by Bliss Carter
“Yeah, I think I’m good with that, Walker. We have ground rules to cover since this involves my child, but yep, I’m diving in. Don’t treat me wrong. You’ll break me if you do. But you’ll also piss off four red heads with fiery tempers and probably one very big sasquatch named Cade.” Grace’s smile grew big and Walker grinned back at her, leaning down to kiss her forehead, his lips lingering in a gentle caress. He made her smile even bigger when he turned his cap around backwards, then leaned his forehead against hers for a few long moments, whispering sweet words to her quietly. Words like beautiful, gorgeous, amazing, my smartass, mine…
Finally, Walker pulled back, ran his finger tip down her forehead, over her nose and lips, and down her chin where he tapped it playfully. He leaned down and growled almost without sound in her ear, “Later baby. I’ll be kissing you later. Your donuts are over there, so I’ll collect on that particular kiss very soon.” At hearing and feeling her sigh, he cleared his throat and looked around the room, as if he were just remembering where he and Grace were and that they weren’t alone.
“Well, alright then. Now since that’s settled, let’s make this into Birdie’s photography studio. Sasquatch has spoken.” Cade gave Grace a sardonic smile as he clapped his hands together and began directing the group to the tasks needed completing. He walked by Grace and Walker and put his hand up for a high five. Walker obliged him and Big Sexy sauntered away grinning. Grace snuck a peek of Cade’s butt as he walked past, as did every female in the room. She looked back up at Walker quickly when she heard him growl. He mock scowled for a few moments, then ruined it by laughing.
“It’s okay, babe. I’ll give you that one pass at looking at another man, but starting now, don’t pull that mess with me. Unless you want a spanking.” At that comment, he winked and tweaked her nose. "But I give you full permission to ogle mine any time you want. Not you, Birdie. Eyes off." Walker pointed at Birdie as she playfully craned her neck to see around his side to take a look at his rear. She snorted, as did Grace, which only made Walker grin wider.
Feeling brighter than she had in over a week, Grace walked over to the donut box and opened it. She found her two donuts, as promised, covered in yummy fried bacon, Nutella drizzle and candied walnut crunchies. Her stomach growled for the first time for food in days. Shrugging her shoulders at seeing the others begin working, she sat down at the stool and put a donut on a napkin. After taking her first bite, Grace felt Walker’s strong hand slide under her hair at her nape, cradling her head and neck. She felt his lips kiss her temple and his whiskered chin rest on the side of her head as he watched her chew her bite.
“I’m glad to see you eating. I’m not totally sure, but I bet you haven’t had much this week, have you?” Walker asked, watching her take a second bite, all while gently massaging her neck with his strong hand.
“You’d be correct. Any time I’ve thought about food or tried to eat, I get nauseous. I’ve forced myself to eat sometimes, but it’s been a chore more than enjoyment,” Grace softly admitted. She looked up at Walker, staring into his beautiful hazel green eyes. She loved the little crinkles next to them, telling her that he laughed and smiled often. “I love to cook, but haven’t felt like it this week much. Jaxson is understanding, but even he’s tired of frozen pizza and fish sticks. Maybe I’ll make him his favorite meal tonight,” Grace said with a warm smile, already trying to decide which to make for her son. He had multiple favorite dishes that she cooked.
“What’s his favorite meal?” Walker asked, his fingers picking off a piece of bacon from her donut, only to snatch his hand back as she smacked it for doing so. “Ow, woman. It’s just bacon,” he stated, shoving the bacon pieces he was able to grab in his mouth and chewed.
“My bacon,” Grace claimed, shoving another big bite into her mouth and giving a dramatic moan of approval, looking cheekily up at Walker. Instead of laughing or rolling his eyes, he inhaled sharply, looking at her with a hot wave of desire that Grace couldn’t deny recognizing. She stammered to remember his question. “Let’s see, his favorite meal would have to be a toss up between my chicken pot pie or spaghetti.” Grace looked up at Walker beneath her long, dark lashes and casually said, “Why don’t you choose which one sounds best to you and you can come over tonight and eat with us.” She held her breath, waiting to hear what he thought of that.
“No brainer. Chicken pot pie of course. I’ll bring dessert. Does Jaxson like the monster cookies from Letty’s Bakery?” Walker said without trying to hide his eagerness. Any time spent with Grace and Jaxson made him happy.
