Her Keeper

by Rianna Campbell

  “Alright, man,” Parker said as soon as the conversation had reached a natural lull. “Bedtime for me. You should get some sleep too. You look like shit, Jacks.”

  “Thanks.” Jackson snorted.

  “Anytime,” Parker grinned and patted Jackson on the back.

  He was putting the cap back on the Jack when his phone buzzed. When he checked it, it was a text from Amanda. It was simple enough, only four words, but his chest got all warm and the feeling spread all the way through him.

  AH:I miss you. Goodnight.

  “What’s that?” Jackson asked, his words beginning to slur together.

  “Trade notification,” Parker lied. “Night, man. See you in the morning.”

  Parker trekked the three feet to his room, setting the bottle down on the table. He pulled out his phone and sent a reply. Two words.

  PH:Come here.

  He changed quickly in an attempt to save them both from temptation, pulling on a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. Then he settled in by the door to wait, knowing it wouldn’t be long.

  ✽✽✽

  Amanda’s smile when she saw the text was wider than the Hudson River. Tossing back the covers, she slid her feet into the flip flops she’d worn to the pool and slipped out of her door. Everything was quiet so she closed the door softly behind her and tiptoed down the hall.

  Before she could knock, Parker’s door opened and she slipped inside. He shut the door behind her, locking it and flipping the bolt.

  Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her off the floor until her feet were dangling. Burying her face in his neck and breathing in that scent that made her head spin, she wrapped her arms and legs around him. For a long moment, they simply stood there like that, holding onto each other. He carried her to the bed, laying her down on the mattress.

  “You like the left side, right?” He swept the comforter out from underneath her, and draped it over her bare legs before clicking off the bedside lamp.

  She nodded in shock. Such a small thing for him to remember, but it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

  Parker circled to the other side of the Queen-sized bed and turned off the other light before sliding into bed beside her. A moment later he was wrapping his large body protectively around her, sliding an arm under her head and draping an arm over her hip as he turned her to face him.

  He heaved a sigh and settled in, a warm wall of sleepy male.

  “Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” she whispered, fiddling with the material of his shirt.

  “Don’t get me wrong, Princess. You’re still getting one hell of a punishment when we get home, but I don’t stop taking care of you just because you messed up. You missed me and that was something I could fix, so I fixed it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, smiling in the dark.

  “Mm-hmm,” he replied, pressing his lips to her forehead before resting his chin on top of her head. “And I missed you too,” he added quietly. Amanda’s face split into a wide grin and she buried her face further into the crook of his neck.

  “So, do you want to talk or do you want to sleep?”

  “Talk,” she said quickly. Though it was late and she was starting to get sleepy now that she was warm and comfortable in Parker’s bed, she needed to talk.

  “What’s up?” he asked around a yawn.

  “I spent some time with Lex at the pool after dinner.”

  “Sounds nice.”

  “It was. Mostly.” She hesitated, not sure where to start. “But I felt guilty the whole time. Lex and I are pretty close. We might lose touch for a week or two here and there, but we tell each other pretty much everything. I can’t think of anything important in my life that I haven’t shared with her. And then tonight I had not one, but two things that I wanted so badly to tell her, but I couldn’t. It sucked.”

  “What couldn’t you tell her?” he asked. As if he didn’t already know.

  “About you, for one.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Princess, or I’ll just add it to the list of things to punish you for.”

  She resisted the urge to goad him, but it was very, very tough.

  “How could you possibly know that? You can’t even see me.”

  “I didn’t need to. I could hear it.”

  “Fair point,” she snickered.

  “So, I’m important, huh?” His voice sounded odd, but she couldn’t tell why. She swallowed hard before she could reply.

  “Yeah.”

  Parker pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

  “So, what else was there?” he prompted her.

  “Oh, yeah.” Amanda cleared her throat. “And then there’s my parents.”

  “What about them?”

  “Well, after… the closet earlier, I almost got caught when I went to slip out. By my parents. Who were standing in the doorway of my mother’s hotel room making out like horny teenagers!”

  Parker chuckled, and then cleared his throat. “Sorry, but it’s a little funny.”

  “It’s weird, is what it is. And the first thing I wanted to do was tell Lex, but I couldn’t. She’s getting married the day after tomorrow and if you think her finding out about us would stress her out on her wedding day, can you imagine how she would feel if she knew our parents were… dating, again? Is that even what you call it when two people have already been married and divorced?”

  She stopped to take a breath and let it out on a sigh as Parker began massaging the back of her neck, digging his fingers into the tense muscles.

  “Not to mention that the bridal party is supposed to go for mani-pedis and facials tomorrow, and since Janie and Angel aren’t here, it’s just going to be me, mom, and Lex. How awkward would that have been?”

  “That does sound like a nightmare,” Parker agreed, his voice laced with humor.

  “And that’s not the worst part,” Amanda whined. She knew she sounded like a child, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to care. “My parents heard us. In the closet.”

