by Natalie Ann
“See? I’m not put off over your reaction right now. Nor will it stop me from saying something like this again. Because you wouldn’t want to be with someone that you can push around. Or someone that can’t stand up to your brothers.” He leaned down and put his mouth to her ear. “Or someone who would be afraid to do this knowing that your brothers could see us.”
She leaned to the side and looked out through the living room to the deck and saw her brothers watching the show, then slapped his arm. “Jerk,” she said.
He laughed and then leaned down to kiss her quickly. “Now they are going to think I’m a wuss or a dick.”
“Not if I do this,” she said, grabbing his shirt and putting her mouth to his. She kissed him with enough passion he was sure the hell wishing they didn’t have company.
When he lifted his head, he said, “See? You do need me.”
Her jaw opened and closed and he moved past her to open the fridge, grabbed two beers and an iced tea and then walked out.
The door opened a second later and Marcus came back in. “He forgot the corn.”
“No, he didn’t,” she said. “I’m sure he did it on purpose to give one of you guys the chance to come in here and find out if everything is okay with us. Or to let me give you a piece of my mind. How did you and Jeremy decide who was going to retrieve the corn?”
Marcus laughed. “I’m the oldest.”
“You’re the oldest when you want something or someone else doesn’t want to do something.”
“Exactly. But yes. Are things okay with you two? We went easy on him.”
“Please,” she said. “No one needs to go easy on Evan. He can hold his own and I’m sure he let you know that.”
“He did. We came to our terms. He seems like a nice enough guy. Not really your type.”
“I didn’t know I had a type,” she said.
“I suppose not. I guess I wasn’t around much when you were younger and it’s been a while since you’ve had any serious relationship. Landon was a lot different than Evan though.”
She laughed. “Landon wasn’t serious. He was someone I dated for a few months. We didn’t last because he didn’t like I made more money than him.”
“There are a lot of guys that are intimidated by that.”
“You and Jeremy aren’t,” she said. “Of course you’re earning potential is great once you get going.”
He yanked on her hair. “You’re sounding like Mom.”
“Thanks for the insult, but I knew that when I said it.”
“I figured, but wanted to point it out. I know she tried to set you up with that guy yesterday. Did you tell her or him you were seeing Evan?”
“Nope. I was too pissed off. I played dumb when we were introduced, then kept changing the conversation when he hinted toward a date. He gave up and moved away from me. As for Mom, I’m not telling her I’m seeing anyone. I’m not happy with her and don’t need a million questions either.”
“She’d probably be thrilled with Evan,” Marcus said.
“Only with his bank account, which is all the more reason to not tell her. Now go out there and deal with the corn and let me get this potato salad made.”
Thirty minutes later she went on the deck with a glass of wine. She’d stopped and bought a bottle on the way home, knowing she might need it to get through this dinner. But what she found were her brothers and Evan talking about baseball and all but ignoring her.
They did finish that conversation and changed it to football and brought her into it. “I like the Giants,” she told Evan. “If you say you like the Cowboys, you’re out of here.”
He grinned at her. “Never. New York teams through and through. Mets and the Giants. I can’t like the Yankees knowing who my brother-in-law is. Though I did like them before Kaelyn met Harris anyway.”
“Did my brothers pester you about being related to Harris Walker?” she asked.
“No. They hadn’t said a word, which is nice. But it’s fine if you want to talk about him. He’s retired now. He’s just Harris to the family. The man that married my sister and is the father to my niece.” He pulled his phone out and showed a picture of Scarlet to everyone. “Isn’t she a doll?”
“We like the Mets too,” Jeremy said. “It would have been tacky to talk about it though after the conversation earlier.”
“What conversation?” she asked.
“The one between the three of us,” Evan said. “Nothing to worry about. Anyway, Harris is a good guy. If your sister doesn’t kick me to the curb, I’m sure you might all meet. Either way, if she goes to the summer party, she’ll meet him there for sure.”
“I had planned on going if I can,” she said. “He’s not bombarded by people there?”
“Not anymore. Or not that much. Most respect his privacy or he just politely moves away. Or the family kind of shields him a bit. Kaelyn isn’t going to hide who she is married to though she likes to stay private. We’ve learned in life that every family has something and it’s better to talk about it and get it in the open than hide it.”
“Sometimes things are better off hidden though,” she said and looked at her brothers.
“No,” Marcus said. “That is you. That’s not us.”
“Mom and Dad,” she said.
The last thing she wanted to do was air out more filthy laundry in front of Evan, but at this point dirty underclothes were blowing in the wind.
“Mom never says a word and that is on her. I think that is the problem. Dad wants to talk about it and she won’t,” Marcus said.
“How do you know?”
“You left before the party ended,” Marcus said. “I was still there and found Dad in the kitchen cleaning up alone. I asked what was going on. He said he’s sick of keeping it all in, then walked away.”
“Maybe I’ll go talk to him,” she said.
“That’s your choice,” Jeremy said. “He might appreciate it. You don’t go around much anymore.”
