Walker Bride (11 page)

Pearl shook the thought away.

As she neared the Morgan’s, she could see the
enormous house come into view. Her breath caught. Lydia and Susan
had talked about it over lunch a few times, but she could never
have imagined it was that grand.

The dirt road gave to a paved driveway that
circled in front of the enormous house. The front doors were the
size of the entire front of her house. Her hands began to shake as
she came to a stop behind Tyson’s pickup truck. At least, she knew
he was home.

Pearl put the car into park, unbuckled her
seat belt at the same moment her door flew open. With a muffled
scream, she looked up to see Tyson glaring down at her.

“What are you doing here?” Tyson snarled at
her.

“I…well…I just…”

“Turn the engine back on. You’re not parking
here,” he slammed the door.

Pearl blinked away the tears that had quickly
come to the surface and burned her eyes. She turned the car back on
and swiftly threw it into reverse as the passenger door opened.

“Whoa! Don’t run me over,” Tyson growled as
he slid into the passenger seat and shut the door.

“What are you doing?”

“Drive up the road and around the house.
There is another road that leads to the barn.”

“If you’re too busy, I can…”

“Drive,” he barked.

Pearl backed away from his pickup and drove
around it to the road he’d pointed out.

In silence, they drove, at least, another
mile down the private road to the barn that stood as majestically
out in the field as the house had.

“Park over by the door.” He pointed to a
small door that looked as though it might enter into an office.

She did as he’d demanded and then parked the
car.

For a long silent moment, they both just sat
there until she got up the nerve to say what she’d come for.

“Thank you for the flowers.”

Tyson rubbed his hand across the back of his
neck. “You’re welcome.” He let out a long ragged breath. “I’m sorry
about that. My grandfather, well, he’s…he’s in a mood,” he
said.

“I’m sorry. I should have called. I mean I
tried to, but, I should never have…”

He cut her words short as he came across the
center console and planted his mouth on hers.

Her breath caught as Tyson cupped her face in
his hands and drowned her nerves with a kiss that had heat crawling
up her body.

“Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry,” he
said resting his forehead to hers. “C’mon. Come in with me.”

He opened the door and slammed it again
before walking toward the barn. He looked back at her, and she
realized she hadn’t moved. How could she? She was overwhelmed with
a dozen emotions.

Eventually, she gathered her senses and
climbed out of the car. Shutting her door, she followed him into
the barn.

She had been right. The door led to a private
office, which she thought was nicer than any office in any high
rise she’d ever seen.

“Yours?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice. So this is where you come to work
every day?” she pried as she looked around the room.

“It’s where I hide mostly.” He moved to her
and wrapped his arms around her waist. It was equally as quick as
the embrace had been in the car. Enough so that Pearl staggered
back before she was able to rest her hands on his chest.

Tyson bent to kiss her gently on the lips.
The moment both confused and soothed her.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” he said
softly, still holding her close.

“You have? I thought you were mad at me or
too busy for me. Or just not interested,” she said with her voice
dipping into the emotion she was feeling. She locked eyes with him,
and she saw his go sad. Taking a breath, she continued, “I haven’t
seen or heard from you all week. And the last time I saw you, well,
let’s just say I thought you were
very
interested.”

He let a slow groan rattle from his throat as
he closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them. “Lydia
thinks it’s best if we don’t see each other since we’re
partners.”

Pearl grit her teeth. “That’s sensible,” she
agreed and hated it.

“And I told her that’s how it would be.”

That ripped through her, and she ached. “Then
why are you holding me?”

“Because you’re here.”

She swallowed hard. “Why did you kiss
me?”

“Because I couldn’t stand not to.” He gently
kissed her again as if to make a point.

“I just wanted to thank you for the flowers,”
she managed with a shaky voice. “It was very thoughtful of
you.”

“You’re going to do great in the new
location. It’s a nice place.”

