Danni Rose (The Sherwood)

“What don’t you understand?” Walker asked.

“Why do you live the way you do?” She asked. When she saw the hurt on his face again she explained herself. “I worry about you, Walker. If you have enough to eat. Are you dry, if you don’t come to the shed one night and it’s raining outside, I worry about where you are.”

He parked the truck in her driveway.

“If you have money, why do you live like this?”

“To avoid Jesse knowing that I have money. I invested my money and made a nice nest egg for myself. I’m trying to decide what to do with it, Danni. Right now, I’m content to help Matt and work for your Dad.” He gazed through the windshield, staring straight at the cabin. “Maybe someday, I will want a wife and a child.” His voice was husky. “Then, I will have something to give her or them. Maybe it isn’t in my cards.” He sighed. “Who knows. Danni, I’m an ex-con. That is a stigma that is attached to me for life.”

Danni glanced up at Walker and smiled at him. His gaze turned down towards her. She moved closer. She thought he might finally k

iss her. He hovered near her lips, so close she could smell the mints he was always sucking on. Then his eyes gazed in hers, before he turned his head away.

“Let’s go inside.” His tone was gruff.

She was disappointed. Danni slid out of the truck on Walker’s side. She followed him across the driveway, up the sidewalk and to the porch.

The evening was peaceful. No traffic on the road in front of the cabin. She liked the seclusion of the place she called home. Walker unlocked her front door and she followed him inside.

“Let me get showered,” she told him. “Then I want to know what happened.”

He nodded. She went to her bedroom and stripped out of her clothes, dirty like her body felt she tossed them in a separate basket that she kept just for her work clothes that she wore to the garage.

The shower felt good on her shoulder, giving her temporary relief from the pain. She dried herself and hung the towel off a hook on the back of the door. Then she put on one of her nightgowns that was looser but short. Cotton and pink with flowers. She liked it. She grabbed a sweater and headed to the living room where Walker was watching television.

Her damp curls were hanging over her shoulder. She walked past him to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She knew that his eyes were following her. She reached into a cabinet and got a glass and some ibuprofen. He was behind her then, she knew. “Want me to rub your shoulder?” He asked. He took the glass from her hands and put ice in it then he got water out of the fridge and filled the glass. Walker handed it to her.

“That might help,” she finally responded.

Danni downed the pills and sucked down water to be sure they went down. Usually they felt stuck in her throat. He took her hand and tugged her to the living room. He sat on the sofa and pulled her down beside him. She didn’t smell like her grandfather’s ointment any longer and she was grateful for that.

She almost gasped out loud when she felt Walker’s fingers on her shoulders as he slid her sweater down her arms. His hands were gentle on her muscles as he worked them between his fingers. Danni couldn’t help herself she moaned. A deep, sensual sound that started in her throat and traveled out between her lips. He wasn’t trying to turn her on. Walker was trying to make her feel better. He chuckled at her.

“Tell me the truth about what happened when you were arrested,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at him.

He was quiet for a moment then he said, “Jesse planted evidence at my mother’s house that framed me, so the heat would be off him. People wanted him dead. In prison, they could get to him. He told me a few days ahead of time that the Sheriff was close to him. He informed me that he would harm you and or Ma if I didn’t confess and plead guilty when they found the evidence in my room.

“Danni, I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when. I’m sorry that it was at Matt’s farm, in front of you. I know how upset you were then. Then, your dad, Matt and the sheriff begged me to recant my confession. They told me whatever he had against me they would help me. I couldn’t take that chance, not with you and Mom.”

His voice was so soft. His hands had stopped moving but remained on her shoulders. Danni turned and faced Walker. Her hand went to his cheek and his eyes lowered. “You shouldn’t have done that, Walker.”

His eyes flew to Danni’s face. “What should I have done, Danni?” He asked. “Let him hurt the two most important people in my life,” he declared. Then he realized what he said, and he slipped out from behind her and walked to the back, patio doors.

Walker looked outside. Danni wondered what he was thinking. She got off the sofa and walked to him, without shoes, she wasn’t so loud on the hardwood floors. Walker didn’t hear her approaching him. She laid her hand on his broad back and he turned and grabbed her to him; holding her close. Danni laid her head on his chest and his chin rested on her head.

They stood still not counting the seconds that passed while they stood in each other’s embrace. Danni could hear Walker’s heart slamming against hard against her ear. She wanted to say something to him but what? She wanted to know what he meant. What did this mean, him holding her like this?

She raised her head and looked at Walker, taking a chance. His eyes focused on her face. For the second time, his lips hovered near hers. Danni could see the war going on within him.

“This isn’t right, Danni.”

“It feels all kinds of right to me,” she said.

He rested his forehead against hers. “Danni,” he groaned her name. She laid her lips on his. Nothing more than a sweet, gentle kiss. Walker moved his hands up to cup her face. His mouth became more demanding of hers. She gave him whatever he wanted until he stopped. Then, Walker looked at her. “Danni Rose, this isn’t right. Not now. Maybe not ever but especially not while Jesse is back in town making threats about you again.

“Don’t you understand? I’m torn between the feelings I had for the little girl that I always needed to protect and the beautiful woman that you’ve become.”

Danni looked him in the eye. She gritted her teeth and took a deep breathe. “You know,” she said, and he didn’t understand what she meant. She sucked in air again. “You know every aching moment I felt about Jackson leaving me. I wasn’t worth his time and now he marches back into town like he’s king of the world.” She sniffed back her tears. “And I’m supposed to just spread my legs for him again and worship at his feet because Jackson Hand still cares for me. Well, guess what?” He said nothing, “I love someone else,” Danni blurted out. “Does he think I’m worth it?” She could see that he was terrified. “Does he?” She demanded.