Page 60 of The Rocker

As a unit, they started to turn away until Walker spoke. “Don’t you even want to meet my wife, your daughter-in-law?”

His dad turned and looked at us like he was looking through us, and my heart broke for Walker when he spoke his next words. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. How could I have a daughter-in-law when I don’t have a son?”

Wrapping my sweet husband in a hug, all I wanted was to take away his pain. Walker’s face was blank, but his charcoal eyes held all of his pain. I knew then that his parents had killed any kind of relationship they might have had.

I ran my hand up and down his back as I kept muttering how sorry I was, but I knew my words couldn’t soothe the burn they’d inflicted.

“I don’t know what happened to them,” he murmured robotically, looking at the now-closed door. “It’s like something flipped inside them when I went to college. It was like once I was out of the house, they resented me. If money was a problem, I wish they would have said something. Even now, I don’t know if they want the money because they hate me or if it’s because they need it.” Tipping his head down, all of his anguish was written in the stark features across his face.

Tears welled in my eyes as I looked up at him. “Maybe we should go and do this another day.”

His fists tangled in the t-shirt I had on and pulled me closer as his turbulent eyes scanned my face. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let them ruin today. You, Stella, and Lexie spent a lot of time working on this, so we’re going to go out there, eat, party, and have fun.”

“I don’t think anyone would fault us for rescheduling it for another day.” Why was it that when you made plans, they always went to shit? It was one thing after another today.

“They wouldn’t, but I might have arranged for us to have a little honeymoon after this. Somewhere it can finally be just the two of us.”

“A honeymoon? I like the sound of that.” Raising up on my tiptoes, I brushed my lips over his and smiled against his mouth. “Where are we going?”

He hummed against my mouth, smiling. “I think I’ll keep it a secret until we leave tonight.”

“Tonight?” I jumped back. “Are you crazy? I have to pack, and to pack, I have to know where I’m going.”

“I might have already packed for you,” he smiled down at me with a wicked grin. “Your bag is in my car.”

“I’m going to trust you to know what I need. It’s not like I plan to be doing much other than you.” Running my hand up his naked torso, I licked my lips as I took my husband in. I wasn’t sure there would ever be a time when I got tired of looking at him or the way his body reacted when I touched him. My hand snaked around his neck to pull him closer to me. Now that I had kicked my heels off, Walker stood several inches over me just the way I liked it. There was something comforting about having a man who was big and strong. “Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to kiss me?”

“I happen to quite like the way you were looking at me,” he smirked. “Do you want me to kiss you with an audience because I will if you want?”

“I don’t care who’s watching.” And I didn’t. I wouldn’t care if he pulled me out on stage and ravaged me at this point. I wasn’t going to hide how I felt from him in public ever again.

Dipping down, Walker swiped his tongue over the seam of my lips and delved in. I opened for him, meeting his tongue with mine. My eyes closed as we connected. After having to hide, there were times like these when all I wanted to do was kiss Walker and never stop. The kiss was over far too quickly for me, especially when I opened my eyes to see Walker smirking down at me. Gone was his earlier pain.

Taking my hand in his, Walker started to pull me back out to our friends before he looked over his shoulder at me and said my favorite six words. “I love you, my lucky Penny.”

epilogue

Walker

5 Years Later

Lookingthrough the house for my wife, I finally found her sitting outside on the balcony with a glass of wine in her hand and a serene smile on her face. “What are you doing out here?”

She looked back at me with a smile that stretched across her face. “Waiting for you to join me, so we can enjoy our first sunset set in our new house.”

I sat down beside her on the love seat and took a sip of her wine before I brushed my lips to hers. “I would have been here sooner if I had known where you were.”

“I knew you’d find me, eventually. I was wandering through the place, checking the rooms and furniture to make sure everything’s all set up for when everyone arrives tomorrow, when I saw the sun starting to set. I thought since we’re here to relax, I’d do just that.”

Picking Pen up, I pulled her onto my lap so that her legs were draped over mine. “Who agreed to have guests after only being here a day? I think I want you all to myself for at least the next week or two.”

Resting her cheek to my chest, Pen wrapped an arm around my waist and let out a contented sigh. “I think everyone will be busy with their significant other most of the time, and we’ll have plenty of alone time while they’re here.” She nuzzled into my chest further. “I’m not sure I’m going to want to leave once the summer is over. It’s so beautiful here.”

“Someday, we’ll call Greece our home full time. Until then, let’s settle for a couple of months out of the year. Once we move here, you’ll probably miss LA,” I chuckled, knowing that was the understatement of the year. I wasn’t sure how Pen could be so far away from Stella unless she planned to get her to buy a house here as well.

“I won’t miss LA per se, but I will miss Stella and Lexie. I have a feeling once Lexie and Ryder see this place, they’ll be wanting to come here instead of Rio every opportunity they get. This will be their new favorite spot; then I’ll just need to convince Stella and Remy to come here.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. I’d seen the pictures of the first time Ryder and Lexie had been to Rio, and even in the pictures, you could see their amazing chemistry. That place held something few others could. It was the same for us in this place. We acknowledged our love in Greece, and it was the spot where we got married.

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