“You could have ignored us and saved your job,” Declan said.
“Probably not. I was pretty far on the wrong side of trouble.” He remembered his last day at his desk and the sharp pain in his side at having thrown it all away. “But this way my boss looks like a hero, which means the investigation of Callen stops, I get a good recommendation and a few other things, like a stop to the internal review into my actions.”
“I understand you’re saying this somehow absolves you, but we all know this is a huge blow. So, why do it this way instead of taking the credit?” Callen’s gaze did not waver as he asked the question.
Neither did Walker’s resolve. If he had to do it all again he’d do it the same way. And that was one of the reasons he knew it was time to go. “Because you guys didn’t do anything wrong and, honestly, no one ever would have seen it that way. The criminal tag would have been dragged out again and it would have been so much worse this round.”
“We could handle it,” Declan said.
Walker didn’t want them to. “You actually had the goods. Even if people believed you or the FBI couldn’t make charges stick, you would have been painted as living off Charlie’s victims. The easier thing was to put Charlie Hanover to rest once and for all.”
“Why did you let us think you were doing something else?” The brotherly tone crept back into Callen’s voice.
“Because I worried you’d try to stop me. Argue about my conscience and all that.” He hadn’t needed anyone to list the pros and cons. Walker knew what he had to do from the moment they showed him that book. “Look, if I thought anyone would be hurt by what I did or that someone wouldn’t have gotten their property back I would have come up with another solution, but this works. This was about saving the other innocents from a disaster.”
Callen scoffed. “No one’s ever called me innocent before.”
That ball of anxiety inside Walker loosened. “I bet.”
“I feel like I should apologize for all the shitty things I said about you while you were gone.” Callen looked into space as if he was trying to recall the best ones.
“That bad?”
Declan nodded. “Hell, yeah. And wait until you talk with Mallory.”
“I called her repeatedly starting on day three of being away and she wouldn’t talk.” Walker wanted that out there and clear. But he took a seat on the banister anyway because he had a feeling he needed to sit down for whatever came next.
Declan winced. “The ‘day three’ part is the problem.”
“I’d like to tell you she’s calmed down but that would be a lie,” Callen said.
“You have some serious work to do there,” Declan added.
They were not making him feel one bit better about the next meeting on his agenda. “Damn it.”
“Lucky for you—” Declan’s smile spelled trouble.
Walker shut it down immediately, whatever “it” was. “Oh no.”
“—you have three brothers who are willing to help, one from long distance.”
“But that’s really only if you’re staying. We don’t waste time on Hanover kids who move away,” Callen said. “Of course, it’s not like you have a job to go to.”
Walker knew they didn’t mean to include him but broke into the conversation anyway. “I do.”
“What?” Declan asked.
This part felt good. Promising. It meant he could do what he loved without the regulations. He could also do it from Oregon. “Some cold case work. Private stuff. A guy I used to work with has a firm and asked me to throw in with him.”
Callen’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re going back to DC.”
And this was the other piece of news he’d decided on the way out of town. “I can’t really see living in DC when I own a house here.”
Declan smiled. “That’s more like it. About time you came around on that point.”
“We’ll put you to work tomorrow,” Callen said at the same time. “What are brothers for?”
Yeah, brothers. Walker couldn’t fight off his smile and didn’t try. “I’m starting to realize they’re not so bad to have around.”
***
Mallory had just gotten the girls settled in for lunch. Sophie was still out of town with Beck, but Grace and Leah came in, as they did most days since Walker left. That support she could handle. The others, not so much.
Since news about her love life hit the whisper trail through town, the endless parade of well-wishers had died down. Those seeking gossip finally stopping coming around as well. The shop was pretty much back to customers and friends. Maybe one day soon her appetite would return.
She’d just passed out the sandwiches at their usual table in the middle of the store when the door chimes rang. She looked up expecting to see the postman. In skulked Walker with Declan and Callen right behind him. The only question in her mind was why the Hanovers brought Walker here rather than dumping him off on the side of the highway somewhere.
She marched right over to him and pointed at the door behind him, not bothering to lower her voice. “Walker Reeves you turn right around and leave Gossamer. Keep going until you cross out of Sweetwater as well.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Stood there as cocky as could be in his faded jeans and . . . okay, he looked good and that sucked. She’d hoped he’d wear the pain from every day of their separation on his face like she did. He didn’t even look like he’d had one night of tossing and turning.
