CHAPTER NINE
FAITH
Darkness descended over the foothills of the mountain in a slow shadow that chased us through Red Hart lands for the last hours of our hike back toward semi-civilization. My legs burned like fuck. I could barely see ten feet in front of us, but at least I didn’t have to do this last bit alone.
Because after Walker spent the better part of the afternoon—when I knew we didn’t really have time to waste—making love to me spread out on a pair of his jackets, he wrapped his hand around mine and refused to let go. Hell, he even held on tight all the time that he fed me, making sure I ate plenty and drank enough water.
We still didn’t talk much on the walk back, but something changed after that. Rather than fight against each other with a hyper awareness of the other’s presence, he was just…there.
The whole time.
When my legs ached and placing one foot before the other became too much, he squeezed my hand, shortened his pace and made sure I followed him without dragging me along the path. He didn’t pressure me, and he didn’t go too easy on me, either.
I held onto that lifeline he offered, and I didn't let go.
So that was how we arrived at Red Hart’s big house nearly two weeks after I left, passing a line of farm hands who looked like they were done for the day, more than one clutching an after dinner beer that I knew Eve served at her usually over-laden table.
“I think we missed the best part of the night,” I murmured to Walker behind a yawn.
“I’m sure there will be leftovers.” He squeezed my hand.
His rough calluses and warmth were a staunch reminder of the strength that got us down what should have been a damn hard walk. My mountain man made it seem easy even when my body made me want to plant my butt and never move ever again.
“Always are.” Gage, one of the live-in ranch hands, and his fiancé, Brit, paused beside us, his arm slung around her body as she leaned into him. “Heard you were coming down the mountain.” He held out a hand.
Walker hesitated, his hand flexing tight on mine for a moment. It hit me in one just how easy going we had been together and what being in public actually cost him.
I pressed my body against his back as he shook Gage's hand briefly before pulling back and winding me tightly into his side.
“I have to get someone food and a bed,” he muttered gruffly.
Gage inclined his head. “Understood,” he murmured, and I remembered he’d been a soldier at some point, too.
Maybe Red Hart and the lands surrounding the ranch house had a draw for a certain personality type.
“Are you going to be okay with this many people around?” I asked Walker, pulling back, but he wouldn’t let me.
“We’ll find out.” His arm tightened on me, almost to the point of uncomfortable.
I didn't say anything or shift away, stealing a little more of his warmth for the last minutes I had him to myself. My hands slid inside his jacket, pressing to the hard ridges of his stomach as I closed my eyes and hummed something noncommittal against his chest.
Some of the tension left his tense frame. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You gonna show me that fancy office of yours in White Cap tomorrow?”
I broke out of my cuddle zone and jerked my head up to stare at his face. “You'll come into town with me? Borrow a truck?”
He shrugged. “I might have left a truck here with Jude one year.”
My mouth fell open.
Walker shut it gently with two fingers. “Bugs’ll get in this time of night, Precious.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder and ignored the line of farm hands who stared openly at us. “You are full of surprises, Walker Roan.”
His chest rumbled as we approached the big house. “I ain’t the only one.”
Jude’s silhouette leaning against the wide veranda was easy to spot. “Heard you were coming down. One of the boys ran back to tell me.” His voice held no more of a smile than the slice of his face that I could see in the reflected light from the house as he looked at me. “We were waiting for the rain to stop, Faith. Knew you’d be safe with him, because otherwise he would have come down, even if it meant coming in during the rain. I tried to call, but?—”
“My phone went flat pretty fast. I know. That’s on me. I should have listened.” I leaned into Walker's side and hugged him tight. He held on and didn’t make me face Jude alone, thankfully, because now it was my turn to be the cowardly lion. “I’m sorry, Jude.”
He didn’t rip me a new one, and I was grateful. “Looks like you were in good hands.”
I nodded while Walker stroked my hair. “I was.” I am. If he was coming into town with me tomorrow, I’d bought one more day with the mountain man who I didn’t want to leave any time soon.
A day in town. Hell, he freaked out when a farm hand he knew at least in passing shook his hand. How was he going to go in a ton with a population of approximately five thousand people? I mean, they weren’t all going to flock to him at once, but my office was on the main street. I’d been gone for over a week with no notice. People would be dropping by.
I bit my lip and cast those thoughts out of my mind. I’d deal with tomorrow…well, tomorrow.
“Need a feed?” Jude still hadn’t moved, and I got the impression we were yet to pass some sort of unspoken test before the foreman would let us into the domain he protected for the twins.