  “What?” Parker’s whole body tensed, and his voice went up in pitch.

  “Don’t worry, they don’t know who it was, but they heard something, and… assumptions were made.”

  Which was just unfair. She hadn’t even gotten to have the sex that her mother claims she heard. It was an understandable mistake, there had been moaning involved, but it still seemed like if she was going to face the potential embarrassment, she should have at least gotten some hot sex out of the deal.

  Just thinking about it had her fidgeting, her legs moving back and forth under the blankets. Parker draped a leg over hers and the shifting stopped.

  “Just relax.” Parker ran his hand up and down her back. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say. As soon as Lex finds out about us she’s going to put two and two together.”

  Parker said nothing but she could practically hear him thinking that she might never find out.

  Amanda bit her lip, trying to push away her sense of disappointment that he still seemed to think they were destined to fail. She’d never believed much in destiny, and she sure as hell had never let it stop her from doing anything.

  The more she thought about it, the more she wanted things to work. It was early, probably way too early to make that kind of decision, but it just felt right. They’d been dancing around each other for months and now that they’d finally taken that first step, she wanted to hang on to him for dear life.

  “You’re thinking too much,” Parker said softly, squeezing the back of her neck gently with his free hand. “Let me worry about it, okay?”

  “I just can’t wait to get back home,” Amanda said sullenly.

  “Trust me, Princess, neither can I.” Parker sighed and kissed her forehead. “Sleep now. Everything else can wait 'til tomorrow.”

  Amanda nestled in closer, resting her cheek against his chest and taking a deep breath. She let the warmth of his body and his scent
soothe her until her eyelids were heavy.

  She was half asleep when she heard Parker say something under his breath that made her feel warm and safe. She tried to fight her way back to consciousness, struggling to hold on to those words and that feeling, but the weight of the day was too heavy, dragging her under without another thought.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Shit,” Parker swore under his breath. He’d woken up feeling particularly rested, which was unusual even when he’d taken a sleeping pill. He’d checked the clock and saw that it was nearly eight in the morning.

  “What’s wrong,” Amanda asked, yawning as she wiggled closer to him. They’d shifted positions during the night and he was now tucked in behind her, one of his legs tucked between both of hers. That wiggle sent an electric shock straight from the tip of his cock all the way up his spine.

  “It’s late,” Parker groaned, his hips moving involuntarily in response to her movement.

  “So?” Amanda sighed, pushing back into him and arching her back.

  Little minx…

  “So, I-”

  Someone pounded on the door and Parker heard Jackson shout.

  “Hey, asshole. Get up.”

  Parker had a sense of deja vu, but at least his door was locked which meant there was no way Jackson was going to walk in on them the way Parker had once walked in on Jackson and Janie. Which meant that hopefully, they could avoid trading punches this time.

  “Fuck off,” Parker shouted, instinctively tightening his grip on Amanda.

  “I thought we were hitting the gym before breakfast. What are you doing, man?”

  “I was sleeping,” Parker shouted back, forcing himself to let go and slide out of bed. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll meet you down there.”

  “You better, or I’m coming back to drag your ass out of there.”

  “You mean you’re gonna try,” Parker shot back.

  Jackson mumbled something that Parker couldn’t quite make out, but that sounded pretty damn offensive.

  Amanda arched her back, stretching her arms over her head. Her breasts were stretching the material of her tank top, and he really wanted to peel it off of her and-

  No. Two more days.

  Sure, they’d spent the night together, which wasn’t supposed to happen, so the whole reason they’d agreed to abstain was pretty much out the window at this point, but there was a matter of principle. He’d set a rule and he was going to stick to it. After all, if he caved, there was no reason for her to follow the rules, and with a woman like Amanda that was always going to be an uphill battle to begin with.

  “Come on, I’ll get you back to your room,” Parker said, slipping on his sneakers and holding out a hand to her.

  “Don’t worry about it. As long as I can slip out the door without anyone seeing me, I’ll be fine. So what if someone sees me in the hallway?”

  “And how are you going to explain that you’re wandering around the third-floor hallway wearing next to nothing?” Parker argued.

  “I’m wearing a tank top and shorts,” Amanda said, looking at him over an imaginary pair of glasses. And didn’t that just bring up all sorts of librarian fantasies he hadn’t known he had? “If I had a sports bra underneath, I’d wear this to the gym.”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. She had far too much leg on display and the tank top was a little too short and showed a sliver of flat stomach. The idea of any other man seeing her in so little made him crazy. She was his.

  Amanda climbed out of bed and wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him with a mischievous smile.

  “Do I get a goodbye kiss?” she asked, pouting slightly.

  Parker shook his head. What was he going to do with her?

  “Brat,” he said, putting a hand on the back of her head and pressing his mouth to hers. It started off soft, but by the time he pulled away, they were both breathing heavily. Her lips were swollen and red and gave him all sorts of ideas. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip until she opened her mouth, biting his thumb.

  “You don’t know when to stop, do you?”

