“Good to know.”
“Planning on injuring yourself in the future?”
I snorted. “Well, I am trying to teach myself to cook.”
“Are you now?” I felt a cold alcohol pad touch the small of my back and jumped. “Sorry about that.” Walker blew on my skin to ease the sting. “You know, I’m a real good eater. I eat just about anything, so I could be your guinea pig while you’re trying to learn.”
This time I snickered. “You might regret that offer.”
“I promise you, I won’t.” He kissed the top of one of my shoulders. He was careless with his displays of affection. Not in a bad way, just in a way that said he had a deep well of love and care in him that was so full, it was overflowing. It wasn’t surprising when I thought about it. He had amazing parents, a hilarious grandmother, a protective sister, and a precious nephew, who all loved him deeply. Not to mention, a town that adored him. He had a lot to give.
I relaxed into the knowledge. It helped me to keep from freaking out about his frequent lip touches and gentle caresses. It was just Walker. I didn’t need to read anything into it.
His roughened fingertips spread some sort of ointment across the scrapes on my back. I turned my head to the side, catching a glimpse of his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be here to take care of you anytime you need.”
“You can’t promise that,” I whispered.
Walker squeezed my arms and placed a kiss on the back of my head. “I can promise anything I want to. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll just say, I’ll do everything I can to be here when you need me.”
A tightness took over my body. I both desperately wanted to sink into that reassurance and run as far away from it as possible. I settled for something in the middle. “How about I just thank you for taking care of me this go-around?”
“That works for now.” Walker rose from the bed and grabbed my hand so that I stood with him. “Now, why don’t I make us some breakfast before I have to head into work.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t suggesting I try cooking for him now. “That sounds perfect.”
29
Walker
Aknock sounded on the doorframe of my open office door. “Were you just whistling?” Tuck asked, disbelief lacing his tone.
My head snapped up, and I forced the shit-eating grin I’d been wearing off and on all morning from my face. “Maybe.”
Tuck studied me intently as he crossed to one of the chairs opposite me at my desk. “You seem…chipper. Way too cheerful for someone who had his ex go missing, and the girl he likes shot at just yesterday.”
A muscle in my cheek ticked as a pang of guilt hit me at the reminder that we still had no leads regarding where the hell Caitlin was.
Tuck’s eyes narrowed. “You got laid!”
“Would you keep it down?” I gritted out as I stalked around my desk to shut the door. “I don’t think the entire office heard you.”
“You did. You sly dog, you. I find the girl, and you swoop in all hero-like and catch her when she almost faints. No wonder you got in there.” I smacked Tuck upside the head as I walked back around to take the seat behind my desk. “Ow. What was that for?”
I settled in my desk chair. “That was for being an idiot.”
“What? Your best pal in the world can’t be happy when his boy gets himself some? Especially some that is as smokin’ as Taylor.”
My jaw clenched. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
Tuck’s eyes flared. “Understood. I get it, I do. This one’s different.”
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw that was beginning to ache. I was trying really hard to do exactly what I had instructed Taylor to do: take things one day at a time. Not think about what the future might hold.
But what I did know was that I had never had sex like that before. A fire had licked through me that I knew might never get extinguished. So, I was going to do my damnedest to get Taylor to stay in Sutter Lake, to really let me in. It might be an uphill battle, but I never backed down from a fight.
I met Tuck’s stare. “Itisdifferent with her. There’s something…I don’t know…” I pulled at the collar of my shirt. “Something special about her.”
