Chapter Twenty-Six
Walker
He’d managed to avoid Gabi all week, but eventually Walker ran into her at the gym.
Literally. He turned the corner to get to the free weights section and rushed smack bang into her, knocking her flying and having to grab her to keep her upright.
He’d forgotten how tiny she was as he steadied her in his hands.
And he couldn’t help but let his eyes skim that body in her gym kit.
‘Hi.’ She smiled up at him and he averted his gaze. ‘How are you doing?’
How was he doing? What, after his mortifying nightmare and then running off into the night without any explanation?
‘Are you feeling better?’ she went on.
Please don’t start talking about it, Walker prayed to himself. Please don’t make me relive the whole embarrassing drama.
‘I was worried about you.’ Her eyes were soft, probing.
She was obviously determined to be nice about it.
Even if Gabi thought he was a loser, she was going to be pleasant and keep up appearances so that they could all spend the rest of her time in Honeybridge on good terms. Walker clenched his jaw.
‘I’m fine,’ he said gruffly, pushing his hair off his face.
‘Good, I’m glad to hear that.’ She was still smiling up at him.
Last time she’d been looking up at him, she’d been in bed with him, looking up from a slightly different angle .
. . He shook himself. She wouldn’t want to do any of that again.
He’d blown his chance for sure. There was a joke in there somewhere, but he wasn’t in the mood to find it.
‘Haven’t seen you for a few days?’ Gabi left the question hanging.
Or nights, he thought, thinking back to waking up that morning to his phone on his pillow.
His call log said that he’d been on a call with Gabi for over eight hours.
It had ended five minutes before he woke up.
Thank God for that. He wouldn’t have known what to say if he’d woken and she’d still been on the other end of the line, having looked after a fully grown man all night to make sure he didn’t have another bad dream. Honestly, how pathetic.
‘Work’s been busy . . .’ he said vaguely, and she nodded, waiting for more.
‘Any more emergencies?’ she asked.
He shook his head tiredly and she bit her lip.
‘Walker, about the other night—’ she started but he cut her off.
‘Better get on,’ he said. ‘Late already.’ He nodded past her towards the weights. Her eyes widened and she took a beat before nodding.
‘Sure. Well, I’ll see you at the Honeybridge Awards on Saturday.’
Walker nodded, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.
He should say something, he knew that, but what?
He didn’t know whether he should be thanking her or apologising to her.
And it probably didn’t matter anyway, because she was hotter than hell and he was the town coward.
It wasn’t like anything he said was going to change that.
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Gabi continued as she started to move past him. And then with a mischievous smile over her shoulder, she added, ‘Jayden’s been teaching me to breakdance. I’m looking forward to trying out my moves.’
Walker watched her go, trying not to focus on her arse. Better to steer clear and not make a fool of himself all over again. He wasn’t man enough for the job.