‘Spread your legs,’ he said quietly.
She closed her eyes and opened her legs.
‘And now?’
‘Touch yourself,’ he said. His voice was an order. She trailed her fingers up her thigh to her centre. She was soft and slick and wet and her whole body arched as her fingers began to stroke her core. She was so ready. She heard a noise, a low moan, and realised it had come from her.
‘Be my hand,’ Walker said into her ear. ‘Use my fingers.’ A gasp broke from her as her thumb brushed her clit.
‘Yes.’ Her voice broke.
‘Let me make you come,’ he breathed.
She felt the tension build inside her. Her hand moved as if it was under his control, her eyes fluttering as she increased the pace. She remembered the look on his face as he moved over her body. The concentration, the intensity, the absolute desire. Her clit was swollen with need. She rubbed it and thought of him and reached the edge of the precipice.
‘Walker,’ she gasped as she threw herself off.
Chapter Twenty
Walker
It was a week later when the fire station alarm rang halfway through the Thursday afternoon shift.
‘Let’s go, team,’ Walker shouted immediately, and his crew scrambled to don fire suits. The truck pulled out with everyone aboard one minute later. The lights were flashing, and pedestrians turned to look as they sped past.
Walker sat upfront on the phone with the dispatcher, plugging in the address and awaiting further information. Today was his first afternoon shift after a very quiet week of night shifts where the highlight had been catching a stray dog on the common. The team had all undertaken physical training together that morning and now he took a deep breath, feeling his adrenaline rise.
It hadn’t been the only thing that had risen that morning. He’d woken after the deepest and most satisfying sleeps he’d had in a long time to a hard-on worthy of a flag. Since that almost-night with Gabriella, he’d only been thinking of when he might get to actually complete the night in person. The images in his head were certainly proving a good distraction, as he hadn’t had a bad dream all week. He’d texted her the day after their late-night phone call, telling her he’d found her crutches abandoned at The Bolthole and had left them outside her door and posted her keys through the letter box. She’d texted back immediately asking him if she could thank him in person, adding a little devil emoji. But he’d had to postpone, as he’d been on his way to start night shifts for the week. Something he’d never minded, until then. Now that he was back on days, he fully intended to message her and ask for a repeat performance.
The dispatcher crackled back onto the line.
‘Incident at Treetop Challenge,’ she said and then the words that made his blood run cold. ‘Involving children from the Honeybridge Tots.’
Walker’s stomach clenched. That was Riley’s nursery. He’d been there himself with Rosie to collect Riley on occasion. He’d stood outside and waited for her to appear on the doorstep. Riley, his red-headed goddaughter, usually paint-speckled, often wearing dungarees, always hungry.
‘Are the children all safe?’ he asked.
‘Not all of them.’
John threw a glance at Walker and then sounded the siren. Walker set his jaw, all thoughts of Gabi forgotten for the time being.
Treetop Challenge was a series of high ropes between platforms in the trees, ending with a zipline back to the ground. All perfectly safe, with different levels for different age groups, strapped in and clipped on at all times. Walker couldn’t imagine what the incident could be– and found it hard to believe even when he stood in front of it.
He dropped out of his door before the engine skidded to a stop. A woman beckoned him from the clearing in the woods and he jogged over. She wore the Honeybridge Tots sweatshirt, and she and another helper were surrounded by children, some crying, others sucking thumbs. A quick scan told him Riley was not among them.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked without preamble.
‘There was a massive crack.’ The woman looked stricken. She wrung her hands and couldn’t take her eyes from the trees ahead. Walker scanned the canopy but couldn’t spot what she was staring at.
‘A tree fell,’ the woman continued. ‘It crashed through one of the wired walkways. All the lines were broken.’
‘Anyone hurt?’ Walker asked.
‘Luckily, no. Most of the children were off the bridge at the time. They carried on to the end of the course and we’ve got them down. But one girl had her foot trapped in the bridge as it fell. She’s stuck.’
She pointed a shaking finger up at the canopy and Walker saw his worst fears confirmed. Riley’s red hair dangled towards the ground as she hung upside down under the broken bridge.
‘Is she still strapped in?’ Walker demanded, motioning his crew to reverse the fire engine closer.
