Her Marine Next Door

by Burke, Aliyah

  “I don’t want to lose him.” Beads of sweat gathered along his forehead, and he brushed them away with a furious swipe of one hand.

  Skylar never dropped her straightforward gaze from his. “Then you fight for him. She came to you telling you he was yours, telling Cullen that as well. That has to count for something.”

  Parker slid back on the sofa and lifted her until she was on his lap, curled up against him. Just how he wanted her to be. With a swig of beer, he slid his finger below the seal and opened it.

  Skylar didn’t crane to see; she just rested her head against his chest and stroked her fingers along the inside of his biceps, following the ink trail. He knew she could feel the racing of his heartbeat as it cavorted within his chest. Nearly exploding, he strove to calm down. His palms were sweaty, and his gut was more like a rock garden. Nausea churned as he withdrew the single sheet of paper inside.

  DNA Test Report jumped out at him, centered in the middle of the page. For personal knowledge only was below that.

  There was a case number. Gemma’s and Cullen’s names. And his, under the phrasing “Alleged FATHER.”

  Bile raced up and he was frozen, unable to move his gaze farther down to the columns with their numbers and circles.

  Mortars went off in his ears, bringing with them a hollow feeling of being completely alone, unable to center and focus. He’d experienced it many times before and knew how to navigate but for once, he didn’t think he could pull it off. He wanted to flee. To hide.

  “I’m right here, Parker. I’m not going anywhere.” Her voice pushed through the ringing roar in his ears, grounding him.

  Pressing his lips to her head, allowing her soft curls to brush his nose, he moved his gaze down. Beyond the numbers that dealt with the sizes of the alleles to the findings.

  Closing his eyes, he set the paper beside his thigh and wrapped his arms tighter around Skylar.

  “He’s mine,” he mumbled into her satiny skin. “Cullen’s my son. Ninety-nine point nine percent probability.”

  His son. The words fell from his tongue and felt right.

  She wriggled until she could get his gaze on hers. His heart turned over at the amount of joy and love in her eyes. A smile overtook her features, and she cupped his scruff-lined jaw in her strong yet feminine hands.

  “Congratulations, Parker.” A hint of pain flashed before it was wiped away, as if it hadn’t ever been. Skylar tried to cuddle close once more, but he restrained her, took over her act of holding the jaw.

  “What?” she asked, stilling as he skimmed his thumbs along the corners of her mouth. Her eyes widened slightly as he didn’t move and didn’t speak.

  Parker covered her mouth with his. He wanted to take, rush, and sink between her thighs, allowing her tightness to hold him and catapult him to the level he craved. He didn’t. He kept it gentle, coaxing.

  Warmth flooded him, and he could feel each strong beat of his heart as he twined his tongue around hers. Everything hummed, and he couldn’t find any logical words to express how this woman made him feel.

  I want her curves naked against me.

  Continuing to kiss her, he readjusted them until she was beneath him on the sofa. He left her mouth to trail light brushes along her jaw and throat.

  “Parker,” she gasped, fingers digging into his shoulders.

  “Shhh. Let me.”

  Her mewl was more of a whimper. At the hem of her shirt, he inched it up, needing her to scream his name. Needing to cry hers.

  Rising up, he used both hands to push it up until her breasts were bared to him. He didn’t stop, continued removing the shirt, lifting her arms so he could get it completely off. As soon as it cleared her curls, he released the material and dragged his hungry gaze over her.

  Fucking perfect.

  He didn’t even have a name for the color of her skin; it was brown but it was so much more, hints of gold, red, and perfection. Same with her hair, an amazing blend of hues. Breasts a little more than a handful rose and begged for his touch.

  The dip of her waist, the swell of her hips that currently had the waistband of her sweats on it.

  Time to rectify that.

  He held her gaze as he dug his fingers beneath the waist and began to pull as he inched back. She lifted her hips, her lower lip caught in her teeth, chest rising and falling as she took short, sharp breaths.

  When her pants were to her knees, he dropped his gaze and groaned. Lace and what he now knew to be her hipster panties.

  “God, you’re killing me, baby.” Splashes of her skin were visible through the lace, and he knew exactly what was there.

  Inching back more, he removed the pants and tossed them to the side. He held one leg under the knee and skimmed his hand up the back of her thigh toward her ass. Her pupils dilated, and her breathing sped up.

  His, too.

  “Fucking work of art.”

  “Please.”

  “No baby, not fast. Not tonight.” He shrugged. “Not yet, anyway. I’m going to take my time with you and enjoy every last second.”

  They were crossing into new territory, and he was beyond ready. It wasn’t just because he knew for certain Cullen was his—he’d want the boy in his life regardless. It had everything to do with the woman beside him. Skylar. There wasn’t any specific logic, but the fact that she’d never shied away during their farce, that she’d been at his side through it all for no other reason than he’d asked her for help. All of it proved she was something unique. If ever there was a woman to make him okay with giving up his old ways, his old life, it was this woman, right here.

  He pushed up slowly, allowing his hands to skim along her figure, indulging in the softness that was hidden from most. She showed the world the hard woman, the woodworker who put everyone else before her. Right now, he was privy to the soft one. The one he wanted to protect more than his next breath. The one who was there for him without judgment.

