by Taylor Hart
She felt everything in this moment. The complete joy of being with this man—this man who didn’t use pretenses, who wasn’t Hollywood.
“One year—” He broke off, laughing. “—we went, and I was obsessed with the Ferris wheel.” He flashed her a wicked smile. “It is that whole love-being-up-in-the-air thing.”
“That led to the helicopter pilot thing. Got it.”
Surprising her, he turned to her and put his arm around her, and she cuddled into him. “So, I went on that Ferris wheel, I don’t know, like a million times.” He grinned ever wider. “I mowed lawns that summer, and I spent, like, fifty bucks, which was big money.”
She tried to imagine a twelve-year-old Walker Kent.
His face turned contemplative. “My mama, she was everything to us.”
She thought of her own mother, and a tear went down her cheek. “She sounds amazing.”
“She thought after my wife died, I didn’t allow enough happiness in my life.”
It hit her in the center of her chest. This man wasn’t broody and mysterious. He was hurt. Gently, she put her hand on his cheek.
They stared into each other’s eyes. He froze, like he was waiting for her to respond.
Her words were measured and soft when she said, “Thank you for letting me share your happiness.” She leaned in and gently, ever so softly, brushed her lips to his.
He pulled back and searched her eyes, grinning. “Dang, woman, you can’t quit kissing me.”
She let out a light laugh.
He leaned back in. “Good, I can’t quit kissing you either.”
The kiss deepened, and she felt herself get lost. Lost in this moment, in this man, in how wonderful it felt to be doing something fun and not focusing on all the bad things that had happened.
Pulling back, he searched her eyes. “So why don’t you tell me what those pills are about?”
Chapter 16
Walker knew the question was loaded, but he didn’t care. Somewhere between the conversation with Grant this morning and soap carving with her and now kissing her on a Ferris wheel, he couldn’t stand the thought that she was carrying this burden all by herself.
The Ferris wheel came to a full stop at the top. Both of them held on to the handlebar while their basket rocked.
“Please,” he said softly. “Please tell me what is going on with you.” He didn’t want to sell out his brother, but he would if he had to. Turning to her, he pushed her hair behind her ear and stared into those beautiful green eyes. “This morning, I had this feeling something was wrong with you.” Which was true.
He felt her hand begin to shake, and she pulled it back. “I …”
“Please,” he said again.
He could feel her fighting against telling him. Then she quit, and he felt the energy go out of her. She looked out. “I haven’t told anyone this. Actually, I have told your brother, so I guess the Kent men know more than my own family.” She scoffed, masking her own hopelessness. “Breast cancer, stage two.”
Walker let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Yes, relief swept through him, which was stupid, but he was grateful she’d told him. He licked his lips. “What does that mean for you?”
“I’ll be fine. I had surgery in the middle of filming for Cherished. That’s why Grant knows.” She sighed. “Your brother was so great. I had some complications, and Grant actually made up some excuses on why he couldn’t film certain days to help me out.” Tears filled her eyes. “He was so nice.”
Walker nodded. He was proud to hear this about Grant. Of course, Grant was the good one.
Fully turning to face him, she gave him a doubtful look. “Grant told you, didn’t he?”
Crap, Walker was not good at lying. He could, but he didn’t prefer to. He put on his soldier face.
She wagged a finger at him. “Oh my gosh, that jerk told you. Did you know he actually pinky promised me he wouldn’t tell a soul?”
“Yeah, his pinky promises are pointless.” He thought of all the pinky promises Grant broken. It made him smile to think of his brother really pinky promising her.
“Don’t smile. This is not funny.”
He grabbed the finger she was wagging at him and pulled her closer to him. “No, this is not funny, but I’m glad I know.” He frowned at her. “If you are tired, you can’t push yourself. You need to take care of yourself.”
She blinked, and he could only imagine how vulnerable she felt.
Bending down, he kissed her forehead. “It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me.”
Now, tears streamed down her cheeks. She pulled back. “I can’t. This … this all feels too—”
With a great, creaking shudder, the Ferris wheel came back on, and they started moving to the bottom. He saw her quickly mopping up her tears.
They touched down, and Walker fist-bumped the kid as they walked by.
Scarlett turned to Walker and smiled. “Thank you for the Ferris wheel ride, and thank you for listening, but I think we should try to keep things professional. I mean, at the end of this, we’re done.” She pointed at him. “You don’t do relationships, right?”
He laughed nervously and took her hand. “You’re right. I don’t do relationships.” He sighed. “And you, obviously, don’t trust people.”
She nodded. “True.”
“Let’s just pretend we are a real couple tonight, okay? After all, we are on that date I owe you. Let’s have a good time, if you’re up for it.”
She grinned. “Okay, date, buy me a hotdog and cotton candy already.”
Walker bought hot dogs, and they sat at a picnic table looking over the ocean. The smell of cotton candy hung in the air, and he vowed to pick some up once he wolfed down his three hot dogs. There was music, people laughing and playing games, and teenagers making out. Being with Scarlett, being here even with all the complications around getting them here, felt freaking amazing.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said quickly.
