The Boyfriend Series Box Set (Books 1-6): YA Contemporary Romance Novels

by Christina Benjamin

  “Wait,” she said breathlessly when he untied the neck of her dress.

  Parker’s mind snapped back to attention. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, blinking rapidly. He was dazed with how quickly he’d gotten carried away. This was Beth. She deserved so much more than a rushed romp in the sheets.

  “No, it’s not that,” Beth assured him, pulling his hand back to her heart.

  He felt the rapid way it pounded beneath his touch—a mirror to his own. “What is it?”

  Beth bit her lip and Parker’s heart sank. “You haven’t told Jared yet.”

  She nodded and Parker sank down on the bed, his heart beating like a jackhammer.

  “I tried to call him a dozen times today but he never picks up. I was going to wait to tell you how I felt until I could break things off with Jared first, but then you read Corinthians and, I don’t know I just . . . I couldn’t stop myself from telling you how I feel about you.”

  Parker pulled Beth close, kissing the crown of her head. “I’m glad you didn’t wait.”

  “You are?”

  He looked down at her, smiling at her bewildered gaze. “Are you kidding? Do you know how long I’ve dreamt of you telling me I have a shot?”

  Beth grinned, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “You have more than a shot,” she said, her fingers traveling the length of his face. They stilled at his lips and her smile tightened. “But we have to wait.”

  Parker nodded. “I know. I’m good at waiting,” he said with a sideways grin. He took Beth’s hand, gently kissing it before curling it over his heart. “I know you need to end things with Jared first and I’ll wait.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Parker pulled her into his arms and for a long moment they just held each other, listening to the matched beats of their wild hearts.

  After a while Beth said. “We should blow the candles out before we set the place on fire.”

  Parker reluctantly let her climb out of his embrace. Watching Beth blow out the candles awoke an old ache inside of him. This was supposed to be the beginning for them. Watching the flames snuffed out seemed ominously wrong. Begrudgingly, Parker cursed Jared for taking even more time away from him. But Parker had told Beth he would wait, and he meant it. After all, he’d waited his entire life for her. What was a few more days?

  He rose from the bed to help Beth with the candles. When they were finished, she moved to pick up the initials spelled in tiny white seashells.

  “Wait,” Parker said kneeling next to her. He examined them further and recognition prickled like goose bumps in his scalp. Some of the shells were marked with initials and dates. “These are our shells.”

  Beth grinned back at him.

  “Where did you find them?”

  “In the storage shed. I told you Bellemora never throws anything away.”

  Parker’s throat tightened and he swallowed hard against his rising emotions. No one had ever done anything like this for him. But Beth knew him. She knew he was sentimental, that he valued words and actions above material things. She knew this would matter. It was a declaration.

  Staring at their initials laid out in the shells they’d gathered over the years was perhaps the most fitting description of their relationship. They were a collection of memories, hopes and dreams gathered over time. Each one special and precious for its own reason. Apart, they were but fractured pieces, but together they fit to make one beautiful creation that could be shaped into anything with their love.

  Beth reached out to scoop up the shells, but Parker stopped her, his hand gentle on her wrist. He pulled her slowly back to him, planting a kiss on either side of her lips. “Maybe we could leave them for a bit longer.”

  She stared at him, eyes gleaming. “For as long as you want.”

  33

  Jared

  “Jared! Jared! Jared!”

  He laughed and foam shot out his nose. Sullivan and Brady finally put him down.

  “Sixty-four seconds,” Vera announced.

  “Told ya,” Jared yelled triumphantly.

  “Alright, alright,” Caroline replied. “I stand corrected. You are king of the keg stand.”

  Jared laughed as he stumbled to the couch and sank down next to her. “Fifty-three seconds is still respectable. I’ll let you stay queen.”

  Caroline snorted, but gave him a crooked grin. “Fine, but don’t expect me to bow to you.”

