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  The dress was magnificent. It was an off-white strapless lace creation with a sweetheart neckline and fine beading in what she had learned was a sheath-style dress.

  Her fingers ran up and down the beautiful material that encased her body, and a part of her couldn’t believe that it was actually her in that reflection, so elegant and radiant and… bridal.

  Tears sprung to her eyes as the thought hit her. The dress made her feel like the bride she was soon going to be.

  Missy surveyed her expression with a trained eye.

  “I’ll just give you a minute,” she said softly and slipped from the room.

  Remy and Rose appeared behind her in the reflection. Rose had a hand clasped to her mouth, and both girls' eyes were brimming with happy tears.

  “It’s perfect,” she said breathlessly, still struggling to believe that she was dressed in a creation as magnificent as this, that material this expensive was touching her skin.

  Her stomach dropped at the thought. Surely she couldn’t afford this!

  Sure, Walker had said weeks ago that she wasn’t to worry about money, that he would pay for everything while they were together, but this dress was sure to cost a fortune, far too much to spend on her…

  The happy tears that had been pricking her eyes turned to devastated ones rolling over her cheeks.

  “Hey, what happened?” Remy stepped up to her and put an arm around her shoulders, studying her with a puzzled expression.

  “I, I can’t possibly afford this,” she stammered in a low voice, feeling the shame creep through her body.

  “Nonsense!” Remy exclaimed. “Walker can, I assure you. You have his credit card?”

  She nodded, still too ashamed to meet Remy’s eyes.

  “Well then, just charge it. It’s not even a drop in the bucket, I promise you,” Remy said assuredly.

  “Yeah Ash, he’s like, crazy rich. Didn’t you know that? They all are,” Rose said.

  She tentatively met both sets of sure, confident eyes gazing back at her and shook her head and bit her lip.

  “I never thought to ask,” she breathed.

  Rose’s eyes softened. “It’s a lot to take in, I know. I promise you though, he can absolutely afford it and what’s more than that, he’d want you to have it. If he’s anything like his brothers, which we know he is, he would never forgive himself if you didn’t have everything you wanted for your big day.”

  “Besides,” Remy added. “He’s the one who’s going to be taking you out of it. It’s as much for him as for you, really.”

  A giggle escaped her lips before her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. These people were not shy, that’s for sure.

  “So, you getting it?” Rose asked, ready to call Missy back.

  Ashleigh nodded, thinking that she could always return it later and exchange it for something cheaper if it was too expensive.

  Less than half an hour later, the exquisite dress was back in its garment bag, gently draped across the back of the Escalade and Ashleigh was settled at a table at a cozy sidewalk café with Rose and Remy.

  She was comfortable with them, feeling for the first time in a long time that she might actually have friends.

  “Tell us about you and Walker, Ash. He’s so different with you.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Well, let’s start with the easy stuff,” Rose said with a mischievous tone in her voice. “Why do you love him? Or rather, what do you love about him?”

  Well, that was unexpected. Her heart thudded in her chest as she tried to find the right words.

  “I love him because he’s, you know, him,” she answered honestly. “He knows just about everything there is to know about me, but he’s never judged me. He accepted me just as I am and didn’t make me feel ashamed about who that was. He makes me feel so protected, so safe. He just makes me feel like, more… More of a person, more of a woman, more than I ever have before. He’s got such a big heart, such a gentle soul that I don’t think I ever stood a chance. Plus, there's also the fact that he's hot as hell.”

  Rose giggled at the last part and high-fived her, while Remy looked so touched that she might burst into tears. Instead, she pulled Ashleigh into a tight hug.

  “I’m so glad he found you,” she whispered.

  Over Remy’s shoulder, Ashleigh spotted two girls aiming cell phone cameras at them and her blood ran cold as a shiver of recognition shot through her.

  They used to work with her at the club and were undoubtedly sending the pictures that they were snapping straight back to management. Fear and dread settled like rocks in her stomach, and all the lightness and elation from earlier disappeared into thin air.

  Her hands started shaking and she pulled away from Remy, trying to hide her physical reaction to seeing those girls, knowing what came next.

  No one just walked away from them. She had been a complete idiot to have been lulled into the idea that somehow, she just could.

  She glanced at her watch, trying to find an excuse to leave that wouldn’t rouse too many suspicions. As it was, both Roman girls were eyeing her with puzzled expressions.

  “Look at the time! I really have to get going. Walker and I are, uh, doing something special tonight and I need to get back.”

  She pushed her chair back, stumbling slightly in her haste.

  “This was fun though, thank you so much.” She nearly ran from the restaurant, not able to get away from those girls she used to work with and their cameras fast enough.

  She saw the Escalade parked just spaces away, and for a second thought she may be home free.

  If she could just reach it, she could lock the doors and speed back to the safety of Walker’s arms.

  No such luck.

  A burly, hulking man stepped into her path at the last minute. He was clad in all black, eyes glinting dangerously as he crossed his bulging arms across his chest.

