Skin Deep

by Daniels, A. J.

He pulls out another blanket from the backpack and lays it over her feet and legs.

  “How’s that?”

  “Better. Thank you.” She sighs, leaning her head back against his shoulder.

  “Have you lived in Oceanview your whole life?”

  “No, I’m from Ontario. About one year ago Nic, Jess, and I decided we needed a change of scenery. I needed to start over in a city where nobody knew me and they followed.”

  “Why’d you need to start over?”

  “Long story. Maybe sometime I’ll tell you.” A sad smile tugs at her mouth.

  He rests his chin on her shoulder and stares out at the waves crashing onto shore. “I’d like that.”

  “What about you?”

  “Born and raised.”

  She snuggles further into him, causing his arms to wrap more securely around her. Her strawberry-vanilla scent engulf his senses.

  She swiftly turns around and straddles his lap, crushing her mouth to his. Her lips are just as soft as he remembers. Before she can pull away he slips his hand into her hair and holds her to him, continuing the kiss. His tongue traces the seam of her bottom lip, coaxing her to open for him, and she does.

  She tastes so damn good, like sweet wine. His dick jumps in his jeans when she wraps her arms around his neck and pushes her breasts into his chest. She moans when he nips at her bottom lip then licks the sting away.

  She tries to climb even higher in his lap, causing him to feel her warmth through both of their jeans. Fuck.

  His body is a war of want and need. His brain screams at him to slow it down and put an end to it before things progress any further, but his dick is screaming at him to fuck her.

  His body wants to relive the way hers moved with his. The way her back arched when he entered her for the first time. But his brain and his heart want to get to know the girl behind the sexy body.

  God, does he ever want to take her right here and now, but if he does then she’ll just end up being like the other women he’s dated.

  Her hand leaves his neck and travels down his stomach to the button on his jeans. He grabs her hand, halting her progress, and ends the kiss.

  Ashley pulls back, her eyes searching his, but when he doesn’t make a move to continue the kiss she hangs her head in defeat and moves to climb off his lap,

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

  He grabs her hands and pulls her back down to him. “Just so we’re clear, because I can see the doubt in your eyes right now, I am interested. Fuck, I’m very interested.”

  “Okay,” she replies but she doesn’t sound very convinced.

  “We’ll get there, babe. But when I have you again it won’t be a quick fuck on the beach. No matter how romantic sex on the beach sounds, it’s not. I’m not about to get sand in places it should never be getting into. We clear?”

  “We’re clear.”

  He tips her chin up with his index finger. “I’m never going to make you do anything you don’t want to, Danielle.”

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s get you home. The tide’s starting to come in, and it’s freezing out here.”

  When they leave the beach they’re unaware of the shadow that lurks behind the rocks, watching them. Lips pull back in a snarl and fists clench.

  CHAPTER TEN

  PARKER DROPS HER BACK off at her condo a little after eleven, but she doesn’t feel like calling it a night yet. She’s actually enjoying being with him, and it doesn’t feel like a first date. In fact, it feels like they’ve known each other for years. She feels comfortable around him and she thinks it’s the same for him.

  “Want to come in for a drink?”

  He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’d love to but if I go in there I won’t be leaving until the morning.”

  “Oh.” She sigh disappointedly, turning to unlock the condo door. “Well, I had fun.”

  When she turns back around, he has a grin on his face and there’s amusement dancing in his eyes. She could stare into those blue eyes all day.

  When his hand comes up to stroke her cheek she doesn’t hesitate to lean into his touch, taking in as much of his heat as she can. She loves the feel of his hands on her skin. His fingers wrap around the hair at the back of her neck, and he leans down brushing his lips against hers in a light kiss.

  “I mean what I said, Dani. I’m very interested,” he whispers in her ear, his breath warm against her skin. “Sweet dreams.” He presses another soft kiss to her lips before straightening up and walking back down the hallway towards the elevators.

