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“Arun too. Have you seen the photos?”
“No. I was planning to, but Vik kinda scared me off a bit. Not sure I really want to see what anyone else is saying about me.”
Walker nods, eyes downcast. “I’m sorry, I should’ve been thinking more clearly last night.”
My shackles instantly rise, my breakfast starting to churn in my stomach.
He regrets it. Shit, he regrets me.
The instinct to protect myself blazes through me, walls shooting back up, words rushing from my mouth before I think them through, tone flat and distant. “We don’t have to make it a big thing. Let’s just forget anything ever happened, no hard feelings.”
Walker’s head snaps up. “What do you mean?”
“You obviously are having second thoughts about what went down between us last night and I’m just saying, let’s not turn it into a whole ordeal. People hook up, they move on. It’s cool.” The words leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
He rears back as if I slapped him. “I’m not having second thoughts about anything with us, Scar. I meant that I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to be conscious of people with cameras around us, who would be recognizing us and talking pictures of us together dancing. And that those would end up online.”
“Oh,” I say, embarrassment heating my face.
“Do you regret what happened last night?” Walker asks me, and there it is again. That same apprehension that he used to have with me that I never wanted to see again.
“No!” I rush out. “Not at all. Last night was amazing,” I tell him truthfully.
He visibly relaxes, understanding I jumped into defense mode when I thought he was rejecting me.
“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, I should’ve let you elaborate.” I sigh, frustrated with myself.
“Hey.” Walker steps forward and cups my face in his hands. “It’s okay, it’s been a stressful morning for both of us. We’re both a little on edge.” He presses a light kiss on my forehead before resting his chin on top of my head as he pulls me to his chest. I listen to his heartbeat for a few moments, letting it soothe me.
“Did Arun ask you if this was the real deal?” I say against him, my words muffled by his t-shirt.
“Yeah,” he answers softly.
“And?”
His heart beats once, twice, three times.
The moment seems to stretch forever, and I find myself holding my breath.
“I told him it’s the real thing. I’m in it.”
I let his words fall around us and sink into my bones, the reality of them settling in. And with them, the comfort of his reassurance that this is something he wants just as much as I do.
“Good.”
Walker laughs, the sound full and light all at once.
“That’s all you have to say?”
I bury my nose into his chest, finding solace in a deep inhale of his cologne. “Yes,” I mumble.
He pulls me back and looks at me, eyes searching mine, brushing my bangs back behind my ears. “What did you tell Vik?”
“I told her the same thing. It’s real.”
It’s as if I can actually see Walker’s shoulders release the invisible weight that’s been on them, relief and reassurance bringing them higher.
“Hell yeah, it is.” He leans down and kisses me softly, both of us taking our time exploring each other, tentative nips and unhurried pace.