“Glad to see you made it out safe.” Travis walked out of the big house and down the steps of the veranda, wiping his hands on a tea towel. “Eve’s heating up some food for you. There’s plenty left. How much can you eat, Faith?” His gaze lingered on where Walker’s arm wrapped around me.
“A bit,” I mumbled through another yawn.
“Good,” Travis said approvingly. “Eve’s got rooms made up for you.”
Walker’s hand stopped stroking my hair. “We’ll stay together.”
Jude made an all-male noise in his throat, turned on his heel, and disappeared into the house. Walker seemed to take that as an invitation, kicking off his boots at the step and held out a hand for me to do the same. A frisson of heat that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with my heart rippled through me. I leaned on his arm for balance as I untied my borrowed footwear and tried to breathe evenly.
“That's okay with you, Faith?” Travis asked softly, unmoving from his spot, still wiping his hands with the tea towel. “Staying with the big guy?”
I looked up at the Walker, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me, and I nodded.
“Yeah,” I managed, noting the way Walker's gaze darkened possessively at my answer. My stomach flipped in a way that had nothing at all to do with my exhaustion, food, or the lack of it.
“I’ll stay with him.”
Over an hour later we were filled with more food than I ever expected to be fed, especially when we had rocked up unannounced to someone’s house at ten o’clock in the evening after the literal hoards had already been through the kitchen for the night. Eve fed us a veritable feast, Travis and Jude joining in for seconds. Walker devoured his usual house-sized version of a meal, and I managed more than I expected despite my eyelids drooping at the table. Then, Eve brought out dessert. I decided afterwards that as good as the vanilla slice tasted, I never wanted to see it ever again.
Afterward they let us say goodnight, Travis and Jude talking quietly at the long table after we all cleaned up while Eve settled in the leather sofa by the fire to message her long distance boyfriend with a promise that she’d laid out a set of both night clothes and an outfit I could have for tomorrow.
Walker hauled me up the stairs as my legs finally decided they had enough, sliding his arms around my waist and lifting me onto his hips in a bear hug. I didn't object, wrapping my arms around his neck and burrowing into him, recalling all too well the way his body pressed mine into the mountain as he claimed me beneath its eye, it seemed, this afternoon.
Or maybe I was being all fanciful, but that was what it seemed like he had done. I was half asleep by the time he led us into the spare bedroom at the end of the hall upstairs in the big house, surrounded by his familiar scent and his strength. My new safe place.
Walker kicked the door shut behind us and carried me past the bed, keeping my legs wrapped around his waist and headed straight into the ensuite, already peeling my top over my head. I moaned as his mouth connected with mine in a deep, rough kiss that tasted of his last coffee and the remnants of vanilla slice with a dusting of sugar.
My tongue slid across his lips as he placed me carefully against the bench, unbuttoning my jeans and slid them over my hips. I doubted they were white any more, or that they were recoverable. I didn’t care either way as he pushed them over my legs, along with my panties, and discarded our clothes on the floor. My bra went next. Then one hand held me to him as he reached into the shower and flicked the hot water on and whispered the sexiest words I’d ever heard in my ear.
“I’m gonna hold you up while I wash your hair, Precious.”
I groaned aloud and let him guide me under the water which was almost scalding hot as promised. Walker carried out his oath to perfection, his thick, strong fingers massaging my scalp as I moaned softly, leaning into him. My legs turned to jelly within seconds. I clung to him, turning around as he needed, letting him work out the knots in my hair and tilted my head back to allow him to wash out the conditioner.
Then he washed me too, cleaning the mess he’d made on me before, soaping me gently. I pried my eyes open, stealing a little soap to glide my hands over him, too. He tried to knock my hands away, but I shook my head.
“I want to touch you,” I whispered. “Just a bit?” I yawned again.
“Mmm,” he muttered, voicing his opinion in a mountain-worthy rumble that left me giggling.
In the end he let me clean his back and chest and part of his arms, but that was as far as I managed before he quickly finished himself and washed us down, then wrapped me in a fluffy towel, drying my hair.
“You’re perfect,” I murmured, leaning into his embrace.
“You’ll forget about me once you’re back at work, Precious.” He kissed the corner of my mouth.
I turned into the kiss, melding our lips together, and opened my eyes, finding him, though my vision blurred at the edges from pure exhaustion. “If I don't?” I mumbled.
He didn’t pull away. “Then you know where I live.”
My breath came short as he lifted me in his arms, discarded the towel, and placed me in the bed, both of us naked. Walker pulled me into his body, kissing me deeply, his arms wrapped around me, until I fell asleep.
Safe and warm and together.