Her Keeper

by Rianna Campbell

  “So that just leaves one thing.”

  “What?” Alexandra asked, eyes wide with panic that there was something she’d forgotten.

  “The fun,” Amanda replied with a grin.

  “Oh, no. Your idea of fun and mine are very different. And I don’t think I want to spend the night before my wedding in the drunk tank.”

  “Hey! I have never been arrested. Not once.”

  “No, you were never charged. Big difference, Mandy,” Alexandra replied with that know-it-all look of hers.

  “My point is, I never spent more than a couple hours at the police station.”

  “That’s still a couple hours too many.” Alexandra sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “Look, I’m not talking about coke and hookers here. I just meant maybe some margaritas and a trip to the hot tub.”

  “Oh,” Alexandra said, her eyes going wide. “That does sound fun. As long as it’s just us.”

  Alexandra had issues with anxiety and crowds were not a lot of fun for her. Amanda couldn’t blame her after everything she’d been through.

  It never stopped her from doing her job or living her life, but she was certainly no social butterfly. Not that she ever had been. No, Amanda was the outgoing one in a family of reserved, respectable professionals.

  “Any word on Janie?” Amanda asked, shifting her focus back to Alexandra, where it should be this weekend.

  “No, and I’m getting nervous. She said she’d be back in plenty of time, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of her. I thought she’d be here by now.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe her flight was delayed or something.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “What about Angel? Is she here yet?”

  “No, she’s working today. She’s going to head up tomorrow morning so she’ll be here in time for the rehearsal dinner.”

  “Alright then. Looks like tonight is just going to be an old-fashioned sisters night.”

  “You know, we should really do that more often.”

  “I agree.”

  She felt a little guilty that she’d been so preoccupied lately. She should have been spending more time helping Alexandra and celebrating this big event in her sister’s life.

  “Well, that’s a first.”

  Amanda turned toward her mother’s voice and smiled.

  “We’ve agreed on things before,” Alexandra said.

  “Oh, yes. When you were nine and seven, you agreed to hide all your Halloween candy in your pillowcases so you could eat it after we sent you to bed.”

  “My God, Mom. It’s been twenty years. Are you ever going to let that go?” Alexandra said with a laugh.

  “Of course,” their mother replied dryly. “When I’m dead.”

  “Mom...” Amanda groaned.

  “Listen, it’s the only consolation I have now that you’re both grown up and on your own. Don’t you dare take this away from me.” Their mother did always have a flair for the dramatic.

  “Besides,” Alexandra said. “I think Mandy and I both agree that you look lovely, Mom.”

  “Here, here!” Amanda agreed, hoisting her wineglass in salute.

  “And you don’t look a day over thirty-five,” Amanda heard her father say as he joined their group at the bar.

  “Why, thank you, Richard.” Their mother smiled nervously, smoothing her blond hair with a shaky hand. Was Amanda drunk or was her mother blushing?

  “Of course,” her father replied with a smile.

  Amanda and Alexandra looked at each other, both confused and hoping the other had some explanation. Alexandra gave a subtle shrug and Amanda shook her head faintly before taking another sip of her wine.

  “Well, I better go change for dinner,” Alexandra said, standing up from her stool.

  “What she said.” Amanda drained her glass, ignoring the disapproving look her mother shot her way.

  “What the hell was that?” Amanda whispered as soon as she knew they were out of earshot.

  “I have no idea.”

  “When did they start being nice to each other? Or talking to each other at all, for that matter?”

  “I don’t know,” Alexandra replied, shaking her head. “Maybe they’ve just decided to be civil for the weekend so they don’t cause drama at the wedding.”

  “Lex, they’ve always been civil to each other. Cold and passive-aggressive, but civil. That was downright nice of Dad. Do you think-”

  “No. Don’t go there, Mandy. Every kid has that fantasy at some point and it just leads to disappointment when it doesn’t happen.”

  “I’m not saying I think they’re going to get back together, but come on. That was weird.”

  “It was, but let’s not read too much into it.”

  They continued on in silence for a moment before Amanda had a thought.

  “Maybe they’re just hooking up.”

  “Jesus, Amanda!” Alexandra covered her ears and sped up her pace until Amanda was practically jogging to keep up with her shorter legs.

  “What? I’m just saying it’s possible.” Amanda shrugged. They might be parents, but they weren’t dead.

  Neither one of them had so much as dated after the divorce, even casually. If they needed to scratch an itch, it only made sense that they’d go with someone familiar. And they'd been married for almost twenty-five years before the divorce, most of them happily.

  Of course, if they were doing the horizontal mambo, that would mean even her mother would probably be getting laid more this weekend than she would, and that was downright depressing.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Parker was tense as he made his way down to the hotel’s first floor. After running into Amanda in the hallway, he’d had to work hard to collect himself. All the things he’d been trying so hard not to think about since they'd arrived had all flooded his brain and he’d had to keep a firm hold on his towel.

  Amanda had been beautiful, even in jeans and a sweater with no makeup and her hair up in a knot on top of her head. She was effortlessly sexy. It didn’t matter what she wore, it was all in how she carried herself. Her attitude.

