Transcending Nirvana (Dark Evoke #3)

by V. L. Brock

  “You need to stop overthinking and let it come naturally, and that goes for everything, Kady.”

  Preparing to close up at 2:30 p.m., I was sweeping the sidewalk outside Ent-icing. Shudder after nervous shudder spawned from under my flesh, turning my blood to ice as it worked its path to my outer skin. I couldn’t shift the feeling that I was being targeted by a pair of beady eyes. Time after time I scanned the Square, studying an array of people as they moseyed from structure to structure. A car came to a slow movement around the Square. Why on earth anyone bothered to parade around the small area in a car was beyond me. With a speed limit as slow as it was, walking would have been much quicker.

  Shaking the feeling from my bones, I continued sweeping away the sidewalk when a shrill, “Coo-ee, Kady,” had my bones splintering and the river of blood in my veins hardened to ice once more.

  So there was the source behind the beady eyes, I thought to myself. I tried making for my escape, but it was futile. A chubby hand halted me upon my shoulder, prompting me to turn around very unenthusiastically.

  “I have nothing to say to you, Mrs. Steinbeck,” I told her, stern. How could she think she had the right to talk to me after what she had done? Peeking through my window the night I finally found the strength to console in someone who I could trust about my markings, then jump to conclusions and drag Liam back home with her busybody nose poking down the speaker of the telephone. Had she not have done that, Liam wouldn’t have come back, we wouldn’t have had that confrontation…

  In saying that, had we not have had that confrontation in the first place, I would never have walked out and gone to Walker’s. Meaning, I highly doubt I would be standing here with my memories back.

  “Kady, just listen to me,” she pleaded. So I merely stopped my sweeping and stood motionless in front of her, rolling my eyes while waiting expectantly for the crap to flow from her mouth. She held her arms down the length of her stumpy form, her hands knitting together under her large stomach. “I’m not stupid. I knew fully well that that Irish gentleman was not your cousin, Kady. I have no idea why you thought you had to lie to me.” She had the cheek to look somewhat hurt by that revelation.

  “With all due respect, Mrs. Steinbeck, it most probably has something to do with the fact that you believe that everybody else’s business is your business, too. The day we first met, you couldn’t help yourself gossiping about some random person’s affair. I am not going to be the butt of your ‘ice breaking gossiping’. And one more thing, regardless of whatever Walker was or is to me, is none of your damn business. You had no right call Liam that night––”

  “That was why I came over here, Kady. It wasn’t me. I didn’t call him.”

  My gaze drifted over her shoulder to the black pick-up pulling up at the sidewalk. A sweaty looking Walker dropped from the seat in his sweat pants and tank top, those tattoos straining over his muscles, and strolled around the waxed up hood.

  “You alright, darlin’?” he asked instantly, seeing my face crumple. “Mrs. Steinbeck,” he nodded to her as his arm opened and swallowed me into his side. He smelt musky and felt sticky with sweat, but my God was it masculine.

  With Steinbeck’s eyes remaining glued to me, she didn’t acknowledge Walker or his greeting for a second. “Kady, it’s been a few days since I have seen Mr. DeLaney, I’m getting a little worried. Could you just––”

  “He seemed pretty damn fine to me yesterday when I paid him a visit. A little ruffled but still the same smug bastard.” That drew her attention. “And the answer is no, Mrs. Steinbeck.”

  “Excuse me young man, but I don’t think you have the right to tell Kady what she can and can’t do.”

  “Yet you still want me to go to a man who did that for years?” I muttered. “Sorry, Mrs. Steinbeck, Liam DeLaney is nothing to me anymore. I’d go as far to say, if he was on fire, I wouldn’t piss on him to put him out. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a shop to close,” I finished, barging my way over the threshold.

  “Did you see that glare? Jesus Christ, if looks could kill then we’d all be six feet under,” I could hear the small degree of amusement oozing from Walker’s tone as he trailed me inside the shop.

  “If there is one place I will never step foot in, it’s that house.”

  “What’s happened?” asked Laurie, removing what cakes were left in the display.

