Page 14 of Dangerous Secrets
His big hands spanned her waist andgripped tight while time spun out.
Hot, dreamy, divine—kissing Walker waseverything it’d ever been, only more now.Richer anddarker.
Figuring she’d done her job andneeding to preserve her sanity, she pulled back to end the kiss.There was a moment when their gazes caught and held and all soundaround them seemed muffled.
Raw emotion flashed across his face,and it seemed as if he was trying to beat it back, but was losingthe battle.Her gaze still snared in his, she cleared her throatand spoke loud enough so everyone around them could hear.“Welcomehome, Walker.”
His grin flashed and her knees wentwobbly.God, she’d missed that smile, plus she realized she was anidiot.Getting this close to him wasn’t going to make feelingsshe’d tried to ignore for so long suddenly go away.The gleam inhis sharp gaze told her he knew exactly why she’d kissed him.Shewould’ve stepped back but found the hand he’d planted on the bareskin of her back kept her from moving.“Not so fast, Laney.Nextone’s for you and me.Up to you whether it meanssomething.”
He took her under in an open-mouth,tongues-engaged, pull-everything-out-of-her kiss.A wolf whistlesplit the air, likely from Mateo.
The first kiss had been a preview thatfanned embers she should’ve known were still alive under the ashes.This one ignited a full-blown conflagration.
Her hands moved through his hair tothe back of his neck where she gripped corded muscle as shestruggled to stay upright.Calloused fingers caressed the highlysensitized skin of her back.If she had to judge their relationshipbased on that kiss, she’d say they shared an explosive mutualattraction and if she wasn’t careful, they’d end up tangled betweensheets before the night was through.
That was where this kind of kissled.
Which told her how easily she’dmisjudged the man who was kissing her brainless.
He’d made it clear thatthe past would remain firmly in the past.Fine with her, because noway in hell was she makingthatmistake again.
Pulling together every ounce ofself-preservation she possessed, she pushed back from him.He gaveher bottom lip one last nip, and then let her go.
Heat burned her cheeks as she spun onher heel and sailed back to the table, her head heldhigh.
Keeley let out a lowwhistle.“Holy crap, Delaney.That wasintense.Now every woman in the roomknows they’re shit out of luck with the hottest guy here becausehe’s taken.”
Delaney’s musclesun-bunched enough for her to slump in her seat.“That’s notwhy I kissed him.I wanted people to know that I,and by extension everyone at Cider Mill Farm, welcomes Walker’sreturn.That we trust him.He was sent to prison for a crime hedidn’t commit, for god’s sake.He was the victim of a hugeinjustice that cost him his freedom for over two years.People needto get a clue.”
“You’re right,” Keeleyagreed.“No matter he’s been cleared of all charges, some peoplestill think him guilty.”Then her friend smirked.“But your way ofshowing your loyalty may’ve revealed more than you intended.Trustme on this.You staked your claim.”
“Great.”Delaney frowned,then spoke the thoughts that’d never been far from her mind for thepast eight years.“It’d help if we could find who actuallyassaulted Melanie that night.”
“We’ve been over that.Sohas the detective.”Keeley gave her a sharp look.“I know thatface.What are you thinking?”
Delaney shrugged.“I’m going to try tofind her.Melanie,” she clarified.“We were friends.I could tellshe was holding something back at the trial.Then she disappeared.I think she was protecting someone.Or maybe she was pressured notto say what she knew.”
“The detective spentmonths trying to figure that out and didn’t come up with anything.What makes you think there’s more?”
“A feeling.Someone hurther and that person has been free to live his life while Walkerwent to prison.It’s not right.”
“You’ve tried to findMelanie before and came up against a brick wall.What makes youthink this time will be any different?”
“I don’t know, but I needto try.She didn’t want to be found before.”Delaney shrugged.“Maybe things have changed for her.”
“Don’t do anythingcrazy.”
“I won’t.”Delaney triedto shake off the mood and tilted her head at the stage.“Let’slisten to the music.”
The band began its first set and shemade a conscious effort not to look at Walker.She knew why she’dkissed him, but why had he kissed her?She tried to focus on themusic with an ear to whether the group would appeal to visitors tothe farm.The group performed a mix of country and rock, covers ofoldies, and not so oldies, along with some original numbers.Thecouples crowding the dance floor enjoying themselves were anexcellent endorsement.
Keeley danced with a middle-aged guywho wore a straw cowboy hat and had quick feet.She returned to thetable with her face happily flushed when the band took abreak.
Delaney was using a tortilla chip toscoop the last bit of guacamole from the plate when Keeley bumpedher knee under the table.She glanced up and Keeley raised herbrow, tilting her head toward the door where two men had comethrough.“Look who’s slumming.”
“Good grief.”Slumming wasexactly what Vance Norris was doing.He was dressed how rich guysdressed when they were trying to dress down.Jeans and an untuckedbutton-down shirt didn’t exactly scream casual when together she’dpeg their cost at over five hundred dollars.While the boots Walkerwore were scuffed and obviously well-worn, Vance’s were polished toa gleam.
His expensive clothes wouldn’t botherher if she didn’t know he’d done nothing to earn his wealth otherthan be born into the right family.Recently, the local newspaperhad run several stories on the Norris family, reporting how they’ddiversified their business interests by acquiring a developmentcompany.Land owned by the family at the south end of the valleywas now slated to be cleared to make way for a planned gatedcommunity of high-end town houses with an eighteen-hole golfcourse.Apple trees that’d been producing for decades were slottedto be bulldozed.Beyond being heartbroken over the loss of theorchards, Delaney was among many in the community who worried thedevelopment jeopardized the area’s rural character and old-timecharm, which was centered around the apple industry.