  “You get to pick the next contestant,” Sullivan called, pointing at Jared.

  “Fine, Brady. Truth or dare.”

  “Truth,” Brady replied smugly.

  He was promptly booed and Jared had to wait until the taunts of ‘lame’ and ‘loser’ died down.

  “Most embarrassing place you had sex?” Jared asked.

  “Trick question!” Sullivan shouted. “Brady’s never had sex!”

  “Sex with your mom was pretty embarrassing, Sully,” Brady shot back.

  Sully promptly tackled Brady and after a good-hearted beating from the team, Brady finally called mercy and admitted the most embarrassing place he ever had sex was in port-a-potty during the St. Patty’s Day parade in Boston.

  After the laughter died down, Brady was out for blood. “Your turn, Collins. Truth or dare?”

  “Dare,” Jared said arrogantly.

  Brady grinned like a fiend. “Seven minutes in heaven with Caroline.”

  “What are we in fifth grade?” Jared scoffed. “No way. New dare.”

  “Come on,” Caroline taunted. “What’s the big deal?”

  “I have a girlfriend,” Jared growled.

  “Then don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

  “You only have to last seven minutes,” Brady teased. “Or you could always forfeit and admit what a loser you are.”

  Jared glared at Brady for a minute, but then he stood up and dragged Caroline behind him.

  Beth

  Beth nestled under Parker’s arm in the chaise lounge in her room. Both of them sat in comfortable silence, gazing at their initials dancing in the flickering shadows of the few candles Parker had relit. She could’ve stayed like that forever, her head resting on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart while he stroked her hair.

  Parker

  “So what now?” Parker finally asked.

  “I guess I break up with Jared.”

  “In Colorado?”

  Beth sighed. “I really shouldn’t do it over the phone.”

  “How do you want to do it?”

  “I don’t know. My parents agreed I could go to Aspen after the wedding, so I guess I’ll get a plane ticket and do it face to face.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to rub you in Jared’s face.”

  Parker smirked and Beth swatted him. “Don’t be such a guy. You won. I picked you.”

  “Say it again,” Parker begged, his ego soaring.

  Beth turned in his arms and he stared into her stunning brown eyes. “I picked you, Parker.”

  “Screw Jared,” he said pulling Beth into his lap and kissing her.

  But as luck would have it, Parker’s guilty conscience wouldn’t leave him alone. Jared’s ugly mug kept popping into Parker’s mind. This wasn’t how he wanted to start things with Beth. She was right, she needed to be free of Jared first. They’d waited this long to be together. They could wait a few more days. He kissed her once more, then pulled back to look down at her smiling face. Brushing her silky hair back he said, “Fine, go to Colorado. But let me fly out there with you. Then when it’s all over we can celebrate.”

  Beth

  Beth was skeptical. It would be hard to have a clean break with Jared if Parker was waiting in the wings. But then again she’d already wasted so much time figuring out how she felt about Parker . . .

  “I don’t want to lose anymore time with you,” he said softly.

  Beth’s heart skip
ped. How could she say no to that? Especially when she felt the same way. “Well, you did promise me hiking, bonfires and S’mores,” she teased.

  Parker smiled with the warmth of the sun. “Then hiking, bonfires and S’mores it is.”

  34

  Parker

  So maybe the waiting thing wasn’t going to be as easy as Parker thought. The night was young and neither of them were tired. Beth suggested Scrabble, but after playing, HEART, LOVE, LIPS and KISS, Parker couldn’t take it anymore. He excused himself to take a cold shower.

  They’d decided to forgo separate rooms. Parker didn’t want to spend a moment apart from Beth, and nothing would get him to sleep in Harold’s room again. Not that Parker would be getting any sleep in Beth’s room. Sharing a bed with her would be nearly impossible.