  “Steinbeck asking me to check on Liam because she hasn’t seen him in a few days. The cheek of it. Well, she’ll have a long wait I tell you that for sure. Anyway, do you need me?” I asked, swathed by Walker’s throbbing arms from behind. I peeked down; the veins were thick and pulsing, the sinews shifting as his hold tightened, and all I could think about were the throbbing veins in a more Southern site. My thighs squeezed shut.

  “No, go ahead, I’m nearly done anyway. Are you up for coming back in tomorrow? I don’t want to rush you back into routine.”

  “Routine can be good. Yep, I’ll be back tomorrow,” I winked. At least tomorrow I would be able to privately rummage through Laurie’s head and try and think up a birthday gift for most probably the most difficult man I’ve had to buy for.

  After giving her a brief hug, I was escorted outside and the door of the truck was held open for me to slip inside. Drawing the belt across my body, I didn’t realize how heavy the sigh that escaped me was, until I felt Walker’s scrutiny burning into me.

  “Everything alright, darlin’?”

  I looked up, rolling my lips over my teeth once I pushed myself back in the bench seat, tapping my index finger against my thigh repeatedly. “I’m never going back there, Walker…”

  “That I know, darlin’.”

  “I refuse to.”

  His hand crashed down gently onto my thigh, offering a small squeeze. “Good. Now are you going to tell me what you’re thinking?”

  “I know we said we’d go to Tiffani’s but I need to do something first.” Dark eyebrows rose to his hairline, a few scattered creases formed on his brow while he waited for me to finish my sentence. “I need to go to the DMV. Everything I own is back in that God forsaken house. Without the necessities like my ID, I’m allowing him to still have control over me. I need to begin a new beginning.”

  The creases in his brow fell as his mouth twitched. That adorable dimple on the left of his cheek roused. “To the DMV it is then,” he muttered, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out to round what was left of the Square.

  “Thank you.”

  “To the DMV at 3 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon…we are fucking masochists aren’t we?”

  Chapter Twelve

  It seemed as though Friday never existed with how quickly it flew by, and before I knew it, the Saturday sun was peeking through the bedroom window, casting its beam over Walker’s partially naked body. As I rubbed my eyes, I cursed the damn black sheet to Hell as it tactfully shielded the gifts he pleased me with.

  Lying on his back with his right arm spread on the pillow above his head, his left draped over his stomach, I smiled and sighed a little louder than intended. “What?” he flashed me a quizzical look with the partial opening of one lid.

  “You’re awake?”

  “No, I’m sleep talking.”

  “How long have you been watching me?” I asked, straightening out the sheet to cover my chest.

  “You mean how long have I been watching you, watching me?”

  I bit my lip a little embarrassed at being caught admiring my man.

  He finally broke my silence with a sleepy murmuring of, “Long enough,” before beckoning me onto his chest, and I snuggled into what had come to be my favorite place––my seventh heaven. With a kiss on my head, our fingers stirred and weaved against his toned stomach. “You’re quiet this morning.”

  “And you’re modest.”

  “Meaning?”

  I pulled my head up so my chin was resting on his chest; my weaving hand now stroked his stubble as I gazed at him with a smile. “Stay here, I have something.” After
pressing a kiss to his lips, I shoved myself from the bed and headed to the dresser at the bottom of the room.

  “A beautifully naked woman in my room, what else could a man possibly want?” his words sounded strained. When I craned my head over my shoulder, I saw him shimmy up the bed into a seated position.

  “I wasn’t sure if you already had one, I’ve never seen it if you have. And I can always take it back if you want.” With the box and envelope behind my back, I pushed the drawer shut with my hip. A frown marred his gorgeous face, the bed groaning its infamous sound as I clambered over it and straddled his hips as skillfully as I could with my hands concealed.

  “What’s the occasion?”

  Around my mouth, his stubble grazed my sensitive skin and the slight, warm exhale through his nose bonded to my face as I tenderly pressed my lips to his. Foregoing the soft, chaste kiss, the connection was replaced with our brows resting against one another. Matching the intensity of my gaze his soft, boyish eyes looked back at me––Ocean blue eyes which also held an ocean of secrets. The fact that he held so many that he wouldn’t yet share with me, hurt. But not as much as knowing the discomfort it would bring him if I continued with an inquisition. “Don’t be coy, Walker,” I breathed, and pulling away, drew my arms from behind my back. “Happy Birthday.”