“Duh, Walker. What kid doesn’t want lots of chocolate chips, M&Ms and peanut butter in cookies the size of their heads?” Grace sarcastically asked, giggling when he began tickling her for her sassiness.
“Got it. Just tell me what time later on when you know more. Right now, finish your breakfast and let’s get to work. I would love for you to be able to take a nap today to get some rest.” He stated this with a kiss to her nose and walked away to join Cade by the couches across the room.
“Well, Grace, nice turn of events, wouldn’t you say?”, Francie asked, with a grin and sparkle in her eye. She put her arms around Grace’s shoulders and hugged her tight. “If he can make you happy, then I’m happy. You seriously need to reign in his alpha tendencies, but they kinda make him sexier, right?” Francie reared back at the pop Grace delivered to her arm. Laughing at Grace’s scowl, Francie went to clear out the kitchen cabinets of anything left from Kresley’s move.
“Let’s listen to some music. Who’s up for some pop mix?” Birdie asked, getting out her phone and finding the music app. The sounds of an N’Sync song immediately began playing in the room. Grace heard Cade and Walker groan at the boy band music, but she looked over at Francie, knowing what was going to happen.
“Oh yeah, that’s my boys right there! Perfect music to listen to while working,” Francie stated, a hand over her heart and her head nodded to the beat of the song.
“Francie, what in the world is your love and obsession with N’Sync? That was your 13-year-old crush. You’re 32 now. It’s hilarious,” Kresley stated, laughing as she watched her oldest sister bop around the kitchen, dancing to the music.
Francie pushed her turquoise framed glasses up on her nose. “I’ve been crazy about them since I was a young teen. Will always love their music. Listen, y’all know how I am about signs. If I see a man enjoy N’Sync the way I do, then I’m taking that as a sign that he’s meant for me. And if he can sing or dance like them, well then, I’m going to marry him,” Francie stated with a grin, joking around with her sisters and Grace. “If he can laugh and joke like Joey Fatone, then I’m done. Toast.”
“Well then, I do believe I need to check in with Ash and see if N’Sync is on his playlist,” Birdie stated, tongue in cheek. Everyone was remembering a week ago at the wedding when Ash surprised them all, except sneaky Cade, with his guitar playing and singing abilities. Francie cut an evil glance at her sister, but remained silent.
Kresley, Gertie and Grace all looked at each other and started laughing loudly. Too loudly it seemed because in the next instant, Cade whistled over their giggles and reminded them that work needed to resume.
“Come on girls, let’s get this stuff done, so I can take my wife home and do naughty things to her.” Cade cajoled.
“Ewwwwww, I don’t need to hear that. My innocent ears can’t take it.” Birdie stated to Cade with her tongue sticking out.
“Brat, you are the least innocent of any of us. Remind me to get some GPS tracking devices to put in your car, your purse, on your clothes, etc. If I don’t, I fear you’ll cause me premature grey hair worrying about you.” Cade walked by and ruffled Birdie’s hair, messing up her braid.
“Hey, watch it. Now I have to fix it again,” Birdie said with pretend disgust. She just got a pat on her back and a kiss on the temple. She grinned and left for the bathroom to fix her braid.
Kresley called Cade over to her for a few moments, and Gr
ace noticed they were looking at her more than once. They talked quietly to each other and when Cade quickly kissed her lips and walked over to Grace, she became alert. “What, sasquatch?”
Cade put his warm hand on her shoulder and stated, “Grace, I know your couch has seen better days and you were saving up to buy a new one, but Kresley’s couch here is less than 2 years old. We want you to have it. It’s not going to stay here since it takes up too much room. If you don’t want it, it will go to Goodwill. We’d like for you and Jaxson to get good use out of it though. Will it fit?”
Grace blinked at the love and generosity you could see on Cade and Kresley’s faces. “That’s amazing of y’all to offer it. I’ll definitely say yes to it. We need a new one and Jaxson loves this couch since it’s an L shape with recliners on the ends and that square foot rest in the center. He calls that his island when he’s here.”
Kresley walked over and hugged Grace, stating, “I’d love to know that it’s being put to good use by a little boy who jumps from couch to foot rest to avoid the lava on the floor.” She grinned at Grace’s snort of laughter.
