He swallowed back the groan of disappointment as he stared at the woman he’d been dreaming about for days. But not like this. Dammit! A professional association they could have gotten past, but this…they were going to be connected forever—or however long his mother’s marriage lasted. He couldn’t hook up with someone he’d see at every holiday, birthday, family dinner. This was a nightmare.
Still, he couldn’t deny the zing of excitement burning low in his belly at seeing her again. But why did it have to be here? Like this? He held in a frustrated sigh.
Fate was a bastard.
Chapter Three
Tamsen had the extreme misfortune to have just taken a very large sip of the delicious champagne the moment she was introduced to her future stepbrother.
She’d hustled over after her shift at 5280 Eats, the restaurant where she worked. It was only a few blocks away on the 16th Street Mall, so she’d walked. But the heat of the June sun beating down on her, even at six in the evening, as she made her way the six blocks caused her throat to dry.
Parched, but already late to her father’s engagement party, she’d hurried up to the club room, found her father, and gratefully took a gulp of the heavenly looking drink. She’d been so excited to meet Victoria’s son. And nervous. First impressions were key, and she didn’t want to do anything to upset her father’s happiness with Victoria. She’d only met his fiancée once before, but the woman seemed very nice, if slightly intimidating. The money stuff…with her art gallery job, Tamsen was used to serving rich people, not being related to them. She was terrified she might use the wrong fork at dinner and be shunned or something.
But, of course, her luck lately had been on some kind of weird bender determined to embarrass her at every opportunity, and when she gasped in shock, she choked, sputtered, and gasped like a fish wriggling on a hook just pulled from the lake.
“Tamsen, pumpkin.” Her father gently pounded her back with concern. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she squeaked out as the coughing subsided. Her eyes watered, and she blinked them dry. Taking a deep breath, she cleared the last of the congestion from her throat and smiled. “Sorry, went down the wrong tube.”
Staring into familiar golden brown eyes, she pushed down her embarrassment and tried her best to ignore the curious gazes from the crowded room.
Way to cause a scene, Tamsen.
“Hi, Parker. Nice to see you again.”
Her father’s eyes widened in surprise. “You two know each other?”
Much to her undying embarrassment, yes. Could a woman die of humiliation? Because she was batting a thousand with Parker here. The guy probably thought she was the most incompetent person ever. She couldn’t even swallow properly.
Okay, the first awkward encounter was all her, she’d claim it. But today was partially on him. It wasn’t like she ever expected to see Hottie Firefighter again and certainly not in the context of a future family member.
Crap!
There went her idea to bring cookies over to the firehouse and slip him her number. That had been the fantasy she and her roommate discussed when she told Cora about her super sexy hero rescuer.
“Yes,” she answered her dad, her attention never leaving Parker’s face. They couldn’t. Her gaze was trapped by the honey sweetness of his eyes and the sexy smile curling his lips as he stared at her. Whew! It was hotter in here than outside. “Um, Parker was one of the firefighters who helped me out of my…situation last week.”
Her father’s curiosity morphed into a grateful smile as he patted Parker on the shoulder.
“Oh, thank you, Parker.” He shook his head. “When Tamsen called that night to tell me what happened, I—well, this isn’t the first time one of her art projects has gotten her into trouble.”
“Dad!”
Her father held up his hands. Parker merely arched one eyebrow in her direction.
Yeah, not going to happen, buddy. She was not rehashing the time she forgot to turn on the vent in the splatter room at school while she was working with spray paint and almost passed out. Or the time she left the adhesive she’d been working with too close to the kiln and it started a fire.
So she was a little accident prone. That’s why she worked with paints and not power tools.
“I’m sorry, pumpkin, but you do tend to be a bit scattered when it comes to your projects. Remember the time you mistook the glass of paint thinner for your water and we had to rush you to the emergency—”
“Dad!” Her face burned, heat rising up her chest. What she wouldn’t give for the earth to open up and swallow her whole right now. But since Colorado was better known for its wildfires and not earthquakes, she’d have to suffer through the humiliation of her hot future stepbrother learning what a dunce she was.
“Sounds like you might need my number on speed dial.” Parker chuckled.
Tamsen held back a delicious shiver at the deep sound. Seriously, it should be illegal for the man to have a voice that sexy, let alone to keep saying double entendres like this.
“My father exaggerates my need for rescue.” She eyed her father. “I promise I’m not as big a walking disaster as he makes out. He just likes to worry.”
“As do all parents, darling.” Victoria smiled. “That’s our job, after all. Why, when Parker told me he was applying to the fire academy, I swear I didn’t sleep for months.”
Yeah, well, running into burning buildings and spilling oil paint all over the carpet in your rental unit were two very different levels of worry. She’d say Victoria had much more reason to fret over Parker than her dad had over her.
Parker rolled his eyes, giving her a small, conspiratorial smile. “How many gray hairs has your dad blamed on you, Tamsen? My mom swears I keep her colorist in business with all the stunts I’ve pulled over the years.”