“C’mon, I shared a lot, ice-blue eyes.” Her lips stretched into a smile. “We could pinky promise.”
“You like my eyes?” Heck yeah, that made him happy.
Tilting her head to the side, she gave him a smoldering look. “Walker Kent, if you couldn’t tell until now that I think you’re pretty great to look at, then you got no game.”
This made him laugh as he reached out and tickled her. “I got no game, huh?”
She laughed and squirmed away. “Stop. Let me eat my hot dog.”
“Pshh, I got no game?”
“Like you would ever think that’s true.” She stuffed in a bite and chewed for a minute before taking a sip of water. “I wish there weren’t so many girls on your arms for me to look at online, but there are.”
This took him by surprise. “You’ve been googling me again?”
“Why shouldn’t I? You are my fiancé. I wanted to know all about you.”
“No, I get that. It’s just … You’re, like, in every guy’s dreams. I mean, being in the movies and all.” Man, had he just admitted that?
She stopped chewing mid-bite, and both of them just gave each other dopey smiles.
She picked up a napkin and wiped her lips. “Tell me a secret. You definitely owe me one.”
“I owe you one?” He sighed. “It’s a secret for a secret, eh?”
“No way. The one you found out today counts for, like, five secrets.”
Pausing for a moment, he thought of how hard it had been for her to share. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. His heart picked up speed. “I can probably even up the score.”
She held his gaze and put down her hot dog, crossing her arms on the picnic table. “Okay.”
The weirdest part was that he wanted to tell her. “It was supposed to be a quick and easy pickup at an embassy. The SEAL Team that we’d been assigned to give assistance to was there to make sure the President of the United States had reinforcements.”
&nbs
p; As Walker spoke, he found himself rushing back to that night. That moment, that mission.
“I was circling and just about to put the bird down. My gunman was prepped when we got the radio call from my commander to come back to base.”
“Okay.” Her face had turned serious.
“I wanted to put the bird back down, but I started back to base. Our guys started yelling for us over the radio, wondering where we were. So I turned back. I disobeyed a direct order, turned back, landed it, and got the eight guys.” He sucked in a big breath, feeling his heart rate spike. “But I lost my gunner. They got Tams.” He winced at the familiar tightening of his chest and the constriction of air, and he stood and waved her to come with him. “I need some space, let’s go to the dock.”
She took his hand, and they walked quickly down the pier, out toward the docked boats.
“Wide spaces help,” he said. He worked to relax, but all he could see was Tams’s face. He veered to the side and spread both hands out, holding the rail for support. Twenty, nineteen. “Sorry.” He sucked in another breath. Eighteen.
Her hand was on his back, just like the other night at the at the lake house. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
Just like the other night, bam, he was back. He pulled in one more breath and then turned, gathering her into his arms.
“You’re good. You’re okay.” She held him.
Somehow, he was okay. Standing here, in this woman’s arms, he thought he might just get better. She was so much smaller than him, he mused. Yeah, he was, like, six-five, and she was probably five-nine, but she was so thin. “Thank you.”
Shoving her head to his chest, she squeezed tighter. “This is why you need the lake. This is why you need rowing.” She said it matter-of-factly.
“Yeah.” But he remembered what Grant had said about really needing connection.
Scarlet took his hand in both of hers, then began skimming his arm with her fingers. “You are pretty amazing, Walker Kent, bad boy, helicopter pilot.”
His mind was clearing, and all he could think about was how amazing it felt to have her fingers skimming his flesh. “Nah.”
She kept slowly running her hand up and down his skin. It felt so calming. Every part of him felt soothed.
The night was perfect. The moon was out. The music from the carnival wasn’t as loud out here, but they could still hear it. There were occasional shrieks of laughter as rides went up or down.
“So why did you become a football player after leaving the military?” She was being careful with her words.
Letting out a breath, Walker said, “My brother Will had just been drafted to Denver, and I thought, ‘I can do that.’” He flashed her a grin.
She laughed and shook her head. “Brotherly competition.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. I would have been one of those guys that stayed in the military forever.” He shrugged. “I loved it. I loved being up in the air. I loved doing something that mattered. I … it was everything to me.” Emotion bunched up in his throat, and he blinked and turned away.
She stopped skimming his arm. “Wait. Don’t shut down. Tell me.”
His heart raced. He wanted to, but it had been so long.
“Trust me, Walker Kent,” she said softly.
Unwillingly, he let out a soft chuckle. “Trust you?” He cocked an eyebrow at her and asked, “Why do you say my full name like that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I like your name.” She let out a puff of air. “You could have been a movie star with that name.”
A skittering laugh came out of him. “Grant’s got that covered.”
She stared into his eyes, and time slowed to a crawl. This woman might be able to see inside his soul.
He wanted to know her, really know her. “Who do you trust, Scarlett Powers?” Gently, he reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
The tension between them thickened.
Her eyes fluttered, and she smiled. “I guess you.”
