Physically, he went through the motions of checking things out. Even though he knew he had hired good people, he still liked to make surprise visits to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to do. And it wasn’t unlike him to get his hands dirty if they needed anything.
He also had time to look over the new offices being planned and had a brief visit over to Thaddeus’ office to talk about the current deal with the casino and how it was going to be presented.
Yet, through all he did, he couldn’t stop thinking about Charisse. Even when he forced himself to think about the intimate enjoyable encounter with his wife, he found himself imagining Charisse knelt between his legs, her lips parted, her hands gripping his manhood and her eyes looking up at him.
Even as he tried not to think about it, he found himself doing it more.
‘That’s because you’re a pervert! Who watches their sister-in-law change her underwear and then…’
He was ashamed of himself, but he couldn’t help himself.
After he had left the office to catch his breath, he’d thought to go back and apologize to Charisse for his behavior, but she wasn’t in there and he felt a little panic. Taking the steps three at a time, he stopped in his tracks as he saw her digging in the dresser and taking out some underwear.
That’s when he should have moved away. Every moral fiber of his being told him to turn around and not look, but he couldn’t stop himself as she seem to move in slow motion bent down and raised her long dress up. Every inch of skin revealed to his eyes pulled him closer and closer until he was almost peeking around the corner. He was gripping the wall – not because he was about to fall, but because he was so damn aroused by every piece of bare flesh he saw that he couldn’t even stand straight.
Charisse took the hose off first and carefully laid them over her dresser and then she pulled her underwear. Though they were simple actions, the fact that he had never seen a lot of her body, he was besieged with lust as her thumbs gripped the sides of her panties and her palms spread over her plump firm brown flawless derrière.
He swore if he had been standing behind her, he would have dropped to his knees, placed a trillion worshipful kisses all over her backside and then had her bend over to trail his tongue between her fissure to taste her innocent essence.
Without even touching his manhood, he exploded instantly and had to turn away pressing his back against the wall to hold himself up. He knew he had to move away from there and used the opportunity when she went into the bathroom to leave, but he had to push himself away from the wall and felt so dizzy he stumbled a little.
When she didn’t come to investigate in the hallway he quickly rushed down the stairs and back into his bedroom to quickly wash back up and change his clothes completely. He didn’t want to bump into Charisse and left out immediately after going into the office quickly to write a note on the monitor, but he had forgotten to pick up accountant’s package that he was supposed to look over.
When the accountant had called, Parker had apologized for not looking it over immediately like he was supposed to do and promised to do that as soon as he returned to the office.
She was sitting behind the desk when he walked in; he didn’t speak at all to her. Her eyes came up from her work and he watched as they slowly moved up his body pausing briefly at the middle before rising to his face.
‘The minx is checking me out!’ He clearly noticed feeling like he’d just been visually caressed and forcing his body not to react to it.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
“For what?” she asked as if she had not just been highly upset with him hours ago.
He walked to the desk thinking that maybe he had misinterpreted her emotions, but she really didn’t look mad.
“You were right. We should be only professional in here. I was frustrated and I knew only you could give me the truth, because Chyna wouldn’t. I won’t cross that line again.”
Her eye twitched a little and that slight expression that she was hiding her amusement came over her face just briefly before going to opaque. “Thank you,” she said stiffly.
He wanted to know what she found funny, but he didn’t press it. A promise was made not to draw the line and if it wasn’t concerning business while they were in this room together, then he was not going to say anything.
“Before we get professional again I too want to apologize for my erratic behavior, Parker,” she said. “I know I probably have been acting strange and I’m just adjusting to all of this but I do want to say that I appreciate the generosity you and my sister have given me through my time of need. And especially with you giving me this job to keep me busy. It helps take my mind off of a lot of the things that constantly plague me on a daily basis.”
“You’re welcome.”
She passed him a couple of messages. “I took the messages off the machine for you. I handled what I could understand, but I left the rest to you.”
He went through each one with her so she could understand. They moved on the end of the day procedures and she put the log together for the next day and even learned how to schedule the electronic fax to go out automatically. Something he had not been able to learn with no time on his hand.
“I read the manual,” she said proudly.
He saw that she had opened the accountant’s files, but he didn’t question this. If she saw the files he wanted to wait to see if she would go and say something to Chyna. It was all about trust.
Maintaining a professional relationship with his sister-in-law would be difficult but he was going to do his best to try. He was not going to fuck this up for himself and he was glad at the fact that Charisse did have a phobia about touching because he knew he was yearning to touch her too and would have touched her if she wasn’t sick.
‘You’d have done more than touched her! You’d have kissed her, licked her.’ He put the brakes on his next thoughts because he didn’t want to have to change his clothes again.
Chapter 23
There was a post it note on her doorway the morning a week later from him. She didn’t question this or think it was odd that instead of talking to her since her first day, Parker had opted to leave post it notes around the office, on doors or even on her breakfast tray that Rochelle sometimes brought up.
