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“I REMEMBER YOU.”  NANA stabs a crooked finger in the air toward Walker before turning to look at me.  “I remember him.”  Walker tries to interrupt, but she’s having none of it.  “You were one of the good ones.  He’s also hot.”  She bobs her eyebrows and turns to slowly eyeball Walker up and down.

Her hair is a tangled gray nest on top of her head as she adjusts herself in the bed leaning on a pile of pillows.

“Nana!”  I chastise, smothering a giggle. 

“Well.” She raises her tone.  “He is.  I’m old, Mia, I’m not dead.”

“I remember you as well.” Walker’s deep voice, with its kind intonation, sends a shiver through me.  His impact on me hasn’t lessened one bit in all the years we’ve been apart.  The simplest of movements and gestures, seemingly innocuous words he says, still have the ability to stall my breath and flutter my stomach.

He’s sitting in the wingback chair in front of the window.  It’s all roses and dark, heavy antiques in here but it doesn’t feel old. Nana doesn’t seem old either, at least to me.  Her body at ninety-three is giving in a bit, but her sense of humor and endless wisdom only improve with time.

She gets around okay most of the time, but arthritis wears on her and she uses her wheelchair when the pain gets to be too much. But her mind and her tongue are as sharp as ever. 

After Walker and I took a bath, my stomach was growling.  So, before we came to Nana’s room Walker and I went to the kitchen. I’d picked up only a few groceries on our way here after the airport, but enough to get us by for a couple days.  Walker made me a grilled turkey sandwich, which I ate while he made another for Nana, then we made the trek here to her room.

The soreness between my legs reminds me how much has changed in just a few short hours, and yet how much has stayed the same.

“So why are you here?”  Nana narrows her eyes at Walker.  “You may be good looking, and I always got a good feeling about you.  But this whole mess.”  She shakes her head, raises her cane to jab it in the air.  “You were a part of it, weren’t you?”

Without missing a beat, Walker nods.  “I was.”

“Nana.”  I shift my position, suddenly uncomfortable where I’m sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed.

Walker continues.  “But things are different. I’m going to take care of things. Make it right.”

“Why should I trust you?  Why should she?”  Nana barks. “You show up here the day we get back, you want something, I can see it in your eyes.  I’m tired of people wanting something from her and no one offering her anything in return.  We sat like prisoners for five years in Mexico, no one came.  Sure didn’t see you there.”

I interrupt, unable to hold back my need to defend Walker with the little I know.  “He was the only reason Dad made any money for years.  Walker was the one that had the knowledge, the talent... then it was one deal that Dad pushed too far.  He had inside information, but it was Walker who took the fall for it all. He went to prison for five years. Dad took us and ran, while Walker stayed behind and...and paid the price for us.  Nana—” I have more but she’s having none of it. 

“Don’t you Nana me.”  She points her gaze my way.  “If things are going to get any better for you, we need to make sure the people around you give two hoots about you this time.  I’m old.  I have no money of my own.  The only thing I can offer you is experience. And right now, my experience is telling me you need to be very careful who you keep around you.  No one took care of you, Mia.  No one. Not your own father, for chrissake, and you take care of me like it’s your mission in life.”  She pauses for a shaky breath and I see the concern in her eyes.

“Well,” I start.  “The one thing I’ve learned...through my experience...is I need to learn to count on myself.”  My words come out harder than I intend, but there is truth behind them.

I dare to look over at Walker and see the flash of something across his face.  Was it hurt?  Anger?  I’m not sure but he clenches his jaw, brings his hands to run through his hair, forehead to the base of his neck with a long exhale.

“Well.”  Nana looks down for a long moment, then out the window beyond where Walker sits.  “I guess the only bright spot is at least we’re home.  At least that fool of a father of yours made sure you still have Tensfield if nothing else.  How he managed that I don’t know, but here we are.  And here we will stay. I’m not leaving this place.  Not again.  It’s the only home I’ve loved.  We will re-build a life. For what I have left and for what you deserve.”

The wisp of melancholy in her voice tells me how much she’s missed being here.  All our good memories are tied up in this place.  She’s the woman that gave me a safe place since as far back as I can remember.  When my mother died when I was barely old enough to remember it, Nana came to keep me out of my father’s hair. As little as he’d let her do for me, she still taught me what love was and grew to love this place, partly I think because all we had was each other, and as isolated as father kept us here, it became our sanctuary.

Walker clears his throat and stands.  It’s been a long day, and my heart is conflicted. I know we are home, but I also know we are far from in the clear. The notices taped to the front door when we arrived greeted me with the reality that although Tensfield passed into my name from a secret trust when father died. There were several attorney’s involved in his estate, or what was left of it. The package that arrived this morning with all the information about Walker and where he’d stashed some money was a surprise.  It didn’t change the fact that the taxes on the property are years behind and the foreclosure notices only give us a few more weeks.

“I’ll make sure, Nana.  I’ll make sure we are okay from now on.”

A low rumble comes from Walker as he steps forward, hands down in the front pockets of his black trousers.  His suit jacket is pulled open at the front, and the outline of his massive manhood tightens my belly.

“You are both going to be okay.  I will make sure of that.”

I want to believe him, I really do.  But deep in my heart, I know what I need to do.  Because there is no room for error anymore in my life.  It’s time I took control and took care of myself, no matter how sincere I think Walker may be.  Time to quit waiting around for someone else to take care of things.  In father’s office, just an hour after we’d arrived home, I found the phone numbers I needed and made a phone call.  My stomach is tied in knots knowing what I’ve got to do, but there are no other options.

