Chapter 32 #2
She gave us a nod and disappeared toward the back of the plane.
Walker’s arm then wrapped around me. “Where do you think we’re going?”
The window coverings were down so I couldn’t even take a guess by peeking outside, and the flight time meant nothing—I didn’t even know how long it would take to fly to San Francisco.
“I have no guesses.”
“I love that.”
I laughed. “Why?”
“Because you have no expectations.”
“That’s true. But also, it doesn’t matter where you take me. We could be in your backyard, on your couch or in bed. I just want to be with you.”
He kissed me, and that was when I felt the change in cabin pressure, my ears filling and clogging as we slowly made our way down.
I clung to Walker’s arm, my inexperience causing me to jump and tense up every time we hit a bump.
My reaction was clearly on the dramatic side since Walker didn’t even blink from the turbulence.
Still, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we landed. “I’ll get used to flying, I promise. Although I think you like having my nails stab you. You never complain about it, although it usually happens in situations that look much different than this.”
“Like when we’re both naked?” He leaned forward and bit my lip. “You’re right. I do enjoy the pain. But the pain isn’t really pain. It’s more like foreplay.”
“So is this.” I ran my fingers through his beard, the inside of my thighs craving the sharp, pointy ends.
“Oh, I know how much your pussy loves my beard.”
I blushed. “In ways I can’t even describe.”
The pilots jammed on the brakes, and the high speed caused my hands to return to Walker’s arm. But this time, I didn’t pierce his skin. I just held on and leaned against his chest.
A spot that was more comfortable and comforting than the pillows and blanket and slippers.
Once we fully stopped, the flight attendant opened the door and lowered the stairs, and Walker stood, holding out his hand for me to grab.
As my fingers linked with his, I said, “Hold on. I’m wearing slippers. Should I change into my shoes?”
“No need to.”
“Are you sure?”
He chuckled. “I’m positive.”
I followed him through the jet, thanking the flight attendant as we passed her and the pilots who were coming out of the cockpit.
And as soon as I stood at the top of the staircase, looking outside, I took in the view. “Oh my God.” My hand went to my chest as I realized what this could possibly mean. “Walker …”
“Welcome to the mountains of Montana, baby.”
I slowly looked at him.
I didn’t want to guess why we were here or where, within the mountains, he was going to take me. I didn’t want my brain to spiral with any ideas.
I just wanted to take it all in.
“It’s stunning.”
“Not as stunning as my view.” He smiled as he gazed at me. “We have about a twenty-minute ride ahead of us. Come on.”
An SUV was parked right next to the staircase, and Walker escorted me to the back seat, letting me climb in first before he got in behind me. I attempted to sit on the far side, but he pulled me toward the middle, his arm tightly around me.
“You should have seen your face when you looked outside.” He pulled my head toward his lips and kissed my temple.
“Is it still showing shock? Because that’s how I feel.
Completely, utterly shocked.” As I spoke, I stared out the window.
The peaks were covered in snow, the rest of the mountains a blast of color—deep eggplant and indigo and emerald.
“I’ve seen mountains before. We lived in a mountain town once. But those looked nothing like these.”
“You’re going to have an up-close look at them soon.”
“I don’t even know what that means”—my hand went to his chest—“and I don’t want to. Don’t tell me anything. I want all of this to play out just how you intended.”
He chuckled, pulling me even closer, and I kept my gaze on the windshield, watching the street go from multiple lanes to only one, the road then weaving around the side of the mountain.
The SUV began to slow as it pulled down a dirt path, the pine trees thickening the lower we went until we came to a stop.
“Walker …” I slid toward the end of the seat, my mouth dropping as I realized what I was looking at. “This house … it looks just like Leslie’s painting. Even the color of the house, the style—all of it.”
“I know.”
I turned toward him. “She didn’t base her painting on an actual house, her imagination created one. How did you find this? Oh my God, you didn’t build this, did you?”
He opened the door to the back seat, and when he got out, he held his hand toward me and grasped my fingers. “I’m going to answer everything, but first, you’re coming with me.”
He led me across the entrance, where large rocks framed the flower beds and slabs of slate created the most beautiful walkway.
When I expected him to bring me into the massive front door, made entirely of glass, he walked me right by it, and we rounded the corner of the home and went toward the back.
“Holy fuck,” I moaned as soon as I saw the water. “That lake …”
I could hear him laughing. I could feel his smile. But I couldn’t look at him because I couldn’t pull my stare away from the view.
The lake was magnificent, teal and navy, the border hugged by tiny rocks, the water so clear at the edge that it looked drinkable. And all around us, in every direction, were the mountains.
I didn’t realize we’d stopped until Walker was behind me, his arms crossed over my chest, his chin on top of my head.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“What do I think? I think I’ve never seen anything more gorgeous in my entire life.”
“Could you see yourself spending some time here? Say, a week a month? A week every two months?”
I turned around to face him. “What? What do you mean?”
He pointed over his shoulder. “It’s ours, Alivia. I bought this house.”
It was then that I glanced toward the home, seeing the two floors, each with massive balconies.
Both stories were made almost entirely of windows, so I could only imagine the sights from inside.
I had no idea how big it was, but Walker’s house in the Hollywood Hills felt like a mall, and this rivaled it.
“You bought this?”
“Yes.” He held the back of my head and smiled.
“We’re so tired, but we don’t want to go to sleep.
We want to watch the sky fill with color.
I do anyway. You, on the other hand, want to talk about food.
You relentlessly want to feed me.” He laughed.
“Breakfast, lunch, dinner. But dinner is my favorite, and you know that. Because every evening, we sit on the back porch with plates in our laps and iced tea that I brewed earlier. We talk. We watch the clouds move across the water until it gets dark.” He rubbed his nose against mine.
Oh my God.
I had chills. On every part of my body.
“I said those words.” Tears were in my eyes, and they were falling faster than I could control. “How do you remember any of that?”
“Because as soon as you said that to me, that’s what I wanted too.
A place just like you described. Where we can not only make art, but live inside it.
” He put his hands on my cheeks, covering the wetness.
“That painting meant so much to me. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at it.
So, I sent Jenner a photo and told him to work his magic.
He located a few cabins, but this was my favorite, and after tweaking some of the exterior, it looked almost identical to the painting. ”
He rubbed his thumbs under my eyes, catching the new batch that was falling. “You made me fall in love with the day, Alivia. And I’m pretty positive you’ve now fallen in love with the night. Here, we have both. We’ll be able to watch the sunrises and the sunsets.”
I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.
I hugged him harder than I’d ever squeezed anything. He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, and the lift allowed me to grip him even tighter.
“I have no idea how to explain to you how much I love this,” I whispered. “And how much I love you.” I pulled back enough to align our lips.
Before he kissed me, he growled a single word.
A word that meant more to me than love.
And that was, “Mine.”