‘I’ll return at 9:30 to take you to the doctor’s office. Had an early morning meeting.’ He had written. She tossed the note and went down to the office to start processing the day before records and getting ready for the next day.
Chyna had gotten the designer in just yesterday to design the baby room and it would be on the other side of the house on the third floor along with a section right off bedroom where the baby would spend the first six months before actually even moving in the room. Along with that, she was getting the guest room ready for Charisse to move in and also she was changing the curtains in her remodeling to a darker color, but still they matched the room.
Seeing her sister do this, Charisse saw how happy Chyna seemed to be spending money and it made her understand a lot about her sister.
It could have been any man. Chyna wasn’t happy unless she was spending money that wasn’t her own.
Growing up in squalor had given her a drive and determination to be without, which is why she needed Parker, but she was also lazy and wanted someone to wait on her hand and foot. Hence the maid always was around when Chyna was home and all throughout the day.
Charisse was the opposite and she found herself really enjoying working and keeping herself busy. They stayed out each other’s hair even though Chyna was dying to press about how Charisse was “treating” Parker.
That was a subject Charisse tried to ignore as long as possible. And since she didn’t want to be personable with Parker, she had made sure the only place they really saw each other was the library and he kept his promise and spoke only of business.
She had kept to her room on purpose for dinner so she couldn’t see him, so they couldn’t talk of anything that
didn’t concern business. He’d invited her to lunch at the beginning of the week, but she pretended that she wasn’t feeling well. It was easy to believe because his eyes traveled down to her stomach, so he didn’t pressure her.
Checking Parker’s calendar, there was no meeting in there scheduled, but she didn’t question this. He found things to do and usually there were more things to file, type up or do whenever he came from a meeting and she wanted her to-do list to be completed before he returned plus get ready to see Dr. Redmond.
At the time he said he would get back, she was standing in the foyer of the house with her coat on and phone messages in hand. Today she had worn another long dress with long sleeves. She had about a million of them and liked the plainness about them that didn’t make her stand out. With loafers, her purse and a jacket, she didn’t mind the wait for him.
He pulled up and she didn’t even wait for him to come in the house before she came out to the car. He did get out quickly and opened the door for her and then returned to the driver’s position taking the phone messages from her.
She noticed how his eyes stayed straight and didn’t even look at her. He was dressed in casual tan pants with a hand tailored gray shirt, but no tie or matching jacket. He’d trim down his goatee from it past thickness so it could look thinner and this gave his features a more define jawline and brought more attention to his arrogant nose and lips.
For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why she noticed his lips and wondered if they were as nice to look at, as they were to kiss.
‘I knew it wouldn’t take long for my inner sex devil to come out!’ she cursed to herself.
This was the first time they had been alone outside of the office in a very long time and Charisse had a million things she could speak about that didn’t have to do with business, but she couldn’t make her lips move.
“You’re nervous about something?” he asked not taking his eyes off the road.
“No.”
“So that tightened fist and stiff posture means nothing?”
“It means nothing,” she mumbled.
“How are you feeling today?” he asked.
“There’s really no change in my condition, Parker. I don’t get overly sick or feel like I’m pregnant.” She didn’t want to talk about this.
“Any more cravings?”
“Just the peanut butter on everything.”
He pulled up at the doctor’s office and finally looked at her, but his hands tightened on the wheel as if she had said something wrong.
“What do you mean by everything?” he asked suspiciously.
“Everything I put in my mouth,” she clarified innocently.
Parker quickly looked away from her and adjusted his weight in his seat. “Do you think you can go on in and I’ll join you in a moment?”
Now he was acting stiff and she wanted to know what had she said to make him suddenly behave like this.
Biting her tongue holding back her concern, Charisse got out of the car and went into the building. Looking at the doorway where she was expecting her brother-in-law to come in, she wondered what the heck was wrong with him.
***
When Parker knew she had made it safely inside, he leaned his head on the steering wheel and took a deep breath.
Avoiding her had been his intention. He figured if he didn’t see her outside of the office, there would be no chance of himself having any inclinations to touch her or think of her in a sexual manner.
And he had thought he had prepared himself to be in the car alone with him, but the idea of wanting peanut butter on anything that went in her mouth had too much of a sexual connotation.
He knew getting out the car would clearly indicate the hardness that appeared in his pants and it was driving him crazy that he could not maintain any sexual control with regards to her because all he visualized morning, noon and night of being between her legs.
It felt like his body had been transported back to being a teenager and didn’t care where he was. He’d even gone to his tailor to let out his pants, but he knew he needed a moment to force himself to get back into the game.
She doesn’t even know what she said, he reasoned with himself.
‘Just focus on the fact that she doesn’t want your touch. That’s got to mean something for you.’