  She had a heart of gold, and he was falling for her.

  This was about them, tonight. Him and her. No one else.

  She tipped her head back as he rose, maintaining eye contact, and he dipped his forward. Their lips nearly brushed as he slid his hands up her side.

  “Fucking sexy.”

  Dragging his finger down her sternum between her breasts, he relished how her deep breaths grew faster and shallower.

  “Parker.”

  “Yes, baby?”

  “Don’t do this.”

  “Don’t do what?”

  “Torture me.”

  “I promise, it’ll be worth it.” He bent closer and captured her breast in his mouth.

  This woman, she was everything he could ever ask for.

  Breathy gasps fell from her lips as he switched his attention from one breast to the next, flicking his tongue over the taut nipples. With his free hand, he skimmed along her stomach and closed his eyes briefly when his fingertips brushed the lace separating him from his goal.

  Relinquishing her breasts from his attention, he kissed his way down her torso, inching backward until his lips had reached the same point his fingers had.

  “Parker,” she begged.

  “Shh,” he shushed her. “Let me look at you.” Lifting his gaze, he took her all in, sprawled out on her sofa. “Fucking perfect.”

  Pushing up, he kissed her on the lips, then retreated, taking her panties with him. Those he shoved into his pocket.

  “You have such fucking smooth skin, baby. I love touching it.” He slipped his hand up the backs of her thighs once more, angling her hips where he wanted them. “Love touching you. The way you moan and squirm.” Dipping his head, he ran the flat of his tongue up her pussy, allowing her taste to sink in. “How you taste.”

  “More.”

  “Patience.”

  She sank her hands into his hair and tugge
d, dragging him to her pussy. “No.”

  Stabbing his tongue in deep, he was rewarded with a mixture of a moan and a purr. He wanted that again. So he repeated it. Over and over until she screamed his name and came hard on his tongue.

  He covered her completely as he stroked his freed cock.

  “I want in your pussy,” he mumbled against her full lips. “I want your tight heat choking my cock.”

  “Yes.”

  “Nails ripping the skin from my back, legs tight around my waist as if you never want me to leave.”

  He pushed two fingers inside her, a low groan sliding free as her muscles clenched around him. Her hips rose, and he fucked her with his fingers, eyes locked on hers; he watched the pleasure roll over her soft features, the hazy look in her gaze, how her lips parted as his name fell as litany from them.

  “If I could capture this look on your face forever, I would.” He brushed their lips together. “You look like this with me. For me. Because of me.”

  “Only you,” she whispered, her words raw in their honesty.

  He stripped in seconds and covered himself to slip into her with a single push. She was so responsive and immediately arched, accepting him, grasping his upper body, allowing him that familiar and perfect bite of her nails.

  Her mouth made a little moue and those incredibly curved eyelashes dropped before rising once more and letting him drown in those incredible brown eyes.

  “Forever.” His whisper filled the air.

  Chapter Twelve

  Rubbing the back of her neck, Skylar walked through to the kitchen and paused before backing up to stare at the couch.

  Her heart, traitorous organ that it was, flipped as the scene before her registered.

  Both father and son were crashed on the couch. Parker sprawled on his back, his left arm up over his eyes. Cullen lay asleep on his chest and Parker’s right hand held him there, making sure he didn’t fall off.

  Without thought, she pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of the two of them lying there. They were tired and deserved to sleep. Plus she wasn’t strong enough to deal with Parker at the moment. She’d watched the recording to know it was as she’d expected—Gemma was putting nails by her truck and sabotaging her work. Little things here and there, like she was building up to see how much she could do without getting caught.

  Skylar took a deep breath. Couldn’t worry about that right now. She had work to do. And that bitch wasn’t around. Might as well take advantage.

  At least she’d have that picture when she no longer had them. Backing out, she retreated to the garage and opened the door. Then she went back around to grab Alpin and fed him.

  She shouldn’t take his mother’s insults so personally, but she did. At this stage, she wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell his parents the truth.

  Skylar looked over her shoulder in the direction the vehicle had gone with Dara and Gemma and sighed. Then again, perhaps she did know why he wasn’t telling them.

  She got in another hour of work before she needed some food, so she and Alpin went in and found they were both awake.

  “Mama!” Cullen ran to her, arms up.

  “Skylar, Cullen. Call me Skylar.” Why she bothered to say anything she wasn’t sure, but part of her felt it pertinent to point this out to him, even though she loved hearing it. After lifting him, she kissed him and put him right back so he could love on Alpin.

  Parker gave her a smile that made her realize this man had serious potency. Because if she could get pregnant from a smile, that just happened.

  “How was your day?” he asked from where he worked on making some dinner.

  “Busy, but good. Yours? How was PT?”

  A shadow crossed his face. He had good days and bad ones. He popped a carrot piece in his mouth and rolled his shoulders before scraping the entire contents on from the cutting board of veggies into a pan on the stove.

  “She’s brutal,” he admitted.

  A loud crash happened.

  “Cullen, take it outside. You can’t play so rough in the house.”

