Page 103 of The Ones We Fight For

“That’s a One Direction song,” she joked, avoiding the question. Walker shook his head.

“I want to show you,” he whispered, brushing past her awkward song trivia.

“Show me what?”

“How your body deserves to be looked at. Touched,” Walker said simply, reaching for the hem of her shirt. “Can I take this off?”

Talia nodded nervously, and he slowly pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it to the floor at their feet. His eyes traced over her torso with a reverence that made her heart beat out of her chest. Wordlessly, she reached forward to his shirt, and Walker lifted his arms so she could pull it off. Faced with his bare chest again, she dragged her hand down his tattooed arm the way she always wanted to, tracing over a tendril of smoke from the cliff’s edge on his shoulder all the way to the floor of the charred forest at his wrist before snaking her fingers into his.

Walker let out a shaky breath as Talia guided his hand to her chest. His palm lightly cupped her, and then he ghosted the pads of his fingertips between the valley of her breasts and continued a path down her stomach to her jeans. “And this?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, feeling a bit more confident.

Walker didn’t break eye contact while he unfastened her pants, like he didn’t want to miss a single flutter of her eyelashes. Talia could feel every notch of the zipper let loose as he pulled it down, her breath becoming more and more unsteady as he progressed. His hand slid over her hips, and he bent into a squatting position to pull her pants down her legs, kissing just below her belly button and across the lace hem of her underwear. She might have changed when she grabbed spare clothes at the house, and it obviously wasn’t lost on Walker when he stood back up and offered her his arm for support while she kicked out of her pants.

“You’re wearing…” He was breathing heavily, which made Talia flush with pride about her decision to wear the black set he had seen on her once before.

“I figured you’d want to take it off this time.” Talia smirked.

“Fuck.” Walker set one hand on each of her shoulders, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes as he slid his fingers down and up her arms. “You’re perfect.”

Talia took the opportunity to slide Walker’s black joggers down his legs, dipping her head forward to kiss the bulge growing in his underwear. The strangled sound he let out made her want to stay down there forever, but they had to make it into the shower at some point. Standing back up, Talia met Walker’s lips with a deep kiss before he reached behind her to unclasp her bra with one deft flick of his wrist.

“Holy shit! You just did that with one hand?” Talia gaped. Walker’s eyes raked down her body again as he reached up to cup one of her breasts.

“I know how to take a bra off, yes.” He regained his composure a bit, but his voice was still rough with pent-up tension, sounding about ready to explode. “I don’t plan on taking anyone but yours off ever again. I’m a ruined man.”

“I’ve barely done anything yet,” Talia cackled.

“No, I’ve barely done anything yet,” Walker corrected. “You have been torturing me since the second you got out of your car to yell at me nine months ago.”

“Turned on by belligerent women, are you?” Talia teased, sneaking her fingers inside the waistband of her underwear and dropping them to the puddle of clothes.

“I’m turned on by just about everything you do,” Walker retorted, his palm tightening its grasp on her breast.

“I can see that.” She dipped her index finger under the elastic of his boxer briefs and pulled down, his erection springing free. Walker grunted and took a step back, his darkened eyes scouring every inch of her body. Talia was gripped by a sudden self-conscious urge to cover herself. One arm wrapped around her chest, while the other draped across her middle, hiding all the parts of her she had only let anyone see close up so they couldn’t examine her.

“Tal,” Walker whispered, his voice taking on an edge of sadness. “Am I making you uncomfortable? Do you want to stop?”

“No.” She shook her head quickly.

“You shouldn’t feel like you need to hide yourself from me. If I haven’t made it clear what I think of your body, I need to.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Talia said in a hushed breath.

“Yes, I do.” Stepping closer to her, Walker reached out to gently pull away one of her arms. “I told you that I was going to show you how your body deserves to be treated, and I fully plan on proving it to you over and over and over again until you realize how beautiful you are.” He pulled her other arm away and set each of them at her sides. Talia didn’t try to go back into hiding, wanting to know what Walker meant and to relinquish control for once. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Self-consciously, she touched the small, lopsided scar from when she had to get her appendix removed in high school. “Beautiful,” he murmured, bending down to press his lips to it.

“I haven’t shaved my legs in two days. They’re really pokey.”

“If you think I care about that, then you’ve got me all wrong.” Walker dragged one slow hand up Talia’s leg as he stood up, chuckling. “More friction. Probably feels a little like my beard. I don’t mind a little bit of pain, but we aren’t going to get there just yet.”

“We’re not?” Talia’s voice wavered, cracking under the anticipation.

“Later. Right now, we’re going to take a shower, and I’m going to use it as an excuse to touch you. Everywhere.” Fixing her witha hard look of determination, Walker continued. “I want you wet, soapy, and relaxed first. I want all of you. Every place you’ve been hurt in the past, by your father or anyone else, I know I can’t erase it, but I want you to feel safe.”

“It’s not just that, it’s me,” Talia said sheepishly.

“What do you mean?”

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