It stunned him how much that meant to him. How much he knew it cost her. “What about your brother?” he asked.
She let out a long sigh. “I love Brent. I know he would support me, but he’s in my dad’s pocket. My father would have made him pay if he would have found out, especially if Brent knew. Plus, he’s busy with Charlene, and I didn’t want to put him in that situation.”
Walker nodded. “And look, I get your father’s intense, but … would he really not help you?”
She laughed bitterly. “He would help me. He would have me to the best doctors and he’d be directing every part of it. And … it wouldn’t be about me. It would be about the business. It would be in the press, and it would be a story. Honestly, I think that’s how my father thinks about life, our lives. Like we’re all in some movie as supporting actors with him as the star.”
He sighed. “I guess you and Liz don’t talk.”
“Liz.” She shook her head. “My father cheated on my mother their whole marriage … with Liz.” She looked out into the ocean.
Walker thought of the Hollywood man with Liz on his arm, and he could see it happening.
“It was kind of just known, I guess. A girl at boarding school said something about his mistress. I remember getting so mad and slapping the girl. Later, I looked him up online, and there was a picture of him and Liz.”
He wanted to touch her to take away some of her pain.
“It was so confusing as a child. Then, when I realized how it just was, there was part of me that went dead inside.” She sucked in a breath. “The sad part is that my father is always in my life, telling me what to do, finding me roles. But this last role, I got on my own. I reached out to the director, and I got it. I’m proud of that. I want to be recognized for my talents and abilities, outside of who my father is.”
There was no way he would tell her the truth, that her father had gotten her that role. Walker turned to her, cupping her face with his hands. “You are a great actress. Grant just told me this morning that you’re the best of the best.”
A smile played at her lips. “That’s nice of him, but he’s still dead to me.” Going on her tiptoes, she laced her hands around his neck and pulled him to her.
Since it was apparent the no-kissing thing did not apply right now, he met her lips. He took it slow, gently kissing her, then trailing his lips along the sides of hers and pulling her closer and kissing her jawline and behind her ear. Every part of him felt different.
He hated to admit this relationship was different. Already, he’d told her more than any other woman he’d gone out with since Laura.
They both just stood there, holding each other. He took her hands and pulled them to his chest. “I think you need to trust yourself.”
“You think?”
“Your father has gotten in your head, and I’ve seen you around him. You’re …”
“I’m what?” she asked, and he could tell she was a bit defensive.
“Exactly what you said. You put on an act,” he said slowly. “And you don’t need to.” Carefully, he reached up and tracked her eyebrow. His lip quirked up. “You’re pretty perfect, in my opinion, and your eyebrows are pretty perfect too.”
Her smile reached her eyes, releasing all the tension from seconds before. “Here’s the trick. You spit on them.” She demonstrated.
He couldn’t hold back the laugh. “Well, the spit works.” Then, spurred by the calm of the moment, he did something he hadn’t done with a woman in a long time: he put out his left hand and asked, “Want to dance?”
At first, she seemed confused and looked around. Then she smiled at him and put her hand inside of his, placing her other hand on his shoulder. “Hmm. Romantic, broody, bad boy. All these things rolled into one.”
He put his hand on her waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for romantic.” Wryly, he thought about how they had grown this close in such a short period of time.
She smiled up at him. “I think you ca
re about me, Walker Kent.”
He cocked an eyebrow, but kissed her again, holding her close this time and letting his hands trail through her hair. It was silky and wonderful. The truth of this moment pulsed through him. He was falling for her, and it kind of made him feel like he was flying and falling all at the same time.
Pulling back, she winked at him. “And, hey, you can’t even send me away after breakfast tomorrow.”
Not thinking this was funny, he shook his head and kept dancing with her. It stunned him, but he was being romantic. All of this felt so weird, but she was right. He gently swung her out, then pulled her back to him, thinking it was kind of funny he’d even asked her to dance. “I feel romantic with you, woman.”
She let out a light laugh.
They danced for a few minutes, and he loved the feel of her in his arms, the fruity scent of her that had taken over his senses, and the way her lips felt against his.
He cleared his throat. “Ya know, I don’t know if we should keep up this deal for the lake house. I mean, I’m not really making your dad angry or sticking it to anyone.”
“No. I told you, we keep the deal. You’re my doting fiancé.” Again, she kissed his cheek. “I like this deal better.”
“I don’t think I want the lake house anymore.” Bending down, he kissed her again.
Pulling back, she quirked a brow. “Then what do you want?”
Unwilling to say it quite yet, he shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Their gaze held, and they fell into a dancing rhythm, matching the music coming from the carnival. He was more comfortable with Scarlett Powers than he had been with any woman ever. She was magnetic to him. He couldn’t get enough of her. “You’re tall.” He flashed her a grin, thinking he sounded stupid.
She frowned at him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so bad with compliments.”
She laughed, leaning into him even more and putting the side of her head on his shoulder. “Yes,” she said, all caveman-like. “I am woman. I have good eyebrows. I am tall. And good hips for breeding.”