  Eli. His name jumped into her head, he was a bouncer at the club and worked with Igor, the perverted, aggressive protector she’d run from the night she’d met Walker.

  “Doll,” his menacing voice was low as he spoke. “You have two choices here, whore. You either need to come back with me right now, or you cough up a million dollars for Mr. Solokov to pay off your debt.”

  The mention of Dimitri Solokov made her stomach twist and her vision blur as pure black dread spread through her body.

  She tried to keep her outward appearance calm and confident, but inwardly she was ready to vomit or run. Possibly both. At the same time, perhaps.

  “I have a new place now,” she spat at him.

  He boomed with ominous laughter that didn’t reach his eyes as he shook his head at her.

  “No one will ever want you, knowing your history.” He surveyed her like he was disgusted at her. “Of course, if you just come with me quietly, I won’t have to tell anyone about your dirty little secret. Or did you think we don’t know about your criminal history?”

  She felt the blood rush from her head, and her whole body went pale. She could taste bile in the back of her throat and her lunch seriously threatened to make a violent reappearance.

  He grinned at her, eyes full of malice.

  The malicious grin was what forced her into action. Her legs felt like they were made from lead, but she turned and ran faster than she ever had toward the Escalade, throwing herself in the driver’s seat and spinning out of the parking space before the door had even properly closed next to her.

  She shook like a leaf all the way back to Catahoula, and she had to stop twice to hurl. She had no idea how she had gotten away, now that she’d had time to think about it, but the important thing was that she had.

  She tried to calm herself down once she reached the small town that had become her home, taking comfort in the fact that very soon, she would be reunited with Walker.

  Her heartbeat slowed immediately and she felt the shivering subside as she realized that he was close by. Walker, the only man in the world with wh
om she felt safe, who wanted to keep her that way.

  19

  Walker had just popped the cap off a beer in the kitchen when he heard the gravel crunch as the Escalade pulled up. He breathed a sigh of relief that Ashleigh was back; he’d been worried about her all day.

  He wanted to respect her wishes to do the dress shopping thing by herself, but more than once he’d considered borrowing Colt’s truck and following her anyway.

  He’d spent the day half out of his mind. On the one hand, he knew the kind of demons she was facing going back there and was desperate to protect her from them, while on the other hand he was imagining her trying on wedding dresses and spending most of the day half naked.

  And so worry warred with horny until it felt like his head was going to split in two if she wasn’t home soon.

  He grinned as he headed to the door to greet her, kiss her senseless and beg her never to go there without him again.

  As soon as he laid eyes on her, he felt like he’d been sucker punched in the gut.

  What the fuck happened?

  She was visibly shaken, and her eyes were red-rimmed and weary.

  He pulled her into his arms without hesitation.

  “It’s okay baby, you’re home now. You’re okay,” he said against her ear, repeating the words over and over again until he felt her relax against him.

  “What happened? Did someone hurt you?” he asked as he took her hand and sat her down at the kitchen table, handing her the beer he’d just opened.

  She accepted it and rolled the icy bottle over her forehead before taking a long pull from it, composing herself.

  “Some girls from the club took pictures of me having lunch with Remy and Rose,” her voice shook as she started recounting the tale of the last few hours.

  “They must have sent them to Dimitri because Eli, he’s also a bouncer at the club, was waiting for me when I left the restaurant. He threatened me, told to come with him or he would… There are still some things about my past you don’t know, Walker. Horrible things…” She trailed off, biting back a fresh wave of tears.

  He stared into the distance, contemplating her words. He gave a curt nod as he turned to face her once more.

  “Everyone has stuff in the past that makes them sad, Ash. Things that they wish they could change, take back.”

  He cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her gently, grateful that whatever had happened, she was back home, that she was safe and not hurt -- physically, anyway. Anything else he could deal with. He'd fix things with assurances, with his kisses, with his promises that things would be better in her future than they had been in her past.

  “Do you want to leave, Ashleigh? Do you want to go far away from here? I can do what I do from pretty much anywhere, even a beach in Thailand or Bali,” he offered, repeating the words he had said to his brothers years ago, just after they’d all returned and when they had been debating whether to stay or leave again.

  “You don’t understand, Walker. This… It won’t leave me alone,” she stammered and trailed off once more.

  “I promise you, Ashleigh, that I do understand. Better than most would,” he insisted, but she still looked hesitant to believe him, so he tried to explain.

  It felt like he was ripping his own chest open by unlocking these memories, but she needed him to.

  Someone had already ripped hers open today and if that’s what it took for her to trust him, to believe him, he was just going to have to suck it up and be as brave as she was being, as she had been already.

  “When I was in the SEALs, I did some things, some really bad things. I killed people, Ash. I killed some men, I took their lives. I wish it hadn't happened, but it did. I still see their faces in my dreams, I still hear the screaming and the gunshots and the explosions. I still smell the blood and the acrid smoke and the sulfur and despair. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t. I just have to live with it, so there it is. I do understand, Ashleigh. I really do.”

