by Taylor Hart
He didn’t know how to keep her from horseback riding, so he turned to Charlene and blurted, “What if Scarlett and I stay here and get a jump on the soap carving for you?”
Charlene gave him a confused look.
“I’m Special Forces, and …” This was coming out all wrong. “Anyway, I have some mad soap carving skills, and we’ll surprise you.”
Scarlett and Charlene and Brent all looked at him like he was crazy.
Scarlett frowned. “No,” she said. “This is what Charlene wants to do, so let’s go.”
Walker didn’t move.
Brent frowned at him. “Are you just worried about riding horses?”
“Exactly.” Not quite the out he was hoping for, but he’d take it. “I’m deathly afraid of it.”
Understanding registered on their faces.
He let out a laugh that he knew wouldn’t sound real. “Yeah, that’s it. Got thrown from one before, and I just never got over it. I was hoping I could still help out, and that’s why I offered.”
Charlene nodded and leaned over Scarlett, putting a hand on Walker’s hand. “You poor baby. Don’t worry a bit over it. Yes, yes, that would be wonderful. You and Scarlett stay and do the soap.” She let out a little laugh and stood. “Come on, everyone else. Let’s go.”
Later, as they sat at the table, carving the tiny pink soap, he feared the soapy ocean scent would never leave his hands. He and Scarlett had both decided to change into more casual clothes. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, and she’d braided her long, auburn hair back.
“Thanks for doing this,” she said as she finished carving one and stuck it into its little tissue-filled box. She shut the lid and put a small bow around it.
He grunted in contentment. “It’s not what I imagined I’d do with my knife skills when I was in the army, but hey, can’t always pick where you get to use your skills, can you?”
“You seem pretty chill today,” she said. “I don’t think you’re afraid of horses, though.” She looked suspicious.
“Oh, but I am.”
She looked him up and down. “Nah, you’re not the afraid type.”
“Oh? What type am I?”
Lifting and lowering a shoulder, she grinned. “The hero type.”
Warm filled him. “No, not that.”
She nodded. “Yes, totally that. You picked me up and carried me to your car the other night.”
“Not like you weigh much.”
She pointed her soap at him. “Not the point, you did it.”
Grinning up at her, he asked, “Is this going to be another chat about how I need to up the jerk Walker? All right, all right. Who do you want me to make cry today?”
She giggled. “No, actually. I don’t. I was thinking we should have a new deal.”
“New deal?” Walker lifted an eyebrow.
“You’ll still get the lake house.” She held her hand palm up in the air. “Just be my doting fiancé.” She smiled sheepishly.
This had not been what he expected, but he liked it. “Doting?” He thought about what a doting fiancé would do, and his mind buzzed with the idea of kissing her.
She wagged her finger. “But it doesn’t entail more kissing.”
“You’re the one who’s thinking about it,” he said defensively.
“Whatever.” She let out a soft laugh that made him feel even more content.
They both carved for a bit, and he set another one in the finished pile. “Let’s see, a hundred done. How many to go?”
She let out a light sigh. “Roughly two hundred.”
Not complaining, he hunkered down and worked faster.
“See, that’s what I’m talking about.” She pointed at his very detailed soap animal. “You made an elephant!”
He discovered that her delight was contagious. “You know, maybe if the football thing doesn’t work out, I’ll start an online soap carving business.”
She let out a light laugh. “Oh yes, that would be amazing. So, are you going to tell me about being discharged?”
“Dishonorably discharged,” he corrected her. He hated talking about it. “Classified.”
Not missing a beat, she tried to carve as fast as him. “Yeah, that’s what it says in the media. I guess it gives you an air of mystery.”
“Your father seems to know,” he said, bristling at the memory of that lecture last night.
“But I don’t.”
Not giving her anything, he continued to carve.
“I think you just like to keep the mystery surrounding you alive,” she said, using her knife to carve a circle in the air.
He glanced at her, meeting those pale green eyes. They were teasing him a bit, so he went with it. “Oh, mystery, huh? Is that what you think?”
She laughed. “A bit broody and mysterious—pretty much every woman’s dream.”
Walker’s chest swelled with pride. It sure didn’t hurt that she was admitting he was every woman’s dream. “My brothers can pretty much guarantee I’m no dream.”
“That’s for sure,” she said, raising her eyebrows playfully.
For a brief second, he thought about making her tell him the truth about her health, but he didn’t want to ruin the happy mood.
“You just changed your mind,” she accused.
“What are you talking about?”
She pointed the small carving knife at him. “You changed your mind. You were going to tell me something. Then you stopped. Why?”
Hesitating, he turned to her. Dang, the woman was a firecracker. “I should keep my trap shut, that’s why.” Mostly because it hurt way too bad.
“Hmm. So what did your father ask you earlier?”
Her face fell and she shrugged. “Oh, he keeps telling me he needs to talk to me but I just don’t want to get into everything at this wedding, you know?”
Walker thought of the intensity of her father and he could see where she was coming from. “Makes sense.”
They both kept carving.
“So, what are those pills about?” he asked. Fair was fair. This way he could get her to admit it.
