Chapter Seventeen
“Very.”
There it was again, that
lightning-fast grin that was oh so wicked.
Walker carried her down the hall,
nudging open a door to the bedroom he’d shared with Sawyer as a
boy.
In the shadowed darkness, he lowered
her onto soft flannel sheets. He snapped on a lamp, which cast a
warm glow on his skin, the ink design on his shoulder offering a
stark contrast.
He stood by the bed, eyes hooded, his
green gaze moving over her. She held her breath, wondering what he
was thinking. She hated being so unsure. Hated waiting for him to
realize he’d made a mistake and walk out.
He didn’t. Instead, he crouched to
unbutton and slowly peel her jeans and panties down her legs, his
lips moving over the cradle of her hips, the length of her thighs,
the backs of her knee, as inch by erotic inch, her skin was
revealed.
“Beautiful Laney,” he
murmured against her ankle. “I’ve missed you. I’ve missed
this.”
When her fingers reached for his belt
buckle, he nudged them aside. “We’ll get there, baby, but you
first.”
It was hard to argue when every touch
from him took her deeper until all she could see was
him.
He made his way up her body, heat
pulsing wherever he touched.
His warm lips slid to the inside of
her thighs and need coiled tighter, then tighter still when the
rough pad of his thumb parted and stroked.
A low, desperate moan
escaped from deep in her throat when his mouth finally went
there.
He set to work on her, mouth, tongue,
and clever fingers touching, teasing, tormenting, until she was at
the edge of an abyss, a writhing mess clutching mindlessly at the
sheets. She was sure if she toppled over the edge, she’d shatter
into a million pieces.
His ferocious gaze caught hers. His
tongue added firm pressure, his fingers stroked deep, and that was
all it took to send her rocketing over the cliff, a keening cry
calling his name coming over and over from her lips.
She was still flying when he stripped
off his jeans and ranged himself over her, his biceps bulging as he
lowered his face to nuzzle the underside of her jaw. “I like the
way you say my name when I get you there.”
She didn’t have it in her to be
embarrassed. “Might have something to do with it being a long dry
spell.”
“So you crying out my name
is a one-time thing only because of the dry spell? You won’t be
crying out my name when you climax for the second or third times
tonight?”
“There’s going to be a
second or third time?”
“Oh yeah, baby. There’s
going to be a second and
third time. Hold on tight.”
And she did as he built
her up again, keeping tight control of himself, until
finally, finally, he rolled on a condom and fit himself exactly where she
wanted him.
His mouth claimed hers as he surged
inside her. He went still when they were fully mated, the fierce
look of possession on his face making her heart clutch in her
chest.
She shifted to take him deeper, moving
with him as he thrust again and again, catching his rhythm as
tension built.
Their gazes remained locked as his
breathing became more erratic, his arms rigid steel on either side
of her. Then his control snapped and his movements lost that
restrained edge.
She tightened her legs around him as
his hips moved like a piston, pumping into her. His hands grasped
hers to hold them against the pillow and once again he pushed her
to the brink of sanity, his eyes brilliant green as his gaze
remained riveted on her.
She climaxed with his name on her
lips, and he continued thrusting deep until he emitted a mighty
groan as he erupted.
He collapsed over her, his body
slicked with sweat, a welcome weight.
“Oh my god, Walker.” She’d
never felt so utterly destroyed.
He let out an abrupt laugh, and as he
was still buried deep, the sound vibrated through her in the most
satisfying way. “That again?”
“What can I say? I’m
currently suffering from endorphin overload and I’m incapable of
coming up with more meaningful or original words.”
He withdrew and shifted onto his back,
bringing her snug against his side, pulling the blankets over
them.
“We should check on Bud,”
she murmured sleepily.
“I will when I’m sure my
legs will hold me up.”
He rubbed a hand lazily up and down
her back. She turned into him, face against his chest, absorbing
his warmth and breathing in his scent, which always reminded her of
a pine forest.
After a kiss on her forehead, he
rolled out of bed. She watched his amazing naked backside as he
walked to the hall and through the bathroom door. Broad shoulders,
narrow waist, firm buttocks. She groaned.
The rear view looked as good as the
front, and the front view was downright gorgeous.
She rolled onto her back, trying to
hold on to the moment.
Being with Walker felt right, like the
part of her that had never entirely settled after he’d left could
finally ease, soothed by the connection between them.