  Her head is still foggy from that sweet goodnight kiss, and when she enters the condo and locks the door behind her she doesn’t notice the single, long-stemmed, red rose sitting on the dining room table.

  …

  “So how’d it go?” Kat asks, placing the wine bottle on the table before dropping down on the couch next to Ashley.

  “How’d what go?” Alice asks, walking in to the living room with three white wine glasses.

  “Ashley had a date last night.”

  “What? With whom?”

  “Don’t know. She won’t spill any details about the mystery guy.” Kat playfully pouts.

  “Come on guys, can we just watch Criminal Minds and drink wine?” Ashley laughs.

  “As much as I want to stare at sexy Derek Morgan for ten hours, I think we’d much rather hear the juicy details about your date.”

  Alice plops herself down on the other side of Ashley.

  Alice and Kat are both staring at her, and Ashley knows they’re not going to let her get away with at least not telling them something.

  “Fine,” she huffs. “We went to Blue’s for dinner, then we went to sit on the beach for a bit and talked.” She shrugs. “It was nice. I like him.”

  “So you’re seeing him again?” Alice nudges her arm.

  “I think so. I hope so.” Leaning forward she fills all three wineglasses then leans back into the couch. “Now, can we please watch Derek Morgan? I’m going through withdrawals.”

  “Agreed,” Kat and Alice say in unison, reaching for their own wineglasses.

  Four hours later all three of them are sitting on the edge of their seats watching as Hotch goes flying back from a car bomb.

  “Oh, shit.” Alice says.

  “Fuck! That’s the end of the season?” Kat exclaims.

  “I’ll get more wine, you guys cue up season four.” Ashley jumps up from the couch and races to the kitchen.

  She doesn’t hear her phone ping with a new message that night. But when she checks her messages the next morning, her heart races and nausea rolls through her stomach. There’s no way he could’ve found her, is there?

  Unknown: It doesn’t matter how far you run from me; you can change your name, your appearance, you can choose to hide. But I will find you, Ashley. And he won’t be able to save you.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “DUDE, WHAT HAPPENED TO you last night?” Mike hands Parker a beer when he enters Mike’s kitchen.

  “Stayed late at the station.”

  “Again?” Jay asks, cracking open his own beer.

  Parker shrugs. “Who’s playing today?”

  “Canucks and Predators,” Mike calls over his shoulder as he leads them into the living room.

  Mike’s living room is the ultimate man cave. Hockey and football memorabilia decorate the walls, an X-box sits on the entertainment stand with various RPG and first shooter games as well as various controllers and gaming headphones strewn about. An 80-inch TV is attached to the wall above the stand playing the usual pre-game line up.

  “So who do you thinks going to take this one?” Jay asks, dropping into one of the recliners on either side of the couch.

  Mike and Parker glare at him like he’s lost his mind. There’s only one answer to that question and it’s not Nashville.

  “What? Nashville could take this one. They’re not doing too badly this season.”

  “I’m going to choose to ignore th
at.” Mike points his beer bottle at Jay and scowls.

  Nashville doesn’t pull off the win and Vancouver walks away with a 7-3 lead.

  …

  This week has gone by in a blur with her doing copious amounts of research for her thesis. She can’t wait for graduation to get here so she can finally relax and spend a few days lying around the condo in her pajamas with a Big Bang Theory marathon.

  She’d just made it back from grabbing a coffee at the Starbucks down the street and was about to power up her laptop to do some research for her forensic psychology class when her phone pings with a message.

  Parker: Pick you up in 20.

  Crap what day is it?

  She quickly closes the message app and brings up the calendar. Wednesday, April 10th. Shit, it’s Wednesday. She totally forgot he was dragging her along with him while he babysits Bella for Anne today.

  Danielle: I can’t today, I’m sorry. Thesis due Friday.

  Parker: I’ll buy coffee and help you study after Anne picks up Bella.

  Argh, he brought out the big guns right away. She can never say no to coffee. Let alone free coffee.

  Danielle: You had me at coffee.

