Single 2

by Lyra Parish

“What will?” he asked slyly.

  I smiled because he was already on board with this—with us, whatever we were—and somehow, I was too.

  Parker backed away from me and shot me a little smile. “Babe, I’ve got to go. There is a shower calling my name.”

  Before he reached for the door, I grabbed his shirt and tugged his body until it was resting against mine. My walls were slowly crumbling one touch at a time.

  “You know, I’ve got a shower here.” I lifted an eyebrow and smiled seductively. He cocked his eyebrow back at me, then slowly peeled his shirt off his body and dropped it to the floor. Abs flowed down to his sexy V. I took a step back and admired him.

  Holy hell.

  My eyes widened while I stared at the muscles and man that was standing before me. His thumbs played with the elastic band of his jogging pants, and I almost begged for him to remove them. But I would be patient.

  “I should go,” he said.

  “You should stay.”

  Parker shook his head. I reached my hand out and swept my fingertips up his stomach. He closed his eyes and exhaled. Little chill bumps formed on his arm, and I realized that maybe I had just as much control over him as he had over me. Parker grabbed my wrists and held them tightly. I looked down at what he had done, then back into his deep blue eyes. The dominance made me want to rip his clothes right off his body.

  “It’s not that easy. I meant what I said, Rox.”

  I don’t fuck for the sake of fucking. Parker was the only man who had ever denied my sexual advances. Those words would never be forgotten.

  I wouldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want to, but eventually, I would have him, even on his terms. Each time he denied me, it made me want him even more. This wasn’t over. Didn’t he know that I was a man-eater in a dog-eat-dog world? Control was something that I craved. Parker Williams would be mine.

  I felt like Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, but the only hunger I had was for Parker Williams. Damn, this game was going to be hard, and I hoped I wouldn’t lose myself in the process of keeping Parker Williams my deepest, darkest secret.

  He dropped my wrists and rested his hands on my waist. “What I would do to lay you down right now and peel your pretty little fucking panties off your body.”

  “Then do it.”

  “You can’t handle this, babe.”

  I reached out and grabbed his junk outside of his jogging pants. He was hard. Ready, even. Parker stilled, almost as if he had stopped breathing.

  “I can handle more than you’ll ever fucking know,” I said.

  His nostrils flared, and I exhaled an agitated breath, then walked to the bar and picked up my keys. The satisfaction of knowing that he was turned on put a little smirk on my face. Parker slipped his shirt back on and followed me out the door.

  Outside, the air smelled like pure city. I unlocked the Volvo, and Parker stopped walking.

  “Please tell me that you do not drive a fucking Volvo.”

  I scoffed. I loved my car. “What’s wrong with it?”

  He didn’t budge. “It doesn’t scream Roxane VanBuren to me. It’s a family car. Four doors, even. Bland.”

  “So?”

  “Nothing. It’s just not you. I thought you’d drive a car that was sexy, fast, sleek. Something that tested all the limits. Zero to sixty in just a few seconds. A car that would hug a road with curves. One that you could control and have fun in. This car is the complete opposite of that.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and rolled my eyes before I climbed in. Parker smiled and walked to my ridiculous car with a bounce in his step. I glared at him as he buckled.

  “What?” His teeth grabbed his bottom lip and tugged. Damn.

  “Nothing. And where are you parked?”

  “VanBuren Investments.”

  My eyes practically bulged out of my head. I cranked the car and said a little prayer, hoping that no one would witness me dropping him off. The rumors would fly like birds in the sky. Rumors that I almost wish were true. But I didn’t want that for Parker. He was a good attorney. I didn’t want people to think he was sleeping his way to the top, and that’s exactly what would be said. I didn’t want people to think I was a whore either. And if my father caught wind of it, oh god, I didn’t even want to think about it. What we were doing was dangerous for us both. But with danger came some sort of thrill, one that I almost craved.

  Almost as if he’d read my mind, he spoke: “You don’t have to bring me to my car. Just close, if you want.”

