Walton (The K9 Files #26)

Chapter 13

C helsea wrapped her arms around Walton, her fingers sliding through his curls and yet not curls. They were more waves, yet here and there were the odd really tight curls. She smiled in joy at the discovery, as she now stroked the huge muscles across his shoulders and down his back. “You may have wanted to come to me in a better shape,” she shared, “but honestly, you were in damn-good shape to begin with, and now you’re in better shape than ever.”

“Good, that was the plan.”

She chuckled. “Job well done.”

He smiled, leaned over, kissed her, and she very quickly lost herself in the gentle movement of his lips, the gentle probing of his tongue, as the heat slowly began to build and started to curl her toes. She wrapped her thighs around his hips, pulling him closer into position, her legs sliding down to the edge of his stump and then falling to the second leg below.

He lifted his head. “Does it bother you?”

“No, of course it doesn’t bother me,” she said, tapping his nose. “I would think that would be a question you wouldn’t need to ask me, of all people.”

He nuzzled her cheek and nodded. “Still looking for reassurance, I guess.”

It startled her, and yet it shouldn’t have because, no matter how strong and invincible we all appear to be, everybody had their vulnerabilities, and, for him, this was obviously one of them. “I didn’t care about it in the beginning, and I don’t care about it now,” she declared. “You’re not defined by the body part missing in your world.”

Then she pulled him down and gave him a searing kiss, trying to convince him of the truth of her words. And it seemed to have worked because he suddenly moaned and seared her with an absolutely intensifying electric kiss that tingled her toes, as she tightened her thighs hard around him. She was still in a haze when he lifted his head, and she whispered, “What the hell was that?”

“That was an onslaught of love,” he murmured, as he kissed her again and again and again, sliding his way down her body to kiss every inch of her, as he slid right to her toes, taking her big toe and nibbling it.

She burst out laughing, then tried to pull her feet away because of the tickling. “You can’t do that,” she gasped. “That’s just not fair.”

“Oh, don’t I know it,” he muttered. “All is fair in love and war.”

“Nope, nope, nope.”

Laughing he pulled away and slid all the way back up her body, and this time he opened her thighs wide, and he slid right into position. “Will this tickle too?” he asked.

“God, I hope not,” she whispered, “but I sure as hell know it’ll feel good.”

When he slid deep inside to find her warm and welcoming center, she sighed, happily shifting beneath him to adjust to him. He looked at her with an eyebrow raised, and she smiled. “I’m fine. I’m fine at the moment, but, if you make me wait too much longer, I won’t be.”

He chuckled and started to move.

She wrapped her arms around him, enjoying the ride and loving the feeling of having him here where she had wanted him for so long—loving their ability to share, their ability to communicate, and just to be themselves with each other. And then she couldn’t think at all, as the two became one. He took the pace faster and faster and drove her over the edge. She dimly heard him come, before he collapsed into her arms.

Shifting to the side, he pulled her up against his chest and whispered, “Now we can sleep.”

Smiling, she drifted off and slept deeply.

When she woke the next morning, she was a little on the sore side, having woken up several times in the night, made love, then gone back to sleep again. This time she rolled over, and he was sitting up, leaning against the headboard, talking softly on the phone.

He looked at her with a smile and stroked the hair off her face, then continued with his call. “Yeah, I’ll be here. I’d like to just spend some time getting to know the dog, seeing what his capabilities are, but, yeah, I do want to keep him.”

She remembered him mentioning something about maybe working with the police, and she presumed Badger was on the other end. She was delighted at the idea.

When Walton got off the phone, he slid down and pulled her into his arms. “Good morning, gorgeous.”

She chuckled in delight. “That’s not a bad way to wake up.”

“Of course it’s not a bad way to wake up,” he agreed, nuzzling her once again. “But I’ve got to tell you, our new pet is definitely looking to go out.”

Brutus . Almost as if he understood they were talking about him, Brutus made a sudden leap and ended up on the bed, on top of them.

She burst out laughing. “So, is this my life from now on?” she asked in a teasing tone.

“It could be, if you want it to be.”

“I want it to be,” she declared instantly, looking at him with a bright smile. “I would love it to be like this.” She leaned over. “But you take a little longer to get dressed, so up and at ’em, buddy. You have a dog to look after.”

“What?” he protested, laughing. “You’ll let me go out there, all alone in that cold morning air, and face the world without you?”

“Oh, does that mean you want me to come along?”

“Of course I do. Honestly, given a choice,… I want you at my side for the rest of my life.”

She held out her hand and, with a big smile, said, “Deal.”