  She started to cry quietly when his voice hitched with the pain of the memories. It surprised him when she embraced him as he let out a staggered breath when his confession was over.

  He’d never shared this part of his past with anyone, and not even his brothers knew, but it seemed that this was becoming a pattern of late.

  His deepest, darkest secrets were being revealed on a far more regular basis than he was comfortable with.

  Never, that’s what he was comfortable with actually, but recently it kept feeling like these things needed to be said and he was stripping his soul bare in the process.

  “I’m sorry that you had to go through that, Walker. I’m so sorry!” she sobbed in his arms, shoulders wracking as she channeled his pain.

  He held her for a long time, both of them trapped in their own memories.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything, really. Just know that I accept you just as you are, with whatever happened in your past. With everything that happened in your past, everything that turned you into the woman you are today. I'm sorry for whatever you had to go through though, and I’m sorry you had to relive it today.”

  His eyes were tender when they met hers, his arms still wrapped around her waist. He lowered his head and brushed a soft kiss over her lips. Her hands wrapped around his neck, pulling down at his nape, pulling his lips back to hers.

  He tasted tears on her lips, and a sudden determination to make her happy again overwhelmed him.

  He kept their kiss gentle at first, drawing her closer to him until her breasts were pressed to his chest.

  Slowly, he started applying more pressure, alternating between soft, short strokes of his tongue and deeper, longer ones. He slipped his tongue over her teeth and tunneled his hands into her hair, holding her mouth to his.

  He rubbed his tongue over hers, encouraging her, trying to swipe all of her painful memories away with his mouth. She moaned as she surrendered herself to his kiss, kissing him back just as hungrily as he was kissing her.

  His hands started roaming her body, settling on her ass. He lifted her and her legs wrapped around him as if acting of their own accord.

  He walked them over to the wall without breaking their kiss and pushed her up against it. She pulled his body closer to hers with her legs, and he groaned as she ground against him. She reached for the edges of his shirt and he lifted his arms helpfully, keeping her in place with his hips.

  He sighed as she ran her hands up his bare biceps and crushed her mouth to his again. He rocked his hips against her and swallowed the resulting moans. He slipped one of his hands under her breezy sundress and gripped her thigh, moving up until he skimmed the edges of her soaked panties.

  He slid his fingers underneath the lacy fabric and found her hot and dripping wet. She felt his thighs quiver as he felt her and deftly slid a finger into her core.

  “Walker, please,” she begged, her voice a hoarse whisper against his mouth.

  His lust-filled gaze fixed on her, but he was conflicted between wanting to make her feel good and not wanting to take advantage of her vulnerability.

  She must have sensed his hesitation, because she drew one of his earlobes between his teeth and bit down softly before licking up the shell of his ear and moaning softly between rapid breaths.

  He growled as she bit down his earlobe again, making what she needed clear with her actions. Without further thought he carried her down the hallway to the bedroom as she continued her ministrations, making his cock pulse in his pants and quite sure he was going to explode before they made it to their bed.

  He lay her down once they finally did and carefully removed her shoes, her clothes and finally her underwear.

  Once she was bare to him, he took a moment to drink her in and then kissed up her legs, sucking lightly as he did. He paused when he reached the apex of her thighs, gripping her hips with his hands before descending on her clit. He licked and sucked and stroked without preamble and within no time, she erupted on his tongue.

  He final
ly divested himself of his own shoes and pants and his cock sprung up proudly from his boxer briefs, as hard as steel and its head coated with his own desire.

  She gasped as she saw it and immediately leaned forward to take it into her mouth. She cupped his already tingling balls and licked up his shaft, all the while staring into his eyes. The sight nearly made him come undone right then and there, so he squeezed his eyes shut and groaned as she wrapped his tongue around his head and gave it a few light swipes before drawing him all the way into her mouth.

  Her hands and her mouth moved as one and had him tumbling over the edge before he had time to think about stopping her, as worked up as he was from her moans and biting at his earlobes and shattering on his tongue.

  Other men his age might not have the stamina they once had, but Ashleigh brought out the teenager in him and by the time he’d kissed her senseless once more and was positioned between her legs, he was as hard as ever and rearing for round two.

  He slowly pushed into her, both of them moaning as he retreated and then pushed deeper with every stroke.

  For the next few hours, they were completely immersed in one another, building and climbing to each new peak, their lovemaking slow and passionate. He worshiped her body as she worshiped his and they didn’t let up until they were both well and truly spent, falling asleep in each other’s arms coated with a sheen of sweat and slick with their juices.

  20

  Walker was just about to go a couple of rounds with the punching bag hanging in his home gym when a resounding knock echoed at the door.

  Ashleigh was out with Remy finalizing some plans for the wedding, and he was really looking forward to blowing off some steam.

  The wedding date was drawing near, so he’d spent far too much time in the company of one Marilee Roman for his liking. Okay, one luncheon and one meeting about the guest list or some shit, but it was still too much.

  His mood darkened as he headed toward the door. His father had a way of showing up out of nowhere, and he was not in the mood.