  “’Kay.” He thundered out the door, and Parker crooked a finger at her.

  Against her better judgment, or just common sense, she listened. He wrapped one arm around her and put their foreheads together before kissing her. Once.

  One or ten times, with this man it didn’t matter. Stepping back to see if she could find her common sense in a pile on the floor, she rubbed her hand on her thigh.

  He didn’t ask this time, just did something with the heat on the stove and grabbed her wrist, bringing her back to him. “Why didn’t you say your injury was still bothering you?”

  His tone was deep and angry. Completely different from the gentle touch.

  “It was a deep wound. Going to take a while to heal. I saw the doc today. He said I have to continue to be careful and not push it. Ask for help with moving heavier things. But I’m progressing, much better than I have been.”

  Parker nodded. “That’s good.”

  She smiled.

  Seconds later, he scowled. “So, care to tell me who helped you unload the tables in the garage?” He pointed to himself and shook his head. Made a point of looking all around the house. “I’m not seeing the one who helped. Are they outside still?”

  “Point taken.”

  “Is it really, Skylar? I don’t like you ignoring the doctor. They’re trying to heal you and you need to listen.”

  She took back her hand and nodded. “I’m not used to having someone around to help.”

  His entire expression softened. “I’m here. Use me.” That flirtatious grin was back. “Please.”

  “Aren’t you cooking?”

  “I could be.” He stepped back and put his attention on the sautéing vegetables.

  “Can I ask you something?” She moved to the fridge to get herself a drink and poured him and Cullen a glass of water as well.

  “Anything.”

  “Now that you know Cullen is your son, why aren’t you telling your parents the truth about us? Let’s face it, that dinner sucked.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I never expected that from them.”

  His statement brought up the question of what he had expected, but she let it go. In the long run, did it really matter what they thought of her? It wasn’t as if Parker and she were a real couple. “So, why not tell them?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to tell them yet. I have to figure out what I’m going to do about Gemma.”

  “Yeah, suppose you should. Then again, maybe that will be what you need—her there while you’re deployed.”

  “I have another week and a half before I see if I can go back.” A shit ton of anger and fear there.

  …

  Anger raged through her like a hurricane. Tipping her head back, she roared in fury. Two days of peace before shit happened again.

  “Skylar?” Parker ran into the garage. “What’s wrong?”

  “Your bitch is ruining my things. She’s been doing it since she got here, but look at this!” She stabbed her finger in the direction of the old dresser she’d been working on with painstaking care to get it back to the beauty it would have been during the Victorian age.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your baby momma. You can’t stand here and tell me you don’t see the big gouges in the side of the dresser.” Her heart ached, and blood pounded in her ears.

  “Of course I see them, and I’m fucking sorry, but you don’t know that she did it.”

  She gasped, uncertain she’d just heard him correctly. “So it was you? Or Cullen?”

  He frowned. “No. I never would, and I’m sure even if Cullen had, it wouldn’t have been intentional.”

  “Are you seriously standing before me, giving that bitch a pass, but stating perhaps it could be your son?
Who, I might point out, spends a great deal of time out here with me. You told me before that I didn’t lie to you. Why has that changed now?”

  “Exactly. He does.” He crossed his arms. “It hasn’t. You don’t lie to me.”

  She was going to stab him with a chisel. Right in the head. “Your son knows how important all this is. He would never do anything like this.”

  “He’s a little boy.”

  “And his momma is a royal bitch with a vindictive side you and your family seem fucking content to ignore.”

  “You have to get along with her.”

  She gave a bark of laughter. “No, actually I don’t. I’m not even touching the fact that you’re content to go back on your word and believe she’s innocent. All you do is defend her, not asking me why I think she did it. This is done, Parker. We had agreed to this until you figured out the truth about Cullen’s parentage, and now we know. You’re his father. It’s done. We’re done. No more seeing where this goes between us, no more you staying here. You’re siding with her. You may as well do it from over in your house.”

  He stepped closer to her, eyes narrowing. “Skylar. Don’t be like this.”

  “Like this? Like this?” Her voice rose at least another octave. “Demanding to have my life back, to stop the interruptions and the drama that come with pretending to be your fiancée? Hell, it’s not like your parents will lose any sleep over this. Maybe they’ll throw you a fucking party.”

  He took two more steps, and she shook her head. “I’m done. I mean it. Either you pack your shit or I will. Either way, get out of my garage.”

  She needed him out before she crumbled.

  “I’ll talk to her.”

  She sneered. “Of course you will. I know how that will turn out. She’ll bat those big blue eyes that have you snowed, and you’ll believe the shit she spouts.”

  He held out his hands, almost beseeching in manner. “I don’t want her to take Cullen from me. I have to be careful how I deal with her.”

  She straightened. “I hope you two can work it out, because no woman worth her salt will put up with the shit she pulls. I shouldn’t have, but I wasn’t a real fiancée. In case you wanted to know why I said it was her, I have video proof.” She walked out of the open garage. “Be gone when I come back.” Opening the truck door, she whistled for Alpin, then helped the old dog into the back seat and drove away, lowering the garage door behind her.