Walker had walked up during the discussion and stated to Grace, “No worries honey. Cade and I can swap the couches out today. Just let us know which area of the living room you want it to go.” As he said this, he didn’t miss the opportunity to put his hand in some way on Grace. He held her hand in his, rubbing his fingers over the back of it in a pattern of traces.
Grace was going to have to get used to this new closeness. Being called endearments and being touched by a man like Walker, who was nothing but sweet, sexy goodness, was a little daunting. They were going from zero to 80 in the course of a few hours. Well to her any way. Him, probably not, since it sounded like he had been thinking about their ‘relationship’ for a while now. One step at a time was called for here. “Opposite from the TV works for me, since it’s already mounted on the wall. No windows or doors to get in the way of it either. Let’s wait until I can be there with you, since Sara and Jaxson are at the house by themselves. He can be bossy sometimes when I’m not around.”
“Like mother, like son”, Walker said under his breath, but loud enough for Grace to hear. He grinned when she cut her eyes up at him in a dare of some sorts. Oh, it was on. “Don’t dare me with those blue eyes, baby girl, unless you’re ready for it.” At her eye roll, Walker grabbed Grace around her waist with both massive arms, and picked her up straight off the floor, setting her against his body. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers spearing into his short hair and knocking his hat off his head, all to ensure security since her feet were off the ground. Walker brought his mouth to hers and proceeded to kiss the breath out of her. He kept the kiss brief, but made sure to make an impression. If he kissed her for too long, he knew her soft, wet lips would get to him and he’d forget where they were. She tasted like bacon, coffee and Grace. It was a heady combination. The cat calls from the other people in the room made him come to his senses. He finished with a light kiss on her lips, then dropped her back to her feet. A caress to her cheek with his thumb was necessary, then Walker picked up his hat from the floor and went back to work with Cade on the other side of the room. He made sure to saunter away from her so she could get a good view of his butt. He’d caught her looking at it enough over the past few years. He looked back at her and sure enough, her eyes were glued to his ass. She looked up at him, and blushed at being caught. Walker grinned at her and winked, then went back to work.
Grace just stood there after that bone melting kiss, her fingers on her lips, and a smile that kept growing in size. Wow, what a kiss. It was too brief, but still a contender for best kiss of her life. She looked around at her friends and caught their knowing smiles. Kres gave her a thumbs up and a wink, but none of the girls made fun of her. Maybe they were just happy for her. Grace shrugged and went to help Francie pack up the kitchen.
The rest of the packing and bringing up boxes of props, backgrounds and equipment for Birdie’s studio went on without incident. Soon it was lunch time and the apartment was slowly morphing into a photography studio. Grace could see the excitement growing inside of Birdie at the endless possibilities set before her. As she walked around the space, Grace could see the wheels beginning to churn in Birdie’s head, the ideas starting to form. Francie interrupted her train of thought with a question.
“Birdie, do you think you’ll have everything lined up by the end of August to do the photo shoots of the firefighters? I have all but one slot filled with volunteers to pose for the Firefighter’s Fundraiser calendar. Once I have that last one, we can schedule them out with their work schedules and get photos done for you to edit. I want a big event for the weekend before Thanksgiving and a huge ‘calendar signing’ on Black Friday at the Station 5. I think they’ll sell well around the holidays, right?” Francie looked around at the room of people as she rambled on. She took a deep breath, noticing their smug smiles. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking that Francie Pants wants to see a certain firefighter with his tatted chest oiled up and in his turnout gear with no shirt!” Kresley stated with a snort of laughter, copying what Birdie had said to Gert a few hours ago. Cade grinned behind her and gave her a fist bump of support.
“You shut your dirty mouth!” Francie yelled, which was out of character for her. “I am most certainly not thinking of any firefighter at their photo shoots. Plus, I don’t plan to be in attendance for them unless I need to be. The creative side of photos is Birdie’s wheel house. But someone may need to be there for her as a chaperon when Killian does his photo session.” Francie turned the conversation around to point out her sister’s not so secret, antagonistic crush for a grunting firefighter.
