Page 109 of The Ones We Fight For

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The light pouring in through the window was unwelcome. The warm body beside him, however, was heaven. Walker scooted closer to it, basking in the heat, still half awake. The second his consciousness returned to him, he realized what the warmth was, or, rather, who it was. Talia. He was the luckiest son of a bitch to have ever lived.

His attempt to move away from her just a smidge to grab his phone from his nightstand to check for any notifications from the kids proved pointless. His arm was a deadweight under his sleeping girlfriend. There was no blood left in it, but there was no way in hell he was waking Talia up.

I’ll just have to amputate it, he decided.

As Walker groggily contemplated how best to make love with one arm, he was interrupted by a dreamy sigh from the heap next to him. Talia’s eyelashes fluttered, and her mouth parted with a wide yawn. When her dark brown eyes finally met his, he smiled and stooped to kiss the tip of her nose, arm still firmly pinned under her.

“Morning, Ponytail,” Walker murmured through his own yawn.

“Coffee,” Talia grumbled. Laughing, Walker brushed her hair out of her face.

“I guess that second or third round really took it out of you, huh?”

They had woken up in the middle of the night the first time to glide against each other in a slow, silent plea for release, which they both reached and promptly fell back into restful sleep. For Walker, the second time was more of an insatiable need to have her. Talia had started it by pressing her ass into his groin when she crawled back into bed after a midnight bathroom break. Walker had woken up seconds later with a raging hard-on. Within minutes he had Talia on her hands and knees, a fistful of her hair in his grasp that he pulled from the roots each time he thrust into her from behind. He was going to remember the way she looked grabbing the headboard with her head tipped back and mouth parted in an “o” forever. He’d remember the entire damn night, because she was the best thing that ever happened to him. And he was okay with admitting that now.

“No more touching me today.” Talia’s hand moved under the covers, landing somewhere in between her legs, and she winced. “I’m sore.”

“And I’m devoid of blood. Can you get off my arm?” Walker poked at her ribs, and she launched away from him, more of a reaction than he was expecting. “You’re ticklish?”

Talia jumped out of bed, taking the sheet with her and wrapping it around herself. “No.” She adamantly shook her head. “I’m not.”

“Then come back to bed,” Walker challenged, testing the fingers of his right hand as they slowly started to circulate with blood, tingling with the sensation of a thousand tiny needles pricking his skin.

Talia stayed put, narrowing her eyes at his wiggling fingers.

“You’re lying.” Walker smirked, his eyes dancing over her.

“Don’t you dare.” Talia backed up as he flipped off the covers, hurtling himself out of bed to slip on his underwear and chase after her.

Talia was fast, but Walker was faster and stronger. His old apartment was also tiny. There was really nowhere to go where he couldn’t corner her. Within a few seconds, he had her pinned against the front door, dragging his mouth over her neck as he prodded her ribs and hips with his fingers. She yelped and writhed under him, jerking back and forth in an attempt to get away. When she managed to wiggle most of her body free, he reached up to the adjacent wall to block her exit, palm pressing against the smooth surface.

“Planning on leaving out the front door without any clothes on?” Walker laughed.

“Maybe,” Talia replied with a stubborn lift of her chin.

Walker was about to respond with another snide remark when the feeling of his hand on the smooth wall stopped him in his tracks. He turned toward the wall and stared at it in confusion, his eyebrows pulling together.

“What? What’s wrong?” Talia asked, following his gaze to the wall.

“Nothing, just—this wall is supposed to have a hole in it.” He pointed at the spot as if that would make the fist-sized cavity reappear.

“From when Roscoe came to get you after the accident?” Talia asked.

Walker bobbed his head in acknowledgment. “Other than you, and maybe Amala because she’s married to him, Roscoe was the only one who knew about it.”

She smiled. “He fixed your wall.”

“He fixed my wall.”

Talia laced her fingers through his, and they stared at the repaired wall in awe. “I’m not the only one who loves and cares about you, Walker.”

“I’m starting to realize that. And you’re the one that brought them all into my life.” He squeezed her hand.

“They would have loved you regardless, but…” Talia let the sheet slide a little lower on her arms with a provocative shake of her shoulders, “I think I have a way I can show you how much I do.” She dropped to her knees before Walker could ask what she meant, the sheet pooling on the floor around her naked body as she hooked her finger in the band of his underwear and yanked it down.

“What are you—?” He smacked both hands against the front door when the warmth of her mouth encircled his head, all questions lost to the wind. “Oh God.”

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