Pearl pushed back so she could gather her
thoughts. “You’ve been there?”

He nodded. “A few times. Lydia is very
excited about it. I met the realtor and signed what I had to
sign.”

Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose. “So you
only ignored me because of Lydia?”

“Yes.”

“Then I shouldn’t be here.” Pearl pushed her
shoulders back and tried to swallow the disappointment that was
brewing in her belly. “She’s probably right, you know. It would get
very messy if we got involved.”

Tyson nodded as he moved toward her. “You and
I come from very deceptive families. They lie and cheat to get what
they want.”

Pearl willed away the threat of tears. She
was Byron Walker’s daughter. And Byron Walker’s daughter didn’t cry
when things weren’t going her way—or when someone pointed out
reality.

“You’re right. Our families do that. You and
I, and Lydia,” she added, “aren’t like that. If she thinks this is
a bad idea, then we forget about it. We go on and…forget about it.”
Her voice shook as Tyson moved in even closer now, scooping her up
with her legs wrapped around him and pressed against the wall.

His mouth came back to hers in a fury of heat
and need, and she responded in kind. As the heat rose in her belly,
she fought off the voices that told her to push him away, but
instead she wrapped her legs around him tighter.

His fingers gripped her hips, and his hard
body pushed against hers.

This was wrong. They had both just
established that this wasn’t a good move. They were all going to
get hurt. There was so much more at stake here, but she couldn’t
stop. There was a desperate need to keep him close and feel his
body pressing against hers.

Tyson sucked in a hard breath and looked at
her. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” he said gasping before
taking her mouth again with his.

Thank God that’s how he felt because Pearl
was sure she was going to burst.

When Tyson had watched her drive up the road,
he’d had all intentions of turning her back down it.

As his hand skimmed the skin just under the
hem of her shirt and her fingers worked up into his hair, he
remembered the promise he’d made to his sister. Then he thought
about how he was going to break it.

Was this what had driven his biological
mother, Eric’s mother, mad—passion? Had she given up her child over
lust? Was that what he was doing?

The bonding of the Walkers and the Morgans
was one thing when it came to nailing the son-of-a-bitches that had
been messing with them. But hard feelings and family secrets had
torn the families apart for years. Having sex with a Walker wasn’t
going to mend it.

Pearl’s legs were tight around his waist. Her
lips were on his neck and her skin soft under his fingertips. A
moan escaped between them—from him.

It was so much more than burying a hatchet.
He’d done that. The moment he accepted his biological mother’s
fate, Eric as his brother, and the lie his mother, father and
grandfather had fed him his whole life had been the moment the feud
between families didn’t matter.

But Pearl was Byron Walker’s daughter. That
did make a huge difference in the house he was raised in.

However, as her fingers began to work the
snaps on his shirt, just as they had a week ago, none of it
mattered.

This was Pearl. She was a mystery wrapped in
a beautiful package. She did things to him, physically, without
ever having to touch him. She did things to him mentally that he
just couldn’t explain.

Susan had been on his case to get that damn
tux fitted. He’d held off as long as he possibly could. Since
finding out Pearl’s cousin was his brother, he’d spent his share of
time around her. A fire had begun to fuel months ago, and he didn’t
want to feel its burn.

It was stupid. He was lonely, he thought, but
then retracted it as he moved his hand up under her shirt and
cupped her breast.

The moan now came from Pearl.

This was crazy. This lust put them both into
the same category as their families—liars.

He winced as she gently nipped at his skin
and he absorbed the pleasure of the pain. There was no stopping the
momentum of what they had started. And why should he?

They were grown adults, and they were about
to make a very adult decision—one he couldn’t wait much longer
for.

He lowered Pearl to her feet, and her eyes
met his. “You’re not going to stop are you? You’re not going to say
we can’t.”

He brushed his hand over her cheek. “I don’t
want to.”

“Then don’t,” she said as she pressed her
mouth to his. “Where can we go?”

