Page 77 of One Day

He’s what keeps my world spinning.

“Everyone head to bed al—”

“I love you.”

Walker’s lips part in surprise as he turns to face me, the question dying on his tongue. “What?” he asks, pulling his hands from his pockets.

I nod my head, pushing the door closed. “Yeah,” I say, clearing my throat as I stand a little taller and pull at the sleeves of my sweatshirt. “I love you. It hurts how much I love you, but I do, Walker. I really, really do. I am so insanely in love with you. You’re my person, and I know that’s a lot to take in because it must seem like it’s coming from nowhere. And maybe it is, but I think I’ve been slowly falling in love with you since the moment we met. It was a slow fall, but I’ve fallen. Hard and desperately, and we said we were going to be honest with each other when things change, and things have changed for me, so here I am…” I trail off, swallowing the lump in my throat as I hold his gaze. “Being honest.”

Silence fills the space between us, and with each second that passes, I feel less and less sure of myself. I hadn’t said it expecting to hear it back. The need for him to know was overwhelming, pressing down on my lungs with the burning desire to lay everything on the table. This feeling has been brewing blindly for the last several weeks, and now that it’s out here in the open, I had at least hoped he would say something.

Anything would be better than this numb silence hanging in the air between us.

“Okay, I know that was a lot…I didn’t mean to overwhelm you or toss all this on you, but I just needed to tell you. To be honest, so you knew and—”

The rambling thought dies when his fingers wrap gently around the side of my neck, his thumb running along the bottom of my jaw to tilt my head back, and his lips find mine. A gasp slips out, my hands moving to his waist as we take a stumbling step back, and his hand comes out to cushion my body before it completely hits the wall. His body fits against mine like he’s always meant to be there.

“You weren’t supposed to say it first,” he whispers against my lips before pulling back just enough that his nose nudges mine.

My heart swells in my chest, his touch like fire along my skin. Heat bleeds over me from head to toe, warming me from the inside before he kisses me again.

My lips curl up into a smile, and my fingers tighten around the fistfuls of his shirt, pulling him towards me. “We can pretend like I didn’t,” I say, leaning my head against the wall. “If you have something to tell me, Cowboy.”

“Something to tell you.” He shakes his head at me, pressing forward until there is no room between me and him. He fills in every empty inch and tangles his fingers in my hair the way I love. “It’s always been you, Sunny.” He rests his forehead against mine. “It’s always going to be you. Today, tomorrow. Fifty years from now. I want all of you in every way. I am so deeply in love with you.”

I lean up onto my toes and loosen my hold on his shirt, trailing my fingers up his spine until the heel of my hand is pressed against his cheek. His tongue meets mine, and his hands move down my waist and over my ass, his fingers curling into my thighs to lift me off my feet and sandwich me between him and the wall.

“Again,” I whisper, pulling back just enough that our lips are still touching. “Say it again.”

He grins and presses his lips to my jaw. “I love you,” he whispers, his lips finding my jawline. “I love you, I love you,” he says a little louder this time, working up to my ear and then down my throat until his nose is buried against my neck. “I love you.”

Rocking my hips forward, I press my heels into the back of his thighs and squeeze my legs around his hips. “I love you,” I moan, curling my fingers into his hair. “I love you.”

“One more time.”

I grin at him and press my lips to his. “I love you, Walker Bodie.”

A groan slips from his lips as his hands move over my thighs, squeezing gently as he hoists me higher up. My arms slip over his shoulders, dangling while he finds his way to the stairs without stumbling. His hand hits the wall before the stairs, feeling it on his way up to the second floor and the short way down the hall until I’m pressed tightly against the door frame.

“Walker,” I moan his name and slide my fingers down his back, pulling at the fabric that covers his chest. “Clothes. I need you to take your clothes off right now.”

“Greedy girl,” he whispers against my skin. His tongue runs along the pulse point in my neck. His hand slides up, letting me land softly on my feet. He guides me back into my bedroom, the moonlight bleeds in through the windows and onto the floor. “Strip.”

My brows draw together. “You’re so demanding,” I tell him, scrunching my nose up and giggling when he takes a step in my direction. His hands slip under the hem of my sweatshirt and up to the bare skin at my waist. “Say please.”

“I love you.”

A grin creases my skin, lifting my arms up to let him pull the sweatshirt up. Those three words suddenly mean please, thank you, and everything in between. “One more time.”

He lifts my shirt up and lets it fall to the floor next to our feet, his hands sliding up my ribs and towards my back. A shiver runs up my spine, my nipples pebbling at the cold air and his calloused hand on my tender skin. “I love you,” he says, pressing his lips to my collarbone. “I love you here.” He kisses the hollow of my throat. “And I love you here.” His lips rest over my heart. “And here.”

“Walker,” I whimper when his tongue runs over my nipple. He presses kisses along my breast, sinking down to his knees to press his lips between them, and trails down to my belly button. His hand skates up my thigh and under the hem of my shorts. “You are going to be the death of me.”

“Well, we can’t have that.” His lips press to my hip bone, tilting his head back until his chin rests just below my navel. “You’re perfect, Sunny.”

“You’re perfect.” My fingers rack through his hair and down behind his ears to move his glasses forward. “Can I take these off?” I ask, stopping my fingers on the side of the arms. He nods his head, the point of his chin pressing deeper into my skin. I slide them off and take in the cooling grey of his eyes. “God, I am so in love with you.”

“Yeah?”

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