel stuck.”
She smiled. “You know what I’m saying.”
I pulled her fingers up to my mouth and kissed the back of them.
I didn’t know how, after all these hours, but I could still get the faintest hint of pomegranates.
The smell was on her wrist as well as her forearm.
I was positive that if I inhaled the rest of her naked body, I would find even more places.
“Is there somewhere you want to go?” I rolled toward her, pushing the hair off her cheek, moving it well past her ear.
“The farthest I want to go is the living room.” She laughed. “I’m so happy right here.”
I shut off the water to the shower and opened the glass door, waiting for her to exit before I stepped onto the bath mat. “We need to talk about food.”
She grabbed two towels from the stack that sat under the sink, handed me one, and wrapped the other around her body. “Of course we do. It’s dinnertime. I’m surprised you’ve waited this long to talk about it.” She winked.
She’d tucked the top of the towel in between her tits so it would stay, and I pulled at it, loosening the fold enough that it fell.
“I fucking hate when you cover up.”
“I’ve been naked practically all day.”
“And you’re going to be naked all night.”
“You’re … insufferable.” She laughed and wiped her arms with her palms, droplets of water coming off with each swipe. “Whiskey, I’m dripping.”
“And I love the sight of you dripping.”
She shook her head, smiling. “So, you’re saying you want me to air-dry? And I’m just supposed to stand here until that happens?”
I surrounded her hips, and when that wasn’t enough, I reached for her ass. “Yes. But don’t worry, I’ll stand here with you.” A towel was wrapped around my waist, and I tossed it, my hard-on pressing against her. “Just like this.”
“Now you’re really playing with fire.”
Next to her ear, I whispered, “You make me fucking wild—you know that?”
“Let me ask this … if I get on my knees right now and put you in my mouth, does that mean I’m still going to eat dinner naked? Or will you let me put on clothes?”
I fucking loved when her mouth turned naughty.
I lifted her and set her on top of the counter between the double sinks, spreading her legs to stand between them. “It doesn’t matter what you do with your mouth.” I traced my thumb around her lips, envisioning my dick between them. “You’re still eating dinner naked.”
“The thing is, I know you’re not kidding.”
“You’re starting to really know me.” I kissed her, hard, letting her know that the two times we’d already had sex today hadn’t satiated my need for her. “But what I want to know from you is what you’re feeling for dinner.”
Her arms went over my shoulders, her hands behind my head. “I don’t have an opinion.”
“If you could have anything you want, what would you pick?”
“Anything?”
I nodded. “It’s our last night together. I want you to remember every part of it.”
Her tongue curved around her top lip and stayed like that until she said, “The food isn’t going to be what I remember.”
“Ah, but you’re wrong.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”
“Do you know how powerful food can be?”
“Says a true foodie, Whiskey, and I appreciate that—I do, in ways you don’t even understand.
But you’re going to be what I remember. The talks we’ve had and the movies I recommended that played in the background and we didn’t watch even a second of them.
How you’ve tasted me on almost every surface of this suite.
And”—her hand lowered, her palm pressing against the left side of my chest—“this. Dripping all over the bathroom and loving every second of it.”
“Okay, you’re right.” Sky held her hand in front of her mouth, hiding the full bite she had inside.
“This isn’t just pizza. This is the most incredible combo I’ve ever tasted.
” She moaned. “And this crust and the fresh mozzarella and the sauce—how simple it is, yet so perfect.” She turned the piece, looking at it from all angles. “I can’t get over it.”
I laughed. “And you thought pizza was a boring choice.”
“I didn’t say it was boring.” She hit me with her napkin.
“When I was unable to make a decision, I was just shocked that, out of all things, you went with ordinary. I figured you’d go totally obscure and do octopus ceviche or, like, a soufflé—you know, something complicated.
” She pulled the napkin back and wiped the sides of her mouth.
“The funny thing is … this was obscure.” I took a drink of my Coke.
“The pizza? How?”
I set the glass down and clutched my hands together. “You really want that answer?”
She broke off a corner of the crust, and before it went into her mouth, she said, “Please.”
I leaned back into the couch. “When I was in Italy a few years ago, I met the owner of a restaurant. He was on the verge of retiring, giving the business to his son. He told me that when he wintered in Italy, he’d help out his boy here and there, but when he spent the rest of the year in LA, he’d stay far away from the kitchen.
” A plan I could relate to in so many fucking ways.
“The pizza in that restaurant was the best I’d ever had, and we exchanged numbers.
Once in a while—and I’m talking, once in a very great while—I can convince Francesco to make me a pie.
Of course, that means he must have all the ingredients, and tonight, he didn’t, so he had to go out and get them.
That also meant someone had to go pick the pie up from his house since he doesn’t deliver.
And that also meant that whoever brought it here needed to find a way to keep it warm because eating this cold”—I held up my wide slice—“would be a real tragedy.”
As soon as she swallowed, she stopped eating and stared at me.
“You’re saying all of this happened in the last two-ish hours, when you disappeared into the bedroom to make a call?
” When I nodded, she continued, “That you didn’t get this pizza from a restaurant?
And that you didn’t have Uber—or some other app—deliver it? ”
“It came straight from Francesco’s home kitchen.”
“How?” Her eyes widened.
I chuckled. “For most, it would probably be impossible. For me, it’s easy as hell.”
“Wow.” She glanced down and went silent. “If you had been here alone, would you have gone through the trouble of having pizza tonight?”
When she looked up, I saw the emotion in her eyes.
“No.”
“You did all of this for me?” She took a breath. “Because you wanted me to taste the best pizza I’ve ever had? And probably will ever have?”
“As fucked up as things are in my life, shit like this has a real meaning.” I took a few deep breaths, reining in my feelings before I said anything more on that topic. “His pizza is spectacular, and I wanted to share it with you. That’s all this was.”
Her fingers went to my biceps, her nails briefly grazing my skin. “I’m never going to forget … any of this.”