  He pulls up to the curb just as she’s pushing her way through the door of the condo building.

  “Hey, beautiful.” He steps out of the car and walks around to the passenger side opening the door for her.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  “What? No hey, handsome?” he teases as he eases the Lexus back into traffic.

  “You haven’t earned that level yet.” She shakes her head, grinning.

  “Oh, I see how it is. We’ll just have to change that now, won’t we?”

  “I guess we will.”

  He slides his hand closer to hers and intertwines their fingers as they fall into a comfortable silence while “Canadian Girls” by Dean Brody plays through the car’s stereo system.

  The school they pull up to is huge and nothing like she expected a kindergarten to look like.

  “They have kindergarten through grade eight here,” he supplies from the driver’s seat.

  “It’s huge.”

  “Bella loves it. She gets to play with the big kids. Anne’s afraid if she keeps hanging around the older kids they might trample her, she’s so tiny, but Bella refuses to listen.” He laughs. “She says the kids in her class are boring.”

  “I never knew kindergarteners could be boring.” She laughs.

  “Bella is very mature for her age. I brought her a doll when she was in the hospital. She rolled her eyes at me and told me she wasn’t two anymore. Then she pulled out a book Anne had brought her and proceeded to read me a story. I don’t think I’ve ever had a five-year-old roll their eyes at me.”

  “Sounds like she’s got a bit of attitude too.” She giggles.

  The bell rings and the doors are pushed open with hundreds of kids pouring out of them. A little girl, five years old, steps off to the side and scans the crowd. She’s wearing jeans and a blue Elsa shirt. Her dirty-blonde hair is laying in ringlets around her face, and her blue eyes go wide when they land on Parker, a huge smile spreads across her face when she shoots forward and runs right into his waiting arms.

  “Parker!”

  “Hey, monkey!” He wraps his arms around Bella and stands up.

  “I’m not a monkey!” Bella giggles and squishes his face in her small hands.

  He glances down and tickles her. “Hey, what’s this?” he asks pointing to her shirt. “I thought you liked Paw Patrol not Frozen.”

  Bella rolls her eyes at him. “Paw Patrol was so last week, Parker.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, princess.”

  Bella giggles and throws her arms around his neck. “I like being a princess.”

  Bella only notices Ashley standing there after she unwraps her arms. The look she gives Ashley makes her want to laugh. It’s protective and very territorial. Apparently, she doesn’t like sharing him with anyone, and she doesn’t blame her. She wouldn’t want to share him either.

  “Bell, this is my friend Dani,” he says, nodding towards her.

  “Hi, Bella. It’s nice to meet you.” Ashley holds out her hand for Bella to shake.

  That gets a big toothy grin from her. “You’re pretty.”

  “Thank you.” She laughs.

  “So, Bell, do you think you’d want to hang with Dani and me for the afternoon?” he asks, tickling her sides, causing her to laugh again.

  “Is my sister working?”

  “Yeah, monkey, she is. But she’ll be home in time to tuck you in.”

  “Can we have pizza?”

  He sighs. “Only if you tell your sister we had a big salad with it.”

  Once they get Bella secured in her booster seat and are on the road again Ashley looks questioningly at him.

  “Anne is a little bit of a health nut. She doesn’t mind Bella having junk food on occasion as long as it’s accompanied by a bowl of fruit or vegetables.”

  “Parker, can we go swimming?” Bella yells from the backseat.

  “We’ll see, Bell. I don’t think Dani brought her swimsuit.”

  “Maybe she can go get it or she can borrow yours.” Bella giggles.

  Parker and Ashley laugh and try unsuccessfully to distract Bella from the subject of the swimsuit. When she keeps bringing it up and shooting him puppy dog eyes in his rear view mirror, he gives in and they stop by Ashley’s place.

  When she hurries up the small flight of stairs to the front door she doesn’t notice the man in the black sedan parked behind Parker watching her intently.

