Intimate Secrets (The Love and Danger Series) (7 page)

Looking at the counter, Amy realized that Lilly was on her second jar of
the “green slime”.  That sweet, wrenching warmth took hold of her heart when she realized that Walker was feeding his daughter two jars of the same thing, simply because he knew that peas were her favorite. 

He really had to stop being
so cute!  He was much too big of a man to be cute!  Cute didn’t have muscles and broad shoulders.  Cute didn’t make her stomach flip over just at the sight of those bulging biceps.  This whole macho dad thing was a real turn-on. 

Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she said,
“You know, if you feed her too much of the same color food, her skin will turn that color.”

Walker looked up at her, the tiny spoon held a couple of inches away from Lilly’s pea-slime-covered face.  His eyes narrowed as he watched her lift the steaming cup of tea he’d prepared for her.  “Are you serious?  Or just teasing me because I have no clue what I’m doing?” he demanded.

Amy shook her head, looking right back at him.  “Totally serious,” she replied.

A moment later, she heard him mutter something under his breath and the jar of peas flew past her, landing with a thud in the trash can. 

Amy burst out laughing and Walker, already standing up, prepared to wipe down Lilly’s face with a wet cloth, glared back at her.  “You were teasing me, weren’t you?” he asked again.

Amy couldn’t stop laughing, but she was able to shake her head.  “No.  I think it only happens with the orange foods.  I’ve read it in several books lately.”

Walker still wasn’t sure he believed her, but he cleaned up Lilly and lifted her out of the highchair.  “Okay, so what’s next?”

Amy looked at the two of them, both staring back at her expectantly.  “Um…” she tried to remember what their schedule was.  It was slow in coming because Walker looked so yummy and Lilly looked absolutely perfect in his strong arms.  “Dressing!” she gasped, her mind final
ly kicking into “practical” mode and off of “staring at Walker’s hot, sexy, bare chest” mode. 

Relieved that she could think of the next task on the morning routine, she sighed with relief. 
“Yes.  Lilly needs to be dressed.  I’ll take her,” she said.

Walker shifted so that his arm wrapped around her, feeling her stiffen but not relenting.  “You get something for breakfast.  I’ll take care of Lilly.  Then I’ll bring her down stairs once she’s dressed and I’ll take a shower.  Does that work out?”

Since his arm was still around her waist, all Amy could do was nod her head numbly. 

He bent lower and kissed her gently and Amy wasn’t able to resist.  Her lips trembled under his and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. 

But then Lilly’s baby hands reached out and touched both of them, her eyes laughing as if she knew exactly what she was interrupting.  Walker looked at his daughter, then at Amy with an eyebrow raised.  “She’s trying to get our attention, isn’t she?”

Amy laughed slightly, still trying to suppress her reaction to his gentle kiss.  “I believe she is.”

Walker sighed and turned around, releasing Amy’s waist.  “Okay, little lady.  Let’s go get you into something pretty.”

A moment later, Amy was standing in her small kitchen alone, listening to the sounds of Walker’s deep voice and Lilly’s giggle as he dressed her. 

When she heard Walker coming back down the stairs, she jumped, realizing she was supposed to be getting something for her breakfast.  She grabbed a banana from the counter and quickly peeled it, taking a bite just as he turned the corner on the stairway. 

When he saw her, she could see in his eyes that he knew exactly what she’d done. 
Or what she hadn’t done, to be exact.  “You need more than that for breakfast,” he said as he handed Lilly to her. 

Amy hesitated in the handoff, afraid of actually touching that magnificent chest of his.  He was stunning and sexy and oh so overwhelming.  But she had to take her daughter who was reaching out for her as well.  Amy gasped when her hand touched his bare skin.  Their eyes collided and Amy pulled Lilly closer, a defense mechanism if ever she’d seen one. 