“Parker Kincaid.” Victoria admonished him with a slight frown. “Haven’t I taught you never to speak of a woman’s appearance unless you are praising it?”
“Oops, now she’ll have to book another appointment.”
He winked at her then leaned in to kiss his mother on the cheek. Victoria sighed, but a smile curved her lips. Tamsen just bet Parker gave his mother all sorts of trouble with that cheeky attitude, but the older woman also appeared very proud of her son. Who wouldn’t be? The guy was a genuine hero.
“The party is lovely, Victoria.” Tamsen smiled, trying to get the conversation off her and Parker and back on the future bride and groom where it belonged.
“Thank you, dear. The ladies at Mile High Happiness do a wonderful job. However, they don’t plan every festivity for our upcoming nuptials.” Her gaze slid to her son. “Parker, darling, Thomas and I would absolutely love it if you and Tamsen would put your heads together and plan a joint shower for us.”
What now?
“Isn’t there another party planning company you could use?”
Parker’s brow furrowed. He didn’t look very happy to be planning a party with her. She swallowed back a ball of disappointment. Sure, she didn’t want to spend time with a man who made her panties melt—yet was wholly untouchable—but did he have to be so obviously adverse to the idea?
Unless there was some other reason he didn’t want to be a part of the festivities… Could Parker not be happy about the upcoming nuptials? Did he have a problem with his mom marrying her dad? She frowned at the thought. What was wrong with her dad? He might not be as well off as most of the people at this party, but he was a good man. Wasn’t that all that counted?
“I could, darling, but this isn’t like the wedding. We want this party to be intimate, only close family and friends.” She pressed a perfectly manicured hand to her chest, directly over her heart. “A personal touch, one filled with love from our own children, would mean the world to us.”
Oh, she was good. Tamsen had heard of mom guilt, but never h
aving had a mother, she hadn’t experienced it firsthand. Victoria was a masterclass in maternal manipulation.
Parker sighed. “It sounds like you’re giving us a choice, but you’re not, are you?”
His mother smiled, patting his cheek softly. “You always have a choice, darling, but I know you wouldn’t want to disappoint your mother. Besides, it will give you two a chance to get to know each other, to bond.”
No, no, no, no! More time with Parker was the last thing she needed. She didn’t want to bond with the guy; she wanted to bone him. But since that was out the window with their parents getting married and all, spending time with him would be the worst form of torture.
“Of course, Mother.” Parker smiled, but it looked a bit forced to Tamsen. “We’d be happy to plan something.”
Nice of him to volunteer her. Not that she would say no to her dad anyway. But how in the hell was she supposed to spend more time around this man without embarrassing herself to death or ripping his clothes off to have her wicked way with him?
Both options ended in disaster.
“Um, yeah.” She forced a smile to hide her panic. “We’d love to.”
“Isn’t that lovely, Thomas?”
Her dad stared at his fiancée like she hung the moon and stars. “It is indeed, dear.”
Their conversation was interrupted when a woman with dark hair and glasses wearing a classic LBD approached them.
“Excuse me, Victoria? Thomas?”
Victoria and her dad smiled at the woman, apparently knowing who she was.
“I just have a few things I need to discuss with you if that’s all right?”
“Of course,” her father said, holding out his arm to Victoria. To her, he said, “Tamsen, this is one of the wedding planners, Lilly Reid. Lilly, this is my daughter, Tamsen, and Victoria’s son, Parker.”
“It’s nice to meet you both.” Lilly smiled. “Hope it’s okay if I steal the bride and groom for a minute?”
Tamsen nodded, watching them walk away. It was so nice to see the blissful smile on her dad’s face. She’d been worried about him ever since she moved out a few years ago. She knew she needed to start her own life, but she’d felt guilty about leaving her father all alone. Now he was getting a wife and Tamsen was getting a…stepbrother?
She supposed so, but did people really count the adult children of their parent’s new spouse as a sibling? They’d see each other at family functions, but it wasn’t like they were really going to be brother and sister. Still, the whole thing made all the naughty things she wanted to do to Parker move firmly into the it’s-too-complicated box. What if they tried something and it didn’t work out?
Dammit.
Parker stood there smiling at her, his devastating grin causing a million butterflies to let loose low in her belly.
Down, hormones.
Life so wasn’t fair.
“So, Tamsen, how are you doing?”
Completely mortified and ready to crawl into a cave for the next five decades.
“Great!”
He chuckled at her overly bright response.
Inwardly groaning at her continued stellar impression, she tried to go for mature and sophisticated. “It’s great to see you. Though I really didn’t expect to ever run into you again, let alone here and in the context of being my future stepbrother and all. Kind of a small world when you think about it. I mean, Denver isn’t the biggest city, but who would have thought the guy who helped rescue me would turn out to be the son of my dad’s fiancée and…” She trailed off as she noticed Parker’s eyes widen. Crap, she’d gone off on a tangent again, hadn’t she?