Her smile flipped upside down. “Nope. What did you say? We all have to deal with family stuff our own way.”
He sighed, not wanting to push her. “Don’t worry about it. We all have secrets, and even if my mission isn’t to be a jerk anymore, I don’t need to know everything about you. Everyone has a story they don’t want to tell. We’ll just agree not to worry about those stories.”
Even though she looked sad, she met his eyes. “Okay.” She held up an uncarved soap to him. “Here’s to not telling stories.”
He picked up his half-carved soap and clinked it against hers. “No stories.” They resumed their carving, and he cleared his throat. “What if I faked an illness tonight, and we skipped out on the big party?”
Scarlett frowned at him. “Why would you want to do that?”
He didn’t want to tell her the truth, that he was worried about her health, so he said, “I don’t know, I just kind of want to go for a motorcycle ride.”
“A motorcycle ride?” She looked skeptical.
Not that riding motorcycles was relaxing, but if she just shimmied up behind him … Man, his thoughts exploded thinking about her arms around his waist, about how good it would be to have her close to him. Stop. Stop. Stop, he commanded himself. He wasn’t here for that. He was here to be her fake fiancé. “Yeah, but if you want to hit the party, we can hit the party.”
She evaluated him. “I would love to skip the party.” She tapped the knife to her soap. “Plus, there is still this date thing.”
“We’re still on that,” he grunted.
“Hey, you’re the one who’s talking about getting me alone.”
The way she said it so sincerely made his heart feel light and floaty.
Just then, Brent burst through the doors. “Hey.”
They both laughed at the way he was out of breath. “Hey,” Scarlett said.
Brent looked at the pi
le of soap. “Uh, we just got back from riding.” His eyes focused on Walker. “Want to kick my butt in tennis?”
They laughed again, and Walker thought about how Scarlett said he had a crush on him. “Naw, still a lot of soap to do.” Walker checked the time. It was roughly two o’clock, and he would love to play a game, but he didn’t want to leave her high and dry.
“Go,” she said, smiling at him. She leaned into him and whispered, “We’ll hang out later.”
Right then, Tami and Charlene and Marissa came through the doors. “We’re here to save you!” Charlene had a delighted look on her face as she pounced down next to Scarlett. “You have done such a great job.”
Scarlett grinned at her, then winked at him. “See? I have reinforcements. Go! Have fun!”
As Walker left with Brent trash talking, all he could think about was that he couldn’t wait to feel her arms around him.
Chapter 15
Later that evening, as Scarlett spent time getting ready, she thought of how funny it had been when Walker had said he was sick and needed to stay back from the party. Brent had not been happy.
Scarlett had told them she would stay with him and make sure he was okay. Moments ago, she had watched all of them leave in a stretch limo.
Finishing the reapplication of makeup, she texted Walker. They just left.
He texted back. Casual. Shorts. Tennis shoes and T-shirt.
She didn’t think she was overly dressed in her jeans, but she slipped into shorts and put on tennis shoes. The last time she’d been on a motorcycle had been for a movie she’d done two years ago about a girl running from a stalker. Angst washed through her. Should she feel badly she’d skipped out on the party to be alone with Walker?
Honestly, she didn’t. Sure, it was Brent’s wedding, but they would have the whole day tomorrow, and she would have the rest of her life to go to “parties” at Charlene’s family’s home. She had already been to so many there she couldn’t count them.
The more important thing was that Walker had wanted to spend time with her. The man was handsome, fun, and turning out to be so different than she ever would have thought. This wasn’t real, she reminded herself. She was giving the man her house, for heaven’s sake.
He texted her again. Almost there. Pls don’t wear your tantalizing fruity smell if you don’t want me to kiss you.
A round of butterflies flitted through her, and she laughed harder. It was sexy to think about him thinking about what she smelled like.
Before she could respond, there was a knock at the door. She answered, feeling herself blushing a bit. Walker looked amazing in khaki shorts and a black T-shirt that stretched across his shoulders in all the right places. He took in a large sniff, then frowned. “You already put on the fruity smell, didn’t you?”
She laughed and grabbed her room key. “Control yourself, Kent.”
Cocking an eyebrow at her, he put his hand out. “We’ll see.” He pulled her out of the room and down the hall. “Uh, I hope you don’t mind we’re not going on a motorcycle.”
“Then where are we going?”
He laughed and tugged her down the hall. “Come on. I owe you a date, and the helicopter is waiting.”
The pilot climbed out of the helicopter and gave the keys to Walker. “You be careful with her.”
Walker grinned and moved to open the passenger side door for Scarlett. “You bet I will, Hank. Thanks again for helping me out.”
The pilot looked uncertain. “You promise you’ll get me Grant’s autograph when he comes here? And I’ll get to talk to him?”
Walker nodded. “You bet.”
Scarlett laughed as Walker ran to his side and hopped in, looking determined and happy. “You’re going to fly us?” she asked him.
He grunted. “Woman, I was born to fly!”
They were up on the coastline for a few moments, and he pointed out the whales.
