WalkingSin Read Free Page B

cheery kitchen painted
in a soft butter yellow with white cabinets. Earth tones made the living room
warm and inviting. Photographs of his family and the area around Lanville
adorned the walls.
    “Not what you expected?” he asked from
behind her.
    “No.” Realizing that sounded rude, she
quickly turned to face him. “I mean, you’re single so I thought your house would
be more…” She stopped, unsure which descriptive word to use.
    “Decadent? Nasty?”
    “Well…yeah.”
    Dax shrugged. “I like comfort. I wanted my
house to feel like a home, not simply a place to shower and sleep.”
    “It’s lovely, Dax.”
    “Mom helped pick out the furniture, just
like she did for Rye. Jana picked out most of the furnishings for Griff’s
house.” He chuckled. “Emma’s taste is completely different than Jana’s. She’s
already talked to me about paint colors. She’s getting rid of every bit of
pastel.”
    “Emma likes things bold.”
    “So does Griff, but he always let Jana do
whatever she wanted.”
    Some people might consider Griff weak to
cater to his wife the way he had. Kelcey thought him loving and romantic.
    “This way to your room.”
    She followed him once again into the hall.
Two steps through the doorway, she stopped. Framed photographs lined the walls
on both sides of the hallway. More pictures of family, more of scenery. A large
sepia photo in a gilded frame of a young, smiling couple caught her attention.
Their clothing appeared to be from the early nineteen hundreds. The woman held
a small baby in her arms.
    “My great-grandparents,” Dax said. “That’s
my grandfather—my dad’s dad—in her arms.”
    “Is this the great-grandfather who was
hanged for the murder of Alaina’s ancestor?”
    He nodded. “My grandfather had the original
picture. I scanned it, played around with it and fixed the flaws. I had
enlargements made and gave everybody one of the framed photos for Christmas
last year.”
    Kelcey thought that was a wonderful, thoughtful
present. “You’re lucky to have such an incredible picture of your ancestors.”
    “Do you have old pictures of your family?”
    The mention of her family tightened every
muscle in Kelcey’s body. “No.” She brushed by him, ignoring his confused look
at her abrupt comment. “Which room is mine?”
    He opened the door to a large bedroom,
decorated in ivory and coffee. A large four-poster bed dominated one wall, a
triple dresser the other. Framed photographs graced the walls here too.
    “Who’s the photographer?”
    “I am.”
    Another surprise. Dax had sides to him
Kelcey never expected. She stepped closer and peered at an eight-by-ten of
three does standing in a grove of cedar trees, munching on tall grass. “You
took this?”
    “Yeah, at the back of my property.”
    “It’s amazing.”
    “Thanks.” He stepped up beside her. “I get
a lot of deer through here. I have dozens of pictures on my computer.”
    “I’d love to see them.”
    “Sure.”
    They stood less than a foot apart. She
continued to stare into his eyes. Awareness flickered in the brown depths. He
glanced at her lips, then her breasts. That look made heat swirl low in her
belly.
    Knowing she had to ignore the heat, Kelcey
took a step back. Something nudged between her thighs. With a yelp, she whirled
around. The biggest German Shepherd she’d ever seen sat behind her, his pink
tongue hanging out of his mouth.
    “There you are.” Dax squatted and rubbed
the dog behind the ears. “It’s not nice to give my guests a wedgie.”
    The dog had a beautiful, shiny coat. His
tail went crazy as Dax petted and talked to him. Her heart melted. Dax
obviously loved the dog very much.
    Dax stood, his hand resting on top of the
dog’s head. “Kelcey, this is Walker. Walker, this is my guest. Be nice.”
    Walker lifted one paw toward Kelcey.
Laughing in delight, she shook it. “Can I pet him?”
    “Yeah, but once you start he doesn’t want
you to stop.”
    Kelcey dropped to her