  “Are you worried about your career?”

  Parker smiled and confidently answered, “No.”

  “What if people find out about us and think negatively about you. That you’re just trying to move to the top of the business ladder.”

  “Do you think that?” His voice was steady and calm.

  I glared at him. “No. Of course not.”

  “Good, because if I was, I would have fucked you the first week I started, and fucked you almost every day for the past five weeks. This is more than that, and taller than a corporate fucking ladder. There is something about you, Rox; something that I want to unravel, something that’s begging to be unlocked. I saw that in you at Orleans. It was like an invisible string pulled me to you. It’s almost as if fate brought you to my brother’s. And who fucking knows what brought us together a third time. Working together is hard. I won’t lie. But it’s not hard because of the position you hold. That doesn’t intimidate me. It’s difficult to see you in the break room and in meetings because all I want to do is rip your fucking clothes straight off your body and lay you down and worship you. When you smile at me, I can feel the fire behind it, and it’s the biggest fucking cock tease ever.”

  My breath hitched as he ran his fingers across the back of my neck. I melted into his touch.

  “I’ve said too much.” But he knew he had said just enough.

  “You haven’t. I like Parker in the raw.”

  I’ve never been with a man who really understood every aspect of me professionally and personally. Jake was afraid to be with someone like me. Parker welcomed it.

  “You can stop here,” Parker said. We were only a few blocks away from the firm. I leaned my head against the seat and looked at him. He gently moved his thumb down the side of my jawbone, outlining it with his touch.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said.

  I smiled and pressed my lips together, almost anticipating his lips on mine. He leaned in, and I closed my eyes. His mouth drifted to mine. Our breath mixed together, and he pulled away before it went any further. My eyes fluttered open.

  Parker narrowed his eyes at me, then gave me a sexy little side smile. “Goodbye, Roxane,” he said, then slipped out of the Volvo.

  I watched him until he disappeared into the sea of people. He never turned around to glance back at the frustrated me.

  I sat in the car thinking about the kiss that never happened and realized I was losing the control I had. This couldn’t fucking be happening. I wouldn’t let it.

  Score: Parker-three, Roxane-one.

  I would make sure it was a level playing field again by the end of the week, even if it was the last thing I accomplished. New York would be interesting, and he better be ready. Before I placed the car in drive, I received a text. Stupidly, I opened it, thinking it was Parker.

  Stacey: Have dinner with me tonight. You have a lot to tell me about. I’ll pick you up around 7.

  Me: Deal.

  I closed my phone and exhaled. She would want every detail. I needed to mentally prepare myself.

  At 6:50 p.m., Stacey texted me to let me know she was downstairs waiting. Of course she was early, being punctual was one of her things. I supposed it came with the modeling territory. I grabbed my jacket and headed to the elevator and was halfway surprised when I didn’t see Hugh with another chick.

  When I stepped outside, I could smell the Houston air. It was sweet and antique, like old buildings. I could never explain it too well, b
ut it smelled like home.

  I opened the door to her Mercedes Coupe. When I sat inside it, I realized what Parker had been saying about my car and me. Stacey’s car was her in every way: luxurious, sleek, sexy, fun.

  “I think I’m going to buy a new car,” I said when I buckled in.

  “Seriously? I thought you loved your Volvo.”

  “Do you think it’s me, though? When you look at it, do you say this is Rox?”

  Stacey drove down the street toward our little café downtown. “Not really. I always thought of it as a mom car.”

  “Fuck.”

  She gave me that look, where one side of her lips creased and her eyes narrowed.

  I let out a breath. “Parker.”

  She jolted her head toward me and watched my face. I lifted my eyebrows and stared her down as we sat at a red light.

  “You like him. Holy shit.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “Don’t you even deny it. You like him. Ha. And honestly, I don’t blame you. If that man wanted me, oh lord, don’t even get me started. I would do very, very, very bad things to him.”