“None of us do,” she said, then looked at Evan. “I’m sorry. I know all families have issues and you know some of this. But it’s easier to avoid my mother now.”
“I can’t imagine,” Evan said.
“I’ll talk to Dad this week and see if he wants to stop over alone. Maybe I can find something for him to do in the house.”
Her brothers started to laugh. “Dad never did anything in the house. Mom wouldn’t let him.”
“I know. She doesn’t even think I should be mowing the lawn and told me to hire someone.”
“Dad loved mowing the lawn when we were kids,” Marcus said. “I think he did it to escape Mom.”
“Maybe my lawnmower will be broken in a few days,” she said laughing.
It would get her father here to look at it and she could talk to him. For now she wanted to end this because she had to cook dinner for the other three men in her life.
And when that thought entered her mind she wondered when she ever thought of a man outside of family as hers.
20
Drop That Shield
“You’re close with your family, aren’t you?” Evan asked when her brothers left.
“Yeah. I think the four of us always were. I told you we bonded over what my mother was like rather than disliking each other.”
“I think it’s great that you’re trying to find a reason for your father to come over alone so you can talk.”
“I should think of him more. I’ll have to look at my schedule and see what day works the best for me to get out early and check with him. My mother has a book club on Tuesdays so that might be the best night.”
“You’re a good person, Parker.”
He realized that she might be judged on how she looked, how stubborn she was, or how great her pride was, but she was a caring loving person that was hurting herself and afraid to let people see it.
“I try to be. Some would say I’m not or not often, but I can’t let them bother me.”
“No,” he said. “Many think I’m
stubborn and an ass. I wouldn’t argue with them.”
“You’re not that way with me,” she said, winding her arms around his neck. “Unless you want to help me do something that I’m fully capable of doing on my own.”
“And there is that stubbornness and pride again. You say you and your brothers bonded over what your mother did but you carry it around your neck like a rapper’s solid gold chain. You let everyone see it and you make sure it’s known you worked your ass off to put it there.”
“That’s mean,” she said.
“It’s only mean if it hit home,” he pointed out.
“I want to be angry you said that, but I find I can’t be. That maybe you’re right and it’s something I’ve got to think about. It’s hard to change who you are and what you became even though I talk a big talk.”
He realized he did too. That he’d bragged he was who he was and wasn’t changing for anyone and yet here he was doing it slowly for a woman that he found himself falling for harder than tripping over a shoelace and smacking his face on the sidewalk.
“Everyone puts on fronts in their life. It’s when you can drop that shield that you know you’ve got something truly special with a person.”
She smiled at him but didn’t say anything and he was starting to feel a drop of dew sliding on his brow for opening up so much. It’s not like they’d known each other long. Over a month or so, but hadn’t really started to spend time together until the past few weeks. Tonight would only be the second time he’d get his hands and mouth on every part of her body.
Yet, maybe when it was right there was no fighting it.
“You’re a lot wiser than I think anyone gives you credit for. I’ve let my guard down with you more than anyone else outside of family.”
“And even with your family, I’d say you still keep it up pretty tight.”
“With everyone but my brothers,” she admitted. “Even then it’s only been the past few years that it’s lowered.”
He gave her a kiss on the lips, then pulled her to the living room. They had time yet to go to her room, but he found he wanted to talk to her for some obscure reason he couldn’t wrap his head around.
“So tell me more about yourself.”
She laughed. “Really? I’d think if you just watched me on TV you’d know enough.”
He wasn’t going to admit that he did binge watch her. Then realized why not? It shouldn’t be a secret. “What I saw was someone that was true to themselves but only let so much out. You were on TV and being recorded. And though many slipped at times when they thought the cameras were off, I think you were in game mode the entire time.”
“I was. I wouldn’t have gone on the show if I’d known what my sister was going through. Or what NXIVM was all about and what they would do to my sister for trying to leave. I’d applied to Survivor for a few years and then when I got on and was ready to go is when we realized the extent of her life and the blackmail she was facing. My mother was getting her help and Erin told me to go. That she knew it was a dream of mine so I did, thinking things couldn’t be that bad.”
“Why shouldn’t you have gone?” he said. “You still had your life and it’s not like your brothers stopped theirs, right?”
“No, they didn’t. My mother spent the most amount of time with Erin trying to help her, and looking back I do wonder if that made it worse.”
“Because your mother was never...ah...gentle before?”
“That’s a good word for it. Yeah. We didn’t see everything. I don’t know what went on and my mother won’t say much, but I noticed yesterday my parents are having issues.”
“Like what? Or would you rather not say?”
“It seems I’ve said a lot to you already and I know I can trust you.”
“You can,” he said, pulling her under his arm on the couch and running his fingertips up and down her trim bicep. So toned and tough, yet she could be soft and vulnerable too.
“My mother was scheming with me. Complimenting me on my appearance and then asking about the accomplishments of my job again. I got the feeling she was going to try to introduce me to someone, but my father jumped in and said something along the lines of leaving me alone as she’d ruined one daughter’s life already.”