“Twit! You lie. No one bring up Killian to me again. Okay? I’m not looking for a man, don’t want a man. And if I did want someone, it would need to be a man who actually acted like he wanted to be around me and not look at me like I’m gum on the bottom of his boot!” Birdie began her speech loudly, but it ended in a quiet admission of hurt. She looked around at her sister’s faces, and turned around to fidget with some boxes that Cade had brought upstairs. It wasn’t one of her sisters or Grace or even Cade who came over to her to console her. It was Boomer.
Grace observed Walker as he put his massive arm around Birdie’s shoulders and walked off with her to what used to be the master bedroom. She could hear quiet murmurs of voices come from within and they were gone for at least five minutes. The others got back to work and there was mostly quiet in the space besides the music playing, as boxes were emptied and things put away in storage cabinets. Birdie and Walker walked back into the room and Birdie looked much calmer now. Boomer walked back over to help Cade put a shelving unit together.
Birdie walked by Grace and took her hand, squeezing her fingers and whispered in a quiet voice, “Don’t let him go Gracie. That’s a good man right there. He reminded me that Cade is a good example for any man in town to follow when it comes to opening himself up to a woman. And then Boomer said something about studying Cade and Kres’ relationship and knowing that he was about to be fully tested when he decided that being just friends with you was no longer enough. So, will he pass the test?” Birdie asked Grace, squeezing her hand to get her attention. At Grace’s smile and nod, Birdie sighed. “Maybe one day will arrive for me to look like you do. We’ll see. I just need to win over my grunting, Neanderthal, Scottish speaking neighbor.”
“Scottish? He’s Scottish? But he has an American accent.” Grace stated the obvious, looking at Birdie in confusion.
“You haven’t heard him say those Scottish words around me?” At Grace’s shake of no, Birdie rolled her eyes. “I’m going to Google them one day to see what they mean. But first I need to figure out how to spell them. His parents are immigrants from Scotland. They came to America before Killian was born, so he has a full American accent, even southern can be heard once in a while. The few times I’ve heard him say more than a word or two.” Birdie caught herself be
fore she said too much. She ended the conversation in the only way that Birdie could. She walked away without a backwards glance. Yep, that’s Birdie.
Grace felt him near her before she felt his arms wrap around her waist. Walker leaned down over Grace’s head to rest his forehead on her shoulder. He then turned his head into her neck, nuzzling it with his lips. He pulled away baby soft tendrils of blonde hair, clearing a path for his lips to roam. “It’s past official lunch time. I’m not telling you what to do. But I am saying that you need to consider eating something soon, hydrating and trying to get to your house to nap for a while. The sleepless nights you’ve had for a week now are piling on top of you. I can tell right now how it’s effecting you baby. You’re swaying on your feet like you could drop at any moment. You keep holding your head in your hand, which tells me you have a headache. And I’ve only heard you laugh twice since you got here. That is definitely not like you at all.”
Grace could hear the worry in Walker’s voice and she decided not to be difficult and turned in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and lay her head on his massive chest. And there she rested and felt at peace. Wow, he smelled so good. Like a pine forest and soap. For some reason, Grace’s imagination took her to one of the deep forests near the Smoky Mountains. Walker was there with her, in tight blue jeans, red plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves and holding an ax. Yep, a lumberjack fantasy was standing in front of her, letting her rest against him. Grace sighed deeply.
Walker took his hands and caressed her back, slowly up and down, his hands creeping lower and lower with each stroke until he was running both over her butt as he coddled her. Grace didn’t protest. No feminism here today, folks. Just a woman wanting the man who declared himself to her to cop a feel. Yep, that’s what she wanted. His hands were just the right size to cradle her ass. She didn’t dwell on the fact that she had a round tush and wide, curvy hips. Some may even call it a bubble butt. Grace didn’t worry about her size, her curves and her inheritance of having a large chest and ass. Men tended to like those any way, so who was she to complain. And with Walker’s hands caressing her like that, running his fingers over and over on her butt cheeks, Grace surrendered to whatever Walker wanted to do in this moment. He spoke nonverbally in his actions of loving her rear. She didn’t even think once about anyone standing around to watch. She just decided to be in the moment. She closed her eyes and leaned heavily against Walker. She’d open them in just a few minutes, then ask him what time he wanted to come over tonight. What to serve with chicken pot pie for a man who needs lots of calories to keep up with his daily grind? Maybe a salad and corn bread, or maybe…