  It takes her less than five minutes to go upstairs and locate her suit before she’s back in Parker’s car, and they’re off to his place. Unaware the sedan has followed them.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ASHLEY WALKS OUT OF the bathroom in a sexy as hell, red bikini, and it takes all the strength he has not to openly gawk at her and to will his dick to go down.

  Her skin looks so smooth, and her long, black hair cascades in waves over each of her shoulders, concealing her breasts from his view. A script tattoo on her rib cage draws his eye, but he can’t make out what it says. His eyes are also drawn her belly button piercing.

  “What does your tattoo say?”

  She glances briefly down to her ribs before meeting his eyes. “‘Scars remind us where we’ve been, they don’t have to dictate where we’re going’ It’s a quote from a character on Criminal Minds.”

  “You have scars, Danielle?” he asks.

  “Don’t we all?”

  “Touché.”

  “Where’s Bella?”

  He points to the ceiling above his head. “Probably trying to decide which swimsuit to wear.”

  She laughs. “It’s tough being a girl sometimes. Hey, do you have a shirt I could put over this.” She gestures to the string bikini. “I hate swimsuit shopping, and this is from two years ago. Not sure it’s appropriate to wear around a five-year-old.”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.”

  He’s not sure whether to be glad she’s decided to cover up or extremely disappointed.

  After grabbing a T-shirt from his dresser he runs back downstairs with a grin tugging at his lips. He might be a gentleman, but the light grey T-shirt will still cling to all of Danielle’s luscious curves when it gets wet.

  As soon as Bella sees him walking into the kitchen she starts jumping up and down chanting, “Pool! Pool! Pool!”

  Bella may not be his, and he may just be looking after her as a favor to her sister, but she has him wrapped around her little finger. He swears, if this little girl told him to jump he’d ask her how high.

  She’s five for Pete’s sake! But when he saw her lying in that hospital bed after her surgery and heard about their parents he knew he’d do anything to see her smile, to try and help give her the childhood he never had.

  “Monkey, why don’t you head downstairs and grab a towel but don’t open the pool door. Dani and I will order pizza and be down in a fe
w seconds.”

  “Okay,” Bella says and runs to the basement door.

  “I mean it, Bell! Do not open the pool door.”

  Bella stops midrun, turns to him, and puts her hands on her hips, “I know! I know! Geez.” She rolls her eyes at him before turning back around and continuing her run through his house.

  “You have a pool in your basement?” Ashley asks after pulling the T-shirt over her bikini-clad body.

  “It was the only thing I wanted if I ever bought my own house. A year after I was hired at my job I found this place. Pool included.”

  “The only thing you wanted in a house was an indoor pool?”

  “Yup, who doesn’t want to be able to swim year around? Especially during our Canadian winters.” He grins.

  She laughs. “We barely even get a winter here in Oceanview. You could go swimming in the rain.”

  He scratches the five o’clock shadow coming in on his chin, pretending to think about it. “I could, but then I might get arrested for public indecency.”

  “Public indecency?”

  “Yeah, you know when I want to swim naked.” He grins.

  “Oh. Do that often, do you?”

  “Parker! I’m ready to go swimming!” Bella yells from downstairs.

  Damn, that girl has a pair of lungs on her. She also has really bad timing. When he doesn’t answer right away, Bella yells his name again.

  “Come on, let’s go let her into the pool room before she yells the house down.” Slipping his hand into hers he leads them towards the basement door.

  Bella is standing at the edge of the pool with her hands on her hips and a pool noodle sticking out from under one arm.

  “It’s about time you got down here,” Bella says accusingly.

  “Easy, monkey. I thought I told you to wait at the door?” he asks while grabbing towels for both him and Ashley.

  “Sorry.” Bella rolls her eyes. “Can I go in now?”

  “No, now you can wait until we’re both ready. No jumping in unless Danielle or I are in the pool with you,” he instructs.

  Ashley raises an eyebrow questionably.

  “What? She may have me wrapped around her finger, but I won’t ever actually tell her that.” He laughs.