‘Bike rides,’ she said simply. ‘I always felt so independent, so free. As soon as I learned to ride, it meant I could take myself wherever I wanted to go, as fast as I could, feeling the wind against my skin. I didn’t need anyone else to enjoy it. It was the start of my love of speed and stunts, what turned me into an adrenaline junkie.’
‘You started young then,’ he said. ‘With your career.’ She nodded and her agent’s email sitting in her inbox, the thought of her next job, flashed through her mind. She shook her head to clear it. She didn’t need to think about that now.
‘Tell me about growing up here,’ Gabi prompted, wanting to imagine Walker in this place. She settled against him as he told her about the small local school and of his adventures with Murray: hiking and biking around the loch, fishing and swimming and sailing. How they would fashion their own rope swings and lose whole afternoons playing hide-and-seek. And he talked about Murray’s laugh, how he’d laugh so hard that tears used to leak from the corners of his eyes. Now that he’d come back, Walker could see clearly: it wasn’t just that Murray had died at the loch, he had lived there too.
‘Now I can remember the whole story. Not just the ending,’ Walker said, squeezing Gabi against him. ‘That’s down to you, Gabi. You made me face my fears.’
Gabi noticed that night had fallen outside. It must be late. But she had no desire to sleep.
‘Oh, I’m sure you would have found the courage to face them yourself,’ she said.
‘What, me?’ he teased. ‘The scared little boy?’
She felt herself blush.
‘Ouch,’ she said. ‘It’s official. I’m horrible.’
He chuckled.
‘I don’t think you’re horrible. You were hurt because of the things I said to you.’
Gabi took a deep breath. ‘The thing is, you were right.’
He’d been pretty generous with the home truths he dealt her. Telling her she’d upset Rosie and was shit at relationships. But maybe she’d needed to hear it.
‘Are you going to do something about it then?’ he asked quietly into her hair.
She couldn’t help but smile. Proud of herself. ‘Already have.’ She remembered the way Rosie had forgiven her immediately and pulled her in for a hug.
‘Wow. Speedy work, Ms Tucci.’ Gabi heard the surprise in Walker’s voice.
‘Thank you, Mr McBride.’
‘What did you do?’
‘Apologised to Rosie and took her humble crumble, because I can’t make pie.’
He grinned. ‘And the bit about relationships?’
‘I’m working on it,’ Gabi said. ‘But that’s all I’ll say.’ He held her eye and then nodded. He wasn’t going to push her.
‘I hope it works out for you,’ he said. ‘Really, I do. Because now that I’ve faced my fears, I feel good about myself. I feel more like a man.’
Gabi tilted her face up to his. The glow of the fire lit the orange specks in his hazel eyes.
‘That sounds promising.’ She held his gaze a beat too long, deliberately. The air between them sparked.
‘You think?’ he asked, shifting against her, letting his hands start to move over her body again.
‘Maybe I should test it out for myself?’ she suggested, eyes playing with his. ‘If you feel like a. . . big. . . man. . . ?’
She saw the lift of his mouth in a smile just before she pressed her lips to his.
Chapter Forty-Six
Walker
‘There’s one last place I want to take you,’ Walker said a couple of days later as he navigated narrow country lanes bordered with heather. ‘Before we go back to Honeybridge.’