She wished she could turn off her
brain and not overthink what had happened.
Being with him was incredible.
Amazing. He made her feel sublime, and she was gratified to think
maybe he felt something close.
But no matter how much she wished it
could be otherwise, it wouldn’t last. She should be satisfied with
what they had in the moment, because that was all she could count
on. And being together this one time couldn’t change
anything.
Walker McGrath might be good for a
night—who was she kidding, he was fabulous for a night—but despite
what he’d told her, the explanations he’d given, he wasn’t a
long-haul kind of guy.
With fierce determination,
she told herself firmly for once
in her life not to overthink a situation and live
in the moment.
He exited the bathroom and a moment
later returned carrying Bud. He placed the dog, towel, and heating
pad onto a blanket folded in the corner, then plugged in the
heating pad and slipped into the bed, pulling her against
him.
She propped herself up on her elbow to
better see the design on his shoulder in the dim glow from the
lamp. She nudged him until he shifted so she could examine his
back. With her forefinger, she traced the pattern of yellow stars
interwoven with swirls of dark ink. “It’s Orion, so you can find
your way home.”
He lay back again, quiet for a long
minute. “Trust you to get it.”
The memory from a long-ago early
summer morning came flooding back.
She’d been up before dawn because she
and Walker had planned to go fishing. She’d stepped outside to find
him standing in front of the house, head tilted back to take in the
night sky made brilliant by the millions of stars of the Milky
Way.
With an arm around her shoulders, he’d
pointed out Orion, his quiet voice telling her how he always looked
for the constellation. His father had taught him how the ancient
mariners had navigated by the stars and Orion helped them find east
and west. No matter how far they sailed from home, sailors could
always find their way back by following the stars.
Her finger moved along the arc of
Orion’s bow. “It’s beautiful.” Now she moved her finger over his
chest, over the plains of well-defined muscles. “Did you miss
home?”
Expression serious, gaze intent, he
said, “I missed you. Every day.”
She shook her head. Maybe she was
beginning to understand why he’d needed to be away for so long. He
probably wouldn’t frame it as such, but he’d had to heal from the
psychological trauma of being accused, convicted, and imprisoned
for a crime he hadn’t committed.
But what she didn’t get was why that
had meant carving her out of his life. But he’d done exactly that,
so it didn’t follow that missing her had ever been an
issue.
“You don’t believe
me.”
“It doesn’t
matter.”
“Yeah, Laney, it
does.”
She drew in a deep breath, letting it
out slowly before speaking. “I have a hard time believing I meant
anything to you if you could so easily leave without explaining,
without a good-bye, and without even once over six years speaking a
word to me.”
“If I had, it wouldn’t
have been fair to you.”
Incredulity had her gaping at him.
“Fair? You’ve got to be kidding. How was dumping me fair? I got
that our relationship was over, but I thought we were at least
friends.”
“I didn’t want to hold you
back. I should’ve handled it better, and I wish I had. Fact was, I
wasn’t good for you. I wanted you free to live your life without
being tied to me. If I kept in touch, I would’ve been stringing you
along. I know you loved me. I’m sorrier than I can say that I
destroyed that. But cutting you loose meant you could find someone
else to build a life with, someone who wasn’t me. It killed me to
think about it, but you deserved more than I could give you. I
didn’t want you ruining your life by hitching it to
mine.”
Delaney pushed herself up to sitting.
“You arrogant ass. How dare you make that decision for me? I felt
like I’d been ripped in half when you left.”
Her breath began to hitch. She’d be
damned if she’d cry in front of him. Or let the truth out that his
plan had been an abject failure because despite the gap of six
years, she still loved him. She wished she didn’t, but there it
was.
She jumped out of bed and snatched up
her pants and underwear, looking frantically for the rest of her
clothing.
“Laney, wait.” He swung
his feet to the side of the bed.
She pointed her finger at him. “Don’t
you dare get up. I’m the one leaving this time.” She brushed her
hand furiously across her cheek before turning to flee down the
hall. In the living room she pulled on her pants. She had no idea
where her top had gotten to so she grabbed Walker’s sweatshirt and
pulled it over her head. She’d left her socks in the bedroom and
there was no way she was going back for them. She jammed bare feet
into her mud boots, grabbed her coat, and with her vision blurred,
she fought with the doorknob until she could open it and flee into
the night.
***
Jerod Reed Fetterly leaned back in the