That knowing look popped right back into his eyes and those darn lips quirked slightly.  Shoot!  He knew exactly what he was doing to her!  Had he planned that with his bare chest?  Had he purposely not worn his shirt?  She glanced over at the love seat, saw that the blanket was once again folded with the pillow carefully stacked on top.  The love seat did not look like it had been disturbed overnight, but her coffee table was pushed up against the chair. 

She suddenly felt awful.  The big guy had probably slept on the cold, hard floor and she was standing here mentally complaining about the man not wearing a shirt while he fed their daughter.  He was just being practical, she told herself while she pulled eggs and two more pieces of toast out of the fridge.  She would whip him up some scrambled eggs while he
showered, feeling like a hen-wit for even thinking the man was that diabolical. 

She buttered the toast, scrambled
some eggs and even added a bit of cheese to the mixture, hoping he didn’t realize it was the fat free stuff that didn’t melt very well and barely had any taste.  She was constantly trying to lose this pregnancy weight while at the same time, keep up her milk supply for Lilly.  It was a crazy balance that she was losing more often than not. 

Of course,
her late night ice cream binges didn’t help.  She shouldn’t even keep ice cream in the house, but she normally did her grocery shopping at the end of the day with Lilly.  Which meant she was tired and ready to curl up with Lilly and just play with her instead of doing the arduous chore of shopping.  So she was already irritated by having to run errands, Lilly was cranky, Amy was cranky and tired and the ice cream just called to her from the freezer section so getting out of the grocery store without ice cream in her bags rarely happened. 

“Smells great,” Walker commented as he walked down the stairs. 

Amy turned, ready to greet him with a smile but she froze in place when she turned and saw Walker – not in his jeans and shirt as she was expecting – but dressed only in one of her pink towels.  Unfortunately, the pink towels weren’t the largest available and so the one he’d tied around his waist barely covered his muscular thighs. 

Amy gulped, standing in her small kitchen gawking.  She tried to pull her eyes away.  She truly did!  But as he walked in, he was using a towel to dry his hair and she….well, she just stood there staring! 

Walker pulled the towel off of his head and grabbed the toast she still held in her hand.  He bent down and kissed her stunned, open mouth, then gave Lilly a tickle before he headed back upstairs. 

When he was once again out of her sight, she blinked, wetting eyes that had gone dry from lack of blinking. 

She started to berate herself for her lack of discipline, but then stopped.  Really, would a person not look at the northern lights?  Or Michelangelo’s David?  No.  If confronted by a natural wonder, it is one’s natural inclination to stare.  To take in the beauty of that natural wonder. 

Walker was one of those amazing males that should be considered a natural wonder.  His shoulders were broad and muscular, his chest and stomach heavily rippled from hours of working out and his whole physique was…magnificent. 

She sighed and turned back to Lilly, tickling her toes while she checked the diaper bag to make sure it had everything for the day.  “Not my fault, right?” Amy said, bending down to kiss Lilly’s soft head.  “You looked too!  So what’s wrong with me looking?”  Amy stuffed several more diapers into the bag.  “I’m sure other women on the street take a peek as well so what’s the real crime here?”

“What crime are you talking about?” Walker asked, stepping into the kitchen, startling Amy from her one sided conversation.  Lilly’s reaction wasn’t as strong.  The little lady only looked from her mother to the new person in her life, her
blue eyes big and curious.  Then she giggled, her legs and arms moving in invitation for her new human to pick her up. 

Amy turned and grabbed a plate out of the cabinet, scooping eggs and the second piece of toast onto the plate.  “No crime,” she responded quickly, awkwardly. 
“Just passing the time with Lilly until we have to leave.”

Walker accepted the plate, looking like he didn’t beli
eve a word she was saying.  “What time do you need to be at the school today?”

Amy was relieved that he was fully dressed, although he was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, and
grateful that he was changing the subject to something she could handle more easily.  “The kids arrive at eight-fifteen each morning but I try to get in 30 or 40 minutes before then, just to get organized.  Lilly’s day care is only five minutes away from my school so I generally drop her off right before seven thirty each morning, sometimes earlier if I need to get in earlier and later if I’m running behind.”