“That’s a harsh thing to say,” he said. He couldn’t imagine even in grief his parents casting blame, but then again he had no idea the depth of what Parker and her siblings went through mentally and how much their father was or wasn’t in their corner.
“It was. It might be one of the first times my father stood up to her that I witnessed. He was gone a lot for years. He has a high-powered job and was on the road more times than he was home it seemed. Now I wonder if he did it to get away.”
“So the road warrior mentality is nothing new to you?” he asked.
“Not really. I thought for sure everyone’s parents lived like that when I was younger, but I learned otherwise. It seemed to work for us, or it did for me.”
“Because you were strong enough to get through,” he pointed out. The same as her brothers. Yet it seemed her sister hadn’t been.
“Yeah. Anyway, my mother pretty much raised us. She didn’t work. Her job was to be a homemaker and she loved it. She was proud that she had a man to financially take care of her and she wanted to groom her kids to be able to pave their way in the world and have it easy like she did.”
Interesting and not what he wanted to hear. Hadn’t he been avoiding women like this his whole life? “I’ve known a woman or two like that in my life,” he said.
“I’m sure. Not that you’d be my mother’s type. Wealth wise, sure. But she likes the suit and tie guy.”
“That’s not me,” he said. “Is that who she tried to set you up with? She thinks you are like her?”
That dribble of sweat from earlier was starting to freeze. “She has tried to in the past and did it again yesterday. I’m not interested in her type of men. I like to find my own man. And before you get a panicked look in your eye and want to run in the other direction, let me point out I don’t need you to do anything for me nor do I want anything. I can and have taken care of myself. I don’t care what you’ve got or what you can give me either.”
It did make him feel a tad bit better hearing that, but it was hard to push back his past too. “I think I’ve got something you want,” he said, laughing and knowing they were getting on a slippery slope of disagreement soon.
Her hand went to his lap and ran it up and down. “Oh, you do. You’ve got plenty I want.” She turned and crawled into his lap, her knees on each side of his thighs, her mouth going to his.
He threaded his hands through her long soft raven tresses and held on while she tried to take control. He was only going to let her for so long though.
When her hands went into the waist of his shorts, he’d had enough and decided this time he was going to make the moves. He was going to let her just lie back and relax.
He stood up, her legs going around his hips, then moved to the stairs. “Where are you going?”
“Your room. I need to lie you down so I can give you my best.”
She giggled and he found the childlike sound endearing from the woman that appeared so strong. “I like a man that puts his all into things.”
“I’ll be putting something into you all right. Just not yet.”
It might have been crude and something he’d say to someone else, but she didn’t seem to mind and only hooked her legs around his hips some more.
He got to her room and put her on the bed, then leaned over her, his mouth attacking hers. The two of them could kiss for hours and he’d be a happy man. There was something erotic and sensual about lips and tongues seeking and tasting each other.
His hands went under her shirt and pulled it up over her head, dropping it down somewhere on the floor. She started to wiggle under him, so he took care of her shorts and underwear while she undid her bra and flung it aside.
When she started to reach for the button
on his shorts, he inched down and told her, “Not yet.” Then he put his mouth between her lower lips and decided to show her what he’d really wanted.
What he’d been dreaming of for days.
His hands went to her inner thighs, spreading her apart and looking at her trimmed pussy. She took such good care of her body and grooming. He knew a lot of women that did, but he felt it was second nature for Parker to put her best foot forward at all times.
His tongue came out licking the length of her up and down. She squealed and he knew he found a little pleasure zone. Her bud was swollen and begging to be pulled into his mouth so he could nurture it like a sweet piece of cake to last all day. She didn’t need to say the words; he’d give it to her because he wanted it just as much.
Her fingers threaded through his hair, her nails digging into his scalp, and it only made him work even harder.
“I’m going to make you scream out my name,” he said.
“It isn’t going to take much work,” she said, arching up when he slid one finger in her and curved it just right, then applied more pressure with his mouth, the tip of his tongue flicking at her.
He felt her muscles start to tighten and squeeze around him, forcing him to move his finger in and out. Her back arched a bit more and his name was ripped from her mouth as if she was screaming out a victory.
When she fell down limp on the bed, he stood back and pulled a condom out of his pocket. Yeah, he came prepared because he had no idea where they were going to end up and didn’t want to stop to find protection.
The minute he was ready, he got on his knees, grabbed her ankles and put her long legs on his shoulders, then sunk right in as far as he could go. He grabbed her hips and held her up in the air like that knowing she was somewhat trapped and at his mercy.
She didn’t seem to mind by the huge smile on her face, the soft relaxed look in her eyes. He grinned right back at her and started to stroke in and out. Her smile dropped and a moan escaped. He was determined to get her there a second time before he let himself go but was wondering if he had the restraint.
“You’ve got me at a disadvantage,” she said. “I can’t even touch you and I want to. I soooo want to.”