He was about to get out of his car, but then he noticed a familiar looking car across the street. The person in the passenger’s seat ducked while the frumpy figure in the driver’s seat looked guilty and drove off causing the tires to burn and cause even more attention to the car.
Getting out and quickly going into the doctor’s office, he called Chyna.
“I just saw your sister parked across the street from the doctor’s office.”
“What?! She’s following you!” Chyna determined and cursed angrily. “Did she see you walk in with Charisse?”
“I don’t know, but she’s going to suspect something.”
“That’s a woman’s doctor office building. She could just suspect that its time for Charisse’s annual,” Chyna said simply. “But I’ll call her and speak to her.”
“Chyna, I’m tired of you calling her and handling this. If I can keep her away from me, then you should be able to keep her from spying on us. Obviously, you’re not doing a good job handling the matter,” he said harshly. “Maybe I need to speak to her.”
“Alone Parker?”
“You can come with me,” he easily suggested.
“Why don’t you just go with Charisse next week when she’s scheduled to go? Charisse wants to meet her without me, but I don’t think that’s a good idea and they aren’t appointing anyone we know as the court supervised chaperone, but they are allowing one of us to be with Charisse. Plus, I’d feel more comfortable with at least Charisse or I with you when you speak with Cheyenne.”
He didn’t question this and agreed. “That’s fine.”
“Parker, maybe you shouldn’t leave out with Charisse at the doctor’s office, too.”
“I’ve already thought about that. I’ll make arrangements.”
When he disconnected he called Kimberly.
“I’ll have the baby with me,” Kimberly said. “Will that be alright?”
“She’s not allergic to people, Kim,” Parker chuckled and gave her the address. “Pull around to the back of the building where the employees enter in about an hour.”
When he found Charisse, she only gave him her usual obscure look, but didn’t stop looking at him as if she was waiting for something.
“The doctor will see me in a couple of minutes,” she said.
“May I go in with you?”
“You want to?” she asked.
“Charisse, I said I was serious about going through this whole process. I’ve waited too long to be denied anything.”
‘Did he know how powerful those words sounded?’ “But I could be naked.”
‘Would you stop saying things like that!’ he bellowed inside of his skull, but he didn’t say this to her. “I could come in when you’re dressed. After the examination, if that would make you feel better.”
She was about to agree and he saw her head even nod yes, but she said, “We’ll see what Dr. Redmond wants to do today.”
Leaving that option open startled him and Parker felt that urge to do something wonderful for her. She was actually trying to acquiesce to him and “fake” it.
Dr. Redmond called them into his private office. Parker politely waited for her to sit before he sat beside her.
“How are you, Charisse?” the doctor asked.
“I’m fine,” she answered.
“Since I examined you last week I don’t need to check you out again until your fourth month. I’ve spoken with Chyna and we’ve made arrangements to come to the house, but if you feel your condition changes at any time, you must contact me,” he said.
Charisse listened only with half an ear, because her other thoughts went over to Parker who still looked a bit uncom
fortable and she know she should be listening to everything that Dr. Redmond was saying but she couldn’t help herself.
Suddenly, the doctor got up and went out the office, but since Parker didn’t get up she stayed in her seat.
“What did he say?” she asked.
He looked at her amused. “So that’s your daydreaming look too?” he questioned amused. “For a moment I thought you were sneaking a stare at me.”
She didn’t show her embarrassment. “Why on earth would I want to gawk at my brother-in-law?”
“He’s coming right back. His pager went off.”
Nodding, she looked forward and waited twiddling her thumbs wishing she could move her chair further away.
“Chyna and I agreed I should come with you to meet with Cheyenne, but you’re going to have to give the courts your permission that you don’t mind me tagging along,” he said.
“I don’t mind,” she said quietly, but after a moment of thinking what he wanted to do over, she asked, “Why do you want to see Cheyenne?”
“Not necessarily see her. It’s not a pleasure visit I assure you.”
“I don’t know. Last time we spoke about her, you were imagining masturbating to her memory.”
He wanted to tell her he had told a lie about that, but then she’d asked why he lied and whom exactly he was masturbating to. Tightly, he said, “I have no desire to do anything with Cheyenne other than wring her neck if she tries to impede my desire to have children.”
Charisse was enjoying the protectiveness he had going in his tone of voice, but hated the part of her that longed to feel him mean that towards her and not just the baby.
“So this is to threaten her to stay away.”
“She needs to understand that it’s over, but she was just parked outside the building spying on me.” He let her know what had happened, what he discussed with Chyna and the arrangements he had made with Kimberly.
“You sure Jaelen won’t show up instead of her?” she asked nervously.
“No. He’s gone out of town on business,” he assured her. “She’s going to take you back to the house and I’ll join you soon. I do want to have a word with Dr. Redmond in private.”
His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book One Page 24
