“What do you want?” There, she had a bite to her words. He would learn she wasn’t such a pushover.
The door to his place opened, and Gemma sashayed out onto the front step. The woman sneered in her direction, and it took all her strength not to react. She wasn’t going to go around like she was still on the schoolyard.
“Came to make sure you’re up for our date tonight. Just you and me.”
His fingers were winding around sections of her hair, and it took her a moment to realize somehow, he’d gotten it out of the slapdash ponytail she’d tossed it into before Moses arrived. He shifted his large body closer to her, cupping her cheeks in his calloused hands. “Say yes, baby. Let me take you out. We’re supposed to be so in love we hate being apart from each other.”
Problem was, the line between make-believe and truth had gotten so fuzzy, she wasn’t even sure it existed any longer.
Gemma stepped back inside and slammed the door behind her. Parker never once turned to look in her direction, just continued to watch Skylar. He lowered his head until his rested upon hers, putting them nose to nose.
“Let me spoil you for the night.”
“At a movie? Earlier you said dinner.”
He lowered his eyelids for a moment. The emotion swirling in them struck her hard when he met her stare once more.
“Okay then. Something else, or both, but you have to trust me and put yourself in my hands.” His lips brushed her skin. “You know, I love to bring you pleasure.” Tone low, it reached into her pants and stroked her clit, making her aware how much she lusted after him. “Over and over again.”
Fuck. All she could do was sway closer, listening to the low, sexual cadence of his timbre.
“Say yes, baby.”
“Yes.”
…
Parker sat on his bike in her driveway, the loud engine rumbling. Skylar had told him not to worry, she could walk over there, but he wanted to do this right. But he didn’t want to be in her truck or the SUV he’d purchased. There was too much space. This way, she’d be pressed against him. Precisely the way he wanted her. This way gave him two of his loves in life. His bike and his woman.
Her front door opened, and she bent down to kiss Alpin on the head before backing out and locking it behind her. Those look like new locks. His mind drifted back to their argument earlier. Could he have been wrong about Gemma? She was a conniving woman, but he didn’t see violence in her when he was around her. Perhaps she was only putting a good show because she was trying to sway him and his parents.
But vandalism?
On the other hand, when had Skylar ever lied to him?
Fuck. He screwed that up royally. So far gone in his own thoughts, he’d completely missed what was right in front of him.
Why wouldn’t the bitch do this? Skylar was the one who’d had his back from the start; the least he could have done was protect and believe her.
When she spun toward him, his breath shot out of his body.
She gave him a small smile and strode toward him. He stopped her before she could swing behind him on the bike.
With his hand centering on her back, he encouraged her closer to kiss. When she sighed into his mouth, he ended it.
“This, baby, this is why I waited out here. We wouldn’t have left the bedroom had I seen you putting this on.”
She shook her head and tucked some hair behind her ear. “I’m in jeans and a button-down top.” Skylar rocked back on the block heel of her boots. “And boots. You said to dress comfortably for walking.”
“Baby, let me tell you something,” he whispered in her ear so he didn’t have to yell over the engine. “You’re in tight jeans with a shirt that gives me easy access and over-the-knee boots to match. This is fucking sexy. And you have all my curls pulled up and away from your stunning face except for a couple on each side to drive me crazy.” He flexed his fingers on her ass. “Perhaps we can go out tomorrow night. Let’s stay in and play strip poker.”
“This was your idea, Mr. Jax.” She moved closer to him, fingers fiddling with the helmet he’d given her.
I should have reserved the right to change my mind.
“We have one other stop to make before we get to our date.” He needed to get her to the jewelry store and get a ring to make this engagement look real.
“It’s your show.”
Words he loved to hear.
“One other thing. You know, before we go.”
She blinked and waited.
“I’m sorry.”
There was a cute little furrow between her eyebrows. “For?”
“Earlier. When I didn’t believe you. I should have. You haven’t lied to me.” He cupped her cheek, wishing he had the stones to say all he wanted to. “If you think that’s what Gemma did, I’m with you. Tell me what you want me to do about it. Confront her? Let you handle it?”
“I’ve got it.” She stepped away before coming back close. “Thank you for believing me.” She put on the helmet and he smiled at the look.
He waited until the familiar feel of her wrapped tightly around him came; once he had it, then he got them on their way. Typically, he loved racing fast on his bike, but tonight, he took his time, obeying the speed limit. While he enjoyed going at higher speeds, something he liked even more was having her pressed to him. He didn’t even take them directly to their final spot for the date, but took a longer route after their meal.
She’d gotten off and had removed her helmet, but he remained there. Parker angled his body to where he could better see her. The afternoon sun, having lowered a bit in the sky, still shone off the thick curls she had and her skin. His fingertips burned with a need to touch her, mark her, claim her. Forever.
Her brown eyes sparkled as she gazed down at him. Even viewing her from behind his mirrored shades couldn’t take away from her beauty.