  Of course, he thought she was fucking gorgeous with that honey-blond hair and her bright blue eyes. And she had so many different smiles that he couldn’t count them all. They all had their own meaning, and it was a code he was willing to spend months, maybe even years trying to decipher.

  She was constantly surprising him. She was funny, like really funny. And he’d never met anyone who could talk as much as she did, especially when she was nervous, without it being annoying. She really didn’t seem to have any kind of filter and it was fucking adorable.

  Parker kept his head down and did what he needed to do without a lot of talk or fuss. Amanda seemed to have her head up and her eyes open, like she was afraid she’d miss something. She said and did precisely what she wanted with the type of fearlessness that only belonged to someone who had never questioned their place in the world.

  He envied her that, but it showed precisely how easy she’d had it. She’d never had to worry about speaking her mind. She didn’t have to worry that it would earn her a beating or get her kicked out of the only home she’d ever had. She’d grown up safe and loved, and it showed.

  It was just one more way in which their lives had been, and would probably always be, completely different.

  As Parker walked into the restaurant on the hotel’s first floor, he quickly realized that he was the last to arrive, even though he was still five minutes early. There was only one seat left at the table.

  Lord give me strength…

  He took his seat at the end of the table, right next to Amanda. The foot of the table was empty, and Alexandra’s father sat opposite them, giving him no one to talk to and nothing else to focus on other than the scent of Amanda’s perfume.

  That spiced vanilla scent drove him crazy as he nodded in greeting to the happy couple and the few people he actually knew. Jack
son was farther up the table, and far too absorbed in his own thoughts to even notice him.

  He sipped his water and looked around the restaurant trying hard not to look at Amanda too often or too long. He didn’t know how she managed to sit there, chatting up a storm with the people around her, like it was any other day.

  He was hit with a moment of doubt. Maybe it hadn’t meant as much to her as it had to him. Maybe for her, this was just about experimenting with kink, finding out what she wanted. Maybe to her it was the same as going to Elysium, only more hands-on.

  Maybe he was the only one whose heart was pounding just because they were sitting so close together.

  He looked up and noticed both Amanda and her father watching him.

  “Sorry?” They'd caught him totally off guard.

  “I said, I don't think we’ve met,” Amanda’s father said, extending his hand across the table. “Richard Hughes, Mandy and Alexandra’s father.”

  Mr. Hughes wore a plain polo shirt that probably cost more than Parker’s whole wardrobe combined, and the white gold Rolex on his left wrist could probably pay his rent for the next year.

  “Yes, sir. I recognized you from your photos in the paper. Parker Hanson.” Parker shook the man’s hand and then sipped his water again. Suddenly his throat was feeling like a desert.

  “Ah,” he replied. “Hazard of the job, I’m afraid.” He paused and looked at Amanda for a moment before turning his attention back to Parker. “I’ve heard about you,” he said, cocking his head to one side and interlocking his hands in front of him on the table.

  “Have you?” he asked, his face a neutral mask until he knew what he’d heard. The idea that Amanda might have mentioned him to her parents filled him with equal parts pride and dread.

  “Oh yes,” Richard chuckled. “Alexandra can hardly stop talking about all of you. You’d think she was marrying the whole team. We hear about you and Jackson and Ian and Sam almost as much as we hear about Connor.”

  Of course it would be Alexandra.

  “Well, we’re certainly fond of her, too,” Parker replied with a smile. “That’s quite a woman you raised.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t quite take credit for that,” her father replied, taking a moment to look down the table with a soft smile to where an older woman sat. Presumably Alexandra and Amanda’s mother. “That would be Susan’s handiwork.”

  “Yes, sir,” Parker replied because he felt like he had to say something. “But you should know, Lex pretty much is getting all of us. We’re a package deal and we’re like strays. She made the mistake of feeding us so now there’s no getting rid of us.”

  Mr. Hughes laughed and raised his glass before taking a sip of his beer.

  He allowed himself a glance at Amanda, but she was frowning, her eyes darting between her father and her mother.

  Parker and Mr. Hughes discussed golf, which was mostly a one-sided conversation since Parker didn’t play. He had more to say when they moved on to sports, because apparently Mr. Hughes was a huge baseball fan.

  All in all, it went much better than he ever would have expected. Before too long, the food and drinks arrived, which gave him something to focus on and something to occupy his hands, and he began to relax a little.

  And that was the moment Amanda chose to start acting like the brat she was.

  At first, he thought he’d imagined it. After all, there was no way her hand could be resting gently on his thigh. He was sitting right across from her father for Christ’s sake. But then, she squeezed his leg and inched her hand up higher.

  He nearly choked on the artisanal, organic bullshit that passed for beer in this place.

  After a solid minute of coughing, he managed to regain his composure enough to assure her father that he was fine.

  Amanda handed him his water glass with her free hand, her face all sweet innocence and concern. As soon as dinner was over he was going to… do absolutely fucking nothing. That was what she wanted. She was trying to goad him into a punishment because she was chafing against the ‘no wedding sex’ rule they’d agreed on.