“Oh my gosh! So cool!” Even though she was used to being on a helicopter, this felt different. Being with him made it feel new and fun. “Where are we going?” She turned and couldn’t stop her excitement. She’d been dreading this wedding so much, but now, with Walker here, it had turned into a grand adventure.
“Nope. Not telling you.”
“I thought you didn’t fly helicopters anymore.”
A smile washed over his face. “I don’t.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yet here we are.”
“What can I say? A date with you has inspired me.”
Scarlett stared at him. Kent Walker was clearly in charge of the helicopter. It didn’t need to be said he was an alpha male, but the truth was he looked comfortable at the wheel.
He eyed her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said rather quickly.
Lifting his chin, he grinned. “Checking me out, you just can’t stop.”
“Ugh! Your cockiness.” She smiled and glanced at the beautiful skyline. “Who knew a proposition would turn into inspiration?”
Sputtering out a laugh, he met her gaze. “Who knew?”
Fifteen minutes later, they landed in some random parking lot north of San Diego.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
As they climbed out, he gestured to a blue Corvette. “Gary hooked me up with a good car too.”
She could sense his energy, and she loved it.
He opened the door for her, and then he rushed around and got in.
She thought of how gentlemanly this guy was. It was rare among the guys she dated for them to open doors for her. It was something she and Kurt had fought about. Stupidly, she’d thought he should open the door for her, but he’d cried feminism.
They took off out of the parking lot, and he said, “I just have one question for you. Do you like Ferris wheels?”
“What?” Her mind fished for the last time she’d been on one—probably when she was really young, like twelve.
“Do you or not?”
“Ye-es?” she said tentatively.
“Good.”
Her eyes lit up as a huge Ferris wheel and a carnival loomed into view. “Oh my gosh, Mission Belmont Park?”
He smiled and parked, commanding her to wait while he got her door.
“I can pay,” she said, reaching for a fifty she always kept on her.
“Don’t take away my manhood, okay?”
She let out a light laugh. “I don’t think anything could take away your manhood.”
“Glad you think so.” He winked at her. “Like I said at the beach, I owe you a date, and I got an idea.”
As he rushed through the assorted booths of carnival game players and roller coaster rides, she had to laugh and tell him to slow down.
Suddenly, he stopped and gave her a sweeping look, making her bump into him. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” Truthfully, she was a bit out of breath.
Reaching out, he put a hand on her head. “No fever.”
She batted his hand away. “Why would you do that?”
The soldier look slipped onto his face. “No reason, I just thought you might be out of breath because you’re getting sick and this morning you were tired.”
Scarlett bristled. She hated people treating her like she was sick. “I’m fine.” She gestured ahead of them. “Let’s go.”
He started again, this time at a slower pace, and it wasn’t long until they stopped at the Ferris wheel. Gently, he took her hand. “But I’m also being your doting fiancé.”
Nervous angst wove through her, and she fought the urge to kiss him. His kisses had tantalized her ever since the stage at the auction. To resist, she looked away.
He stepped into her path. “You want to kiss me. Admit it!”
Denial was her friend. She shook her head. “Pshaw, we’ve kissed way too much already.”
He grunted. “Really?”
It was annoying, really, how sexy the man was. “Stop flirting with me,” she said.
A smile playe
d at his lips, but his eyes turned serious. “Is that what you really want?”
Fortunately, they moved to the front of the line, so she didn’t have to answer.
As they got on, Walker slipped the kid a hundred-dollar bill and said to him, “Can you give us some extra time?” The kid nodded.
Both of them were quiet while they waited for the Ferris wheel to finish filling. When the music started and they took off, Scarlett’s heart soared. As she turned to look at him and he took her hand, it felt real. More real than any date she’d been on in a long time. Not that she dated much, but this was different.
“What are you thinking, green eyes?”
This amused her. “Green eyes? I thought the song was brown eyes.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know about any song. All I know is that I haven’t been able to quit thinking about those eyes.”
“At least it’s not the eyebrows.”
He chortled. “True.”
The pier and dock and crowd and lights all rushed into their view as they rose into the sky. It dawned on her. “You just like being in the sky, don’t you?”
Walker was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “My mom said a few important things to me before she passed. One of them was, ‘Don’t forget how happy Ferris wheels make you.’”
She realized this moment, this Ferris wheel, meant something deep to him, and he was sharing it with her.
Walker met her eyes. Tonight, the ice blue was gone. Instead, the color looked deep, like the dark ocean waters. Walker Kent wasn’t a media stunt. He wasn’t the kind of man the papers made him out to be. Tentatively, trying to handle him with care, she squeezed his hand.
He looked down at their hands and then back to her. His blond hair was messed and hanging into his eyes, but his usual tough-guy mask was missing.
“Tell me more about your mom,” she said softly.
Not moving his hand, he looked out over the beach and pier as they cycled into another revolution. “She—” He broke off, and she could tell he was trying to be strong. “When I was little, I used to love the fair. We didn’t have a lot of money, and we didn’t go on big family vacations every summer or anything, but we would go to the fair, no matter where we lived, no matter how poor we were. When the fair arrived in town, the Kent brothers were there.” He smiled at her, an unguarded, brilliant smile.