Page 20 of One Day

A forced laugh falls from his lips, and my sensors immediately go off. Walker isn’t the type to force anything, so when he does, it’s easy to see. Even if he will never admit it out loud, he’s a lot like me. Wearing his emotions on his sleeve. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m okay.”

“Now I know something is definitely wrong,” I tease, dipping my head to try and catch his eyes, but he won’t look at me. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I can’t stop my thoughts from drifting. Maybe I already screwed everything up. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, unsure if it’s even what I should be saying. “I never meant to make you uncomfortable.”

The tension in his jaw loosens, his grey eyes softening when they find mine in the dark car. “It’s not that, Sunny.”

“It kind of feels like maybe it is.” I frown, pulling at the sleeves of my sweater.

“I promise it’s not. I’m just…I’m in my head.”

“Then let me be there with you,” I say, reaching for his arm but stopping myself when I see him stiffen. I wasn’t thinking when I blurted out my question the other day. I didn’t stop to think of the consequences or that for even a second, I’d make him uncomfortable. If I had taken just half a second longer to think it over, we wouldn’t be here right now.

“You know, I wasn’t sure where I was going when I got in the car. I was in over my head, overthinking everything, and I just wanted a moment of peace and quiet.”

I smile softly. “So, you came to my house? You do know this is probably the least quiet place on the planet, right? There are people everywhere, all the time. We may as well be a frat.”

That gets a laugh out of him. A real laugh, and then he turns to look at me. His grey eyes are clearer than ever when they find mine, not a storm in sight. “I’m beginning to realize my peace is where you are.”

For a second, I stop breathing. I think my heart stops beating altogether. Just up and quits, but then his fingertips graze my cheek and it’s like lightning strikes. All I feel is him.

“Walker,” I whisper his name, lifting my hand to rest on his wrist when his fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck. His thumb runs over the edge of my jaw, a shiver crawling up my spine at the gentle touch.

“I just want to try something.” He leans into me, his eyes never leaving mine, and then he’s kissing me and the world around me ceases to exist. All that matters is him.

His warmth. His calloused touch. His lips.

I’ve thought about kissing Walker more than I’ll ever admit out loud, and nothing I could have imagined would fit what it’s actually like. His grip on the back of my neck is rough like he’s afraid I’ll fade away if he lets go, but his lips are soft against mine. A moan works its way up my throat when his tongue meets mine, my hands grasping at his jacket.

I reach for the zipper when his hand finds mine, curling his fingers in and pausing my movement. His grip loosens from my neck, and the second his lips break off from my own, I feel a sense of loss I’m not used to.

A kiss has never felt like that before in my life. Like all my dreams have been built on it.

“That was…” I swallow the words on the tip of my tongue when I see his face. He’s working through something, and whatever it is, this didn’t help him. It seems to have had the opposite effect. As he works through it, my chest grows a little tighter. It’s never been hard to breathe around Walker, not until this very moment. Not while I wait for him to say something—anything—with bated breath.

“You’re in my head, Sunny. All the time.”

I exhale. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” he says, falling back into his seat and dropping my hand in the process. I miss him immediately, but instead of reaching for him—desperate to have him back in my hold—I curl in on myself. “Please don’t ever apologize for that.”

“You’re confusing me, Cowboy.”

“I’m confusing myself,” he admits, running his fingers into his hair and focusing on the street once again. I guess we’re back to not looking at each other. “I made a mistake.”

I think my heart breaks a little, but I don’t show it. I steel my nerves, keeping them to myself, and nod my head. “Okay,” I swallow, pushing down how not a mistake this was for me. “We can forget it happened. We were just testing—”

“I’m not talking about the kiss, Sunny,” he says, turning his head, and the inkling of hope sparks back to life. “I shouldn’t have said no.”

I press my lips together and watch as his brain slows down to pick things apart, to think them through. It’s one of my favorite things about him. He’s not impulsive. Not even slightly. When he does something, it’s with meaning. He always thinks it over, turns over every thought, and waits for the dust to settle. To really know what he wants.

So, even though I have more questions than I know what to do with, I don’t voice any of them. I sit and let him work through this the way he needs to because I already know what I want. The kiss only confirmed it.

I want him.

And I think with a little time, he might want me back.

“You took me by surprise,” he voices, his chest falling as he blows out a breath. “I said the first thing that came to mind instead of listening to you and hearing you out. I want to take it back, but I’m not saying yes, either. Not yet.”

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