Page 19 of The Widower's Girlfriend
I quirk an eyebrow. “You sure you want to date someone with a propensity for mishaps?”
His eyes turn fierce, the chocolate brown irises turning a deep mahogany. His voice comes out in a rough whisper, setting off a shiver up my spine. “I don’t want to date ‘someone.’ I want to dateyou.”
That’s all it takes for me to melt against him, my blouse cooperating this time, allowing my arms to pull him close and get back to that kiss. He has no objections either, the magic of his lips spinning time and making me forget everything.
A loud chirp interrupts what could have been mere minutes or hours later, time well spent in Walker’s arms.
He pulls back and searches his pockets. “I’m sorry,” he mutters.
“It’s okay.” My voice comes out surprisingly breathless.
I see the screen of his cell phone lit with an incoming call from someone named Ash. My stomach clenches at the thought of a woman calling Walker. There’s no time to ask as Walker puts the phone to his ear and barks out a greeting. He’s still just inches from me, staring into my eyes while he listens to whomever called him. The voice coming out of the phone, though it sounds like it’s coming out of a metal tunnel, is decidedly male. My stomach unclenches and I instantly worry I’m in too deep, too soon to be reacting like that.
“Uh huh. Yeah, I know.” Walker is nodding, a slight frown telling me he doesn’t like what this Ash guy is saying. “No, I think it was well received.”
Ash squawks at him for quite some time, during which I’m getting uncomfortable, like there’s business Walker needs to attend to that I’m holding him back from. When I try to slip by him to give him space to talk, Walker tugs me back with a quick shake of his head.
“Okay, we’ll come up with a plan.” Pause. “I’m not sure yet. Let me check in with Jemma and then I’ll let you know.” He hangs up and frowns at the phone a second before putting it back in his pants pocket.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” Walker mumbles before turning up the wattage of his smile, like everything is fine.
He goes to cup my face, his eyes focused back on my lips, but I rear back, putting a hand on his chest to keep him in focus. “Don’t brush it off. Tell me what’s going on.”
His smile falters and I can see the moment he decides to let me in. “That was my agent, Asher. He heard about my little speech a few minutes ago. Wants to know what’s going on. Thinks I should issue a statement or something.”
My hands go cold. “Wow, he heard about it that quick, huh? It’s really that big of a deal?”
Walker cringes and I know I’m not going to like what he’s about to say. “He actually suggests we hide our relationship for awhile. Kind of ease the public into the idea of me dating again.”
My jaw goes slack. It’s finally hitting me what a big deal this is. I mean, Walker must be a bigger celebrity than I thought if our kissing is that big of an issue. I definitely don’t want to hide our relationship, like it’s somehow shameful or wrong, but I don’t want to hurt his career either.
“But don’t worry, I told him that wasn’t going to happen. There are other options.” Walker rushes to assure me. He brushes a hair off my face and tucks it behind my ear. His simple touch starts to melt the ice block that has formed in my stomach because of his agent.
“Okay good. I’m not a fan of hiding.” Hope fills me again. There’s got to be a way for us to be together without tanking Walker’s career. We just need to come up with a plan.
“Want to catch an early morning flight out of here? You can come back to my place and we’ll discuss where to go from here?” Walker looks so hopeful, like he’s scared I’ll run away from all the complexities that come with dating him. And to be honest, I’m not all that sure things will work out, but I’m willing to try so I nod.
Walker’s face transforms into a brilliant smile, those brown eyes warming by the second. He really is handsome, his height lending him an air of authority I’m finding irresistible.
“I have to be back at work on Monday, but there’s no reason to stay here all day tomorrow. Let’s get back home.” I wrap my arms around his waist and tuck myself into his chest. He hugs me back, his big hands rubbing up and down my spine, making me feel wanted. Secure. Happy.
“I gotta call my friends and break up. That should be fun.” I groan into his chest.
I feel his body shake before I hear his deep laugh. “I know you don’t want the confrontation, but I know you’ll feel one hundred percent better once you get it over with. And besides, I’ll be right next to you, holding your hand while you do it.”
Gah, he says all the right things.
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” I unlock my hands and force myself to take a step back. There were things to do first. “How about you call about switching our flights and I’ll call Diana to let her know I’m leaving early?”
He studies my face for a moment and must see that I’m feeling confident. He nods and grabs his phone again. I do the same, tapping my foot and hoping Diana won’t answer. After three rings I begin to feel like I’m home free.
“Jay? Where are you?” She sounds out of breath.
Crud.
“Hey, Diana. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be going home first thing in the morning. Will you tell the others?”
The noise in the background suddenly fades, like she stepped into a quiet room. “Why? I mean, I know you weren’t too happy with Amy, but she was just joking, like she always does.”