“Excuse me?” She used her best kiss-my-ass tone.
“You ignored my calls.” Right there in the middle of her shop he stood there and said that. Acted like the wounded party.
Fine, if he wanted to air dirty laundry they would air it. “You left town with plans to destroy the Hanover family.”
He held up a hand. “To save it.”
She thought about breaking one of his fingers. “What does that mean?”
She did a quick glance around the store when she noticed the quiet. Most gazes were glued to the chaos by the front door. But Leah and Grace looked at their phones. That sent Mallory’s gaze zipping to the men in their lives and, sure enough, they were texting.
Looked like there was some great Hanover conspiracy going on. If they wanted to make up with Walker, fine, but she was done.
“I wouldn’t do anything negative to the Hanovers. They’re my family, too,” he said.
He’d danced around it a little but this was the first time she’d heard that admission that way, so clear and undeniable. Apparently she wasn’t alone in being confused because the five ladies who up to ten minutes ago were pretending to knit all wore stunned expressions.
She decided to go with a snort because that generally worked. “Oh, please.”
“It’s true.” Walker said it and Declan nodded.
Mallory had no idea what game they were all playing. “What’s happening right now?”
“I’m trying to make up with you.” Walker took a step forward. “But I have to say you also owe me an apology.”
“Careful there,” Callen mumbled under his breath.
Mallory held her temper but just barely. “That was wise brotherly advice. You should follow it.”
“I tried to communicate.” Walker just kept pleading his case. “I tried to make sure you knew what was going on with me in DC. Admittedly, not right away, but I did once I knew my plan would work.”
She tried not to care but . . . “What plan?”
“We’ll talk about it later.” He glanced at the third parties in the store. The non-Hanovers. “My point is I should have told you what I was doing before I left. Not tried to go it alone as I usually do. But I can fix that knee-jerk reaction. Get better.”
She’d believed him before. Been taken in. “You could have called that first day.”
“I know but when I did call you blocked me.”
“Right.” At that point she was done. The Hanovers were furious and she joined in, writing Walker off for good even though it kill
ed her to do it.
“You waited because you’re a jackass,” Leah said.
The only part Mallory didn’t like was that Leah sounded more amused than angry when she issued the insult. She counted on Leah to be fired up and ready to smack.
“Leah is not wrong.” Walker took another step, closing the distance between him and Mallory. “I have been a jackass at times.”
Declan hummed. “Interesting tactic.”
“My money is on her.” Callen shrugged his shoulders when Walker looked over. “What did I say?”
“Shut up,” Walker shot back.
This was more like what she was used to. Callen and Walker going at it. But the mood was off. The tension gone.
Yeah, something had happened and she wanted to know what. “That’s no way to talk to your brother.”
Walker smiled. “That’s exactly the way I intend to talk with my brothers. Now that I have three.”
Dizziness hit Mallory out of nowhere. The room started to spin and she grabbed on to the edge of the table for support. “You admit, out here in public, in front of everyone, that you’re related and call them brothers?”
“Sure.” Walker frowned as he stepped close enough that when he moved his hand it brushed against her stomach. “Are you okay?”
Definitely not. “I give up. What’s going on?”
When she opened the store this morning they were all on the same page. Walker was the enemy, brother or not. Now he was joking and acting all sibling-like. Grace stayed quiet and even Leah acted weird. Nothing made sense.
“I’m about to make a bold gesture.” He put a hand on her waist.
“I’d remove your hand or I will.”
“You want flowers, I’ll get you flowers. You want to go out every night, fine . . . though I would point out there’s a new employment issue which we need to discuss.” He gave her a tentative smile. “But truth is I’d rather stay in. Make you dinner, help you lock up the store. Do inventory if you need to.”
“Really?” Callen made a face. “Inventory?”
Mallory could barely hear anything. Sound echoed and her focus stayed locked on the man in front of her. The words sounded lovely but he’d given words like that to her before. Truth was she didn’t need fancy anything. She just wanted him, plain and simple.
“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be, because I love you.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back.
Her vision blurred. Actually went all fuzzy as the words settled in and the blood rushed from her head. “You just . . .”
