Page 81 of The Ones We Fight For

“Yeah, well, I figured I’d give you a break for once, and—wow, you really like that cake,” Walker chuckled as Talia shoved another behemoth of a bite into her mouth.

“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled and covered her mouth to prevent any crumbs from spraying out of her mouth. Slicing into the piece once more, she lifted it toward Walker and murmured something resembling “want some?” before practically jamming it into his mouth. Never in a million years did she think she would be forcing Walker to deep-throat cake. After he got over the surprise of her force-feeding him like a toddler, he closed his mouth over the fork and ran his tongue over his lips to get the stray crumbs when she took the fork back.

Fucking hell. Talia had to hold back a groan.

The cake was finished within five minutes, and Talia all but launched out of her seat when the waitress returned with Walker’s receipt and he moved to slide out of the booth. He held out his arm naturally for her to grab onto, and she was surprised how when she took it, it made her less nervous. Touching him felt good. Better than good. It was the same when they were eating. Other than her obvious arousal, Walker’s hand on her leg and his body so close to hers felt like they belonged there. When he had put space between them, that was when she had been the least sure of herself.

Everything else that followed felt right, too. Walker opened her door and held her hand as she climbed into the passenger seat. He massaged circles into the palm of her hand on the drive back to her house as they made the kind of conversation they always did. It was light and fun, but with an edge of anticipation. A sexual current ran through the air between them. Talia wondered if he could feel it. Could he tell how much she wanted him? Not just his body, but everything else, too?

“I’ll walk you to your door.” Walker parked the car in her driveway, hesitating a moment before he hit the button to turn it off.

“Okay.”

Talia’s heart skipped a beat. Usually, Walker left the car running when he dropped her off places. If he wasn’t planning on staying, then pocketing his keys seemed unnecessary. She no longer knew if they were still in fake-date territory or if they had ventured past that. Each touch gave off the vibe that their previous boundaries might have shifted.

When they made it to her porch, Talia stood there for a moment, facing Walker. One of his hands held hers like he didn’t want to let go, and the other held something behind his back.

“I had fun tonight.” Walker grinned and rocked back on his heels.

Talia bit her bottom lip and smiled back. “Me too.”

“I have something for you.”

“You do, do you?” Talia hadn’t meant for it to come out sounding all salacious, but she wasn’t mad at it.

“I do.” Walker pulled his hand from behind his back, holding up a small box. It took her a second to make sense of what it was, but when she did, her heart flipped in her chest.

Her voice was almost unrecognizably low and sensual when she finally responded. “You got me stir sticks.”

“I did.”

Talia blew out a breath, trying to prevent herself from jumping Walker on the spot. Her hand lingered in the air between them, held up to receive her gift. With an agonizingly slow delivery, eyes locked on hers, Walker placed the box in her palm, dragging his fingers unnecessarily down her wrist.

She watched his throat work to speak. “You look really beautiful tonight.”

“Which time?” Talia gave him a flirty smirk. “When I was mostly naked, or right now?”

“God,” Walker whispered. “Both.”

Talia went still, waiting for him to make a move. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, a rhythmic chorus of do it, do it, do it.

“I guess I should go.”

Talia’s face fell, and she bobbed her head relentlessly to hide her disappointment.“Right, yeah. Totally.”

Walker stood unmoving for a moment, before he pressed one hand into the small of Talia’s back and pulled her into his torso. His scent enveloped her as she leaned further into him, resting her head against his chest. She succumbed to the feeling of the hard ridges of his body wrapping her in bliss, his warmth protecting her from the biting chill of the evening. She was more at home in his arms than if she were to take two steps inside her actual house. Her eyes closed, and she didn’t let go until Walker made a move to leave. When he did, he didn’t remove his hands from around her, just pulled back a little to look into her eyes.

The insurmountable tension between them drew her in. Her mouth felt like a magnet to his. She hadn’t even realized she had moved toward him, just a centimeter or two from grazing his lips, until the unthinkable happened.

“Oh.” Walker dropped his arms, his hands hitting his thighs with a slap as he took a giant step back from her.

Talia’s eyes widened in horror from the clear rejection. She whipped her purse off her shoulder and started to dig through the compartments for her keys. She kept doing this to herself, expecting more when there was never going to be more. Walker had done exactly what he said he was going to do, taking her on the most wonderful, amazing date without the expectation of anything more, and now she felt like the world’s biggest idiot.

“Wait, Tal! I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” Talia cut him off. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Everything’s fine. We’re fine.”

“If you say ‘fine’ a few more times, I’ll believe you.” In her peripherals, she could tell Walker was trying to catch her eyes, dipping his head down to see her face, but she couldn’t handle having to meet her embarrassment head-on.

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