‘Not at all,’ she said. It was true. Looking at him now, all she wanted to do was clamber over him like a climbing frame. Damn this stupid boot.
‘What about the panic attack?’ Walker asked, a look of embarrassment crossing his face.
‘What about it?’ Gabi asked. ‘You’re human, Walker. It would be strange to meet someone who was never affected by anything that happened to them. We all have our worries, our fears.’
‘Not exactly manly, though?’ he said. She interlaced her fingers through his and he lifted his eyebrows in surprise.
‘You’re still the sexiest Scotsman I’ve ever seen,’ she said. ‘And you’re absolutely rocking that kilt.’
She dropped her eyes to his bare knees and wondered fleetingly if the rumours about the Scottish not wearing anything under their kilts was true. She crossed her fingers that she might get to find out.
Walker’s phone rang suddenly, breaking the silence. As the screen lit Walker’s face, he looked lighter, brighter and hot as hell. He angled the screen towards her to show it was Alex and answered on speaker. Noise and laughter burst into the library. Alex was trying to make himself heard, but Gabi could hear all the others in the background: Amber was cheering, Isabella laughing.
‘You okay, man? I’ve been looking for you.’
Gabi bit her lip. She should have let Alex know she’d found Walker.
Walker kept his eyes on Gabi. ‘All good, Al. I’m fine. You?’ Walker reached out with his spare hand and encircled Gabi’s ankle.
‘Just about to go on with the band,’ Alex said. ‘Going to play that new song.’
‘Hope it goes down well,’ Walker said.
‘Me too. You coming back in?’
Walker’s hand on her ankle stroked upwards now, towards her knee, and back down again. Gabi bit her lip.
‘No, I’m going to head off,’ Walker said, fingers lingering on the inside of her knee this time, stroking the soft skin at the back. She widened her eyes. He was only touching her knee, for God’s sake, an area which she’d never before thought of as an erogenous zone but would now firmly be adding to the list. She felt like some kind of swooning Victorian, half reclined on a window seat in the library, having her leg felt.
‘Amber wants to know if you’ve seen Gabi?’
‘Yes, she’s here,’ Walker said, his eyes burning into her. The intensity between them now like an electric charge. ‘And she’s coming home with me.’
Chapter Thirty
Walker
A light rain was falling outside, and the pavements were slick and shiny. Walker carried Gabi home, not because she couldn’t walk– as she asserted several times– but because she couldn’t walk on her crutches fast enough for his liking. He needed to get her home and naked. Now. So, she carried her crutches, and he carried her, back to his riverside house.
The stairs didn’t slow him down; he took them two at a time. When he clicked on the bedroom lamp, Fatboy Jim took off like a shot from his position mid-duvet, vacating the bed for the night shift. The cat just made it through the bedroom door before Walker kicked it shut.
He lowered Gabi to her feet and gave her a moment, to make sure the next decision was hers. She didn’t hesitate, her hands roaming over his chest before grasping the ends of his bow tie and pulling him down towards her. Their mouths found each other, her lips open on his. He ground her against him, kissing her more and more deeply until she gasped. He felt himself hardening at the sound.
Gabi pushed his jacket off and it fell to the floor. Her fingers pulled feverishly at Walker’s shirt buttons, tugging until she was finally pressed to his bare front, breaking from his mouth to drop kisses across his stomach, trace his tattoos with her fingers, moan into his shoulder.
Walker peeled one of the straps of her dress away from her body, and then the other. The satin fell down her arms, leaving her collarbone and shoulders pale and naked. He bit the soft side of her neck, playfully, gently, but hard enough to make her head fall back. He held her away from him to roll the dress all the way down her body to her waist, uncovering her inch by inch, his eyes lingering on her bare breasts, her stomach. She watched him now, breath heaving. He continued, moving the fabric over her hips and thighs, revealing lacy pants. Her dress now lay forgotten, a puddle of fabric on the floor.
Her hands moved to his kilt, fingers fumbling trying to work out how to unfasten it. Walker wanted her hands on him, her mouth, but not yet. First of all, he wanted to pay the right amount of respect to that body. He’d never seen one like it: delicate but so strong. It made him crazy. He caught her hands and held them still. She blinked at him, and he noticed how desire made her face soft: her lips seemed fuller, her brown eyes shone like the richest chocolate.
‘I need these out of the way for a while,’ Walker said, motioning towards her captured hands which he held in one of his own. He pulled at one end of his bow tie and it slid around his shirt collar, falling off in one long, black strip. He let go of Gabi’s hands and snapped his tie straight, raising an eyebrow questioningly at her.
She tilted her chin and the tiniest smile flitted across her face. She held her palms out towards him. Fuck, the things he wanted to do to her right now.
‘Are you sure?’ Walker asked.
‘Yes.’ Gabi pressed her wrists together, ready to be tied. He bound her and her breathing deepened as he pulled the knot tight. Walker nudged her backwards until she was leaning against the bedroom wall, before lifting her hands above her head.
‘Keep them there,’ he ordered. She nodded, eyes burning into him as he touched his hand to her throat and trailed it down to her clavicle. Then she closed her eyes and her lips parted as she drew in a deep breath. Without her distracting hands, Walker could move slowly as he touched her, brushing her shoulders, tracing the front of her chest until he dipped his head, holding her breasts in both hands and moving from one to the other, catching her nipples between his lips, nipping them with his teeth, flicking them with his tongue. She gasped and pressed into him, the urge to touch him almost overwhelming, her hands moving towards him.