  Parker was sitting on the bed scrolling through the movie list when Beth padded out of the bathroom. She was freshly showered and in that thin silky robe of hers. Just glancing at her made his heartbeat triple. He didn’t think he could handle seeing what she wore underneath. Parker only had so much restraint and he felt it quickly fraying with each step Beth took toward him.

  Beth went straight to the bed, pulled the covers back and was about to climb in.

  “Not so fast,” Parker said scrambling to his feet.

  Beth gave him an airy look. “Oh come on, we’ve shared a bed before.”

  “No we haven’t. ‘Friends’ Parker and Beth have. But ‘couple’ Parker and Beth haven’t.”

  “Is that what we are now? A couple?”

  “Almost a couple?” he suggested.

  Beth walked around the bed to be closer to him. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” He took a step back. “Don’t come near me in that.”

  “What’s wrong with this?” she asked looking down at her robe.

  “It’s what’s underneath that’s the problem,” he clarified.

  “But I didn’t bring anything else.”

  Parker pulled off his gray t-shirt and tossed it at her. “Wear that.”

  “Oh, like that’s fair?” Beth replied.

  “What?”

  “I can’t wear a nightgown to bed but you expect me to be able to get any sleep next to your lickable abs?”

  Parker’s heart tripped over itself. “Lickable abs?”

  “Oh, shut up. You’re hot and you know it.”

  “Um, no. I don’t think I do.”

  “Parker, stop it. Fishing for compliments is not flattering.”

  He couldn’t help himself, he sauntered forward, caging Beth with his arms when she tried to sidestep him. “You think I’m hot?”

  Beth’s cheeks turned pink and Parker watched her swallow hard. He knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t care. Beth Bennett thought he was hot! “What else do you like?” he asked.

  Beth surprised him by meeting his eyes. “I like the way you smell after a shower.”

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded. “And the way your cheeks get red after you run. I like that you always fall asleep wearing your glasses, and how messy your hair is in the morning. I like the way your eyes crinkle around the edges when you laugh. Your laugh,” Beth said, laughing herself. “You have the best laugh.”

  Parker couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Watching Beth laugh was like watching poetry in motion.

  She caught the intensity of his gaze and the lightheartedness vanished from her voice as her eyes turned dewy. “And I love the way you look at me. Especially when you look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” he asked, knowing full well how he was staring at her with longing. But Parker couldn’t resist asking. He wanted to know all of these new things that Beth liked about him. He thought he knew her better than he knew himself and in some ways he did. But Beth was showing him a new side of herself, sharing secrets that gave him a glimpse inside the part of her heart she’d always kept hidden and he wanted more.

  “Like you really see me,” she whispered. “Like you love me.”

  “I do,” Parker murmured moving closer.

  “I love how familiar your heartbeat feels,” Beth whispered placing a hand on his thundering chest. “And I love this scar.” She raised her other hand, tracing a finger along the thin white scar on his chin. “I love everything about you, Parker.”

  Parker shivered. His hands moved to her hips, fisting the thin material of her robe. His body coiled with need and heat coursed through him like a fever.

  Shit! Waiting was going to be impossible. “Is that all?” he asked trying to joke away his insatiable desire.

  “What do you like about me?” Beth asked.

  “I like everything about you,” he murmured. “I think . . . I mean I know, that I don’t just like you, Beth. I’m in love with you.”

  Beth’s breath mixed with Parker’s. When had they moved so close? His hands instinctively moved to her waist as she took a step closer. Beth’s hands skimmed his bare chest and Parker jumped back, suddenly aware that he needed to put some distance between them before he did something they’d both regret.

  Parker paced the room, rubbing the back of his neck. “What I really like is how we both know waiting for you to break up with Jared is the right thing to do.”

  Beth was chewing her thumb, something she only did when she felt guilty. “Maybe a text breakup wouldn’t be the worst thing?” she mused.

  Parker stopped pacing. For a second he wanted to agree, but as their eyes met across the room he knew he couldn’t. Jared was the only buffer between them. Without him, there was nothing to keep Parker and Beth apart. And though it was what he wanted more than anything, Parker wanted to do things right.

