Page 34 of One Day

Leaning forward, I step into his firm chest until my breasts are pressed against him. Using his shoulder as leverage, I lean onto my toes. My breath grazes his jaw on my way to his ear. “Just say it, and I'm all yours, Cowboy.”

That’s all it takes for the damn to break. A curse falls from his lips when he buries his face against my neck and in my hair. I feel his breath on my skin as he inhales, shivers coating my skin at the warmth of it. Of his presence this close to me. “Yes, Sunny. I was jealous. So fucking jealous.”

I grin to myself before pressing into him, walking him back until his legs hit the end of my mattress, and he’s forced to sit. With the height advantage, I run my hands up his shoulders until my fingers are cupping his face, and his focus settles solely on me. His grey eyes hooded, and full of heat.

“See?” I ask, bringing my lips down until they’re hovering just an inch from his. Despite the steadiness of my voice, my heart races. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

He doesn’t answer me, instead tilting his chin up until his lips are on mine, and my whole world tips upside down. There’s no going back after this.

Not from him.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SONYA

When Walker kissed me the first time, I wasn’t expecting it. He tipped me off my axis then, but I’m ready for him this time. Or at least, I thought I was. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since. He felt unreal, but I feel him now. I feel the way his fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck, his palm framing my face. The tight grip his other hand has on my hip pulls me towards him.

I thought this kiss would be the same as our last. Fast, hungry, rushed—but it’s not. The way he holds my face gently is a direct contrast to the way he’s gripping my hip. He’s both tender and rough like he’s afraid of what direction to take, so he’s settling in the middle. It cracks my chest open, forcing me to realize this isn’t the same tipping of my world.

He’s righting me again. Putting me back in rotation. I’m finding solid ground in him, and it’s unsettling how quickly it twists my stomach as the realization sinks in that this isn’t just anyone I’m about to sleep with. It’s Walker—my favorite person.

The person that grounds me, pulling me towards him like a magnetic force. Something about us has always seemed to work, and this is about to ruin it all. I can feel it in my bones, the way his calm extinguishes the fire burning through my veins.

Reid’s words blinking in bright lights. What if things go downhill and fall apart?

This is a bad idea.

I’m in over my head, and just like that, we’re on opposite sides again, and I’m pulling away from him. He was right from the beginning. Our friendship is not worth the risk, but the concern coating his features is a cooling balm to my worry. The racing of my heart slows when I meet his eyes, my hands tangling in the hairs at the base of his neck.

“Walker, maybe you were right," I swallow, flattening my palms against his chest. “What if this is a bad idea?”

“Then we stop now.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he says, but his hands haven’t left my body. “So…what will it be?”

“We should talk about rules,” I say, moving my hands to the collar of his jacket.

He nods his head. “We should,” he says, sliding his hands over my ass. The motion pulls me closer, his chin meeting my torso as he looks up at me. “Last chance, Sunny.”

I can change my mind right now. I know I can. We’d forget about this, and things will go back to the way they were before. I know if I asked, Walker wouldn’t hesitate to back off and never bring it up again. It could become a thing of the past, something we can both forget. That’s option one, and it’s probably the one a sane person would take.

Option two is letting myself jump into this—into him—headfirst, the way I want to, and potentially have the best sex of my life. It’s shiny and tempting.

And that alone should make me want to back down. If I let us go through with this, he might ruin everything else for me, and I’d let him. It’ll be fun and could easily get tangled. As if I’m not already tangled up in him.

I feel him in my chest, but the way he’s looking at me like I’m a bright light in an otherwise dark world, I know I’ll always have him. Even if I step back. Even if we don’t do this. No matter what, I’m always going to have him in my life, and that’s enough for me to shut my thoughts off.

I want this. I want him.

Running my thumbs over his jaw, I curl my fingers around the sides of his neck and lean down till we’re nose to nose. “I could say the same thing to you, Cowboy.”

He leans up, his lips just an inch from me. There’s a string between us that has always been there—just waiting to be pulled. It’s just a matter of who has the guts to finally yank on it and secure us to our fate. “I’m in if this is what you want.”

Holding his gaze, I let myself sink into the security of him in this tension-filled space. He’s with me. He’s always with me. “I want this,” I whisper, my skin on fire from where his fingers have moved to the hem of my dress. “I want you, Walker.”

That’s all it takes for the distance to close once again and his mouth to find mine. His lips are soft, but his hands are what have me spiraling. The way his fingers bite into my skin, fanning the kindling of the flame burning beneath my skin. His hands slide under my skirt, bunching the fabric around my waist as his fingers skim over the nylon tights covering my legs. When he pulls away, taking in the obstacle ahead, I can see what he's about to do from the twitch of his lips.

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