Walker looked at his watch then nodded, accepting the schedule even while he shoveled his breakfast down quickly.

“What time do you normally get into the station?”

He shrugged as he downed the last of the eggs and toast,
then walked to the sink to rinse off his plate, carefully placing it in the dishwasher.  “It depends on what’s going on.  Right now, it’s quiet and we’re catching up on reports.”

She pulled her coat out of the closet and slipped Lilly into her winter onsie
coat.  “Is that why you have the time to help out on this case?” she asked.

Walker turned as he grabbed his own jacket, looking down at her with an intensity that made her breath halt in her throat.  “No.  I’d be looking into this even if there were several murder cases on my desk.  
I said this last night, Amy.  You and Lilly are my first priority now.”

Amy could only nod, not sure how she felt about being so important to him. 
When she thought about it for a long moment, she realized that it felt pretty good.  After all the worrying, it was really nice to have someone else to help out, to take on some of the burden.  Not that she was going to wimp out and give up all the worrying to him.  Nope, that wasn’t what she was made of.  But having a partner was really nice.  Scary nice, she thought as she slung the diaper bag over her shoulder. 

Walker drove her to Lilly’s day care and, while there, introduced Walker to the staff, especially the care providers in Lilly’s room.  She also added him on as the father and authorized him to get Lilly at any time,
giving him the security code that would let him into the school. 

She gritted her teeth as the other teachers as well as some of the mothers dropping their kids off and even the administrators came out to introduce themselves, all of the attention only a thinly disguised way of flirting with Walker.  She told herself that she didn’t care, that she wasn’t jealous.  But deep down, she knew she was lying.  She cared way too much.

When the administrator finally smiled at Walker, assuring him that he could come by to see Lilly or pick her up anytime, they walked out of the day care center.  With that done, Walker put a hand to the small of Amy’s back and led her back out to his truck.  When she stood at the passenger side door, he stopped, about to open it for her but he simply looked down at her.

“Thank you,” he said softly, his voice deep and husky. 

Amy was shivering, wondering if he would kiss her.  Her eyes dropped from his down to his mouth, wondering if it would be the same as it used to be.  Or better?  Worse? 

She shivered, reminding herself that she couldn’t find out. 
“For what?” she asked, trying to remember to breathe. 

“For letting me into her life.
  For being so considerate about all of this.”

She looked down, staring at his chest. 
“You’re her father.  I don’t have the right to stop you from seeing her.”  He wasn’t going to kiss her, she thought miserably.  She shouldn’t want it.  But she did.  She desperately did want that kiss, that touch.  She’d wanted it ever since last night when he’d been sleeping one floor below her.  She’d wanted it ever since this morning when he’d gently touched her lips with his.  She wanted him! 

He touched her cheek with his thumb, caressing her softly. 
“Yes, but you could have been obnoxious about all of it.  I’ve seen couples in custody battles and it isn’t pretty.”

She took a deep breath and leaned back against the truck’s door.  “I doubt a big custody battle would have done anyone any good.  And Lilly needs a good father in her life.”

He reached up and touched her cheek.  “What do you need in your life?” he asked.

Amy’s mind immediately jumped back to that kiss, but she suppressed the urge to say that.  Walker wasn’t one to ignore a comment like that, and she wasn’t completely sure she could deal with the consequences. 

“I need Lilly to be happy and safe,” Amy whispered. 

Walker touched her gently.  “That’s avoiding a pretty major time bomb, wasn’t it?”

He chucked her under the chin and stepped back, releasing her from the need to answer him.  She was grateful to him because she wasn’t really sure what she could say.  Was he feeling this sexual tension as well? 

He lifted her into the passenger seat,
then closed the door, walking around to the driver’s side.  When he got into the truck, Amy was struck by how small the inside felt now.  With Lilly in the back, it hadn’t felt this claustrophobic.  How did he do that?  How could he make half the space disappear simply from his broad shoulders moving into the space?