  Pale blue eyes tightened with the sighing of my name. He sounded almost pained. “I don’t––”

  “I already know,”––I began, my index finger against his lips––“But it’s not going to stop me buying you something. Now open it. I hope you like it.”

  Pained and reluctant, he tipped the box from the gift bag then peeked up at me as he held it in his hand as though awaiting permission. Finally, he removed the lid and my stomach flipped at his expression. “I had no idea what to get you. This was the only thing I could think of. But if you don’t like it––”

  “Like it? I love it, darlin’,” he said, pulling free the string of rosary beads and examining them with a careful eye. “I haven’t owned any in years. I couldn’t bring myself to get any after my…” as his voice faded into nothingness, he tore his gaze from the beads hanging between his fingers to peer up at me with a somewhat innocent yet equally stunned expression, and thanked me on a tender breath.

  His brown rumpled hair slithered through my fingers as I fisted my hungry hands back into it, shifting in his lap. Walker groaned, his lips tipping into a teasing grin while his head lulled back a fraction. “You’re going to wake Junior up if you carry on shifting, darlin’,” he muttered, his eyes fluttered closed before pinning me with come-to-bed eyes.

  I could never deny those eyes. Actually, I could never deny that man. So I licked my lips, wrenching his head closer as I hunkered down. “That sounds like a challenge…”

  “Challenge? Darlin’ all you got to do is look at me and I’m fuckin’ wood. Now kiss me.”

  So I did. The kiss was heated and all-consuming, tongues wandering and caressing one another, the scruff around his mouth grazing and prickling my chin and upper lip only serving to incite me further. I hadn’t even realized that my hips were grinding until I felt the evidence of his arousal growing and straining under his boxers.

  When he held the back of my head, my crazy, bedraggled tresses being pushed away from my face, he murmured in that panty-dropping brogue, against my mouth, “You’re going to be the death of me, Kady. I can’t ever get enough of you.”

  Breathless, I tore my lips from his, and set about paving kisses down his chin, jawline and neck––his hands clutching tighter in my hair for a brief moment before relinquishing his grip on a groan laced with unadulterated desire. “We’ve wasted too much time already,” I told him between each light contact of my mouth on his golden skin. By the time I’d smothered his Adam’s apple, and felt that sexy as fuck swallowing reflex under my lips, I reared back and studied him intently. “I’m not wasting another second when it comes to you…to us.”

  I was met with sparkling eyes locked onto me. And I knew without a shadow of doubt that my words of truth had made him content, because for a moment, he looked young, untroubled. In that moment, I contemplated what teenage Walker was like, because I swear I just caught a glimpse into his past, a time where he was able to be free.

  He didn’t speak after that. He didn’t need to. His mouth slanting over mine and the urgent yet tender roving of his rough-skinned hands over my body, along with the groans and frantic goading of our lips, were expressive enough. Right then, the universe consisted of only two people.

  Squealing of the iron bedframe sounded as I shifted higher onto my knees, a soundless instruction for him to lower his boxers. My fingers softly lingered and caressed my swelling mouth as I studied the waistband rising from his tightly ribbed abs, the tip of his cock peeking to freedom, begging to be released. My fingers still lingering on them, I bit my lip, staring unabashed at the view beneath me when he shifted the material to below his hips, freeing himself heavily, veins throbbing.

  “You have no idea how fucking sexy you look when you stare at me like that, do you, darlin’?” My focus dithered to his face, and I saw him licking his lips, while in my peripheral vision, I caught sight of him taking himself in his palm, his fingers barely able to wrap around his girth.

  With my fingers still loitering on the plump flesh of my lips, and my intense, hungry gaze spearing from my eyes, I didn’t doubt for a moment that I may have looked a little sultry.