Nerves tended to make her mouth run away with her brain. Most people zoned out after a few of her rambling sentences, but Parker’s eyes held a glint of laughter. If she couldn’t impress him, at least she amused him. That was something, right?
Clearing her throat, she willed her anxiousness to settle the hell down. “I wanted to thank you again for helping me the other day. I’ve cast dozens of models, and I still can’t believe I forgot to put the oil on.”
She gestured to her chest, which thankfully had not suffered any long-term ill effects. Just a few days of her skin color resembling the boiled crab legs they served on Thursday nights and a bit sensitive to touch. Not that anyone was doing any touching lately anyway.
Parker’s eyes followed the movement of her hand, the golden depths sparking with heat as his gaze settled over her chest. That was the horrible moment Tamsen remembered that while helping her, Parker had inadvertently seen her breasts.
Oh. My. God. My future stepbrother saw my boobs!
Was this seriously happening to her right now? Maybe she’d mixed some paints and set off a chemical reaction that caused her to hallucinate ridiculous scenarios intent on embarrassing her until she was nothing more than a puddle of goo.
She dug her nails into her palm. Ouch! Nope. Sadly, this was real life, and in real life, Parker had seen her boobs.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
Desperate to change the subject to anything else, she nodded toward the center of the room where her dad and Victoria stood talking with Lilly and looking over something on a clipboard the woman held in her hands.
“So, how ’bout this wedding, huh?” Oh great, and now she was a bad standup comedian.
Parker’s smile dimmed, the heat in his eyes vanishing. He brought the champagne flute in his hand to his lips, taking a healthy swig before giving an offhanded shrug.
“Feels a little soon to me.” His attention shifted to their parents. “They’ve only been dating six months. Why the rush?”
“Why wait when you’re in love?” She smiled, watching her father hold Victoria tight to his side. “My dad’s always been a bit of a romantic.”
He grunted. Huh, could it be Parker was one of those people who didn’t believe in romance? The man was certainly sexy enough to have his pick of women. But sex and love were two very different things. You could believe in one and not the other even if both existed.
“You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
His gaze slid back to her, golden eyes sparking with something wicked and oh so naughty as the corner of his mouth ticked up.
“I believe in lust at first sight. But love? That takes time. And to be honest, I’m not all that convinced it even exists.”
“Wow, cynical much?”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
And he saw what exactly? A very dim view of the world if he didn’t believe in love. She understood not believing in love at first sight, but not believing in it at all? Seemed kind of sad and lonely to her.
“Well, my dad has always been a big ol’ softie. Romantic to the core.” She smiled as she glanced across the crowded room to the man who taught her everything about life, held her when she cried, cheered her when she succeeded, and made her feel more loved than any kid ever in the entire world. “He proposed to my mom after two weeks.”
Parker made a disbelieving sound. She turned to see a skeptical expression on his face.
“It’s true,” she insisted. “He told me when you know you know, and with my mom, he knew. According to Dad, they were ridiculously happily married until the day my mom died.”
Parker sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry. I had no idea…”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t really, but people never really knew what to say or do when the subject of death was brought up. “It happened when I was three, so I really don’t remember much. But Dad stayed single for the next fifteen years. He didn’t date anyone until I graduated from high school, and even then, it wasn’t much.”
Sometimes she wondered if the years of grief and loneliness she witnessed—despite her father’s attempts to hide it from her—were worth the years her parents shared together. She enjoyed casual relationships, but to lose yo
urself so deeply like her father had done with her mother…didn’t seem worth it to her. Until he met Victoria, she worried he’d be alone forever.
“Your mom is the only woman I’ve ever seen him get serious about.” She glanced back at her dad and Victoria once more, unable to keep the happy sigh from escaping her lips. “I haven’t seen him this happy in ages.”
“Huh, I suppose at their age having a long engagement isn’t exactly prudent.”
Seriously? That’s what he got from what she said? Not the romantic love stuff, but that their parents were old and should get married ASAP? They were in their sixties, not eighties. It wasn’t like they were knocking on death’s door.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a love downer, Parker.”
He arched one brow, his lips curling once again in that wicked smile that threatened to set her panties on fire.
He took a step closer. “Been thinking about me lately, Tamsen?”
If he only knew. No. He shouldn’t know. And she had to stop thinking about them. They were going to be family soon. It was naughty. Wrong! She meant wrong, not naughty. Jeez, she really needed to get her hormones under control. Maybe she did need to find the time to sneak in a quick date or two. Or at least a few minutes with her battery-operated boyfriend.
“I…um…what?”
He chuckled, low and deep.
Ooooh, she liked that chuckle. Too much. She wanted to wrap it up and take it home, pull it out in the dark of the night, and press it against her until the only thing she felt was Parker’s warm, rumbly voice caressing every inch of her body.
There went her artist brain again. Dreaming up improbable situations that defied the laws of physics.
The Wedding Dilemma (Mile High Firefighters) Page 3