I need time.  And resources.  And there is only one way. I want to keep Tensfield, and even if I decided to sell, it would take months.  There are repairs to do, and it would take time to get it sold, more time that I have.

“I’m tired,”  Nana whispers, looking up. “Leave me be.  I’m fine.  Thank you for the food.  But I just want to rest.”

We say hushed goodbyes for now and Walker takes me by the hand as we descend the curved stairs toward the main floor and the front door.

“Listen.”  He grabs me by the shoulders, turning me around to face him as we stop at the base of the stairs.  “I meant what I said.  I’m going to take care of you.  Of you both.  I just need a bit of time.  I’ve got things in motion, but with everything...”  He shakes his head and thumbs my cheek gently.  “Everything that fucking happened, I’m not the man I used to be.  The man you remember with the deep pockets and the connections.  What I do have, is this.”  He points to his temple.  “And this.”  He brings his finger down to my heart.  “And as successful as I was in the past?”  Another shake of his head on a long exhale.  “I’ve never had the desire like I have now to re-build.  You know my heart.  I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

I push up on my toes to bring my lips to his.  I want to believe it all, and in a way I do.  But I also know we may not have time.  He can’t see the future any more than I can.  So I have to make my own plans, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.

His warm lips open and his tongue glides into my mouth.  He presses his body against me and I feel his length under the fabric. 

“I can’t get enough of you, Mia.  I’ll never get enough.”  His deep tenor trembles into our kiss as his hands sweep down my hips, lifting me onto him as he steps us forward against the nearest wall.

Heat takes me over from head to toe and I can’t help my own response, spreading my thighs and pressing myself against him.  I’ve surprised even myself with the way I completely give in to my own needs, without judgment or criticism, when I’m with Walker.  There is no shame in how much I want him, in all the things I would do for him.  The way I feel when he touches me when he’s inside me... nothing has ever felt so right.

The scruff of his beard drags down my neck as he bites me there before kissing and licking as I gasp and feel his hand move down between us.  The clink of his belt, the soft sound of his zipper and his pants falling to the floor.  He jerks his suit coat open and grabs handfuls of his shirt, lifting it upward and pressing our naked flesh together.

“I need you right now.  Tell me you belong to me, Mia, tell me you’re mine. Tell me right now.”

I feel the tip of his hard cock at my entrance.  His no panties rule gives him the access he demands.  His lips are on my ear and the sound of his breathing coupled with the sensation of him pushing inside me has me at a momentary loss for words.

As he enters me in one slick motion, my body already wet and ready for him, I tear at his hair and answer him. “I belong to you.  All of me.  Yours.”  I choke out each word as he slams me into the wall.

He’s growling now, grunting and thrusting.  His hands come to hold my ass, pulling me apart and against him, slamming me with unrelenting blows of his thick erection.

It’s all I can do to hold onto him.  There is no gentleness in this sex.  It’s raw, pure, animalistic, and the world begins to explode around me.  My body shakes with ecstasy.  I am his vessel, he’s using me for his pleasure, and I am so proud to be right here, right now, for him.

An orgasm rips through me on a breath.  I come so hard and fast that it catches me off-guard.  Walker’s hips churn forward, lifting me up and down against him until I see white spots in the corners of my vision, my head falling back and cracking against the wall.

“That’s my good girl.  Feeling you cum on my cock makes me a king.”

“Cum with me, Walker.  Cum inside me.”  I barely get the words out before I’m slammed by another orgasm and Walker roars.

Slick heat fills my body as he buries himself balls-deep inside me.  I feel the girth of his cock swell, the jerking at the base as his body releases jets of his sperm inside me.  We are both lost in waves of our pleasure and Walker’s lips are on mine.  His tongue works into my mouth as his seed sprays into my body.

I wrap my arms around his neck and tears spring to my eyes.  Twinges of pain shoot into my core from the depth of where he’s seated inside me, but I only revel in every sensation.  My core clenches and Walker pulls back from our kiss, connecting with my eyes.

“I love you.  Don’t you ever forget that.”  He kisses my nose.  “I’m going to give you everything you need in this world, Mia.  I promise.” 

He lifts me up and off his erection, setting me on my feet and smoothing my skirt back down.

“No.”  I stumble and let out a tight laugh.  “A bit.”  I smile as he pushes strands of my hair back from my face.

Walker’s still half-hard erection is tipped with a drop of cum and I lick my lips, wanting to taste it, remembering the flavor from last night like a favorite meal.

He drops his hands to work his pants upward and his erection back into his black pants, zipping up, then in the next moment, I’m up and in his arms against his chest.

“It’s been a long day for you, too.  Here’s my suggestion: I put you in bed, order us some pizza, and we call it a night.”

At that moment, I realize I am utterly exhausted.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Walker would be here tonight with me on my first night home, but nothing feels more right.  I half want to question if he means he will spend the night, but if the answer is no, I think I might just cry.  So instead I decided to just believe and hope that is what he means.

He walks us both down the hall, my head on his shoulder.  My heart is still beating hard in my chest and I can feel his cum slick between my legs with every wobbling step.

I want to trust him.  I want to believe he will be here for me.  For us.

And I do believe that is his intent.

But even as he lays me down on the bed, his eyes reflecting the same wonder I feel, my belly twists.  Tomorrow I will take action, make sure I’m secure.  I will not be the girl I used to be.  I’ve set up a meeting that will, for the first time, put me in charge of figuring out how to take care of my own business.  I feel a hint of guilt seep in, knowing I’ll need to hide this from Walker but knowing it’s part of learning how to take responsibility for myself.