Lena hadn't planned to stay the night.
After dinner, after kisses that stole the breath from her lungs, she meant to go home. She even picked up her coat. But Walker had reached for her hand, his voice low, uncertain in a way she rarely saw. "Just stay for a little while."
So she did.
Now, hours later, they sat on the couch with a blanket tangled around them and a movie playing they'd both stopped paying attention to. Her head rested against his shoulder, and his arm curled securely around her waist. Outside, the snow continued to fall, a quiet blanket over the city.
"Does this feel strange to you?" Lena asked softly, fingers grazing the edge of his hand.
Walker tilted his head down toward her. "Strange how?"
"Like we skipped a few chapters."
He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Maybe. But I've never liked waiting."
"That much hasn't changed," she teased.
He chuckled, then fell quiet, his thumb tracing circles against her hip. "Do you ever wonder what would've happened if I noticed you back then? If we didn't lose those ten years?"
Lena turned toward him, their faces close. "All the time."
His gaze lingered on her lips before meeting her eyes again. "Would you have said yes?"
"To what?"
"If I asked you out. At seventeen."
"I would've said yes before you finished the question," she whispered.
Walker leaned in, brushing his lips softly over hers. "Then I guess I'm making up for lost time."
She let him kiss her again, slower this time, deeper. Her body melted into his as the blanket slipped away, and the heat between them overtook the cold world outside.
Later, she lay nestled against his bare chest, his heartbeat steady beneath her ear. Her fingers traced a lazy line across his skin as his hand slid up and down her spine.
"I should go home," she murmured, not moving.
"You're warm," he replied, holding her tighter. "Don't ruin it."
"You're trouble, Harper."
He kissed the top of her head. "But the good kind, right?"
She laughed, the sound muffled against his skin. "Still deciding."
The moment was sweet. Dangerous. And something more than either of them had expected. They weren't just two childhood friends who happened to reconnect. They were two people standing in the space between old memories and something that felt an awful lot like love.
Lena sat up slightly, resting her weight on one elbow, her fingers idly brushing over Walker's chest. "You know what scares me the most?" she asked.
He turned his head toward her, expression soft. "What?"
"That I might fall all the way this time," she said quietly. "That this isn't just something casual we can laugh off later."
Walker didn't speak right away. Instead, he brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss into her palm. "I don't want casual with you," he said. "I never did. Even when I didn't know it."
Lena's eyes stung with unexpected emotion. It was all moving so fast—these feelings, this closeness. But somehow, it didn't feel rushed. It felt... inevitable. Like every choice, every turn in their lives had led them here.
"I thought I'd buried those feelings a long time ago," she admitted. "But seeing you again, it was like... everything snapped back into place. And I didn't expect that."
Walker reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I didn't expect you to become the one person I can't stop thinking about. And I've tried. God knows I've tried."
They sat in silence for a few moments, letting their unspoken truths settle between them. The city lights blinked beyond the tall windows, casting soft reflections across the room. It was quiet, but it wasn't empty. The space between them was filled with years of missed chances, rekindled longing, and the undeniable ache of something real growing between them.
Lena finally exhaled, letting her body sink back down against him. "Then let's just take it one day at a time. No pressure. No promises we're not ready to make."
Walker wrapped both arms around her and kissed the top of her head again. "One day at a time," he agreed. "But I plan to make every one count."