“Definitely not a movie theater. What are we doing here?”
He rose with an easy push and loved how she tipped her head back as if she could see his eyes as easily as he could see hers. Chucking her under the chin, he grinned.
“I told you to trust me.”
“I’m not complaining, just wondering what we’re doing here.”
He bent to one of the black saddlebags and pulled out the discs, waving them back and forth.
“Disc golf? Hell yes. Be prepared to get your ass kicked, marine.” She bounced on her toes, rubbing her hands together.
“Really?” He held the discs over her head where she couldn’t reach them, even if she continued to hop as she did currently. No complaints on the view it presented him, though. “Gonna be hard for you to do anything without a disc to throw.” A wicked grin. “Keep bouncing, though, because that is fucking turning me on.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Good. Then you have a memory to use at night while you have your tissue and bottle of lotion.”
And just like that, she won. He tsked as he handed them over.
“You play dirty.”
Her expression, again totally open and free. “You like dirty.”
“I like everything with you, baby.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Let’s get this game under way.”
She fairly vibrated with excitement. “I’ve heard they had a course here but I’ve never been. Are we doing nine or eighteen?”
To keep that joy on her face he’d fucking do thirty-six. “How about we see how bad you’re losing at nine and find out then if you’d like to continue.”
She never backed down from a challenge, that was for sure. “You know, you’re all about kicking my ass here.” One of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. “Let’s make a wager on this.”
Parker crossed his arms and rolled his shoulders. “You sure you want to do that? You riding home on my cock nude is going to be pretty cold.”
“That’s what you w
ant? Me to strip down to nothing in a park and straddle you on your bike, riding back to our place with you fucking me?”
“I don’t see a downside for me there.” She called it our place. He was so damn giddy it made him light-headed. She was viewing this as he was. True. And real.
“Can’t say I do, either. Who cares if all the other truckers and people see my naked body?”
And that statement put that thought in the crapper. He wasn’t about to let anyone else see what she gave to him.
“No.” He shook his head.
“Then what do you want?” She shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t care. You’re not going to win, so I’ll tell you what I get when I win.”
He barely withheld his snort of disbelief. “Lay it on me.”
They walked in the direction of the first tee area. She had her discs in one hand and he took her other, wanting to maintain the physical connection between them. The fact that she didn’t pull away, even though there wasn’t anyone to pretend for, had his heart swelling. She might not realize it yet, or wasn’t acknowledging the facts laid out before her, but it was meaning more and more to her.
“I want to drive your bike. Correction. I want you to teach me to drive your bike.”
He chuckled. “That’s what you want to waste your small attempt at a win on? Baby, all you had to do was ask. I would teach you that any day.” He halted her and tipped her chin up. “Did you not think I would?”
She shrugged. “You seem mighty protective of her.”
Parker peered at her over the top rims of his sunglasses. “I am, but if you want to learn, I’m more than happy to teach you.”
“And you’ll let me drive?”
God, she was so fucking adorable, watching him with those big eyes, wrapping him around her finger so tight he never wanted to leave.
“I love it when you drive.”
She rolled her eyes. “Liar. But that’s what I will be doing when I win.”
“You haven’t won yet, baby.”
Skylar pulled out her phone and looked at the screen once before returning it back to her pocket. “That’s because I wanted to allow you a few more moments of your misguided belief this will work out in your favor.”
“Recon, baby. I’m always confident.” Who the fuck was sending her messages on their date night?
“At least you’ll have Recon and your confidence to soothe that wounded pride by the end.”
He popped her on the ass. “Enough stalling. Get up and let’s get this ass-beating under way.” Parker refused to let thoughts of him not ever getting back there to ruin his time with her.
With a deliberate glance to his ass, she nodded. “I agree. I can’t wait to be on your bike, straddling that rumbling engine.” She shivered. “God, that’s going to be soo good.”
He dropped the discs he held, and she laughed as she sent hers soaring toward the basket.
So this is the kind of game it is going to be.
He loved this place and the course. Some in the open field, some through the wooded area along the lake with some hilly spots as well. It was a good test of how you were able to handle the discs.
By the time they hit basket nine, he knew she would win. He would have been in the same boat if he’d told her to just walk up and set it in the basket. But he wasn’t about to give up, so he waved her on, wanting to do all eighteen.
And yes, a lot of it was he didn’t want this date to end. Her laughter and undisguised joy at everything leached into him. Continually sidetracked by her form as she released the disc, he couldn’t make a good throw, other than one out of every five or six.
She checked her phone often and the fifth time she did, he grasped her wrist, pulling her near. “Who keeps calling you?”
“No one.”
“You keep looking at your phone.”
“No one is calling me. I have a thing to see Alpin and am interested to see how it works.”
Made sense, but there was something else she wasn’t telling him. Parker let it go for the moment, because he didn’t want to ruin the night.