  “I let him do very, very, very bad things to me.” I popped one eyebrow up at her and smirked. The light turned green.

  “Gah, that is so not fair,” she grumbled.

  I think, for the first time in our lives, Stacey thought a man who was pursuing me was hot. Holy hell, the world may implode.

  “Did you have sex with him? How big is he? How long did he last? He isn’t a speed racer is he? What’s under his clothes? Abs? Muscles? Total hotness? Wait, I think I’m getting horny thinking about him.” She put her finger on a button and her window went down in a zap. I burst into a deep laughter and almost choked from the look on her face as she fanned herself with her hand.

  “Hot flashes,” she said.

  “You’re way too young for hot flashes. And actually, no, we didn’t have sex. And you’re never going to believe what he told me.”

  She pulled into the parking lot of the café and turned off the car. She positioned her body in a way that told me we weren’t leaving until she had every dirty little detail.

  “He said that—”

  A text tone went off on my phone, and I glanced down to see the infamous Don’t Reply contact. My heart instantly started racing, and I smiled.

  “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  “How did you know?”

  She reached over and pulled the visor down, then flipped up the mirror. My face lit up, and I saw the smile that was covering it. “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  “You’ve got it bad.” Stacey flipped the visor back in place and crossed her arms.

  I glanced back down at my phone.

  Don’t Reply: I want to taste you.

  I could feel the heat rush to my face, and I knew my cheeks had turned pink. I licked my lips and didn’t realize I was biting the corner of my mouth until Stacey pointed it out.

  “Are you going to make me ask what he said?” There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

  I held the phone where she could read it, and her hands covered her face. She leaned her head against the seat and was lost in la-la land, dreaming about Parker.

  “Holy fuck. He’s an oral man? Where do I sign up again?”

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” I said, trying to downplay the whole thing.

  “Oral is a deal breaker. If I can stick a dick in my mouth, and maybe lick places I really don’t want to, then he better be willing to go downtown, where all the lights are bright.”

  “Oh god, that song will never be the same for me.”

  Another text message went off, and I glanced down to check it.

  Don’t Reply: Let’s meet.

  My heart galloped and for a second, I thought I was having a hot flash. I leaned my head back on the seat and looked at Stacey.

  “Let me guess.” She gave me one of those dramatic pauses that she had been practicing since we were kids. “He wants to meet.”

  “You’re so good at this.” I laughed.

  “I’ll tell you this. Number one, you’re not getting out of sharing with me what happened. Number two, I will drop you off wherever he wants, after you tell me what happened. Number three, can we trade places?”

  “One, okay. Two, okay. Three, fuck no, horn-dog.”

  Me: What if I said no and that I didn’t want to?

  Don’t Reply: I’d say you’re lying.

  Me: I’m on a hot date.

  Don’t Reply: Text me when you’re done with your “hot date.”

  Me: Is that a demand?

  Don’t Reply: You’d like that wouldn’t you?

  I smiled, sucked in a deep breath, and almost forgot I was in the car with Stacey. She jerked the phone from my hand and started reading our recent messages. I was used to her doing things like that.

  “Fuck. Just meet him. He’s hot. Let me recant that statement. He’s really fucking hot. Guys like that don’t just fall from space, okay? Meet him. And if you don’t, I’m going to text him from your phone and set it up for you. Don’t be your own personal cock block. Seriously,” Stacey said as she typed out a message and sent it.

  I groaned. “Did you really just do that?”

  She handed the phone back to me and I read what she’d typed.

  Stacey as Me: Where do you want to meet?

  Don’t reply: Change of heart? I’ve got the perfect place. Water Wall Park.

  “Now tell him you’ll meet him after your hot date. I love that you called me hot. At least you weren’t lying about that.” She pulled the visor mirror down and fixed her hair with a smile.

  “Your head is swelling at an unhealthy rate,” I said to her then typed a reply to Parker. There was no redacting her text. Damn her. I’d been trying to be strong.