  “You look both tempting, and innocent,” he added, stroking himself slowly, his head resting against the bare wall, his lower lip paling further with the pressure of his teeth scraping across it. “It should feel so wrong…”

  “Why?” I surprised myself with my voice stretching to a throaty, sultry level which I never knew I could even achieve. The drawing of my fingers from my lips, skating over my flesh caused his breath to quicken.

  “It’s like a predator hunting its prey. A wolf stalking the lamb…” His smile was wistful, his eyes dark, while he continued stroking his thick, heavy length. “But the lamb’s supposed to flee…”

  Flee? I could never flee from him, predator or not. I wasn’t going anywhere––that was one thing that I was sure of. I shook my head, my hands framing his face, “This one wants to be mauled,” I spoke in earnest, shimmying up over his erection. There was no denying that the mere sight of him and the sound of the brogue which left his mouth had me already primed, and so I slowly lowered myself onto him.

  If possible, his head lulled back further, the protrusion of his Adam’s apple was my target of focus, while his lips parted on a satisfying growl. Whipping his T-shirt off my body, his hands began gently kneading at my heaving breasts as I raised and fell back onto his body. The sound of flesh connecting with flesh invading our senses as he invaded my body.

  “You feel so damn good when you’re inside of me,” I gasped, placing my hands onto his chest to steady myself. I was somewhat shocked that he didn’t rebel against me touching a certain hard limit of his body. Instantly, that thought was cast from my mind as I felt my words affecting him in a way that I never believed they could. I never spoke in such a way when engaging in intimacy, but something about it at that time just felt so…right…

  “Jesus Christ, you drive me crazy, Kady.” His hips pushed upward, meeting me as I lowered and circled my hips. “If I could live the rest of my life buried inside of you, then I’d die a very happy man.”

  My movements halted when Walker broke away from the iron headboard, his back straight. I wrapped my arms around his neck; rough hands skated down my back and hips before grasping at my buttocks. “Ride me, darlin’, and never stop,” his eyes were the brightest topaz as he gazed up into my eyes, his tongue sweeping over parched lips before I melded my own against them.

  Getting lost in not only the sensations but the moment, I invaded his mouth hungrily, my hands clamped in a vice-like clutch at the nape of his neck. I used the power in my thighs to push off the warm, velvet steel, steeped in juices o
f desire, while he whispered sweet nothings and words of approval with each rotation of my pelvis and each movement I made as I devoured him. His caring hands were urgent, with fingertips embedding painfully into my ass cheeks. The muscles of his arms straining, the tendons in his neck were bulging as he aided in my movements, lifting and lowering me onto him, as he panted to his release.

  “Are you with me, Kady?” he asked.

  My movements became slightly frantic as I shook my head, my teeth sinking into my lip. “No, not yet.”

  Tightly screwing his eyes, each muscle in his face bunched before his lids sprang open with a pleading of, “Stop.”

  I took that fleeting moment to capture my breath as I hunkered down to study him. “What’s the matter? Did I hurt you?”

  A V scored between his dark eyebrows, his lower lips caressed by his tongue before his teeth sunk into the flesh, and his jaw began to strain. Panic that matched my guilt consumed me at seeing the look of agony etched on his face. “Don’t move,” he ordered. As I pushed back, each bulge of his abdominal muscles were contracting, the potent muscles of his thighs tensing under my buttocks. “Move slowly…very slowly…” he sighed.

  It took great effort to fulfill his request. All I wanted was to drive myself frantically onto him and meet him as I pushed him to his release. Instead, I lifted myself with a slow, seductive slither over his length, rolling my hips. However, maintaining that tardiness was unfeasible and it wasn’t long before our pace increased to feverish proportions. “Oh my, God, Kady…Jesus Christ…I can’t…I…”

  With each fizzling of his urgent words, my power increased, my cervix felt bruised, my thighs burned, my heart ached in my chest, the sweat trickling down the crevice of my spine itched, but my God it was exquisite.

  “I’m there, Walker…I’m…oh, fuck––” I cried out, Walker’s arms constricting like a python around its prey as he held my shuddering body against him. His cock jutted inside of me with his release as I rode the waves of my orgasm, working my way down from the euphoric high he just pushed me towards.