  Well, hell.

  How was he going to handle this? His best option was probably just to ignore it. If she was looking for a reaction, withdrawing his attention would be the perfect punishment.

  So, he gritted his teeth and let her do her worst. Which as it turned out, was pretty damn bad. He never would have imagined in a million years that he’d be sitting at a table with Amanda’s hand on his cock while he talked baseball stats with her dad.

  He may have decided to do nothing right now, but once the weekend was over, she was going to pay for this. Dearly. He would take his time devising the perfect punishment and he would enjoy every second of it.

  He nursed his beer long after most of the others had finished their meals and left and then he removed Amanda’s hand from his crotch and placed it firmly back in her own lap. And while he looked her in the eye, he took an ice cube from his water glass and dropped it down the front of his borrowed jeans.

  It had the desired effect and his erection deflated enough so that he could stand up from the table without embarrassing himself. He nodded a goodbye to Connor and Alexandra who sat at the head of the table blissfully unaware and then he calmly walked away.

  He had one thing to do, and then he was going to take a cold shower and drink himself to sleep.

  ✽✽✽

  This was bad. Very bad.

  Amanda was pretty sure she’d fucked up. It had started out as a fun little tease. She’d expected some kind of reaction- a whispered warning, a death grip on her wrist- something, but she’d gotten nothing. Halfway through dinner, she’d realized that that was his punishment. He was ignoring her, refusing to look at her, talk to her, or touch her. By then she figured it might be the only contact she’d get to have with him for another two days, and she’d been too stubborn to stop.

  Not to mention she’d loved the feel of him, even through the jeans. She loved the way his muscles had tensed now and then, even though he’d given nothing away to anyone who might be paying attention. At least now she wasn’t the only one who was frustrated.

  She was seriously questioning her sanity. Was she really so addicted to him already that she’d just tried to give him a handjob with her entire family at the table? She needed to take a step back.

  She should be on her best behavior for the rest of the weekend and try not to think about him until they were back home. It was only two days. She could do that. Right?

  Piece of cake.

  She got up from the table about ten minutes after Parker. She told Alexandra to text her when she was ready for their sisters’ night and she headed for her room to change.

  She took the elevator up to the third floor, but when the doors opened, she was face to face with a very pissed-off Parker.

  He grabbed her hand and dragged her into what appeared to be a storage closet for the housekeeping staff.

  The door clicked shut on its own as she was pushed up against a set of shelves piled high with clean towels. Her wrists were pinned to the shelving at shoulder height and Parker’s face was only inches away.

  His eyes were dark in the dim light and a shudder ran through her. Not fear, but anticipation.

  “You are very new to this, so I’ll give you a warning,” he said, slowly. “I have an excellent memory, Princess. Nothing you do will go unpunished for long. Don’t make it worse.”

  She was too stunned and too busy enjoying the feel of his body against hers to say anything. Not that she would have had the chance.

  He kissed her with such force that her head would have bounced off the shelving if it hadn’t been cushioned by a stack of towels. He pried open her lips with his tongue, ruthless in his invasion.

  He wedged a knee between her legs, forcing them apart and pressing his thigh into her core. She moaned and gasped, but he only took advantage of the opportunity to delve deeper and press in harder.

  She felt a moment of triumph and bli
ss. She thought she was going to get what she wanted after all.

  He bit her lip so hard she thought she tasted blood, but he quickly pulled it into his mouth, sucking gently as he pulled away.

  Too soon, he took a step back, releasing her hands. Her body sagged without his support and her knees nearly gave out on her.

  As soon as she was steady enough on her feet, she looked up at him. He wore a satisfied smile as he leaned in close to her ear.

  “Something for you to think about, Princess.”

  He opened the door and walked out, leaving her alone and panting.

  Rat Bastard.

  He’d seen her bet and raised it. Now she was even more frustrated than she’d been before.

  She growled in exasperation before straightening her dress and trying to fix any lipstick smears as much as she could in the dark room. She peered out into the hallway, prepared to slip out, and saw something she never thought she would ever see.

  At the end of the hall, standing in the doorway of the room across from hers, stood her mother. And she was in one hell of a lip lock with her father.

  What in the Parent Trap was this?

  She ducked back into the supply closet, closing the door as softly as possible. On the plus side, it was more effective than a cold shower on her libido. But also… ew. Had his hand been on her ass?

  Amanda grimaced and shook her head, trying not to think about it.

  It seemed like forever until she finally heard footsteps disappearing around the corner into the other wing of the hotel. She poked her head out again and this time the coast was clear.

  Thank the merciful gods for that.

  She was going to need a lot of time to process this before she’d be able to look her mother or father in the eye. She’d known something was up. Alexandra was going to freak out.

  But she couldn’t tell Alexandra, could she? It was less than 48 hours before her wedding. She really didn’t need to be thinking about their parents playing tonsil hockey. Or worse. What was happening, exactly? And how long had it been going on?