She lifted my hand and put it on her face. “I’ve never had anyone protect me. I’ve never known what that feels like.” While I held her cheek, she put her fingers on top of mine. “Until you.” She spoke in a whisper, but I heard her so clearly. “That’s who you are—not a screamer, not a fighter. Walker, you’re a protector.”
I ran my thumb under her eyes. “You know, when you saw me in the hallway of Charred and we collided, I was leaving work because I’d lost my shit. Not yelling. I mean, I couldn’t breathe. I called my doctor from the car, and he told me I’d had a panic attack.” I licked my lips. “I drink more whiskey than I should, I don’t eat enough, and I feel so fucking lost at times—probably close to all the time—that I don’t know how to find myself.” I nodded at that point, and I bounced my head again at the next one I was about to make. “I scream at my employees because I don’t want to be at Charred. I take my anger out on them.” I exhaled through my nose. “We all have our own shit, Alivia. I’m saying all of this because I don’t want you to feel alone.”
“You’ve never made me feel that way.”
I moved in closer, readjusting her legs across my lap. “You told me before that you couldn’t handle screaming. I didn’t know the extent. I do now.” I pushed her knees against my chest. “I’m going to work on it. I’m really going to try. You have that commitment from me. I don’t want to be the guy who sends you over that edge—I saw what it did to you. Never again.”
“You have no idea how much that means to me, Walker.”
I brought her hand up to my mouth. “I don’t want to lose you. Here. At work. Anywhere.”
“I want to be here. I want to be at Charred. I want to be everywhere with you.” As I put my lips against the center of her palm, she added, “We couldn’t be more opposite in pretty much every way. You have a big, very involved family, and I’m an only child. You had this incredible upbringing—one that I’ve read about in interviews that you did—and mine was tumultuous. You own an empire. You have all of this”—she glanced at the ceiling, at the view, at the entire room before her eyes returned to me—“and I don’t have anything. You scream, and I whisper. You’re tall and built, and I’m a peanut.” She finally showed her teeth when she smiled. “But we work. Don’t we?”
I pulled her fingers away from my mouth. “Do you know what happens when you take a glass jar and you fill it halfway with balsamic vinegar and the other half with freshly pressed olive oil?”
She huffed. “They don’t mix. Everyone knows that.”
“But when you shake the bottle, the two blend beautifully, and in my opinion, there is no better dressing than the tangy flavor of a rich, temperamental vinegar, like myself, and the smooth softness of oil, like you.”
Her smile was growing. “You’re saying two people who have gone through it separately can create something perfect together?”
“Perfect?” I chuckled. “No. I fucking hate perfect.” I cupped her face. “But what we’ll have is special. Unique. And everything we both want.”
Eden
I came into the restaurant tonight for dinner, and everyone told me you’d left. Everything okay?
Alivia was asleep next to me in bed. She’d been out for hours, but I still tried to be soundless when I slipped out of the covers and walked to the kitchen. When I was far enough away that I knew she wouldn’t hear me, I called Eden.
“Wow,” Eden said as she answered. “A phone call? Who are you?”
“I call you sometimes.”
“You also like to avoid calling me sometimes.” She laughed. “I just got home from Charred. Why aren’t you there?”
I turned my back to the kitchen island, the stone hitting the top of my ass. There were a multitude of things I could say, but there was no reason to hide the truth. “Something happened with Alivia—she’s fine, but she needed to leave, and I took her to my place.”
“I guess that answers all my questions.”
“Things are still early and new, Eden. But, yeah, it’s happening.”
“I had a feeling it was.” She paused. “How is this going to look at Charred?”
“It’s not going to affect me one fucking bit.” My head fell backward. “But I don’t know what it’s going to do to Alivia. If it does anything at all. Some of those guys like to tease, but would they do that to her? Over the boss?” I whistled out some air. “Fuck if I know.”
“Maybe you don’t say anything to the team? For as long as you can?”
“That’s not a bad idea.” Besides, that would give me time to figure shit out on my end as far as my future at Charred was concerned. “I’ll tell the family in the morning.”
“They already know, but if it makes you feel better, be my guest.”
I held the back of my neck. “Of course they fucking know. You guys are the worst gossipers in the world.”
“Gossipers? No. We’re just very aware of what’s happening within our family, and we need to be—we’re running quite the operation, Walker. I did run things by our attorney. I’m talking about you and Alivia. From a legal standpoint, we’re safe. Not that you were worried, but I was.”
I glanced out the window toward the canyon. Eden’s home was just on the other side, an easy view from here.
“There was no question in my mind that you were going to do that.”