“I have never seen her speechless,” Leah said from somewhere behind her.
Mallory couldn’t even argue. Leah was right. That never happened. But as his words rolled over her she lost the ability to do anything but sit and listen . . . and hope. He said everything she wanted to hear but she didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“I have sucked at this relationship from the beginning.” He stared at her without blinking, so intense and fevered. “You deserve better.”
“Absolutely.”
“Don’t help.” Walker grumbled over his shoulder at Callen before turning back to Mallory. “I can’t tell you I’m going to be perfect, but I am going to try harder and promise to put you first because you, Mallory Able, are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t figure out how to get it closed again. Her brain refused to work and every other cell in her body jumped around for joy.
“You want me in a suit, casual clothes . . . nothing?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and the audience gave them a mix of catcalls and groans.
Right now she wanted to be alone with Walker and since she couldn’t have that, or even form a coherent sentence, she went for issuing orders. “Quiet. He’s not finished.”
She had no idea if that was true. She hoped it was because the sound of his voice hypnotized her, lured her and filled her with this sense of security and hope.
“No, I’m not. We’re not done.” He put his hands on either side of her head. “All I ask is that you give me a chance to prove it.”
“You broke my heart.” The words tore out of her, filled with pain and regret.
Even as the excitement of all he was saying took hold, she panicked. A part of her worried this was fleeting and the old Walker, the one that waffled between great and difficult, would walk back through the door.
One hand went to the back of her neck and he brought her forward until their foreheads touched. “Never again, baby.”
It was a promise, half plea and half vow. She’d never heard that sound in his voice, never heard him say things like this, and she grabbed on to it all. “Walker.”
“You think I have trouble accepting that the past is over and I need to move on, and I do. I’m working on that.” He kissed her forehead. “But you don’t see how amazing you are. Beautiful, smart, caring, strong.”
‘You don’t—”
“If I could pick anyone in the world, I’d still pick you.” His voice dipped deeper. “You are not my consolation prize. You are the reason I get up in the morning and the reason I came back to Sweetwater, and the reason I will stay.”
No one had ever said anything like that to her before. All the doubts broke free and she smiled up at him. One of the watery blubbering kind she made fun of when others did them. “That and the big house.”
Walker leaned in a little closer. “I was kind of hoping I could live in your studio.”
Declan snorted. “That’s dedication.”
The whole speechless thing came back. He was offering her so much. A start over and a chance. A real one.
He winced and his eyes narrowed. “Any possibility you don’t hate me?”
She almost laughed then. Here she was sick in love with this guy and he was willing to take crumbs. She’d never thought her life would end up here.
She threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, you big dumbass. Why else would I put up with all your nonsense?”
The room broke out in laugher mixed with clapping. Grace stood up as she shook her head. “I guess that’s romantic.”
Mallory didn’t care what anyone said or thought. They’d played this out in front of a group and the news would be all over town in minutes. The fact that Walker didn’t care, that he actually sought her out and made a scene had a feeling of lightness bursting through her.
There was just one thing. One huge thing.
She pulled back and looked up at him. “Don’t leave me again.”
“Never.”
And then he kissed her. Hot and deep until she got all clingy and he started whispering about naughty things he planned to do to her later. The talking and laughter in the room covered most of it, but Mallory could hear, and she would remember all of this forever.
The day Walker Reeves put it all on the line for her.
When the kiss finally broke off she leaned in with her mouth to his ear. “You didn’t get rid of the suits, did you?”
He laughed and the rich sound rumbled through her. “Not when you like them so much.”
“Thank you for coming back.”
“Thank you for believing in me even when I didn’t deserve it.” He winked at her. “And tonight I’ll say it while I’m wearing a suit, if you want.”
“We are perfect for each other.” She’d always thought it. Now she knew it.
“In that case, maybe I’ll just wear a tie.”
“Sold.” They really were on the same page. At last.
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HelenKay Dimon is the bestselling, award-winning author of No Turning Back, A Simple Twist of Fate, and Long Way Home, among other novels. Her books have been featured at E! Online and in the Chicago Tribune, and been named “Red-Hot Reads” in Cosmopolitan magazine. When not writing, she teaches fiction and romance writing at MiraCosta College and UCSD.
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