  “Beth,” he started.

  “I know, I know,” she muttered. “But we’re stuck here until Monday! That seems like forever.”

  “It’s only two days away. The wedding will keep us busy tomorrow.”

  “And Sunday is the post-wedding brunch,” she added hopefully. “That’ll be distracting.”

  “We can do this,” Parker said, crossing the room to take her hands.

  “We can do this,” she repeated, staring at him with little resolve.

  “Beth, listen to me. I want to do this right. We’ve never even been on a date.”

  “We’ve been on a million dates,” she argued.

  “Going to the movies as friends is not a date.” He tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear. “I want to take you out to dinner and do something romantic, like dancing or a moonlit walk on the beach. I want to show you how much you mean to me.”

  “I already know,” she whispered laying her head against his chest.

  Parker kissed her head, grinning to himself. She hadn’t a clue.

  Beth

  Beth lay in bed, wide awake. Parker might have confidence in being able to do the right thing, but with the hard planes of his body cradling hers, she wasn’t so sure she did. Parker told her she wasn’t allowed to face him because he couldn’t control himself when she looked at him like that. Beth wasn’t sure what ‘like that’, meant, but not facing him wasn’t making things easier on her.

  Parker had pulled her against his chest with his arm draped over her side. She could feel his heartbeat through her back. The steady rise and fall of his chest suggested he was asleep. Beth envied him. There was no way she could sleep. The thin material of his t-shirt she wore wasn’t much better than her sheer nightgown. Plus, it smelled like him, which was driving her crazy.

  She felt hot everywhere, not just where his body pressed against hers, but in her lungs and stomach, too. It was like her body was crazed with fever. And maybe her brain was melting because despite knowing it was wrong, Beth snuggled deeper into Parker’s embrace. She felt him stir. His arms snaked tighter around her waist and she wove her fingers through his. He nuzzled the back of her neck and she whimpered against the blissful sensation of his lips on her skin.

  “Are you awake?” she whispered.

  Parke
r’s answer was another kiss at the nape of her neck. It sent fire racing to her core and Beth sat up quickly, untangling herself from Parker and the sheets.

  “Where are you going?” he asked drowsily.

  “To do what I should’ve done a long time ago.”

  Beth grabbed her phone and slipped onto the balcony for some privacy. She didn’t look at the time or think about what she was going to say. She didn’t hesitate at all. She just pressed the video icon under Jared’s name.

  The phone rang once, twice, three times. Beth nervously chewed her thumb. “Pick up,” she pleaded. And just like that, he did.

  The image was dark and grainy at first, but Jared’s voice came through clear.

  “Hello?”

  He sounded groggy, and as the video came into focus Beth could see Jared was in bed. He moved to sit up, hair bed tousled, covers twisted around his bare torso. For a second Beth felt bad. She shouldn’t do it like this. Jared was barely awake. What if he didn’t even remember their conversation? What if she had to break up with him twice?

  Jared’s voice interrupted her stream of panic. “Beth?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, Jared. Go back to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  Beth paused. How did she answer that? “I’ll just call you tomorrow, okay?”

  Just as Beth was about to end the call she saw movement behind Jared. Was there someone else in bed with him? She tilted her head as she watched the blurry movement take shape. A dainty hand snaked around Jared’s chest. “Come back to bed,” crooned a seductive voice.

  Beth’s heart turned to ice as she watched Jared’s face pale with alarm as the girl who belonged to the voice sat up in the bed behind him. A mane of dark hair fell over half her face, but Beth would know her anywhere. She’d known it the minute she heard the voice, the moment she saw the bed move. Perhaps she had known it all along. But it was the gold bracelet attached to the thin arm encircling Jared that was the nail in the coffin. Beth wore the same one on her wrist. It was a gold Cartier bangle—twin to the one Caroline wore.