  Me: I’ll meet you in an hour after I grab dinner.

  Parker: I’ll be waiting.

  There were so many little things about Parker that I liked. One example was that he never questioned me. I could be with anyone at this moment, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even have to ask. Truth was, I couldn’t imagine going out with someone else right now.

  “We didn’t have sex, but he did go down on me in my office.”

  Her eyes widened. “No, he didn’t. While everyone was there?”

  “Basically. My father was there, and some of the loan officers.”

  “Holy hell. How was it?”

  “I don’t have many people to compare it to, because it’s such an intimate thing. But best I’ve ever, EVER had.” I tucked my bottom lip into my mouth, remembering him.

  “Okay, as much as I want to ask you every little detail, I know that’s about as much as I’m going to get out of you. I’m starving. Do you have time for dinner?”

  “Oh my god, yes. I’m starving. I told Parker I would meet him afterward.”

  “Perfect,” she said.

  We sat at our usual little table, close to the wrought iron fence. The breeze was cool against my skin, and I put on the jacket that I’d brought with me. People were walking the streets, and I couldn’t help but stare out at them and wonder where they were going that was so important, or whom they were talking to on the phone. I used to look at people on the streets and think about their lives as I saw them from a stranger’s perspective. Everyone was always too busy in their own world. Welcome to Houston, where people go to sell their souls to their jobs. I refused to be like that.

  Before I could get lost in my thoughts, Stacey interrupted me. “Does he have any hot friends?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know much about him, actually. He has a brother. I know that.”

  Our favorite server arrived at our table and basically told us what we were ordering. I supposed that came with being a regular.

  Stacey placed her chin on the top of her fist and smiled. She reminded me of The Thinker by Rodin statue. “You’re lucky, you know.”

  “Why?” I sipped lemon water.

  “Because you get t
o experience new love. It’s magical. It’s one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

  I laughed. “Love? Geez, Stacey. You act like we are getting married next week or something.”

  “When you talk about him, you light up in a way that I haven’t seen in years. It’s obvious that you feel something for him. I’m really happy for you.”

  “Thanks, I guess. I’m taking it one day at a time. I don’t want to lose myself, or lose what’s important. Dad talked to me about moving to New York.”

  “Have you told Parker yet?”

  “I can’t. Not yet. We aren’t serious or anything, and he will eventually find out.”

  “Sometimes love is worth risking things for, Rox. Just remember that. Plus, you’re no spring chicken anymore. Two more years and you’ll be thirty.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard it’s the new twenty, but without the tendency to be such an idiot.”

  Her phone went off and she pulled it out, then shoved it back into her purse like she was annoyed and waited for me to ask her about it. It was our routine.

  “So, who was that?”

  “Darrell. God, that man is pissing me off these days. I’ve got another photo shoot tomorrow at eight a.m. Fucking seriously? It’s Sunday. Why can’t we work in the afternoons?” She ran her fingers through her hair as the waitress placed our salads in front of us.

  My stomach growled, and I couldn’t believe how hungry I was. Chicken, spinach, and lettuce were covered with strawberry vinaigrette. The first bite caused my taste buds to burst alive with sweetness and saltiness, a perfect combination of the two flavors. Anticipation took control as I thought about meeting Parker after dinner. I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

  I paid our ticket and Stacey tipped then we walked to the car. Instantly, I became nervous about meeting Parker. I pulled my phone from my pocket and texted him.

  Me: I’m done with dinner. Where do you want to meet?

  Don’t Reply: Uptown. Water Wall Park.

  Me: I’ll be there in 15 minutes.

  I faced Stacey. “He wants to meet me at Water Wall Park.”

  “You know, I’ve lived here my whole life and have never been there before. It’s actually not that far from here.”

  “I’ve driven by it a million times, but I don’t think I’ve actually been there either.” I tried to recall a time that I had visited and couldn’t.