The years peeled away, and he felt seventeen
again. Sneaking around and finding pleasure in the body of a
willing and beautiful girl.

He took her hand and led her to the couch on
the other side of the room. Oh, this had surely been his escape for
years. The big screen TV that hung above the fireplace and the
small kitchenette allowed him to stay in that space as long as he
wanted. He couldn’t help but wonder if his grandfather even knew
about the setup he had. Though he oversaw everything in the
family’s business, he very rarely left the house.

Still, Tyson couldn’t help but want to keep
him out.

Pearl positioned herself on the couch as
Tyson stood.

“Where are you going?”

He smiled back at her. “I’m not leaving. Just
locking the door—in case.”

She batted her eyes at him and licked her
lips. “Okay, hurry.”

He did as he said he’d do and locked the
world out. For this moment, it would be only him and Pearl. For
this moment, it would be shutting the world away and embracing the
moment that they might later regret.

When he turned back toward her, she was lying
on the couch, her blouse unbuttoned, and the
breath of life
tattoo moved as her breathing increased.

The closer he got to her, the more intense
her blue eyes became. Her full lips parted as if she waited for him
to seal them with his.

For a moment he merely looked down at her,
wanting to capture this moment in his memory.

“You’re stunning,” he said, his eyes on hers
and not on her body.

The corner of her mouth lifted into a
seductive grin. “Now’s your chance to see that tattoo on my
back.”

He’d released the bad girl, he realized. Now
the question would be, would he be able to keep up with her?

~*~

The day had quickly gone into the night, or
so it had seemed. Pearl lay entangled in blankets on the floor of
the barn office, in front of the fireplace, which they’d turned on
more for ambiance than heat.

Tyson’s body was curled up behind her. He
brushed her hair over her shoulder and placed a precise kiss on the
base of her neck. That sent a chill straight down her spine.

“I don’t know if I have enough energy to
continue,” she said with a breathy voice replaying the afternoon of
making love in her mind. “But we could try.”

He chuckled. “We haven’t used the shower in
the bathroom yet.”

Now she laughed. “I think it’s the only area
we haven’t hit yet.”

His hand skimmed down her side and over her
hip. “Chinese symbols on your rib cage. Angel wings low on your
back. A rose on your ankle and an infinity symbol with a dangling
heart on your thigh. Have I seen them all?”

Her stomach did a little flip thinking about
him
seeing
all her tattoos. He’d done much more than that
she thought, remembering the kisses he’d feathered over her skin,
lingering at each tattoo.

“I think you’ve seen everything,” she said
rolling so that she could face him. “The scar down your back, the
one on your elbow, and another on your shoulder. No tattoos?”

“More accident prone than anything.”

She ran her finger down his chest. “I doubt
that.”

“Lydia gave me the one on my shoulder. I was
pushing her on a tree swing and got in the way. It knocked me down
on a rock.”

Pearl pressed her lips to the scar. “Your
elbow?”

“Football.”

“Your back?”

His eyes narrowed, and the playfulness faded.
“Nothing awesome.”

Pearl locked her gaze onto his. “I stumbled
on something.”

She watched as he processed it and she
wondered if he’d trust her with the information.

“Horsewhip.”

She didn’t remark right away, but she
couldn’t keep quiet. “Not an accident?”

Tyson’s lips tightened. “What does it
matter?”

“It doesn’t,” she pressed a kiss to his lips.
“Where do we go from here? I mean, I let you see my tattoos.”

A smile crept onto his lips. “Are you willing
to let me see them again?”

“Tonight?”

He shrugged. “And tomorrow. Maybe even the
next?”

There was a new pattern to her heart beat. It
had ramped up to a remarkable pace, and that thrilled her as much
as his
promise
had.

Lying there naked, her body wrapped around
his, and running through her head was only one question. “What
about Lydia?”

He shook his head. “This isn’t the time I
want to talk about my sister.”