Chapter Sixteen #2
one. I’ll find it.” He pushed Bud into her hands and disappeared
down the hall. She thought the little dog was shivering less. She
hugged him when he licked her chin. Tufts of mottled fur stuck up
from his head.
She sat at the end of the couch
closest to the stove with Bud snuggled against her chest. She
crooned softly while stroking his head as she scrolled on her
phone, the muted crackling of the fire a comforting
sound.
Walker came back and she stifled a
sigh of disappointment. He’d put on a sweatshirt. Not that it
mattered. The image of him shirtless was permanently etched on her
brain.
Reading from her phone, she said, “The
veterinarian website says we should put the heating pad on a low
setting and wrap it in a towel so Bud doesn’t get
overheated.”
Walker crouched to plug in the heating
pad. He snagged another of the towels, wrapped the heating pad as
instructed, and placed it on her lap. Within minutes, Bud was
curled up and asleep, his body giving off the occasional quiver.
“Poor little guy.” She spoke quietly as she stroked his
head.
“Be back in a couple
minutes.”
Walker disappeared into the darkened
kitchen, the back door opening and letting in a draft of cold air.
The sound of a power drill followed. She figured he was placing a
board over the broken glass in the door.
Minutes later the door opened again
and Walker returned. He had his phone to his ear, then disconnected
and dropped next to her on the couch, bringing the smells of the
night air with him.
“Sawyer’s caught up on
what’s going on. I told him not to bother coming tonight. Whoever
broke in and took Bud is long gone.”
“I hate this. I hate
feeling vulnerable, knowing someone is coming on our property and
is enough of a monster to try drowning Bud. It’s probably the same
person responsible for killing the calf.”
Walker draped his arm across the back
of the couch and his fingers threaded through the ends of her hair.
“Agreed. This property’s large enough there are dozens of
directions they could’ve come from. I’ll take a look around when
it’s light, see if there’s anything to see.”
She nodded slowly. “Did they take
anything from the cabin?”
He shook his head. “They didn’t take
my power tools that were on the back deck. I figured Sawyer would
be more familiar with the forms and reports in the box so I’d taken
it to his place and we spent a couple hours looking through it.
Pretty sure that’s what they were after.”
“How do you think Bud
ended up in the creek with a rope around his neck?”
Walker moved his arm, his thumb now
moving in lazy circles at the base of her skull, which felt
amazing. She turned to see his face and immediately realized her
mistake.
The move put her lips inches from
his.
“Someone’s fucking with
me, and they’re willing to torture my dog to do it. Whoever it was
probably threw him into the creek to drown him and the rope snagged
on the rock. I doubt he would’ve lasted five minutes longer if we
hadn’t found him.”
“Perhaps. It’s also
possible they’d wrapped the rope around the rock intentionally so
you’d find him drowned. More impact that way than if he’d been
swept downstream and you never knew what happened to
him.”
“Shit. You’re probably
right.”
He ran a hand over Bud’s head, the
only part of him exposed. Though his eyes were closed, the little
dog gave a contented groan.
“I think he’s going to be
okay.”
“Yeah.” His voice was
gruff. “Thanks for your help.” He shifted. His glittering green
gaze locked squarely on hers.
He lifted one of his long fingers to
trace the side of her face, then under her chin, sending her pulse
skittering. She caught her breath as the air between them grew
heavy. Gritting her teeth to keep from mindlessly diving in, she
turned away to stare with fierce concentration at the dog on her
lap.
“Coward,” he murmured in
her ear.
One word and her control
broke.
“Like hell.”
She was done fighting the attraction
that grew stronger every time she saw him.
He was the only man she’d ever wanted,
and wanting him was a hunger only he could satisfy.
Maybe she’d regret it later, but in
that moment, all she could think was she craved Walker McGrath more
than her next breath.
Her hand to the back of his neck
brought him closer and she pressed her lips to his.
He opened his mouth and took her
in.
The feel of his tongue sliding against
hers, the smell of pine, the sensation of heat rocketing through
her body all combined to form a maelstrom of sensation threatening
to swamp her.
He broke the kiss for a brief moment
to move her onto his lap. Bud didn’t even open his eyes when Walker
placed him and the heating pad on the cushion next to
them.
Ignoring the voice in her head telling
her to use caution, she straddled him, and when he cupped her rear
to bring her closer, she rode the hard ridge of his erection. His
groan matched hers when she rocked back and forth, tension coiling
tighter between them. She opened her lips to his and felt time spin
out as sensation flooded her.
To keep from combusting on the spot,
she broke the kiss, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “Oh
my god, Walker.” Breathing deep didn’t help cool her at all.
Drawing in a breath brought the scent of him into her
lungs.
She felt his breath shudder as he
clamped his hands like steel bands on her arms and held her until
she looked up to find his gaze laser-locked on hers. “Is that ‘Oh
my god, Walker, it’s so good,’ or ‘Oh my god, Walker, I want you to
stop’? Be sure, Laney.”
He sucked in a sharp breath when she
bent her head to lick his neck, then used her teeth to scrape the
skin. A shiver rippled through his body.
With her lips pressed against his
skin, she mumbled, “That’s ‘Oh my god, Walker, I think I might die
if you stop.’”
“Praise Jesus,” he uttered
against her temple, “’cause I sure as hell don’t want to
stop.”
Her mouth got busy with his, and she
slipped her hands under his sweatshirt and did what she’d
fantasized about doing earlier: rubbing her hands over his heavy
muscles so her fingers could glide through wiry hair on his
chest.
After trailing kisses along her jaw,
his words were a low rumble as he tugged on her top. “Let’s get
this out of the way.” She raised her arms and as he pulled the
sweater up and over her head, his voice turned reverent. “Sweet
Laney. You’re so beautiful.”
She felt beautiful when he looked at
her with such intense focus, like she was everything he’d ever
wanted.
Work-roughened hands followed a path
similar to the one she’d taken on his body, skimming her rib cage,
one circling a breast to take its weight in his palm even as he
used the other to unhook her bra, causing her breasts to spill
free.
He nuzzled both with his nose,
breathing deep, then used his tongue to outline a nipple before
sucking it into his mouth.
She purred deep in her throat as need
coursed through her.
Time stretched as they used hands and
mouths to relearn each other’s bodies.
A swift move and he shucked his
sweatshirt over his head. She leaned forward to savor. The lamp
gave his skin a golden glow and she was developing a particular
fascination with the way he tasted as she swept her tongue along
the curve of his shoulder and the dip of his collarbone.
He rose to his feet, taking her with
him in a move that had her blinking at his easy strength. She
wrapped her legs around his waist, the muscles in his shoulders
taut under her hands.
He caught her gaze.
“Still sure?”