As they played, they talked. They spoke about her best friend Ryliee and how she never seemed to stay in one place for long, but they were fast friends and nothing came between them. This multifaceted woman continued to shock and surprise him. Rarely a bad thing to say about anyone. Other than Gemma.
“How did you get started in woodworking?”
“Reggie Masterson.”
He heard a hitch in her voice, and he didn’t like it. But he waited. She didn’t speak until she tossed her disc.
“We met in high school. He was everything a girl like me could want. He did play basketball, but his love was woodworking. I walked in on him in shop class once working on a piece, and he asked me what I thought. I told him and let him know what I didn’t like. Guess he took it as a challenge because he got me my own piece and told me to do better. From then on it was”—a slight shoulder bounce—“our thing.”
“How so?”
“I’d go to a few games but I wasn’t hugely into it. The man I watched on the court wasn’t the one I got to know in the shop. His smiles there were real but not. It was a different side to him, I suppose. Anyway, I loved working with wood and spent all the time I could there, learning. From both him and the teacher. I’d show up early and stay late. A lot of people thought I was sleeping around with the team but I was always in the shop, learning carving techniques, antiquing, anything I could absorb. I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”
So many questions raced up with her specific wording and it took so much to clamp them back. Not wanting to ruin the evening, he just grunted and turned to look where his disc landed.
True to her word, she won and true to his, he gave her a rundown on how to operate his Harley. They did some rides around the park, following the curving road, and he was proud of her. She picked it up with the speed and confidence he’d come to expect from her.
“You taking us home?” He brushed some of her curls away from her face, only to tug on one when the wind put it right back to where it’d been.
“No. I don’t have a license for this.”
“Always with the rules, aren’t you, baby?” Grateful he no longer had the discs or their helmets in hand, he grabbed the sides of her shirt and drew her flush to him. “They can be fun to break.”
“Rules are there for a reason,” she muttered.
“Hey,” he said, desperate to get the lightheartedness back into the night. “How about some dessert?” Parker nibbled on her lips. “Ice cream. Chocolate sauce. Caramel.”
“You sweet talker, you. Yes, ice cream sounds like the perfect end to the night.”
“Baby, ice cream isn’t how this night’s going to end, but let’s go get some and we can discuss how it will end.” Another kiss. “My vote, my cock deep inside this pussy and you tearing the hell out of my back as you scream my name.”
Chapter Eleven
“Zoo, zoo, zoo!”
Skylar didn’t bother hiding her grin as Cullen’s excited voice wove easily through the house. Still, she didn’t think it was a good idea.
Day and night, she struggled with her guilty conscious about her own son. How she’d been thinking about herself and not him.
And now she no longer had him in her life.
Being with Cullen was a double-edged sword. It helped but also chipped away at the scab over her past, exposing her to more and more. Reminding her just how much it was going to hurt when it ended.
“Ready?”
“Sure.” She went to the fridge and grabbed two peanut butter biscuits from the top that she then gave to Alpin and kissed his head. “Be good, handsome.”
“He going to be okay?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I know you have that thing to view him, but we’re still gone for a long time today.”
“Mrs. O’Neary will be over a few times to check on him. He’ll be fine. We had a long walk this morning.”
The boy’s hard footfalls heralded his arrival. “Lions to see?”
She grabbed her purse, and she reached for her keys after ensuring her phone was there.
Lifting Cullen, she brushed his hair from his eyes. “Yes, we can see some lions.”
Parker herded them outside and locked her house.
Just like we were a real family.
Skylar climbed into the passenger seat of her truck after Parker plucked Cullen from her arms to secure him in the car seat. Soon after, he hopped up and kissed her.
“Thank you,” he murmured against her lips.
“Kissing,” Cullen chatted from the back.
Parker nodded. “Absolutely.”
She smiled.
The drive to the zoo took them a little over an hour and for most of the ride, she and Cullen talked about the different animals they could encounter. Parker participated, but allowed the two of them to do the most talking.
Once there, they parked and climbed out. Parker put Cullen’s tool belt and army men back in the truck.
“Need them.”
“Not here. We don’t want to lose them.”
She kept quiet, reminding herself she was only the temporary fiancée, although at times she began to wonder how “temporary” she was. She’d expected the DNA results to have been back by now. It was nearing a month, and she swore they didn’t take that long. A few weeks seemed excessive. Part of her was okay with it, because it allowed her to keep the fantasy alive for a little longer.
Skylar waited while Cullen decided where he wanted to head first.
“Papa?”
Her heart seized at the glow surrounding Parker the moment he heard it. She hadn’t heard him called that before, and there was a bit of shock on Parker’s face, but he seemed to roll with it.
“What, Cullen?”
“Your favorite animal?”
Her marine gave a small indulgent smile to the boy staring up at him with adoration. “I like the big cats. Lions, tigers, and leopards.”
Her Marine Next Door Page 13
