Page 75 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“Walter? Is he?—”

“Walter’s fine,” she sobbed.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay,” I promised her over and over again as I rubbed her back. “It’s gonna be okay.”

Even though I had no idea what the problem was, I felt confident making that promise because I knew I would move heaven and earth to keep it. I would do anything I had to do to make whatever it was okay.

When her body began to relax and her crying subsided, I ran my hand through her hair and asked, “Do you want to come in?”

She nodded.

I kept my arm around her as I opened the door and ushered her inside. Part of it was to support her, and the other part was because I was scared she’d take off running the moment I let her go. “Do you want anything to drink? Water? Wine? Whiskey?”

She grinned. “Water would be good.”

I grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge behind the bar, twisted the cap off, and handed it to her.

“I’m sorry for just showing up like this.” She sniffed before taking a drink.

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m glad you’re here. You can come see me anytime, anywhere you want.” It wasn’t a declaration of my feelings, but it was the truth, and it was a start. “It doesn’t matter where I am in the world. I amalwaysavailable to you. You and AJ.”

Her head dipped as her smile grew a little bigger. “I, um, got into a fight—well, not really a fight. I just had an upsetting conversation with my mom, and I don’t know why, but the only person I wanted to see, the only person I wanted to tell was you.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“It’s not good. You’re leaving, and this is…” She waved her hand between us, and more tears fell down her cheek. “It’s not going to?—”

“What was the conversation about?” I changed the subject. I didn’t want her thinking about why we weren’t going to work out.

She sighed. “What it was about is not really what I’m upset about. I mean, I am, but… It’s just she’s so judgmental and mean, and I finally said that to her, sort of. But I don’t know… I’m more upset that I haven’t stood up for myself sooner. I think I just have a lot of years of pent-up stuff, and it’s finally coming out. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m so glad you’re here. I want to talk about everything. I just need to take a quick shower. I’ve been up for twenty hours, and we were shooting outside all day and?—”

“Okay,” she cut me off.

“You’ll wait for me?” I double-checked that she would stay and not sneak out the front door the second my back was turned.

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh, I thought you were…yeah, I’ll wait.”

I blinked as my brain caught up with what she might have thought I was saying. Over the past week, I’d only slept about three hours a night on average, so I wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed at the moment, but if my instinct was correct…

“Did you think I was asking you to take a shower with me?”

She licked her lips nervously.

“Because if you did, then I absolutely fucking was.”

Her lips curled at the edges in a grin.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

I scooped her up like a groom carries his bride, and she giggled as she wrapped her arms around me. I loved that just a few moments ago she’d been crying, and now she was laughing in my arms as I carried her up the steps. I wanted to always be the man who turned her tears into smiles—the man who made her bad days good.

One day, I would tell her that, but I didn’t think today was that day.

When we reached the en-suite bathroom, I set her down, leaned into the walk-in shower, and turned the water on. By the time I was facing her again, Zoe was taking her top off. I stepped forward and assisted her, tugging the material over her head. Before her arms fell back down to her sides, I slid my hands behind her back and unfastened her bra. The straps slipped down her shoulders before it fell to the floor.

She reached out and tugged my shirt up, and I lifted my arms as she pulled it up and off of me. Once we were both bare-chested, we stood staring at one another for a moment. Her hand reached out and rested on my chest, and she lifted up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. It reminded me of the first kiss we’d shared. The kiss that started it all.

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