“I’d appreciate that.”
“I’m probably not going to spend a ton of time with your family. You’re all unbelievably kind, but—"
“But you’re committed to this aloof loner vibe you’ve got going?”
My hands gripped the leather seat tightly. “Would you stop interrupting me.”
“Of course, please go on explaining why having dinner with my family would be a fate worse than death.”
I blanched at the word death but forced my vocal cords to work. “I moved to Sutter Lake for the peace and quiet. I need some alone time right now, and I’d really appreciate it if you would respect that.”
Walker ran a thumb across his full lower lip. “It sounds like you’ve been going through a tough time. If that’s the case, you need to be around good people. Everyone needs people, Taylor.”
My shoulders stiffened. “Not me.” I blew out a breath. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have people in your life. I love my friends, they’re wonderful. But I don’t need them. I don’t need anyone.”
Silence filled the cab, and I worried I might have just come off like a raving bitch. That wasn’t what I wanted. Polite distance I could handle. Someone poking around and trying to figure out what made me tick, I could not. I glanced at Walker’s profile.
“You might not need anyone, Taylor, but maybe someone out there needs you. Just think about that.”
The silence returned, and I just stared out at the dark fields surrounding us, Walker’s words playing over and over again in my head.
9
Walker
Icy-cold water ran over my head and onto the dirt as I bent over. A hard slap on my back had me straightening. “Gettin’ a little slow there, old man.”
I sent an elbow into Tuck’s gut that had him grunting. “I’m six months older than you. If I’m old, you’re old.”
Tuck and I had known each other since birth. Both of our families had shared in the founding of Sutter Lake. They still owned much of the property the town sat on and kept ranches that butted up against each other to this day. We’d both gone to school for criminology, but Tuck served as part of a Forest Service law enforcement team, and I joined the Sutter Lake police force. We worked cases together semi-frequently and harassed each other monthly at these SWAT team trainings.
Central Oregon had several small communities like Sutter Lake. None of us would be able to have our own dedicated SWAT teams, but when we all came together, we were able to have an emergency response team that served the tri-county area. We responded to all sorts of calls and had special tactical and search and rescue training. Specialty instruction and risky call-outs meant monthly refreshers to make sure our team stayed sharp. These guys were the best of the best, and I was grateful to have them at my back.
Tuck snatched the water bottle from my hand, taking a long swallow. He offered it back to me, but I shook my head. “Keep it. I don’t need your nasty-ass germs and STDs.” He was a total manwhore.
Tuck chucked the bottle directly at my head, but I was too quick for him and plucked it out of the air. “Hey, you know I always wrap it up.”
“No, I don’t know, but I’m glad to hear you’re playing by health-class standards.”
“Don’t be jealous of my love life just because you’re stuck in the land of monogamy.” Tuck pulled down the tailgate of my truck and hopped up. “Speaking of, what’s the latest on Miss Caitlin?”
I gripped the edge of the tailgate a little tighter than was necessary as I hopped up beside him. “Things aren’t great.”
“What do you mean? I thought you were feeling that situation.”
“I was. I mean, I am.” I blew out a frustrated breath.
“Come on, you know you can talk to Papa Tuck about your feelings.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “She wants things to be more serious than they are. Than I want them to be. Maybe ever.”
Tuck grabbed another water from the cooler in my truck bed. “I never could figure out why you were so set on these relationships. Just go out and have fun. No muss, no fuss, no chicks angling for a ring.”
I groaned. Tuck was a dog. Don’t get me wrong, he was always honest with the girls he took to bed, but he had zero plans of settling down anytime soon. “I’m just not built like that. I like the company as much as everything else. Don’t you miss having an actual conversation with a woman?”
Tuck shrugged. “I have plenty of conversations. They’re just with a lot of different women. Variety is the spice of life, my friend.”
An image of Taylor pushing out of the pool flashed in my mind—water running down her curvy body, turning her golden skin slick. God, that made me the biggest kind of ass. Couldn’t even stay focused on my girlfriend when I was thinking of breaking up with her. Maybe I was more like Tuck than I thought.
“You dog, you. You’ve got your eye on someone else, don’t you? Who is it?”
I grimaced. “I don’t. I mean, there’s this girl, but it’s not like that.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if the skies had opened up and lightning struck me right there.
Tuck clucked his tongue. “Uh-uh. We are blood brothers, cradle to grave. Spill.”
I toyed with the water bottle in my hands. “Did you hear that someone moved into our guest cabin?”
Tuck straightened. “Permanently?”
“For a year. A girl from LA.”
“That sounds promising. If she’s from LA, she’s probably smoking.”
“She’s pretty.” World’s biggest understatement. “She’s also this weird, walking contradiction. One-part cold aloofness, the other sarcastic spunk.” Taylor Lawson was fire and ice. And the combination had intrigued me from the moment I met her.
A sly smile crept over Tuck’s face. “You like her.”
I lifted a single shoulder. “She’s nice.”
Tuck’s smile grew. “You really like her.”