Page 44 of Loving You Always
“Thought I told you to take it slow,” Mama Jess said from the screen door.
Kerris tried to pull back, but Walsh trapped her against him, looking over Kerris’s shoulder at Mama Jess with both brows raised.
“Ihavebeen taking it slow,” he said.
“Didn’t look slow to me.”
“Why are you watching?” He laughed, pulling Kerris to his side and heading back toward the cottage.
“I gotta keep an eye on you with my girl.” Mama Jess frowned, but her lips twitched with a smile she wouldn’t give in to.
“I’ll take care ofmygirl.” Walsh looked down at Kerris, his eyes going a little softer and hotter. “Don’t you have a bingo game or something that would take you away from the house for a few hours?”
Mama Jess laughed outright, placing a hand on her hip and sticking a stern finger in Walsh’s face.
“Just because I’m out of the house don’t mean you gettin’ in, if you know what I mean.”
“All righty then.” Kerris stepped away from Walsh’s possessive grip, mortified. “Um, so bingo?”
“Yes, bingo.” Mama Jess narrowed one eye up at Walsh. He looked right back. “But I’ll be back.”
“And I’ll be here.” Walsh slipped his fingers between Kerris’s.
As soon as the door closed behind Mama Jess, Walsh pulled her close for another kiss.
“Hey.” Kerris protested, holding up a hand to push against his chest. “Let’s talk.”
“Talking’s low on my list right now.”
“Walsh, you can’t just walk in here unannounced and expect…”
“Expect what? That you missed me as much as I missed you?”
She moved behind the couch to put some distance between them. “You can’t just—”
“Please stop telling me what I can’t do.” Walsh frowned across the space she’d imposed between them. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“Walsh, I’m not divorced.”
“It’s only a matter of time.” He came around the couch to take both of her hands in his.
“Yes, time. Something I asked you to give me.”
“Something I gave you. A year’s worth. I’m done with it.”
“Oh, so that’s it, because you’re done?” She shrugged her slim shoulders under the thin cotton of the shirt. “You say time’s up, so forget what I want.”
“You want me to go?” Walsh’s knife-sharp words sliced into the silence she had no idea how to fill.
Kerris looked down at the floor, not sure what to say. Every cell in her body burned for him. Her hands still shook from that kiss, but she was paralyzed. Leave? Stay? She knew if he stayed, it would be the beginning of something she wouldn’t be able to stop, maybe ever. And if he left…the throb of loneliness would return. Even surrounded by friends, living a full life, missing him was a constant ache.
She looked up to see him striding toward the door, leaving. She wanted to do what was right, and for once she couldn’t figure it out. Was it right to begin a relationship with Walsh before her divorce from Cam was final? Would that make the road to reconciliation between the friends that much harder? Would it alienate Cam even more? Was there any hope either way? She didn’t know. The only thing she did know was that Walsh had breathed life into something that had been dead inside of her since the last time she saw him, and she couldn’t let him go.
“Walsh!” She ran across the cobblestones, reaching him as he opened the car door.
He turned toward her, his expression masking the emotions she knew were churning inside of him. The same emotions churning inside of her. He didn’t speak. He waited.
“Stay.”