  “Nope.” She smiled at him and he wanted to drag her back to bed.

  Instead, he stepped back, and opened the door, checking to see if there was anyone coming or going. After a minute he opened the door wide and gave her a nod.

  “Go on.” He jerked his head toward the door. As she walked past him, he gave her a swat on the ass. She turned to look at him, mouth open in surprise, her cheeks pink, before ducking her head and hurrying away.

  Closing the door behind her, he leaned his head against the smooth wood. That girl was going to be the death of him.

  But what a hell of a way to go.

  He took a second to use the bathroom, tie his shoes and grab his phone and key card before he hoofed it down to the hotel’s fitness center. When he arrived Jackson was already working up a sweat on the treadmill and Connor was using the free weights at a bench nearby.

  He was surprised to see Richard Hughes on a treadmill further down, watching C-SPAN while he jogged at a decent clip.

  “Hey man, nice of you to finally join us,” Jackson said.

  “Even I managed to get here before you and I had to leave my beautiful bride alone in our bed to do it,” Connor added, looking less than pleased.

  Parker wanted to reply that he’d had a woman of his own in his bed that morning, but of course, he couldn’t.

  “Must have had more to drink than I thought last night,” he replied instead.

  “I hear that.” Jackson grimaced and downed half of his water bottle in one swallow.

  “Oi, were you drinking last night without me?” Connor asked.

  “You were busy with your beautiful bride, I’m sure.” Jackson’s voice was humorless. He was clearly still worried about Janie and didn’t appreciate the reminder that he’d been sleeping alone for well over a month, and might continue to do so if he couldn’t fix things with Janie. And in order to do that, she had to show up.

  “Nah, actually she was having sister time with Amanda last night.” Connor was practically pouting. Clearly, he’d had other plans for the evening.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get her for the rest of your life, man,” Jackson replied, again sounding like someone had shit in his shoes.

  “Aye, and I cannae wait,” he said with a grin, his accent thick. Connor was so happy it was sickening. He could understand why Jackson looked like he wanted to punch the fucker. Hell, he was beginning to feel like he wouldn’t mind holding him down while Jackson got his licks in.

  He wasn’t in the same predicament Jackson was, but the idea that Connor was about to tie himself to the woman he loved forever when he and Amanda probably wouldn’t make it to New Year, made him jealous as fuck.

  Parker climbed onto a free treadmill and pumped up the speed, trying his best to turn off his brain. It was better if he didn’t even go there. It was bad enough he’d nearly made an ass of himself the night before, he didn’t need to start getting even further ahead of himself.

  Amanda had been sleepy and warm against his chest when he’d spoken without thinking. She’d been so worried about things and he’d wanted to make her feel better. He wanted to take everything off her shoulders and carry it for her.

  So what did he do? He went and started making all sorts of promises that he had no right to make. He’d told her everything would be fine and that he would take care of everything.

  Thank God she had been asleep and hadn’t heard a word of it. As if he didn’t feel like enough of a shitheel getting involved knowing it was only going to hurt them both, he didn’t need to add to it by making promises he couldn’t keep. It would just make things harder on her when it ended. And he’d tear his own heart out and toss it in the shredder if it meant he could lessen her pain, even a little.

  ✽✽✽

  Their spa day was a huge success. For everyone but Amanda.

  Alexandra and her mother had a great time talking about w
here Alexandra and Connor were going on their honeymoon and all the things they’d planned to see and do while they were in Scotland.

  Amanda, on the other hand, sat through manicures, pedicures, facials, lunch, and mimosas while trying very, very hard not to give anything away. She’d had to bite her tongue more than once to keep from asking her mother what the hell was going on.

  And at least half a dozen times she’d almost let something slip about Parker. She never realized how terrible she was at keeping secrets until now. At least her own, anyway. There were things that other people had told her that she’d take to the grave, but she was apparently a terrible liar when it came to her own secrets.

  “Mandy?”

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I asked if you were okay,” her mother said, clearly not for the first time.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve been awfully quiet this morning.” Her mother looked her up and down as if trying to see if there was anything physically wrong with her.

  “I promise, mom.” Amanda tried to muster a smile. “I’m just super tired. I think I might try to take a nap this afternoon before the rehearsal dinner.”

  “Alright.” Her mother frowned. “But you let me know if you need anything. I have aspirin, Midol, cough drops, and a bunch of other things in my room, just in case.”

  “So did you leave anything in the pharmacy or did you just clear them right out?” Amanda asked, shaking her head.

  “Hush you. Someday you’ll need something and you’ll be glad that I cleaned out the pharmacy.”

  Her mother was always prepared. For as long as she could remember, her mother had always carried anything and everything she might need. Everything from bandaids and Neosporin to Benadryl.

  She could cover pretty much anything that didn’t require a trip to the emergency room, and probably a couple of things that did. Amanda wouldn’t be at all surprised if she knew how to stitch a wound or maybe perform an appendectomy on the fly. She never underestimated her mother.